Paintball marker with ball velocity control

1 . A paintball marker with a compressed gas driven paintball 46 firing mechanism comprising:

a bolt slidable within a firing chamber and having a channel therethrough;

a spool poppet valve having a large cross section portion and a smaller cross section portion, the larger cross section portion providing a seal against the bolt's channel, the smaller cross sectional portion comprising an O-ring that separates a channel, in which the spool poppet valve is slidably movable, into a front portion and a rear portion;

compressed gas that enters the spool poppet valve's channel, in both the spool poppet valve's separated front and rear portions, and pushes the spool poppet valve towards the bolt, which in turn moves with the spool poppet valve; and

a vent through which the spool poppet valve channel's rear portion can vent to atmosphere, and upon such venting, the compressed gas in the spool poppet valve channel's front chamber drives the spool poppet valve away from the bolt, breaking the seal between the spool poppet valve and the bolt's channel, and compressed gas in the spool poppet valve channel's front portion and compressed gas in the firing chamber exits through the bolt's channel to drive a paintball from the marker.

2 . The marker of claim 1 , wherein the bolt's channel and the spool poppet valve's channel are separated by a stopper O-ring that seals around the outside of the spool poppet valve's large cross-section portion, but through which the spool poppet valve's smaller cross-section portion freely passes, and wherein the firing mechanism has a firing chamber charging time during which compressed gas enters the firing chamber.

3 . The marker of claim 2 , wherein the compressed gas that enters the firing chamber enters through a port connected to the spool poppet valve's forward portion.

4 . The marker of claim 2 , further comprising a solenoid-driven pilot valve that controls the flow of compressed gas through a pilot valve into the spool poppet valve channel's rear portion, wherein the build-up of compressed gas in the spool poppet valve channel's rear portion drives the spool poppet valve towards the bolt; wherein the solenoid controls the vent by allowing compressed gas from inside the poppet valve channel's rear portion to release through the pilot valve to the vent.

5 . The marker of claim 4 , wherein the bolt, spool poppet valve, and pilot valve are coaxial.

6 . The marker of claim 4 , wherein the solenoid controls the pilot valve using a compressed gas driven piston.

7 . The marker of claim 4 , wherein the marker a forward direction is generally the direction of a barrel of the marker through which a paintball passes on firing, and a rearward direction is generally a direction opposite the barrel, wherein springs bias the bolt and the pilot valve in a rearward direction, and the marker uses compressed gas to overcome the bias in both springs.

8 . The marker of claim 7 , wherein compressed gas biases the spool poppet valve in a rearward direction when the pilot valve is not directing compressed gas into the spool poppet valve channel's rear portion.

9 . The marker of claim 1 , wherein the amount of compressed gas in the spool poppet valve channel's front portion and compressed gas in the firing chamber is controlled by a microprocessor.

10 . The marker of claim 9 , wherein the microprocessor controls the amount of compressed gas in reaction to data from a rangefinder that measures the distance between the marker and a target that the marker is aimed at.

11 . A paintball marker comprising:

a rangefinder that detects the distance between the marker and a target and relays said distance to a microprocessor;

a microprocessor that controls the velocity of a paintball as it is driven from the marker based on the distance, wherein the marker fires the paintball at lower velocity for a shorter distance and a higher velocity for a further distance.