Electrically operated paintball gun having hammer and bolt mechanism

In a gas-powered gun for filing balls, the gun having a barrel, a gun body section including a breech behind the barrel for receiving one ball at a time through a ball feed port, a trigger movably mounted in said gun body section, a bolt slidable within the breech to advance a ball to a shooting position and close off the feed port, and a regulator for supplying pressurized gas at a relatively low gas pressure, said regulator being adapted for connection to a source of relatively high pressure gas, the improvement comprising:

• a hammer rigidly connected to said bolt and movable therewith, said hammer being slidable in a sealable chamber formed in said gun body section between a rearward position and a front shooting position, said bolt and hammer together forming a ball shooting mechanism;
• means for biasing said shooting mechanism so as to move said hammer towards the rearward position;
• a solenoid valve having an inlet connected to said regulator and arranged to deliver said relatively low pressure gas to a rear side of said hammer for moving said ball shooting mechanism forwardly to the shooting position when said solenoid valve is in an open position;
• an electronic circuit for controlling said solenoid valve, said circuit including an electrical switch operated by said trigger;
• and
• valve means for permitting said relatively high pressure gas to flow into said barrel in order to propel a ball along and out of said barrel, said valve means being moved to an open position by engagement of said hammer in said front shooting position.

A paintball gun operable to fire paintballs, said gun comprising:

• a barrel;
• a gun body section attached to said barrel and including a breech section coaxial with said barrel and a movable trigger,
• a bolt mounted in said breech section and movable between a retracted position for paintball loading and a forward position for shooting a paintball;
• a hammer rigidly connected to said bolt and movable therewith, said hammer being slidable in a sealable chamber in said gun body section between a retracted position and a forward position;
• spring means for moving the combination of said bolt and said hammer to said retracted position after a paintball is shot;
• a first pneumatic circuit for delivering propellant gas at a relatively high pressure from a gas supply to said barrel for propelling said paintball therefrom, said first pneumatic circuit including a relatively high pressure gas valve;
• a second pneumatic circuit connected to receive pressurized gas from said gas supply and including a solenoid valve for delivering relatively low pressure gas to a rear end of said hammer for a short time interval in order to drive the combination of the hammer and the bolt from said retracted positions to their respective forward positions and thereby causing said hammer to strike said gas valve to open it and release said propellant gas to the barrel;
• and
• an electronic circuit adapted to operate said solenoid valve, said electronic circuit being operable by said trigger.