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New Belt-fed 40mm launcher

TDS

By TDS,
in Airsoft News

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TDS

TDS

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Aprilprototype.jpg

Grip, stock, and aesthetics incomplete as of that picture

 

For those that have been following the development of the launcher it has been a long time in the making, but we are finally to the point of taking orders for a "just in time for Christmas" delivery. The machine shop has given me a time line for the final parts to be delivered this month, so the assembly and anodizing will be the final steps for the first batch. I have contacted many of you that have shown an early interest and will honor the original cost of $1300.00 . The Future price will be higher unfortunately for now until we outsource some of the more complex parts to shops that can handle them most cost effectively.

 

The Eclipse is a pneumatically powered, semi automatic 40mm launching platform. This entry is the final pre-production prototype. The firing cylinder and drive cylinders are external in this variation. There is no spring in place or drive rod guard at the time these photos were taken. The trigger and mechanical safety as well as the rubber grip is missing too. The production model is going to be anodized black. There will also be a keyed system instead of the front clamp/spindle connection. The drive stars will be Delrin and the bore sight area will also have a round appearance instead of the box. A few hose clean ups and a stock/foregrip and you get the idea.

 

 

The launcher excells at indirect fire with "10ft kill zone" style rules supplying a unit with a safe rapid-fire area of effect solution to anything behind cover at basically any range that airsoft guns are effective at.

The launcher currently requires an external gas rig running at under 350psi, however a "onboard" gas version that is scaled down for airsoft use may be produced in the future.

 

openbelt.jpg

 

The Launcher is designed to be convertible between a breech loader and a semi automatic action. It can also accept adaptation between 40mm and 54mm barrel bores.

 

One of the innovations is a quick change radial receiver. It consists of two star shaped drives that accept a six round belt of ammunition that wraps around a spindle and connects to itself, allowing for a rapid change of spent ammunition belts by simply breaking the belt in any number of different ways such as Velcro, snaps, hooks bands or pins. The receiver is also adaptable to accept ammo boxes that feed from various angles to the drive system. These can be in various sizes and capacities. One other way to feed the launcher is by a belt feed adapter that can accept a continuous belt. Selectively replaceable rounds is another possible configuration.

 

PaintballOrdnanceWarheadRocket.jpg

 

Another innovation is the bore sight that is located to allow easy viewing into the receiver for determining if a live round is chambered to launch. It is made of a product called Makrolon that is 30 times the strength of acrylic and 200 times stronger than tempered glass. The material is cut into the shape of a cylinder and trapped in the valve body in a way to allow passage of the pressurized air during launch. Small holes drilled into the rear disc allow viewing of the other 5, non chambered rounds. This increases awareness of current ammunition status.

 

boresightview.jpg

 

The gun is fired by allowing air trapped in a volume chamber to pressurize a cylinder and piston that is of a greater surface area than the valve it is connected to. As the firing cylinder is pressurizing, but before the valve is shifted, another smaller piston is pressurized and extends a steel pin with a spring load along a track and in a groove on a cam in a straight line. The steel pin extends as it falls off a ledge in the groove pattern of the cam drive. When the launcher is fired and the main volume chamber that feeds the entire system is emptied, the small cylinder will retract and the steel pin will index the cam drive to the next round of ammunition. At this point the main firing valve would have retracted as well and the next volume of air would be raising the pressure in the launcher once more.

 

The cam drive is similar to that of Paul Mauser's 1878 Zig-Zag revolver patent, but with modified ramping to reduce friction during indexing.

 

exposedprotomechanism.jpg

 

The multi force valve choke reduces the amount of air reaching the ammunition and in turn reduces the velocity of the ammunition. This is useful in close combat situations when a high velocity shot is not desirable and it allows for range adjustment as well.

 

The barrel system can be adapted for a pneumatic or manually powered telescoping of the barrel to allow for a choked or increased pattern of shot paintball or bb's.

 

The cam drive sytem can have various sized star shaped drives interchanged as well as variable lengths to allow for different sized ammunition. This allows the launcher to be kept at it's lightest configuration for the given task.

 

The launcher also fires sabots made from a biodegradable corn starch based foam material similar to biodegradable packaging peanuts, but made to fit the subsequent bore size. This negates the need to track down all of the sabots from previous shots to keep from excessive litter.

 

Recoil is very satisfying and a "reverse compensator" may be produced later to increase it.

 

It has also tested successfully with the Scepter 40mm grenades and the Paintball Ordnance Warhead Rocket.

 

The launcher was specifically designed for minimal after-initial-purchase costs, the shells can be made by the end user at basically no cost (they are simply empty tubes) and "bb" shells can be made nearly as easily (aluminium stock with 6mm holes drilled through them and wadding) or ordered as required.

 

IMG_6861.jpg

 

No cheap plastics are involved in its construction, the difference between the military/law enforcement and civilian versions is simply the addition of safeties and scaling down its max possible output

 

40mm bore

semi automatic action tested to 1 round per .75 seconds

Variable length volume chambers

Variable length barrels

Multi force valve choke option

Multi range indexable barrel option

50-300psi operating range tested with high pressure air. CO2 should also prove effective.

Pneumatic and mechanical safeties

350 psi safety relief valve

Positive force piston valve launching mechanism

Manufactured of Aluminum (6061 and 7075) and Stainless Steel. These materials are anodized and nickel plated respectively.

Viton or Silicone o-rings and washers

Precision sealed bearings

Makrolon bore sight

Colt 1911 Style pistol grip

 

Patents pending

 

$1300.00usd

 

Firing videos of it firing paintballs can be viewed on youtube

 

 

 

In order to keep email volumn down, please post Questions or PM me

Ordering information and more pictures are at www.eclipselauncher.com

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the cleaner

the cleaner

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if it's set up for 40-54mm grenades. . what's preventing "someone" from shooting real grenades from them. . whether it be for law enforcement or the general public/airsofter? Even if they get one round off before the aluminum built launcher explodes. . .your pushing the wrong buttons. I see the BATF in your future.

 

There a reason why LE (law enforcement) use 37mm grenades/launchers and why those are also legal for civilians. . .

 

Airsoft 40 mm lauchers are undersized so that real 40mm grenades won't fit.

 

(nice product though, don't get me wrong)

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TDS

TDS

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if it's set up for 40-54mm grenades. . what's preventing "someone" from shooting real grenades from them. . whether it be for law enforcement or the general public/airsofter? Even if they get one round off before the aluminum built launcher explodes. . .your pushing the wrong buttons. I see the BATF in your future.

 

Allready taken care of

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TDS

TDS

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ZOMFGKTHNXBAIBBQ!? :blink:

 

I just want to run around with bandoliers of grenade ammo hanging off my chest like Arnold! Hiliahhiliahailiahliah :D

 

You are the ideal person for the launcher then actually

Anyone who has ever run a grenadier loadout knows how much of a pain they are, for example if you run a revolving launcher with 20 shells, you've payed more than the eclipse, and now have to keep track of 20 valves, 60 seals, 240 barrels to fill, and have to fill each shell the exact same way every time so that you can hit what you are aiming at beyond 50ft

 

With the eclipse everything is launcher inclusive, its going to shoot the same way every time, all you need to do is load the foam football or sabot in the shell "tube", and you are done, making more shells yourself is as easy as getting the metal and cutting it the right length, maybe cleaning up the edges, and will cost you about 25-50cents per go.

 

 

Damnit. If I wasn't so poor, I'd definately get one- seems it'd cost quite a bit to even load it.

The uber-CQB weapon.

Ah, well.

 

Well yeah if you fill the entire tube with bb's it will take a thousand or so, you can go with sabots (like dixie cups that open up about a foot from the barrel and hit the ground in another 3 or so feet) or bb-rounds that have funnel-like internals that make the load more reasonable. Its really a good idea to ignore the whole bb-launcher m203 nonsence that airsoft uses and use it the way a grenade launcher should be used, to lob foam "grenades" and "blow up" people hiding in buildings or behind cover.

 

Spray it black and you've got the Grenade Launcher from Goldeneye 64. Looks completely amazing.

 

It will be anodized black

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TDS

TDS

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IS there a way to shorten up the barrel and can you attach a stock?

 

Also can the bandoleer in the gun be say 20 rds and hang down from the gun?

 

And last but not least does it use external or do you fill up a chamber before you go out to play?

 

I am really interested in one of these.

 

 

The expansion chamber under the barrel and barrel can be shortened to just about nothing, what is pictured is the longest model setup for military use, like I said its a prototype ATM, the finished version should be together and I can have pictures up later this month. You want the expansion chamber to be roughly half the volume of the barrel, reducing its length is as simple as taking it apart and hacksawing, they as long as you dont take a hacksaw to any of the heavily machined parts they are very easy to replace locally, or through the company, the gun is designed for ease of repair and use.

 

Yes you can have as many rounds hanging off the gun that you want, however I think you are underestimating how clumsy that would be, what I would suggest is you make a bunch of shells in 3 round segments, and you can add/remove from the belt dynamically as you play, with 20 or so rounds in the belt you are going to be smacking your knees against it or have the belt jumping around whenever you move it'll be a bad situation trust me. if you want to have a deployable support weapon out of it, you want a boxmag, a gigantic free swinging belt is going to be a pain to manage but I dont see why it wouldn't work as long as you didnt catch it on something and drag it off the gun. I would be somewhat worried about tripping over the belt, its a very very robust gun, but if you step on the belt coming out of the gun and then fall on it, I mean comon I cant guarantee anything there, if the gun survives intact (it should) or if you get hurt on the gun.

 

Currently it requires a remote rig, however I haven't tested it yet if you kept the expansion chamber at its current length you could probably get a whole bunch of shots, maybe 20 or more out of it with the pressure choke all the way down. but your firing velocity wont be very consistent due to the lack of liquid in the system. For attaching a stock, you could definatly drill a hole side-to-side through the grip area and do a folding over-the-top style shotgun stock which would also help hold your belt in position or a gas-tank-is-the-stock paintballish solution.

Realistically its all around easier to just deal with the hose, all you do is get some elastic bands from anywhere, and wrap them around your sling, run the tube through the sling and to the gun. Any classic airsoft player can tell you it works and doesn't slow you down, at least not nearly as much as this crazy 20 round belt you want to run around with, haha.

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Chris North

Chris North

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I think you may have answered some of these questions already, but reading my comprehension is low at this point.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what is your affiliation with the company?

 

What do you mean by "$1300 is just the price for those that have shown an early interest?" How are the parts manufactured? $1300 seems really low for something like this, how much more do you think it will cost in the near future?

 

About how much does this thing weigh?

 

It looks like a really mind blowing product. Is it marketed more toward any specific market, or just really an all around sort of thing?

 

 

 

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TDS

TDS

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What do you mean by "$1300 is just the price for those that have shown an early interest?" How are the parts manufactured? $1300 seems really low for something like this, how much more do you think it will cost in the near future?

 

About how much does this thing weigh?

 

The $1300 price is for the first run, after that I cannot guarentee what will happen to it. The price is so low, because frankly, you are used to paying for distributors, excess staff, sales staff, store staff, R&D and the like, the cost is so low because of virtually no overhead costs and the folks involved arent buying themselves BMW's like escort ;-). *obligatory escort stab*

I'll get back to you on exact weight

 

 

 

just needs a mk19 casting. ;)

As of this time no replica "shell's" are planned due to the small market within a small market.

 

 

My only negative critisism isn't with the product but that using nerf sabots or whatever is hard to implement into a game as they are more or less silent when they hit the ground.

There are a few solutions to that, one is using nerf "howler" footballs, when the person hears the thing howling to them they have a much closer idea to where it landed (and are easier to recover too) one other thing ive heard of but not seen is cutting the foam round in half, hollowing it out, and putting a small plastic or aluminum tube inside deep enough that it poses no threat, with holes drilled in it to the outside then gluing it all together, when the round impacts the foam on the front of the shell "smushes" forcing air through the thin tube and then out the holes in the side, giving it a good "phump" when it impacts

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  • 3 weeks later...
Riki-o

Riki-o

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Amazing...how long is the $1300 price tag going to be available for? is it still in effect?

 

Also it looks like it's just a 6 shooter in the picture.....but what is the belt made of? nylon strapping/elastic?

 

Can you take a picture of the gun with a long belt on it or something?

 

 

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