While the round grenades rolled well, it was even easier to slide them. Rolling a cylinder requires a well aligned bowl putting the centre axis perpindicular to the rolling direction. In the end it turned out to be easier to skid the grenades to their destination rather than roll them. If you don't line up the axis quite right the grenade could roll to the side.

Putting a smaller diameter shoulder to provide a nubbin to register on isn't possible with the way the internals work.

As to foam covers, I really can't get into the legal issues of providing an accessory which obscures the warnings and limitations of liability markings. As nice as a foam cover might look it really provides little practical benifit. A thin cover would get cut and look scruffy pretty fast. A thick cover wouldn't fit into standard grenade pouches.

Re: foam covers.

Since I started the whole thin, I guess I'll have to hack it :)
Those covers, or some other silimal devices would probably make nice aftermarket product, made by somwbody other that AI... Same as whole bunch of different bodies for AEGs with all kind of trades would meke nice, custom touch.
Something to think about, I guess ;)

Well, I can't make them as it'd be my ass on the line for making them cover the things that cover my ass (legal text).

Well, I wasn't there, but I have a question.

I'm hearing good things about the CQC deployment of the grenades, but how would they fare in outdoor open combat? Still useful?

I have to admit they don't work all that well outdoors.

If they land in deep grass, my grenades are unable to blast pellets through heavy grass. Try laying your AEG on it side in the turf and see how far you can shoot.

It's just hard to blast through vegitation with 6mm plastic pellets. I could have cranked up the juice, but the grenade would become dangerous in open area as there'd be no grass attenuation.

There aren't many issues with crap invasion. The monobody design of my grenade resists fouling. The few places where dirt can get in are ports where a lot of gas and bbs are blasted out of so in a sense it's self cleaning.

My design is also corrosion resistant. The only rustable part is the pin. It might even be dishwasher safe, but I wouldn't but a propane filled grenade in a hot dishwasher.

Only time will tell... Personally I'm expecting airbursting them to be almost as effective as CQB use, as long as you take the time to practice with the trajectory and timing.

Well, I offer a very short 1.5s delay option for airburst timing. I didn't time any grenades for the short delay on friday night. I thought it was too short for new users to immediately get used to.

If you use the airburst option, you have to throw from cover. The spread is very wide when throwing airbursts compared to ground bursts. A grenade bursting on the ground has 1/2 of the pellets hitting the floor before reflecting back up. A grenade going off at head height can blast pellets over cover and. You also have some of the downwards angles as valid line of sight hits.

An airburst throw in a parking lot with no cover is typically a suicide throw. You also have to practise very good team grenade discipline. It is very easy to inflict friendly hits with airburst grenades.

I don't know if you remember me suggesting to you, but add those funky colour changing LEDs with a cheesey ring tone. It'll definitely confuse the crap out of people.

Hey MadMax, I'm looking forward to these things even more now. I just checked out a PFI grenade that Aquamarine bought, and...well...the timing device, like you said, is very up and down.

Any thoughts as to a rough price range?

Price will probably be around $70-$80 MSRP. It'll be the most expensive airsoft grenade available, but it'll be the only effective reusable grenade around.

Having played with some of the grenades on the market and demo'd the proto of the grenade at TTAC3, I can vouch for this.

You never know, maybe WGC, UNC, and Redwolf will want some of these, in bulk? Have you considered that? Or any overseas markets?

My eye is really on the US, Japanese, and HK markets. As much as Canadians have helped me by starting my company and providing a friendly design environment, currently almost all of my sales are to the US.

I'd say over 95% of my sales are export to the US. I'll be going on a marketing tour to push this grenade.

Yeah we're a market, but not much of a market.....:)