The Grenade Launcher / Paintball Shotgun

This was the third launcher I built. I had nothing but compliments (and glazed looks of awe) on the field. I won't go into great detail in the creation of this launcher as it can never be duplicated. It contains no plastic or PVC parts. It is built out of galvanized metal, a couple of brass fittings, fiberglass filler and many hours of TLC.

The Grenade Launcher Concept.....
With the previous launchers I never liked the idea of loading shells down the front of the barrel. I decided to make a rear loading barrel. The barrel is 1 1/2" and made from galvanized pipe. My shells fit both the galvanized barrel on this launcher and the PVC barrel on the other ones. You simply tip up the back, slide in a shell and with a hard pull of the trigger send the shell flying. I ranged it at 100 - 125 feet using the small shells. Acceptable, but not jaw-droppingly impressive eh?

The Shotgun Concept.....
With the introduction of the rear loading barrel, I designed a shotgun type shell for paintballs. I absolutely don't believe in gluing paintballs together as it could cause serious injury! The shells hold 18 paintballs. You load the shell into the back of the launcher and pull the trigger. 18 paintballs and a the wadding go flying while the shell remains in the launcher! Tip the barrel up, pull the shell and load in a new one. Range is only about 50-60 feet using paintballs, but when you're shooting 18 at once, whatta ya want???
Note : See my "Shells" page for info on how I make shells!

On to the pics....

 
Launcher with 12 gram adapter

 
Launcher with shells