Stock water blaster nozzle diameters

[SSCBen]

Nice finding, marauder. I had a strong suspicion that different performance between mks could be due to nozzle size, and you've identified just that.

In terms of how nozzle diameter is related to performance, if you want to see an even stronger correlation, plot V_0^2 / (g * d) vs. R * g / V_0^2 where V_0 is the nozzle exit velocity (flow rate divided by nozzle area), g is gravitational acceleration, d is the nozzle diameter, and R is the range. You'll find that as the first parameter gets bigger, the second gets smaller. When the first is below a certain value, you'll find that the second is will be constant. (This curve will be slightly different for different water guns, and generally, the higher it is, the better the gun is.)

[DX]

Is there any way (precise or rough) to determine what angle a certain soaker should be tested at? How substantial is air resistance against a 1x stream vs a 10x stream vs a 20x? The thing is, I've reviewed war footage and found that I shoot at too low of an angle, around 30 degrees. Increasing the angle has definitely increased the ranges I get, albeit the streams land slower as the angle rises. Granted, we're not talking about a ton of range, it's a matter of feet, but a few feet do matter in battle. I can understand why 45 degrees is perfect when air resistance is not factored in, and why it's too high when air resistance is factored in, but I'm not seeing this on the field. This also assumes that the inner nozzles are oriented straight with the outer nozzle columns and the soaker, one of my Gorgon streams comes out significantly upward, resulting in best range taken from about 20 degrees, as the total angle ends up being higher.

I may revise my still unpublished testing standard to allow for more angle flexibility. Perhaps the best method would be to have the tester figure out the best angle for that blaster's nozzle(s) and then take the 10 shots. It shouldn't matter that they are taken at different angles, since max range still takes the same criteria for determining the marks (last puddle, tape measure, low wind, etc).

[isoaker]

This thread really got me thinking about max-range measurements. A separate thread highly recommended should discussion continue. In fact, I think I'll create one and push in a link into this post instead of hijacking this thread further. See: Stock water blaster maximum range testing

[SSCBen]

DX, I'll reply to your post in isoaker's new thread.

I've measured some nozzle orifice diameters using drill bits. I had bought a large set of cheap drill bits (more than just 64ths; standard letter and numbered sizes too) several years ago, so I have reasonable precision.

CPS 2700 2X: 0.120 inches fits, 0.128 inches does not
CPS 2700 5X: 0.185 inches fits, 0.189 inches does not
CPS 2700 10X: 0.257 inches fits, 0.261 inches does not
CPS 1500 5X: 0.189 inches fits, 0.191 inches does not
CPS 1500 10X: 0.25 inches fits, 0.257 inches does not
CPS 2100 (mk 1 or 2): 0.182 inches fits, 0.185 inches does not
XP 150 (original): 0.086 inches fits, 0.089 inches does not
CPS 3000 5X: 0.196 inches fits, 0.199 inches does not
CPS 3000 10X: 0.272 inches fits, 0.277 inches does not
CPS 3000 20X: 0.368 inches fits, 0.375 inches does not
SS 300: 0.149 inches fits, 0.152 inches does not
CPS 1200: same as CPS 1000
CPS 2000 (mk2): 25/64 inches fits, 0.397 inches does not