There are a ridiculous amount of barrel kits!

[atcer]

And im not sure which one to get! I think I would rather have a two-piece system over an insert system. (they just seem easier to use, and less likely to get damaged in transit.) Ive looked over the choices (recent p8nt mag) and looked at threads on here and everyone seems to have a different opinion. I don’t like the freak tho. I know that because I have tried one of those on my old cocker one time, had a hell of a time switching the inserts, and promptly sold it for a boom stick. I want to know what everyone uses and why they do.

[Load SM5]

I currently use a Sceptre kit. The inserts are sturdier that the freak inserts, and the whole thing is very solid when assembled. J&J and CP also make really good kits for the price.

[dinger]

hah, i instantly thought of the best kit as the Scepter kit :)

unique front-load system, sturdy, better than anything else on the market if you ask me :o

i only have an equation because i dont plan on getting a scepter until i would get a new gun ;) [like 2 or 3 years haha]

otherwise, you can get a CP kit, or the JJ Edge kit.

and if you got the $$, just get a 2 piece barrel and buy the backs that you want :)

[LaW]

Originally posted by Load SM5
I currently use a Sceptre kit. The inserts are sturdier that the freak inserts, and the whole thing is very solid when assembled. J&J and CP also make really good kits for the price.


Wow you ditched the edge kit? Whats up with that ;)

btw I think for the money/quality... the edge kit is great at 115 dollars... however i have heard nothing but good things for the sceptre kit

[atcer]

ok so im checking out the cepter kit, and it comes in aluminum and stainless backs. now other than weight, what would be the main difference here? are there any operational advantages? and where can one get one for its lowest cost?

[LaW]

Originally posted by atcer
ok so im checking out the cepter kit, and it comes in aluminum and stainless backs. now other than weight, what would be the main difference here? are there any operational advantages? and where can one get one for its lowest cost?

no mostly weight, i can see the aluminum backs being more prone to damage but thats hardly a reason to not get them

[Load SM5]

It's all personal preference. I like SS back because they're sturdier and I like the barrel to have a little weight. To me it's easier to keep the barrel steady while firing with the weight.

I picked my kit up from Tunaman. Shoot him a PM.

[Dayspring]

They are smoother than most of the barrel kits out there.

The inserts are accurately sized. (Freak says .692 but it REALLY may be a .695)

Longer control bores.

[FRENZY]

Has anyone tried the Hammerhead?

[wobbles82]

Nothing but great with J and J! As for the Hammerhead, the team guys with Trixxies got them and a few St!ffis at IAO for some test runs, both are excellent. The Hammerhead cleans out well and is very smooth...kinda odd looking..and a big price tag. :D

[sime]

i'll vote edge.

granted it is the only kit i've owned or used, so far it's treated me VERY well. just be sure, whomever you get it fro, gets you the not included .682, "draxxus" back. trust me, that one can come in handy!

but really, very impressed, so much so, i have a second edge on it's way

cheers

[edweird]

As a scepter user I have to say im insanly happy with that kit. Ive actually brought my kit into work during the weekends and checked the bore with a dial micrometer and I was quite impressed with the accuracy compared to the freak kit my friend owns.

For sheer cost I think the J&J edge kit are well worth the cash... and after the dial micrometer test they are quality at a discount price.

However I would like to take a Micrometer to some St!ffi barrels and verify all the accolades that ive been hearing. Until then A St!ffi set will remain a dream set of barrels due to the high cost involved in buying 3 to 6 whole barrels.

so in conclusion...

Low cost fav: J&J Edge
Mid Cost fav: Powerlyte Scepter
High Cost dream: Set of St!ffi's

Oh and on the topic of Hammerheads... During IAO miscue and myself spent some time at the hammerhead booth and after finally seeing this kit upclose I hate to say that we were totally unimpressed. My main problems with the kit stem from the insanly short length of control bore ( about 1.5 inches ) and the companys claims that the rifleing they put in the kit actually "work". As representives of the "Anti-Hype" community Miscue and myself laughed at them and left them to wallow in their ignorance.

[Miscue]

"Air-craft aluminum! Blah blah blah! 6 inch spread blah blah!" While he's keeping at it, I'm looking at the shortest control bore I've ever seen... it's more like a ring than a barrel. I don't quite understand the purpose of paintball rifling to begin with... let alone rifling that does not come in contact with the ball.

[shartley]

I see folks talk about the accuracy of the sizes in each kit. My question is this… Since PAINT is not uniform and will vary from ball to ball and sometimes batch to batch, why would it matter how “accurately” the sizing of an insert is? As long as it is in the ballpark (no pun intended) isn’t that what matters?

After all don’t you match the barrel to the balls anyways?

Just thinking out loud….

[edweird]

Sam... its not a matter of being accurate...

its the fact i pay for a varied sized kit to match the paint. and i appreciate the fact they can deliver a quality product to the spec they claim to produce.

nothing would suck more than dropping decent cash for a full 5 insert kit only to get mislabled bores (ie. 2x .675's, 2x .688's, 1x .694's) when they claim to give you 5 diffrent bores between .670 and .695

[GA Devil]

What about the evil pipe? Ive been looking at those and hear alot of good things from people who use them.

[dansim]

there is only one kit thats teh scepter, well that and the kaner kit by wgp, man that was a good barrel too

[shartley]

Don’t get me wrong… I fully understand why you WANT them to be accurately sized and labeled, and even more so because of the price folks pay for them. My point was that EXACT might not be the most relevant way to judge this, but “close enough”, since paintballs are not bullets with a fixed size.

I am talking about perception VS reality. Even if you were dead on with what the size stated, the balls will most likely still end up being the determining factor on which insert you actually use. And that too does not always depend on what the BOX the balls came in said they were (size).

I agree however, that if you pay for 5 sizes, they should be 5 different sizes… not duplicates. That however is not what I was talking about.

But heck, I have YET to find any paint that I shoot on a regular basis that didn’t shoot very well with my STOCK barrel. Maybe AGD got lucky? ;)

[dansim]

what box says what size the paint is? ive never seen or heard of such a thing

[shartley]

Originally posted by dansim
what box says what size the paint is? ive never seen or heard of such a thing
I have two cases of RPS Advantage (PMI Premium) sitting right here and it clearly states “.68 Caliber Premium Grade Paintballs”. However, I DO have a box of 500 count Brass Eagle After Burner Paintballs, and the box does NOT have a size indicated on it.

Maybe it depends on the manufacturer?

[dansim]

yes we all know paintballs are around .68 but from your previous post you made it seem like the box would say .687 , ive never heard of that your always gonna have to check your paint to barrel,(true story at a tourney/) but when your team captain is using .692 and they ask what you went with (with freaks you say the color) so id say green, then they would actually be using all the differnt colors(red,blue ect) but comparing them all with the micrometer(is that the right tool?) at the proshop it was that they were all .688(no quality control issues there lol)(/end true story)....im sorry i forgot where i was going with this:rolleyes: :confused: :p

[shartley]

Originally posted by dansim
yes we all know paintballs are around .68 but from your previous post you made it seem like the box would say .687 , ive never heard of that your always gonna have to check your paint to barrel,(true story at a tourney/) but when your team captain is using .692 and they ask what you went with (with freaks you say the color) so id say green, then they would actually be using all the differnt colors(red,blue ect) but comparing them all with the micrometer(is that the right tool?) at the proshop it was that they were all .688(no quality control issues there lol)(/end true story)....im sorry i forgot where i was going with this:rolleyes: :confused: :p
I am sorry if I may have been unclear or made it look like I was saying something more than I actually posted. I will pay closer attention to that next time.

Yes, I understand what you are saying…

[cphilip]

yea. As an idividual user it realy matters not as long as you don't end up with two the same size leaving yourself a gap in covereage and not allowing you to fit a particular odd paint some day.

But for most individuals we all do it by feel. But for relating to others it might be good to note that they SHOULD not rely on anothers reference point and not be lazy. They should fit test their own. And I would say this is the safest thing to do with ALL barrels system.

One recent train of thought that most people are now adopting with these is the chosing of a larger than optimal size. Seems to eliminate a good deal of down the barrel breaks. What I and some others are doing is chosing the insert that is the best fit and using that reference point to go up one size from that. You sacrifice a tiny bit off efficency but you hardly ever get those down the barrel breaks. So IF you do that and it just happens to be that your choice of the next bigger than optimal was one size off you could end up with not realy going up a size. And maybe not even realize it. Then it might affect you as an idividual a bit more.

[edweird]

well its nice when I show to a feild and ask someone I know that is playing what bore the feild paint is today they can give me a fair estimate... definatly helps me get on the feild faster.