My brother is a fabricator and I've kicked some ideas around with him. Unfortunately, he's too busy with 2 jobs and a side business to get serious about the hobby. But, the basic idea that we had was to fabricate muzzle brakes and turn the existing airsoft barrels (MadBull, Systema, etc) to get the tapers and such. The Tiger's thicker base could be done by turning aluminum and securing it to the barrel (press fit or JB Weld, etc). It wouldn't be exactly in scale but it would be closer than you have now with the outer barrels.

TJM's turned MadBull for his PzIII gave me the idea.

Unfortunately, right now it's just an idea. I lack the tools and the know-how.

Hmmm... I don't know Oliver, please dont misunderstand me.... I believe what you're saying, but it strikes me as very odd in a way, maybe it has something to do with the relatively lightweight plastic BB's...?? Take the copper coated steel BB's or even the lead balls fired in black powder guns for example... rifling always improves accuracy with these over a smoothbore.

Rifling allows too much air to pass the round as it travels through the barrel negating performance gains. If we were propelling the rounds with something other then air it would work. We have a KSC Glock 19 blowback airsoft gun powered by propane. It shoots about 320fps using a very small amount of gas per shot. I do have plans to develop a gun like that based on Perry Ss design but it's development and testing has been shelved with all these other projects going on right now.

I don't think airsoft is a novelty or just for kids at Christmas, and I believe that the responses here show that there are a lot of others just like me out there. No local clubs or "tank buddy", no time to participate in clubs if there were or to start one, enjoy scale modelling to some degree, and enjoy the challenge of placing a 6mm pellet on target. For those of us that can't, or choose not to, engage in "sandbox warfare" [no harm intended - someone used that term once and I like it] having the airsoft gun adds to the realism of the model tank. Without the airsoft what would I do... drive a tank around my back yard. I could do that with an RC car...sounds kind of boring to me and if it were not for the airsoft I would not have purchased a larger scale tank in the first place. I started with a couple VSTank*R models, and still break them out once in awhile and IR battle my 10 yr old nephew, and I doubt I would have done much more than that.

It's been said here before... a tank is supposed to shoot. I am all for the added realism of a recoiling, scale barrel that can shoot accurately at what I would call a scale distance [hmmm, has that ever been calculated?] and the laser is a great addition becasue you don't need to be directly behind the tank to aim your shot.

I'll be first in line to add such a system to my HL Tigers and I think there'll be plenty of others right behind me.

well said Ern. thats how we got started, just by cruising and shooting around in the backyard.there are so many facets to airsoft fighting, wind, distance, elevation, moving paths, deflection, visibility, and yes there can even be damage to your tanks. but seeing multiple rounds streaking across a battlefield with armor advancing is breath taking. we work hard and play hard. in the end what we've learned and experienced gets transfered and taken to the final products. going into "live" combat with multiple tanks is the ultimate in adreniline rushes. there is no such feeling as a near miss to your tank from an unknown ambushed position. it really conveys a small sense of the total chaos that gripped the crews of the real deal. airsoft combat is not for the timid, but the payoff of hitting a target at 30 yards thats attempting to hit you is....well priceless.

ost - The difference between a bullet or a .50cal blackpoweder round is that they are all exactly the same size allowing for a much smaller tolerance in the barrel allowing for the rounds to actually touch the walls without concern. BB's aren't all the same and as a result the barrels are made to allow for these ever so slight differences in the bb's, and it really doesn't show any increase in accuracy. Another example of this at work is with paintball guns, look up the Tipman flatline barrel, it put hopup on the ball the same way our tanks do, but even more expensive barrels attempt rifling with very very limited results.

The main issue is most airsoft barrels are milled to 6.08mm, 'tightbores' as they are called can me milled as low as 6.02 or 6.03, but this allows for so much air to pass by the projectile you don't get the same affect as you do rifle round.

OK swathy and oliver... what you guys are saying makes sense now. I have a considerable background with real firearms and ballistics, and it just didn't make any sense to me that rifling would not improve accuracy, but what I failed to understand here was the limitations and physical charachteristics of the airsoft system. In the end I suppose to make rifling a viable system in our tanks you would either have to greatly increase the pressure behind the BB and/or make it from a material that would be soft enough to engage the rifling, yet hard enough that it wouldn't deform excessively. It's way beyond my capabilities, but I don't think any of these problems are insurmountable, and with as many talented and skilled members that we have in this hobby, I can forsee a time when rifling and improved accuracy might go hand in hand. One thing I've noticed with my airsoft tank guns is the BB's tend to curve off a bit to the left and right, up, down, etc. and hence the overall accuracy tends to be a bit unpredictable, but maybe I'm just expecting too much from what is basically a toy, after all, I used to be able to put a rifle bullet into a 2 inch circle at 200+ yards consistently..... I know... this is a totally unrealistic comparison, but I'm always trying to think of ways to improve/enhance performance, just like many of you guys do.

A smooth ball has too much drag so BB's need to be dimpled like golf balls to make them fly straighter and futher.

Well Scott you could always put a .22 autoloader inside! [:-] Imagine that coupled with a wireless camera and laser emitter! Varmints Beware!!

Imagine a 1/6 scale Tiger with an AR15 Shorty inside... MUUAAAHHHHAAAHHAAAAHHHH!!!!

I've had to step in and remove a couple of posts that were getting out of hand. I don't mind the discussion of beefing up Airsoft systems for use in RC Tanks, but let's draw the line at just Airsoft. Let's not get in to a discussion of putting real weapons on RC Tanks in any form or fashion. All that is going to do is draw attention from federal authorities, as well as get the thread removed. And I think we all want to avoid that. Let's keep it to just Airsoft.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Ken

Hey CreepingDeath... I don't know how I missed this on the first read, but are you claiming that your tanks will shoot accurately at 30 yards? [X(]

Yes you can pick a target out at 30 and hit it. several factors come into play wind being the most critical. if you've seen our tiger video there is a point where the tiger takes an pyrotechnic exposion to the side. when that sequence was being filmed our camera was at full digital zoom and the distance was well over 30 plus yards. in the cams view screen we centerd the barrel and rotated the turret to line up with the camera and fired. there through the lens i watched a small object come directly at me. I had a heavy winter jacket on and at 30 yards there was not alot of energy behind the bb, but it impacted on my jacket dead square in the chest. the magic is in the hop itself. without a a hop up the bb would have spiraled off course or ground impacted. the barrel was at 3/4 elevation (rough estimate). acurate straight shooting is a key to this kind of range. without the hop up it accuracy is completely lost.

Seems the 105mm size gun on the Panzers, M-26 and M-41 are just for the toy gun and for that reason, none of mine fire BBs. Appears to me that these guns could also be made in diffferent calibers to befit the tank on which it is to be mounted. Hey, they really do that on actual tanks! [X(]Business idea; another product line and charge for different caliber guns & types of ammo . [X(]
I can see the fun of shooting toy soldiers, but the main gun is never used against infantry unless you have the proper specific ammo....not a solid slug.[:@] That's why tanks have MGs. IR through the main gun tube would be the best way and insure accurate fire, not as the wide fan I have seen to get it somewhere near the target and acore a hit...or two. Would also teach RC tank
"veterans" that tank combat is not at all like hot rod nitro racers on tracks, uninhibited by speed, weight and the driving and maneuverability restrictions of a real tank. A secondary IR for the coax and bow MGs would be extremely realistic for use against troops and light vehicles. Also be a teaching tool in selecting weapons for appropriate targets. Embarrasing to get knocked out because you fired your coax against a tiger and got an 88 in return. [:@]
Everyone has their own likes and preferences and those with low velocity BBs can have a ball shooting each other and equally, many want to have IR and mushrooms in the TC hatch. That's what this forum is all about. Don't mean to step on anyone and not meaning to offend anyone by my remarks or ideas, but I am very museum and accuracy oriented and having been in the 1;1 tank shooting business, I like to keep my tank movements accurate as to how it really is. Modelling is historic accuracy....RC proper handling of the tank is respect to what is was capable of doing. I notice many German RC tankers are on this line of thought.

I don't think you're offending anybody with your line of thought. One of the great thing about this hobby is that you actually have a choice!

Do you want shoot other tanks with BB pellets? Sure! What if you don't want to over-sized barrels? You can buy a scaled barrel! You want to IR battle? You can certainly do that as well!

The main reason why I choose to personally give up the BB-firing capability of my tanks is because 98% of the time, my tanks basically sit on my shelf. That's why I go for looks and historical accuracy first before RC capability.

Great idea! What's the smallest BB pellets are out on the market today? 4mm?

To answer you question of a scale barrel, I've been getting a friend to lathe my barrel. I just put a lathed madbull barrel in my Jagdpanther. Not it not only looks great, it fires great. I was a little concerned with having such a long barrel firing hard as over time I've found the shorter the barrel the greater the chance of getting a hard hitting gun. I have a lathed barrel in my Panzer III and again it looks great. I'm also looking to modify the HL Panzer IV with a L43 main gun (using a lathed barrel) So it is possible to get a barrel that is better to scale. (thickness wise)

The hop up is really important if you want accuracy over long distances. When I put a gun together (upgraded airsoft unit attached to a tight-bore inner barrel) I usually put some sort of hop up in it. When putting a gun together sometimes the bb's will go straight at first try (and somethings left/right/ downwards). Once I know where it goes if needed I remove the barrel and rubber seal and add a small dab of silicone on the rubber seal opposite of where the bb went. That counters the natural spin and if everything works out I have a bb that flies with a pretty much flat trajectory (My Jagdpanzer can fire pretty much flat over 100feet and much farther if I just want to max the elevation of my gun