I know nothing about paintball guns, but saw a paintball looking gun demonstrated yesterday. It shoots gel balls of insecticide at livestock (cattle) with the aim point being right behind their shoulder. Ball bursts and insecticide splatters on cowhide, gets absorbed into the skin and controls horn flies and lice. (same way a pour-on works or the little tubes of insecticide you rub on the back of a dog--Fronline/Advantage
Any thoughts on the gun and propellant system itself? The gun was fairly heavy--about 2 lbs (estimate) and the balls looked to be about 1" in diameter--maybe a little bigger.
Most paintball guns are quite robust. They take a fair bit of abuse without failing. They are designed for many more shots than 200-300, if fact, you can probably get 10,000-15,000 shots out of one...as long as it is well maintained. No reason it won't out live you.
Paintball guns come in .50 and .68, most common is .68. I'd guess these ball are .68.
If your interested in this your best bet is a pump gun, semi autos like the one in the video will be fine but blowback semi auto paintball guns don't like to be put in the closet for a year and work when they come out. Some will be fine but the design doesn't look familiar with this one and chances are it will be finicky.
A 20oz tank will get you about 1500 shotsrecomend plus or minus depending on the gun, a c02 tank should run you $24-$30, cost around $5 to fill and you'll neen a hopper if it's not included that should be sub $10 and it will hold 200 rounds. here are a few I that should have no problems after being stored.
I'm actually pretty disappointed in the pump selection, I've only been out of paintball as short time and some of the good stuff is already discontinued.
Here's the semi auto gun that should work when you dust it off http://www.ansgear.com/Tipp...8psactbasicblack.htm One of my favorite guns long discontinued used a small propane tank and got 50,000 shoots off one tank. I have one, I think the serial number is in the double digits.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 10-29-2014).]
Find out the caliber of the ball, and pick something up in that size. I've dumped them in snow, swamp, tossed 'em, done just about anything you could do to a Mossin without breaking one...EXCEPT, a lot of them work on CO2 culanders (there are some pump-action spring available, or were at one time). DONT store them long-term with a cylander hooked up, the constant pressure is hard on the seals and will blow them out in time (mind you, a long time). --and I usually got mine used from a pawn shop so who knows what they went thru before me.
Oh, yeh.....dont store the balls in the freezer , well try it once or twice then ya will know why not to do it. ****ING OUCH !!,
This is what a marker does to a kid not smart enough to be well-padded before playing, figgure the cattle will feel the same hit (I knew I'd laughed at this video before )
At 30 capsules for around 75 to 80 bucks in a quick search my first question would be how does that compare to the old way Don? That's about $2.50 a shot or treatment per animal, and it says for over 300+ lb. animals as well in the ones I read about.
As far as the vetgun it looks like a fancy paintball gun and also looks to be the same caliber, 68, but it may not be to keep it only usable for its intended purpose insecticide delivery. Now at the price of the gun added to the capsules I would look into other people suggestion of a regular paintball gun, if they will work with the intended projectile. if not you could just have a barrel made the right cal for a cheap paintball gun and like others have said they are fairly reliable and last a while for what you would be using it for Don.
Us we just have one or two cattle a year so no good for us, but look into it, it may be available at your local Co-op if you can look at one or even just the capsules and find out its caliber you might be able to save even more money !
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-29-2014).]
Another problem you might run into is storage, paintballs do not keep for years and should be kept cool and dry, you might know this but your supplier might not.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 10-29-2014).]
Another problem you might run into is storage, paintballs do not keep for years and should be kept cool and dry, you might know this but your supplier might not.
He is not shooting paintballs. it would be an insecticide and has a labeled shelf life I am sure on the package with directions for storage I would think anyway.
It also looks like it has its own size Co2 cartridge or adapter for a larger refillable thing like they use for paintballs as well, options, options, options add to the cost of its actual final price.
This was about the only thing I could find about the capsules Don and it is in PDF form and you will have to click the link and OK the PDF, if this link even works
They are made the same and will store the same, they are both a gelatin shell and will have the same shelf life if the fill doesn't expire.
The tanks are just repurposed paintball tanks.
But they have an insecticide in them that may be different, may not I don't know just giving him as much info as I can as I know he has dial up and I don't so I can do the searching a lot quicker than he can.
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-29-2014).]
I know these gel bals are pretty fragile AND, it doesn't shoot the balls terribly hard. I had the salesman shoot me with one of the practice balls and it did not sting at all, which is good. A hard stinging hit would spook the animal into a run----and all it takes is one to spook and off they all go, so I am guessing it fires the ball at less velocity than a regular paintball. Recommended range on this is 15-30 ft max. The reviews I read said to be careful with the balls--if one is dropped on a hard surface it will rupture.
What is the normal range on a regular recreational paintball gun?
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how does that compare to the old way Don?
Cost is not the real factor Steve--time and stress is. It takes me most of 1 day to gather, pen and run my herd thru a chute to either spray or use a pour-on--or apply fly ear tags, and since I got into beefmaster cattle, some of my cattle are horned--it is potentially dangerous. Doing that several times (about every 3 weeks) from early spring thru late fall is a pita, since I work by myself. It's just never good to have to run them thru the chute and headgate anymore than absolutely neccessary--stress causes all kinds of problems. That's what I am trying to get away from, and if this company does get approval for a dewormer as well as fly control, that's 2 problems taken care of without running them down the chute.
How far away is MJ from katy, I used to ship a lot of stuff to TANKS which would be where I recommend he go if he was to buy a paintball gun. He just needs to know if they are in fact .68 and what they chronograph at,. If I had to guess it would be 200fps and he would want to have them set it at TANKS since they should have a chrono. http://www.tankspaintball.com/content/
The guy that owns it called me the day we had a ice storm and was surprised I answered the phone. He said I must have 4x4 and I told him I drove to work in a dodge caravan, I'm just not from Texas.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 10-29-2014).]
The gel balls have to be stored in a dry cool place--preferably in air conditioning since I am in East Texas.
quote
The capsule coating is softgel and sensitive to ambient humidity. Do not expose to relative humidity above 50% or temperatures above 70F for any extended period, such as 1 - 3 hours. or this may affect the level of capsule fragmentation.
(I don't think I've ever seen an E. Texas summer day with humidity as low as 50%)
I know these gel bals are pretty fragile AND, it doesn't shoot the balls terribly hard. I had the salesman shoot me with one of the practice balls and it did not sting at all, which is good. A hard stinging hit would spook the animal into a run----and all it takes is one to spook and off they all go, so I am guessing it fires the ball at less velocity than a regular paintball. Recommended range on this is 15-30 ft max. The reviews I read said to be careful with the balls--if one is dropped on a hard surface it will rupture.
What is the normal range on a regular recreational paintball gun?
Cost is not the real factor Steve--time and stress is. It takes me most of 1 day to gather, pen and run my herd thru a chute to either spray or use a pour-on--or apply fly ear tags, and since I got into beefmaster cattle, some of my cattle are horned--it is potentially dangerous. Doing that several times (about every 3 weeks) from early spring thru late fall is a pita, since I work by myself. It's just never good to have to run them thru the chute and headgate anymore than absolutely neccessary--stress causes all kinds of problems. That's what I am trying to get away from, and if this company does get approval for a dewormer as well as fly control, that's 2 problems taken care of without running them down the chute.
Then I would stay away from the regular paintball guns, they sting at close range. And I understand about the stress and dangers involved so I would stay with the regular gun they recommend, it must have some kind of way it keeps the velocity lower than them, they are quite accurate at a lot longer range and like I said sting like a bastard. But many of those optional equipment like large air tanks might be cheaper at a paintball supplier store or online.
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-29-2014).]
A paintball gun is fine as long as it's the right caliber and it's chronographed right. The paintball gun is a much better option, not only is it likely to be 100 times more reliable if you buy something like a tippmann 98. If it breaks(unlikely), TANKS just a little over a hour away and open on weekends will have parts and be able to fix it. Tippmann also has great cs and rarely charges for mailed in out of warrantee repairs.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 10-29-2014).]
The gel balls have to be stored in a dry cool place--preferably in air conditioning since I am in East Texas.
(I don't think I've ever seen an E. Texas summer day with humidity as low as 50%)
Then do you have a fridge for you animals medication? if not I would only buy what is needed for each dosage of the heard and not try to save any, we store most of our animal meds in a small dorm size fridge.
Do not store in a fridge, it's too dry and will make them even more brittle. But what do I know after working in a distribution warehouse, a paintball proshop and managing a paintball park.
The best thing to do is to call the company and just ask the caliber and what fps they need to be shot at. How could you calibrate it not knowing what fps it should shoot at? The springs will break down over time and it will need to calibrated at some point.
And since we are talking about paintball I feel obligated to post a cool paintball video
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 10-30-2014).]
Paintball guns come in .50 and .68, most common is .68. I'd guess these ball are .68.
If your interested in this your best bet is a pump gun, semi autos like the one in the video will be fine but blowback semi auto paintball guns don't like to be put in the closet for a year and work when they come out. Some will be fine but the design doesn't look familiar with this one and chances are it will be finicky.
A 20oz tank will get you about 1500 shotsrecomend plus or minus depending on the gun, a c02 tank should run you $24-$30, cost around $5 to fill and you'll neen a hopper if it's not included that should be sub $10 and it will hold 200 rounds. here are a few I that should have no problems after being stored.
I'm actually pretty disappointed in the pump selection, I've only been out of paintball as short time and some of the good stuff is already discontinued.
Here's the semi auto gun that should work when you dust it off http://www.ansgear.com/Tipp...8psactbasicblack.htm One of my favorite guns long discontinued used a small propane tank and got 50,000 shoots off one tank. I have one, I think the serial number is in the double digits.
I didn't actually measure the size of the gel balls, but I would estimate they are very close to 1" diameter, if not a little more. Certainly more than .750" (3/4"). From the paintballs I've seen and held, I don't think a standard pantball would hold enough insecticide volume to do much good--since they are .50 and .68 (1/2" and 5/8" dia) respectively.
Pursuant to that, looking into it a little further, I did find this as well:
quote
Question: Can a paintball gun be used to deliver VetCaps?
Both technically and legally a standard paintball cannot be used to project a VetCap. Technically, a VetCap is almost twice the diameter of a standard recreational paintball. A standard paintball is 2.68ml ; and Aim-L VetCap is a 10ml (approximately 4x the volume) . The VetGun is specially designed and engineered to project these EPA-approved softgel encapsulated pesticide VetCaps. The design accommodates the precise diameter of a VetCap as well as the necessary velocity required to project the VetCap to a required distance of 15-30 ft and fragment upon impact, yet not rupturing in the VetGun, and without causing undue harm or stress to the animal. So technically it is not possible to use a VetCap in a standard paintball gun. Legally, the EPA approved AiM-L VetCap product label specifically provides for application using a SmartVet approved device only - the VetGun. By law, the use of another device to project an AiM-L VetCap constitutes a federal offence as it is using a pesticide contrary to its EPA approved label. Furthermore, the VetGun remote delivery system and VetCaps are patented products, so any effort to replicate in any way would be infringing on the patents.
So using a recreational paintball gun is a non-starter.......but, if a similar manufacturing process is used for this particualr gun, and painball guns are fairly reliable and rgged, you have answered my questions--BUT, untill EPA/FDA approves other medications for this application, I think I'll pass on it. Horn flys and lice are but 2 of several different external parasites we have to control. You still have to treat for heel flies, warber flies/grubs, and the company has not yet gotten EPA/FDA approval for internal parasite control (a dewormer) to be applied in this manner. I currently use a pour-on or feed based de-wormer. IF, they already had approval for other medications, I'd be all over this product and had one on the way--but that's the deal breaker for now.
I appreciate the replies and insight into an area I knew nothing about!!!
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 10-30-2014).]
, well try it once or twice then ya will know why not to do it. 
