Today, I learned of a new paintball (new to me anyways, they appear to show up in January of 2025) projectile. The "HS Projectile" sold by a Czech company of the same name.
As best as I understand it, these appear to be violating the patent filed by Gary Gibson (the Inventor). I suspect that Perfect Circle got out of (plastic shelled) paintball manufacturing business, and setup an LLC to manage the the intellectual property rights ("PC IP Group LLC").
It's interesting that only one youtube channel (weekend warrior, German) seems to have anything on them so, I suspect they aren't exactly wide spread beyond eastern Europe. I wouldn't be surprised to see them selling these rounds in their store, or their associated field.
In an interview conducted by weekend warrior, HS Projectile claimed that the main reason for the development and manufacture of these rounds was to reduce the price. 600 FS round boxes in the U.S. currently go for $179-239. Google tells me that in Europe that same box will go for 215-250 Euros, ouch.. The HS Projectiles go for 189 Euros.
They've gone through two versions. Version one was described as very poor quality and small. The second version (possibly the second/third batch) is still smaller at .677 according to a weekend warrior video.
Based on what I can tell for the photos, and the product descriptions, I see some concerns.
1. They claim that the shell is thicker, to better survive shipping and handling. The fins appear to be thicker in the photos. A thicker shell is forcing one of two options:
3. The company claims that the rounds are "made of environmentally friendly material that decomposes easily and leaves minimal waste on the paintball field", without ever mentioning how. They could be using a photodegrade component to encourage their breakdown but, it's unclear if they would actually degrade better than FS rounds.
4. A different shell material will influence how the rounds break on impact, in regards of how they shatter, as well as how resistant to breaking (inelastic vs elastic collisions).
Almost hilariously, a Weekend Warrior video shows them doing a somewhat rigorous test between the HSPs and FS rounds, starting at 50m. Now, I'm watching via Google Auto-dubbing (I don't speak German), and they first the first group of HSPs which show them spreading almost the entire height of the target board (more on that in a second), then almost immediately, a set of FSRs which hit in a much tighter group near the bottom of the board (they claimed but did not show them to be shooting at the same velocity). The hilarious part is that they walk down to the board, with a meter stick, hold it up to measure the HSP spread, asks if the shooter pulled a shot (which the shooter said no) and then immediately pivot to talking about how easy and great it was to more clearly see the HSP round trajectory, and how the neon green (finless) back wall of the FSP has stuck to the board, and how the HSPs paint splats better (on that I agree, they leave a pretty good sized splat). They measure the width of HSPs and their spread comes out to 45cm, and a solid vertical 1m spread. They talk for a minute of how that spread would cover a torso, and maybe even a headshot with it. Then, they measure the FSR pattern at 18cm height and, 34cm width. They talk about how that would cover a face, with one just missing.
They repeat at 70m and it's more of the same. Emphasizing how the HSPs are easier to see in flight. Then as they get to their conclusion, they say how much better the HSPs are (I assume in comparison to Version 1?). Emphasizing the 'tracebility', the splat being better, They emphasize that they need a smaller barrel (they're using the PE Rifled .683 inserts) to properly test them., and then saying that's the reason the HSPs have to be lobbed more (maybe, if they could prove that the HSPs weren't getting pre-spun IMHO). Then emphasizing the cost difference... Then going onto say that so many first strike rounds are missed because of problems with the shooter, and you can miss more with HSPs without it hurting too much (in cost).... Then emphatically saying that FSRs are for snipers, and HSPs for shorter range.
It's almost like they got sponsored (or otherwise saw it in their financial interest) to do a test, and then had to come with a narrative on the fly to paint the HSPs in a positive light.
All that being said, I wouldn't recommend these rounds for all the reasons I mentioned previously. Personally, I wonder how long they will be on the market.
As best as I understand it, these appear to be violating the patent filed by Gary Gibson (the Inventor). I suspect that Perfect Circle got out of (plastic shelled) paintball manufacturing business, and setup an LLC to manage the the intellectual property rights ("PC IP Group LLC").
It's interesting that only one youtube channel (weekend warrior, German) seems to have anything on them so, I suspect they aren't exactly wide spread beyond eastern Europe. I wouldn't be surprised to see them selling these rounds in their store, or their associated field.
In an interview conducted by weekend warrior, HS Projectile claimed that the main reason for the development and manufacture of these rounds was to reduce the price. 600 FS round boxes in the U.S. currently go for $179-239. Google tells me that in Europe that same box will go for 215-250 Euros, ouch.. The HS Projectiles go for 189 Euros.
They've gone through two versions. Version one was described as very poor quality and small. The second version (possibly the second/third batch) is still smaller at .677 according to a weekend warrior video.
Based on what I can tell for the photos, and the product descriptions, I see some concerns.
1. They claim that the shell is thicker, to better survive shipping and handling. The fins appear to be thicker in the photos. A thicker shell is forcing one of two options:
- Less, or a lighter weight fill (dubious), or
- increased overall mass, which will be outside of the ASTM specification.
3. The company claims that the rounds are "made of environmentally friendly material that decomposes easily and leaves minimal waste on the paintball field", without ever mentioning how. They could be using a photodegrade component to encourage their breakdown but, it's unclear if they would actually degrade better than FS rounds.
4. A different shell material will influence how the rounds break on impact, in regards of how they shatter, as well as how resistant to breaking (inelastic vs elastic collisions).
Almost hilariously, a Weekend Warrior video shows them doing a somewhat rigorous test between the HSPs and FS rounds, starting at 50m. Now, I'm watching via Google Auto-dubbing (I don't speak German), and they first the first group of HSPs which show them spreading almost the entire height of the target board (more on that in a second), then almost immediately, a set of FSRs which hit in a much tighter group near the bottom of the board (they claimed but did not show them to be shooting at the same velocity). The hilarious part is that they walk down to the board, with a meter stick, hold it up to measure the HSP spread, asks if the shooter pulled a shot (which the shooter said no) and then immediately pivot to talking about how easy and great it was to more clearly see the HSP round trajectory, and how the neon green (finless) back wall of the FSP has stuck to the board, and how the HSPs paint splats better (on that I agree, they leave a pretty good sized splat). They measure the width of HSPs and their spread comes out to 45cm, and a solid vertical 1m spread. They talk for a minute of how that spread would cover a torso, and maybe even a headshot with it. Then, they measure the FSR pattern at 18cm height and, 34cm width. They talk about how that would cover a face, with one just missing.
They repeat at 70m and it's more of the same. Emphasizing how the HSPs are easier to see in flight. Then as they get to their conclusion, they say how much better the HSPs are (I assume in comparison to Version 1?). Emphasizing the 'tracebility', the splat being better, They emphasize that they need a smaller barrel (they're using the PE Rifled .683 inserts) to properly test them., and then saying that's the reason the HSPs have to be lobbed more (maybe, if they could prove that the HSPs weren't getting pre-spun IMHO). Then emphasizing the cost difference... Then going onto say that so many first strike rounds are missed because of problems with the shooter, and you can miss more with HSPs without it hurting too much (in cost).... Then emphatically saying that FSRs are for snipers, and HSPs for shorter range.
It's almost like they got sponsored (or otherwise saw it in their financial interest) to do a test, and then had to come with a narrative on the fly to paint the HSPs in a positive light.
All that being said, I wouldn't recommend these rounds for all the reasons I mentioned previously. Personally, I wonder how long they will be on the market.
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