How to Increase the Velocity and Range Of Gel Blasters?

2022-11-01

First of all, as we all know, the principle and structure of the launch mechanism first determine the upper limit. At present, the firing principle of most gel blasters and electric airsoft is basically the same.

In this way, there are mainly several interference terms that affect the range.
1. The thrust of the gel balls
2. The influence of the gel balls itself

The first point, the biggest factor limiting the velocity and range is the elasticity of the spring and the air volume of the cylinder

The cylinder volume also determines the gas volume, and the basic gas volume is fixed.
[In some cases, holes will be made in the cylinder to reduce the air volume to improve performance, mainly to avoid excess air affecting the ballistics]

The easiest way to increase the thrust is to replace a thicker and more powerful spring to compress the gas faster and release more energy, but this method is related to the material quality of the gearbox. Electric airsoft that fire plastic bullets generally use metal materials to make gearboxes, so they can withstand very strong springs, but most of the gearbox shells of gel blasters are still nylon, if you use too strong spring, it will easily lead to damage to the gearbox.

Replacing stronger springs is also not a one-size-fits-all solution. The biggest problem is that the gel ball is too fragile compared to plastic BBS, and the excessive gas energy will lead to a very serious problem of gel ball fragmentation. Even if you switch to tougher gel balls, you can reduce the chance of fragmentation to a certain extent. However, excessive air volume will also affect the ballistics together with the instability of the inner tube and the large dimensional tolerance of the gel ball, and the ballistics will become unstable.

The second point, the tolerance of the gel ball size

The level of tolerance control of plastic BBS and gel balls varies greatly, and the main cause of this problem is the material used. The standard diameter of high-quality plastic BBS is 5.95mm, and the weight is divided into 0.12g, 0.2g, 0.25g, 0.28g according to different specifications. The raw material is hard plastic, which is easy to process and control tolerance. Using unmodified mainstream electric air guns to launch, the effective range can generally reach about 130-165 feet, and the range may be increased by 40 feet after fine adjustment.

Most of the gel balls are manufactured as dry bombs with a diameter of about 2mm. It needs to be soaked in water for several hours before use to allow it to expand to its limit size. This is the secondary reason that affects the tolerance. Due to this principle, the tolerance of the size of the gel ball is difficult to control, and the use of different water quality, or even the squeezing of the water bombs during the soaking process, will affect the quality of the final gel ball. The diameter of the gel ball after soaking is generally 7-8mm, and the weight is usually below 0.2g.

Sometimes the quality of the purchased gel balls depends on luck. There are differences in the yield rate of each batch. A bag of high-quality water bombs has a diameter of 7.0-7.4mm after soaking, and a general gel ball may be 6-7.8 mm. mm. It can be seen from the above data that although the weight of the gel ball is slightly lighter than that of the plastic BBS, the difference is not large, while the diameter of the water bomb is one millimeter larger, which causes greater air resistance, and at the same time, the quality of the gel ball is uneven. It also further shortens the effective range. Use mainstream water bomb launchers with normal performance to launch water bombs, with an effective range of about 50 to 80 feet.

In theory, some excellent gel blasters have to adjust the gearbox, replace the gears, stabilize the inner tube, air-tight and lubricate and so on. Then, factors such as battery power, motor performance, spring force, cylinder gas volume, inner tube length, water bomb diameter and water elastic toughness are considered comprehensively. Debugging for the purpose of maximizing performance and achieving a certain balance. Then use the toughest gel balls on the market, strictly control the size of the gel balls (screen with a sifter), and use a towel to dry the surface moisture, which will definitely increase the effective range to a very impressive level.