Bioval 'Golf Ball' Styled BB - looks promising.

[Ilya_7]

Article is Here and has a crude but cool looking draft of the prototype.

I was kind of wondering when someone would emulate the evolution of the golf ball on a smaller scale - of course the article is from the product's creators so it probably carries a bit of bias and the tests spoken of are rated with words like "far better" or "more accurate" instead of actual measurements to make the point.

Either way I think the idea is at the least inventive and ambitious and could do a good job of changing the face of accuracy/distance in our sport and maybe more so for snipers? Guess we'll have to wait for some final products to be released and reviewed.



btw hope this isn't a repost or old news as it is new to me and i didn't see it when i searched. someone let me know if it is tho.

[Skladfin]

they dont give numbers.

skeptical still

[Auhydride]

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=65541
Well we are going try if these will work, i will try to get my tokyo marui pro sniper from our customs tomorrow, the ballistic expert that designed the bullet and the barrel believes they will make a grouping of 10 Cm at 40 meters in normal conditions, after the first tests, we might consider producing the bullets via injection, first ones will be CNC though.
The golf ball idea sounds good, but we are not using golf clubs, but barrels, which can allow us to fire non spherical bullets.

Aegs use BBs because they are easy to manufacture in massive amounts, easy to load, and use in gun mechanisms, they can be used in various energy levels, while bullet shaped projectiles and rifling for these bullets need to be calculated for different speeds and masses, etc. Though for normal aegs, yeah those bbs can be good.

[Ilya_7]

Originally Posted by Skladfin

they dont give numbers.

skeptical still

thought the same thing, but I'll stay hopeful that there are some improvements over the smooth sphere until/if its proven that the dimples will make no real gain in accuracy/distance etc. but if the gains are significant I'll be jumping on the bandwagon pretty quick.

P.S. Auhydride, I was reading your thread and I hope your design preforms great as well, but these - if they offer a great advantage - also require no modding to the mag, the gun internals (unless maybe only the inner barrel) unlike a non spherical projectile. just different ideas, both with a possibility of enhancing the game.

[Luckless]

The biggest issue I see with a dimpled ball to improve range is that you are going to have some really funky things happening in the barrel as it is being accelerated. For a golf ball all the force comes from an initial fractional second contact and then it is off to the races with all the spin and everything the club gives it. However, with an airsoft weapon firing these things we'll get a far slower acceleration, and possibly odd spins from air escaping around the ball at varying rates/angles. While it could greatly improve things, it also has the ability to greatly muck things up.

[Syn]

IIRC on the discover channel airsoft bb too small to benefit from dimpling like golf balls. I can't wait for testing result to find out who is right.

[Schlyder]

Originally Posted by Syn

IIRC on the discover channel airsoft bb too small to benefit from dimpling like golf balls. I can't wait for testing result to find out who is right.

I can't wait to hear the results either. I am well aquainted with golf. (I am a Golf Professional for one of my careers.) It will be interesting to say the least. If the spin can be controled and fine tuned for performance. You will see dimples on BBs if they can get the manufacturing process down pat, and at a reasonable cost.
But I can tell you that a smooth golfball flies like a brick compared to a dimpled one. With a driver, it will fly out about 100 yrds and take a nose dive, where a dimpled ball will take off and fly 260 yrds. But on that smaller scale it will be interesting to see the effects. And if it will be enough to change the design of BBs. A good center balanced BB is be more important, I believe. When and where can results of this testing be seen??

[Skladfin]

what's the physics behind this?

[Ilya_7]

it seems like they are also giving themselves tons of time to work out the details and test it to no end as it due out at the end of '09 - over a year away!

[Cheesevillage]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_ball#Aerodynamics


Seems the dimples will amplify our hopup.

[Luckless]

Originally Posted by Cheesevillage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_ball#Aerodynamics


Seems the dimples will amplify our hopup.

Provided increased turbulence in the barrel doesn't negate your hopup altogether.

[Syn]

Some interesting posting:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=325812

[grantmac]

I just ran the numbers and the Renolds number for a 6mm BB at 120m/s is about 48000. Which means that dimples will most likely have little effect. However it is entirely possible that my understanding of the problem is less that required to make that judgement. I do know that introducing dimples will make for less drag in the barrel but possibly a harder surface to polish.
I think a shaped projectile has more potential for a sniper type of round.
Cheers,
Grant