The facts are that consumer demand and advances in technology are constantly evolving (and improving) the sport of paintball. First Strike rounds have been around since 2009, and they were a major breakthrough for the industry when they were introduced. They were an answer to what many paintball consumers wanted: a projectile that was more consistent and predictable than a round ball. The introduction of this projectile was also important because it gave manufacturers a reason to advance their marker and barrel technology and develop new platforms capable of firing this new projectile. Now, there are many new manufacturers producing markers and accessories that are specifically designed for this type of projectile and that is great for the sport! The recent hype around First Strike rounds has given way to misconceptions, opinions, and frankly, wrong information being disseminated. The fact that First Strikes have been on the market since 2009, have been used extensively, and demand for the product has grown year over year is proof that they are still filling a need from a growing number of consumers. Demand for FSR tuned and specific guns, barrels and other accessories is at an all-time high, and have created an entire niche industry of manufacturing to further enhance the players experience.
Q: If FSR have been on the market so long, what have they not yet been included in the standard?
A: ASTM standards take time to develop. Committee members are volunteers, and they try to create/revise standards in a methodical way. Sometimes, an industry and/or consumer demand for creation or clarification of a standard needs to drive the change, and people need to draft, negotiate and vote on final language. This all can take a great deal of time. There are lots of opinions from the committee members and they are all trying to ensure that the consumers are protected to the greatest degree possible.
The power of the individual. On hearing of the LL8 announcement, Facebook and other social media outlets lit up like a Christmas tree. Players on both sides of the argument established their positions, sharpened their keyboard warrior skills and waded into battle. The outcome was a certain amount of noise that helped encourage ASTM to take swifter action.
In parallel there were three guys who decided that they would take tangible action to try and help the ASTM come to a decision. These ballers all have very technical professional backgrounds in various disciplines. They agreed to pool their talents and resources to try and answer one simple and foundational question.
KEY QUESTION: Does a First Strike round impart any more or any less force into a target than commonly used roundball paint of similar mass when shot at the same velocity?
Why this question? The team believes that this is the “bottom line” performance attribute that all other follow-on ASTM tests are subsequently stacked on top of.
There have been many claims by lots of people that FSR “hit harder than regular round paintballs” and as a result cause more damage.
The team searched, but could not find any publicly available, hard data, to base a recommendation on. So they developed their own test methodology and protocol, paid for the gear and invested their own time to run the tests, analyze the results and present the information to the ASTM subcommittee. They are also making all of their data freely available, open source, to help anyone else who wants to replicate or extend their testing. In fact this validation work, performed by others, is encouraged!
Bottom line: Scientifically gathered impact force data, captured with calibrated sensors, will help us all understand if an FSR should be treated the same or differently than a round ball. If the impact forces are similar at similar mass and velocity, then we can logically conclude that a FSR (or other shaped projectile) is similar to a round ball, and their shape should be added to the definition of a paintball. Once the definition includes non-spherical projectiles, the door will be opened to the acceptance of these projectiles as long as they meet all of the other testing protocols prescribed for round ball in F1979 and other standards. This would also apply to future suppliers of non-spherical paintballs.
On the other hand, if the impact force data indicates that FSR are imparting significantly more force than typical round paintballs when comparing shots at equal mass an velocity, that would possibly indicate that the FSR round should be handled differently.