After reading a lot of posts regarding the effects of barrel length on the flight of the ball, I decided to run a little test.
Most of the current chatter revolves around "short" (8"-10") barrels vs. "long" (14"-16") barrels.
Before I begin addressing a couple topics, I'd like to state that, much of the myths and misconceptions regarding the physics related to long vs short barrels come from the evolution of the technology behind the barrel itself.
Most of what people have learned about paintball physics comes from research performed at a time when most, if not all, barrels had a single bore diameter. That is, from front to back, the barrel bore size was consistant.
The performance and conclusions from these old style barrels do not always apply to todays new style (step bore) barrels.
When people ask advice about the performance characteristics of "short" vs "long" barrels, they are often given incorrect "old" information.
Why concern ourselves with "new" style (step bore) barrels? Because that's probably what you will MOST LIKELY end up buying if you purchase an aftermarket barrel.
It is useless to compare a 10" barrel with a single bore of .689 to a 16" barrel with a single bore of .689. Why? Because you won't find a common aftermarket 16" barrel with a SINGLE BORE SIZE.
CP Kit, Freak, Dye, Sceptor, Long Bow, Equation, JT, Evil Pipe, etc... ALL are TOP END after market barrels, which you would probably see out there on the field, are step bore designed.
That is, they have a smaller control bore (back), and a larger tip bore (front).
With that said, let's address two of the most common issues regarding "short" barrel vs "long" barrels...
Wrong.
...Efficiency, the longer the barrel the less efficient the gun is because the longer the barrel the more friction there is to over come to get the ball to 280fps...
The amount of friction is the same for TODAY'S after market barrels. The ball has friction on ONLY the control bore (back) of the barrel. It NEVER touches the tip bore.
In fact, a "short" barrel (8"-10") is LESS efficient than a "long" barrel (14"-16") because it requires MORE air to bring the ball up to the same speed.
On a "short" barrel the air pushing behind the ball gets dissipated too quickly. With a "longer" barrel (not too long - there is a point of deminishing returns) the air behind the ball is allowed to peek out it's usefullness.
This is actually true IF you don't re-adjust your regs...
"...Length of the barrel does not affect range..."
vs.
"...longer barrel = longer distance..."
Suppose you chrono your gun to 275 fps with a 10" barrel. If you keep everything the same (i.e. don't touch the regs), and JUST change the barrel, your fps WILL INCREASE a little and you WILL GET a little bit LONGER DISTANCE.
However, since we are allowed to adjust our guns to shoot up to a max fps (300 fps), we can make our 10" and 16" both shoot the same speed. Only if you adjust your regs will you shoot the same distance. But then again, it's not really a fair comparison is it? It's like having one runner start 10 yards behind another, slower, runner... say GO! and they cross the finish line at the same time. duh!
The following are results of a little test I did.
I chronoed my mag using just the back of my CP kit (5" control bore), then I shot it with a 12" tip, and then with a 16" tip.
I did the same for my Freak (10" vs 14")
here are the results...
*EDIT* I forgot to mention: for all barrel configuraitons, I NEVER adjusted the regs.