TEST for "ACCURACY"

Here's the skinny...

I hear all the time how "this gun is accurate" or "that gun is not accurate", blah blah blah... So I wanted to know how all three of my markers performed under the same test conditions:

GZ TIMMY
TIPPY M98RT
AUTOMAG RETRO

- SAME shooting conditions (fixed via big vise)
- SAME barrel (3 freak backs, same exact front & insert)
- SAME paint (RPS All-Stars)
- SAME shooting distance (65')
- SAME chronograph (Shooting Chrony)

Since, I did not have a level to adjust the barrel's vertical pitch, I could not test for trajectory drop to address the infamous "my gun has more distance and shoot flatter than yours" arguement.

Instead, I focussed on "accuracy". If the gun is held in a fixed position, how consistant or "accurate" would the shots hit the wall?

Since all 3 guns opperate differently, I was currious to see if indeed it even mattered. The way in which each gun regulates and dispurses the propelling air is different. The only similarity being that they are all open bolt guns.

I pulled the trigger approx. once per 3-4 seconds, and this is what I recorded...

GZ Timmy

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GZ Timmy Trial 1

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GZ Timmy Trial 2

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M98RT

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M98RT (different view)

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M98RT Trial 1

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M98RT Trial 2

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Automag Retro

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Automag Retro (different view)

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Automag Retro Trial 1

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Automag Retro Trial 2

(Last pic)

Open for discussion...

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looks like if anything you could say that the mag has better accuracy...

WOW! very interesting test. I like the fact that you kept the variables very low. It seems that the mag and GZ had a very similar spread. Though the GZ seems to be a tad bit smaller. It also seems that the Model 98 had a much bigger spread. I also noticed that there one or two instances where the velocity on the Mdl 98 jumped almost 10 fps. I wonder is this inconsistancy could have caused a couple of the balls which seemed to be further out from the spread.

All in all the accuracy of the guns does not seem that different. In a real game situation it is unlikely that you would even be an accurate enough shooter to tell the difference between the guns in terms of accuracy.

I would be interested in seeing the freak kit and evil pipe barrel tested in this same way to see if one is more accurate then another.

P.S I own a GZ so of course it is more accurate.

Thoughts...

- At 65', the distance is "medium" range. Differences in fps do not affect hit location as much as they would at greater distances. In other words a +/- 10 fps could land in the same spot at this range, whereas at long range, you would probably start to notice more of a scattering pattern.

- I was impressed with the "accuracy" / "consistancy" of the GZ and Automag.... Just about right in the same spot every time!

- The M98 was more difficult to dial in for consistant chronographing (I was trying to get it to 290, but it kept creeping up to 298-302). However, once settled in, it was not too bad.

- I also shot a few balls with my new Boomer Front (freak), not too bad! I was very consistant as well... However, a dropoff in velocity betwee the 10" Boomy and the 13" AA was very noticable.

- I wish I had:

1. more room (longer distance)
2. a leveling device
3. an autococker to for testing (closed bolt)
4. a video camera
5. remembered to test my PGP 2k2 for comparison

well, looks like the GZ won this test.... but not by much... the RT right behind in a close second and then the model98 lagging behind...

about the comment above... at 65' you might not notice that much, but what about 100' ? if at 60' the spread is 6" on two guns and 10" on another .. then at 100' wouldn't the spread be more noticable?


your next test should be three-five shot burst... test the "true nature" of the gun... cause how often do you fire 1 ball every 4 seconds... most shots come in burst...


very nice test though.....

IMHO, I think the electronic hair trigger + low kick of the GZ helps to keep it on target. The Automag had the lowest kick, however the trigger is tad more "stiff".

YES... I understand that the guns are clamped into the vise! The sucker is rock solid. However, any slight movement or vibration (i.e. M98!!), would be amplified when anyalizing the results at a distance.

The best solution is to fix a laser pointer to the tip of the barrel to ensure that you are aiming at the same location for each shot. I tried this, but my laser point was not powerful enough (low batteries?) and I could not see the dot on the wall.

I will try this test again when I get my XMAG (hopefully within the next year) to see if the electro trigger does help.



YES! I will next time!

thanks for the feedback

Nice test!

One suggestion though...

For the retro, you want to be pulling the trigger like it should be pulled.

Maybe you did. But if you didn't: between shots, keep the trigger pulled back and when you are ready to pull, release and pull very quickly.

Very nice test.

If you do it again, I would suggest two things.
1. Map where each round lands and the velocity for that shot. That way you can see if/how spikes impact accuracy.
2. After the first round is fired, consider that the center mass for the sstring of fire. Give a Top to bottom and a left to right measurement. I've seen one site do this and it gives a nice indication of drift and such.

I guess I would also include other variables.
Temperature, Wind, Dew Point, Air Tank type/fill, etc.

Lastly, the different ranges would be nice.

Again. Nice test.

First off Nice test!

suggestion for the next test. Use a level and gun laser that can be fixed to the gun and will not move with vibrations. Fire some rounds to make sure the laser is in the center of the group. Clean the wall. Next place an X on the wall where the laser is pointing with the gun level. Fire one shot and record the FPS and distance from the laser dot on wall. Clean wall. Keep doing this for about 10-20 shots. This way we can find out what velocity fluctuations really have an effect on the accuracy. you can also compare just the shots that were fired at exactly the same fps. you use the distance from center and average it to find a single number for that marker that you can compare to other markers.

I liked the fact that you used the same freak insert and tip for each gun. Do you have any other barrels you can do the test with?

I'll try that...

I thought that the procedure for pulling the trigger, that you described above, was to produce the highest velocity - hence proper chronographing...? Does this procedure also yield more "consistant" air regulation?

As far as barrels go, one of the reasons I selected the freak was because I had 3 different types of guns. The Equation was not available at the time. The CP Kit, Sceptor, Pipe, JT kit, JJ, etc. would have been toooooo expensive to get 3 x 5 => 15 different backs.

Since a lot of people have been dissing the freak, I'll probably get a new barrel set when I pick up an XMAG sometime next year (*crosses fingers and hopes AGD can deliver*) for comparison.

My next test, will compare a Cocker vs. Mag vs. GZ Timmy vs. Tippy regarding the myths of "open bolt vs. closed bolt", "accuracy", "flatter trajectory", and "distance". However, that won't be for a while... I don't own a cocker, and I made one hell of a day-glow green mess in my parents backyard!

Jack... I did a similar test between an angel and an Emag for shootdown. 10 rounds fired as fast as possible always shows some interesting results.

Overall good test, only one problem that sticks out in my mind... you need a different target medium. Grab yourself a 2" x 12" x 5' board for the target, it'll lean up nicely against the brick wall you used.

The reason why the bricks are a poor medium is the surface is not uniform, there are bricks sticking out that are getting splattered when the paintballs impact on the surface. It's leaving a deceptively larger impact area and throwing the results off visually.

-Evil Bob

Yeah... I thought about that. I just found it much easier to hose off the paint after each trial.

"...always shows some interesting results..." What were your results?

That was great. I just wish that the range was 100 ft or more, at 65 ft most guns are pretty effective. It's the long range accuracy that sets some above the rest.

The "this gun has a flatter trajectory" question is one of the great unanswered questions of our time. The idea of using a level and a laser sight are good suggestsions.

Another question that I've always wondered in the whether different guns have different mid-flight velocity characteristics. That is if gun A and gun B both have 300 feet per second muzzle velocity (crono located right by the barrel), do they paintballs shot from the respective guns have the same speed downrange? I would think so, but if somehow that was not the case (ie different valve design, low pressure, expansion properties of co2 vs. nitro, barrel design - see some of Palmer Pursuit Shop's theories), that might explain why some people insist that some guns have better long range performance than others.

One way to possibly investigate this is to put a crono by the barrel and another crono 10 feet or so further down and see if some guns lose less speed over distance.

Nice job! I liked how you set up the test, and I definitely liked the presentation format. I think the Mag did very well for not being electric. That was one of the first things I noticed when I put my Hyperframe on my RT making it electric...the lessened recoil. I started getting even tighter shot placement with the Hyper on there.

What did you do with RT? Because of shootup and all. It wouldn't really effect it in this to much though.

Good test.

Yeah... I'll have to find another location... or tell my parents that they need a bigger backyard.




Interesting. I would think that as soon as the ball exits the barrel, it is no longer accelerating. Thus it's velocity can only decrease.

I have a handheld chrono as well and can check it next time for you.

Another thing that needs to be done is the camera needs to be in a fixed location for taking the pictures of the shot groups so that the aspect ratio is not off, which will throw of a visual comparison. I cut and pasted the pictures of the timmy and mag and put them side by side for further comparison and the results are seen in the attached pic, the bricks don't match up.

Unfortunately, you did not shoot at the same brick for proper size reference, the white brick in the timmy pics is not seen in the mag pics. Also, comparing the top and bottom picts on the left (the first mag pic and the first timmy pic), the bricks are larger in the mag pic, meaning the camera was closer to the bricks when the picture was taken, which again throws off the visual comparison. Need to use the same fixed target location to keep the comparison uniform. From the picts it is not possible to declare which marker was the winner since the visual reference is all off and there is alot of collateral splatter making the shot groups artificially larger.

-Evil Bob

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I also noticed this... My first guess regarding the mag's numbers are that I forgot to oil up the valve. I have not shot the mag in a few weeks. I'm guessing the valve/bolt could have performed better with proper lubrication. It was my bad. I was trying to wrap things up, and since the MAG was last to be tested, I just plain forgot to add a few drops into the line... next time!

That's why I gave the brick scale. Each brick in about 6.75" long (longside). You can deduce the approximate group sizing by referencing the bricks.

Remeber, these are only two trials for each gun. I was up against the clock (xmas party). I think next time, I'll do 5 trials...

Thanks for the comments and suggestions!