Airsoft Ammo Sting Grenades

[nbk2000]

I've been thinking about a way of using airsoft BB's as a non-lethal weapons load.

The problem is that the BB's are hollow plastic spheres, and very light, which is also their advantage.

So driving them to sufficient velocity using explosives, while at the same time avoiding crushing them, seemed problematic.

Then I remembered how the original designers of the Claymore mine were having the same problem with driving their fragments. They solved it by using a frangible plastic binder.

The same concept would work for the BB's, but the epoxy used by the Claymore would present fragment hazards in and of itself.

Then I remembered about someone on the forum using water/starch as a dilatant binder. That is, a material that goes rigid upon being shocked, but reverts to a viscous fluid upon relief of pressure.

So I'm thinking that a grenade sized polyethylene container (punch-drink bottle) filled with a water/starch/airsoft BB mix, with a small explosive burster in the center (~5gms) would be useable as a very painful distraction device.

Upon detonation, the water/starch goes solid, providing something for the explosions gases to push against, with the BB's trapped within the dilatant binder gaining velocity. Once it's traveled a few feet, the material goes liquid again, releasing the BB's.

Silly Putty is the same kind of material, only it's a solid, so it'd be better for long-term storage. Water/starch is practically free, plus it'd go liquid (unlike the silly putty) thus reducing hazard.

Because of their light weight, airsoft BB's lose velocity very quickly, and are unlikely to harm the thrower at any distance, while still providing enough OOMPH at close range to hurt the target.

[Ropik]

I don't know if it would be suitable, but I know several airsoft players that use "grenades" made from BBs, gypsum(plaster) and firecracker. Substitute the firecracker with something bigger and there you go. True, it can be a bit fragile, but it should be durable enough for a non-lethal grenade and can be fabricated much faster than using silly putty.

[nbk2000]

I've seen various designs of the kind you're talking about, but they never seemed suitable.

The pre-fabbed kind have only a few dozen BB's and a firecracker for a propelling charge.

Weak.

I got the idea for using silly putty from the patent for the MCCM less-lethal claymore, where they use it (or something similiar) as a binder for the rubber balls.

The purpose behind these would be to have something that you could use in very close proximity to your choosen target, that would provide enough pain to distract/disable the target, while at the same time not presenting a fragmentation hazard to you.

Say you're ten feet from your target, on the otherside of a pillar in a parking structure, when they come by. If you threw a lethal frag, you are WAY too close, and very likely to get hit by ricocheting fragments.

Blast grenades reduce fragment hazard, but then you get hit with the blast yourself.

'Stingers' like these seem like a good intermediate step.

They'd provide more power than simple flash-bangs, yet reduce hazards to the operater.

Attached is a picture of a commercially manufactured sting-ball grenade. These are what I have in mind.

[Ropik]

Airsoft grenades you can buy are politically correct, weak, expensive and ineffective. *spits* The kind I am talking about is the one some airsofters make themselves: get a toilet paper tube, fill it with BBs, stick your chosen propelling thingy in center of BBs, make a thin gypsum and pour that over BBs. When it sets, you rip the paper away and have a several hundred of BBs enveloping chosen charge.
The silly putty is very good in regard that it won't injure anyone(probably), but it would be time consuming to knead the putty and BBs together. Just a thought, what about substituting some plumber's silicone, liquid theatrical latex or similar material instead of gypsum in the design I described above? With some solvent it should be thin enough to flow between BBs, but after hardening you would have compact, tough rubber lump, which would be all transformed into stinging pieces during the detonation

[Jacks Complete]

Silly putty shatters when hit, so it seems like a good idea, except it costs (though you can make it at home, there's a recipe about somewhere online) and it also flows when warm.

I think that perhaps using scored silicone might work. It could be the actual projectile, as it would split along the score lines.
Silicone could simply go in a mould, then be wrapped around the charge, with the scoring already moulded into it. It's cheap, inert and resists shock quite well (cushioning the charge and det.), but would still tear easily.

[nbk2000]

In the MCCM (Less-Lethal Claymore), they use an organic gelatin (Water/Guar Gum) with propylene glycol added to act as a bacteriostat/humectant to preserve it during storage.


The soft pellets 40 are suitably fixed within the pellet matrix 22 of the crowd control munition 10 for retention therein prior to detonation of the explosive 50, and ejection therefrom during detonation of the explosive 50. Preferably the pellets 40 are retained in the pellet matrix 22 with an inert gelatin 32.

The inert gelatin 32 comprises a suitably viscose or adhesive property to sufficiently retain the pellets 40 during handling prior to detonation. A preferred composition for the inert gelatin 32 comprises a propylene glycol, water and gum guar mixture, such as that sold by Binex Inc. of Murray, Utah under the tradename Gel.

Although non-liquid pellet holders may be used, their use is not favored as they present additional debris from the crowd control munition 10 on detonation that may cause additional injury to people within the crowd.


Jell-O, using RV winterizing anti-freeze if so desired, would be suitably harmless I'd think. Though I still like the idea of using a dilatant binder for maximum velocity.

Silly putty is made by the reaction of Silicone oil with Boric acid. Wonder if silicone brake fluid would work...

[jkenny]

Well, would you be able to use H2 and O2 gas as the propellant/explosive?

I'm thinking you can make some sort of airtight cardboard enclosure for the hydrogen and just glue the BB's on the outside. This seems like an easy solution, seeing as hydrogen has a fast burn rate, but is relatively weak.


Airtight and cardboard aren't two words you often see together. Glue BB's to cardboard, then use weak gas mix to propel them? Oh, that's a good one. :rolleyes:

How about this; use superglue to attach BB's to toilet paper roll, put two drops of water in it, and convert it into H and O using THERMITE, igniting the gas mixture at the same time and fearing 'em up with yyour l33t toylet grapnel shrenade!!?!@!)


(From another post he made...)

I'm pretty sure I found this site while reading something about KNO3 on totse.com forums.


TOTSE?!?

Oh, God! THE PAIN!! MAKE IT STOP!!! puts gun barrel in mouth, pulls trigger *BANG!*

[Chaosmark]

So, randomness from my rather innocent activities as a youth: make a casing out of paper-mache'. It'd be decently solid, but combining it with the water/starch/pellet filler and some sort of LE or a higher-power firework would make for a decent stinger grenade. I'll have to try that when I get the chance...

[Sausagemit]

NBK, did you realize that you can get 6mm airsoft bb's as heavy as 0.43 grams (standard is 0.12 to 0.25 grams). When they are that heavy they fly a lot further and hurt a lot more when shot out of the proper gun or used in the proper grenade :D

I use the 0.43g ones in my somewhat homemade gas pistol and it can draw blood through clothing at over 100 feet but still doesn't penetrate the skin when fired at close range, just breaks the skin around the point of impact.

[nbk2000]

Yes, I'm aware. I do a lot of research on topics of interest to me. ;)