[KYhillbilly]

Just curious why this is not done. With the effort put into adding accuracy and distance a simple solution without changing the entire shape of the paint would be to add dimples similar to a golf ball.

Dimpled balls travel almost twice as far as ones without dimples and straighter as well. And the best part is they would be easy to make, you would just need to modify the molds you make the paint with.

Too bad I am not in the paintball industry I could make alot of money.

Assuming it would work but I cant think of why it wouldn't.

[p8ntballfreek790]

I don't think the consistency/density of the paint inside could support the dimples in the shell.

[nerve2030]

http://www.rap4.com/rap4-golf-paintb...les-a-258.html

[Zippin35]

Many issues. 1) Cost, changing the manufacturing process is not as simple as "o hey lets just change the molds". 2) The paint inside will have just as much of an effect on the flight as the shape. 3) consistency. We cant even get a bag of balls to be just uniformly round, adding dimples to the mix would make for worse consistency. Im sure there are more issues to be addressed and I am glad you are not in the paintball industry.

[robertseakykr]

Originally Posted by nerve2030

http://www.rap4.com/rap4-golf-paintb...les-a-258.html

Yeah, those are amazing

[NJEmortal]

Originally Posted by robertseakykr

Yeah, those are amazing

that's really interesting... I actually expected them to fly much better than your average ball, didn't expect the total opposite.

[Harribo]

Maybe it have to be heavier to take advantage of the dimples. But yeah those are pretty bad, like they can change direction several times during flight.

[ElJefe13]

If you've ever gotten a cheap bag of paint, you know why. When half the paintballs have dimples on them, and they can't shoot even remotely straight.
It would be very VERY hard to get consistent dimples on paintballs, and if you screw up one dimple, you could easily destroy the flight path of the paintball. It would not be profitable to market something like this.

[Zippin35]

^^ there is a distinct difference between a paintball with a dimple and a dimpled trajectory.

[p8ntballfreek790]

Originally Posted by Zippin35

^^ there is a distinct difference between a paintball with a dimple and a dimpled trajectory.

I think his point is that realistically it could never be profitable because of the inconsistency.

[ElJefe13]

Put it this way:
Your paint prices would go up from about 2 cents to about 35 cents per paintball. You might as well just buy First Strikes for 5 cents more and 20% more accurate than dimpled paintballs.

[R3L]

Dimples without spinning is a knuckle ball.

[Parasite]

Here is an OLD discussion on Automags.org from 2002 where they discuss the merits of dimpled paintballs...

[Bigjoe11]

Pick up some jt paint. I can assure you there will be plenty of dimples

[jsnp8nt]

Buy empire paint from websites, they almost always come dimpled

[YourGatcom]

Dye has a patent on it.

[ElJefe13]

Originally Posted by YourGatcom

Dye has a patent on it.

Really? I hadn't heard that.

[2pipes]

Golf balls do go further than paintballs. But distance is only thing they do as players don't shoot golf balls. Golf is a 2 dimensional game only the flat course matters. Paintball is much more 3 dimensional hence we see players diving under lanes at the break. As a player I want a flat trajectory on the balls so I can hit the player poping out snap shooting. Not looking to mortar the other team. Just saying

[randomdean]

The point no one has addressed is the fact that paintballs are accelerated by air pressure and golf balls are accelerated by brute force. Manufacturing issues aside this means that it will take more air pressure to get it up to the same speed, lowering efficiency, making you not able to shoot as brittle of paint, and costing more.

[aresfiend]

Originally Posted by randomdean

The point no one has addressed is the fact that paintballs are accelerated by air pressure and golf balls are accelerated by brute force. Manufacturing issues aside this means that it will take more air pressure to get it up to the same speed, lowering efficiency, making you not able to shoot as brittle of paint, and costing more.

This exactly, then you have to remember that a golf ball has a max weight of 45.93 grams whereas a paintball has a max weigh of 3.5 grams. A golf ball has a max weight over 13 times higher than that of a paintball and as such it's flight path isn't going to be as easily influenced like a paintball flight path can.