Paintball in a USA Summer Camp

[lemonadeX]

Hi all,

So next month I'm going back to the US to work as the paintball specialist in a kids summer camp and I was wondering if you guys had any ideas of activities I can run with them - they range from 8-16 years old, so I can't really have the younger ones shooting each other!

In terms of facilities they have a small woodland gaming area with various natural and man-made bunkers with about 10 Tippmann's running off 12/20 ounce CO2 tanks ( ).

Last year I set up a firing range using old equipment but that gets boring pretty quickly for them. I was thinking of adapting it into a competition where they get scored for hitting certain targets. Anyone have any new ideas? Unfortunately they don't do safety like we do, so the less aiming guns at each other the better!

Thanks
Will

 

[spangley_special]

pop up targets, CQB style. Like the tutorials on CoD

 

[Tom]

I'll let you in on a secret design for pop up targets:

These consist of:
a base frame as solid as possible, and staked down
targets bolted to the frame that naturally swing forward & down
weight the upper half of the target to aid its drop (see safety note below)
a strong cord that preferably does not stretch
fix the cord coming out of the back of the target just above the point that it hinges
lay the cord backwards to a solid location, e.g a strong fence or tree(s)
bring it round the solid location - but feed it through tubing to reduce resistance
direct it back to an area alongside the firing point, and finish it with a pull handle

Have laminated printed targets pinned to each target board.
You can theme them, have peoples pictures, allocate points per target, have negative points for hitting friendlies etc

Laminated targets survive paintballs well if they are pinned well to the board, and can be cleaned off easily. If they are loose they are more likely to be broken by a paintball.
The laminate will allow paint/damp to seep in where thay are pinned so have plenty to swap when required.


You should be able to pull a cord to raise a relevant target, and if you release it should drop due to the weight
This means you can have a timed opportunity for someone to identify the target then fire

As an option position the hinged targets so they swing backwards, and then fix the cord just below the point that it hinges, that way instead of having it weighted to drop if not held up, you can try to balance the target so it drops when hit, then re-raise by pulling

If you have a number of frames you can have high value targets behind low value targets, especialy if you opt for the first design.

Give people a set amount of paint and flick targets.
They can be selective and try for high value hits, or go for fast shooting and catch the highest value target while it is up

Or set a time limit.
Raise low value targets for more time then the high values


Targets on a frame:

Note the extra spikes

Targets on a frame close up:

Note these were each bolted to one piece of wood on the side, this meant they required big solid bolts with a few washers, some lube, and tight nuts. They would work loose and wobble after a while so need checking to tighten. They would have been better with wood on either side which would allow the bolt to be tightened to the frame but loose with washers for the target to swing freely.

You can also see the spikes used to weight the target, and they are zip-tied in place (See safety note below!)

Targets behind each other:

Cord looped thirough a pipe at the back:

Target operator:

Safety note on weights
We used spikes on each target as a counterweight. The zip-ties were fine when targets were raised and dropped at a reasonable pace for 'contestants'.
At the end of the day when we played about with rapid target changes some of the spikes worked loose in zip-ties, and one went for a flight!

 

[GRIMLOCK]

Maybe this??

 

[onasilverbike]

You Camping up America again Gay Will?