Empire barrel woes

[Miltonyz]

I am disapointed with the quality of my empire barrel kit.

Yesterday playing paintball at my local field I managed to snap my empire barrel kit.

I was making a mid-game move towards the left fifty when I came into heavy fire. I hit the ground hard belly first planning on crawling the rest of the way in. I tip the scales at 185 so the impact with the ground was pretty severe. I held the gun up as I came down so as to not slam it on the ground. The order of impact went my chest, then my elbows slammed the ground and I dropped the gun from the shock. I ended up behind the bunker with the gun close to my feet. I had been hit going in but I wanted to get my gun before I checked myself. I scrambled back to get the gun and it was laying on the ground, and beside it was laying the front half of my barell. I threw the front half of my barrel at the net and checked myself, turns out that the ball that hit me did break so I retrieved my barrel piece and left the field. I played the rest of the day with only my barrel back on.

If the gun had slammed the ground I could see this happening but I held it up to lessen the impact. My egg survived unscathed with only a broken ball in the hopper. The barrel broke off just past the threads where the oring sits. Looking at it is easy to see why the barrel broke. At that point the aluminum is paper thin.

Pictures can be seen here (http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/miltonyz/album?.dir=9d05)

[logamus]

wow, that sure sucks. replace it with a kaner.

[Miltonyz]

Probably just gonna with a cheap 689 barrel. I shoot an open bolt gun so no worries with ball sizing.

[rikkter]

since when has an open bolt marker result in no need for sizing the barrel to paint? :confused:

[Miltonyz]

since when has an open bolt marker result in no need for sizing the barrel to paint

Because all ball sizing does is increase efficiency. I have a 90/4500 tank so efficency is not a problem.

[rikkter]

and what about accuracy? -i'd still size it even if i had a tank that size, but then again thats just me

[Miltonyz]

Paint to barrel match does not affect accuracy.

[rikkter]

according to many tests done by quite a few people (warpig being one i believe), and along with other people, paint to barrel match does affect accuracy... or did someone come out with new data proving it doesn't?

[Miltonyz]

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=153817&page=1&pp=30&highlight=accuracy

Maybe you could argue your points on this thread. I really don't want to get into it on this one.

[FireITup14]

there was a big thread about this a couple days ago it was a good read

[rikkter]

i'm not trying to argue or anything, i was trying to just get more informed on it because it sounded like you knew what you were talking about, hence the question of me asking if someone came out with new info, thanks

[trains are bad]

I'm dissappointed in the apparent quality of mine too. I haven't had any problems except that it likes to get stuck on my ule body, it just feels cheap.

I also agree that paint maching is a waste of time, I only do it with my cocker so I don't get roll outs.

[RTDynaflow]

Err.. so because some guy, years ago, came up with a hypothesis and then preceded to saying "it is so - because I said so".. never once doing any scientific tests, and we are to just take it at face value because he said so??? :rolleyes: :rofl:

A better post would be to say "..the difference in accuracy from a perfect paint to barrel match, compared to +/- one or two sizes, is negligible.." "Thus, a perfect paint to barrel match, for me, doesn't justify the money spent on a barrel kit"

It brings on less posts like this one ;)

[Lohman446]

Agree with RTDynaflow on this one. I'm not going to dispute that a good paint to barrel match helps accuracy in controlled circumstances (I have seen the tests to prove it does). However, I beleive that the effect is so minor on something that is already a poor porjectile object (a .68 3 gram object is going to be a poor projectile) that I would rather not risk breaks and settle for less than the best accuracy possible, because it is so negligible. I normally play with a .691 insert.

[rikkter]

i agree, i usually size them then use the next higher insert depending on how they fit so i get at least a close but loose fit

[Automaggot68]

Who is going to be the one to tell Glenn Palmer he's wrong?
I dont have the heart, (or the insurance) to tell him.

[gc82000]

Wasn't TK also one of the guys that proved this theory. He was the man who developed the dust test. But he does not know what he is saying he has only been in this business since the beginning. He would not know what he is saying. :rolleyes:

[Automaggot68]

Wasn't TK also one of the guys that proved this theory. He was the man who developed the dust test. But he does not know what he is saying he has only been in this business since the beginning. He would not know what he is saying. :rolleyes:

Yeah. are you kididng? he didn't like...post any factual data or anything..

:D

[thejesus]

Back to the original topic of this thread...

Milton, if you're going to drop your gun barrel-first, or run in to things with the tip of your barrel, two words: Dye Stainless. They are thick, stiff, pretty, and work great as a melee weapon if some ******* breaks into your house :ninja:

In a tournament I started to slide too late into a bunker (not airball) and stopped myself with the stainless. Only problem is it weighs as much as my arm...

As for efficiency, many have said that a good paint/barrel match increases efficiency. Why? There are three scenarios between your gun cycling and the ball leaving the barrel:

1. The ball is too big for the barrel. In this situation the ball either breaks somewhere in the barrel from the pressure exerted on it from the rigid inner wall of the barrel, or it makes it out. If it doesn't break, the gun has to work harder to get the ball out of the barrel than it would if the ball were smaller. If you stick a ball that's too snug in a barrel and try to blow it out, you have to blow much harder than if the ball were a "good" fit, or would roll down the barrel on it's own. Blowing harder = more pressure behind the ball = more volume of air released from the bolt to create pressure in the breech.

3. The ball is smaller than the bore of the barrel. In this case there is space around the ball where air can escape. If you try to physically blow a ball out of a barrel in this scenario you notice it's almost like blowing through the barrel with no ball at all. Some people have said that this air can cause opposing pressure in front of the ball, I don't know about that but I won't discount it.

3. The ball and barrel are a "good match." As for what a "good match" is, I'm not sure. Some say that if you step down from the biggest size bore until the ball doesn't roll down the barrel anymore, go with that size. Others say that the paintball should completely seal the bore so that no air escapes around it (I call this the "bullet theory," because it's how real guns operate.) To me, "good match" means when you reach a happy medium between friction and air escaping around the ball when it doesn't fully seal the breech. Where this happy medium exists is difficult to determine because I don't know whether friction uses more air, or escaping air does. I would guess that escaping air does...

As for accuracy, these days it's really achieved by volume, not by matching your paint to your barrel. Buy a barrel that's close to the paint you shoot, but doesn't fit it exactly (to avoid barrel breaks on swollen paint). Just don't buy Smart Parts.

go banana :dance:

[rikkter]

stainless? why not just titanium then, pretty much the strength or a stainless but weight of a aluminum

my old teammate got a empire, but i never was impressed by it, neither was he as he never uses it anymore.

[thejesus]

stainless? why not just titanium then, pretty much the strength or a stainless but weight of a aluminum

Titanium = $$$$$$$$

[SpecialBlend2786]

get a st!ffi
:ninja:

[tyrion2323]

Bummer to hear that. I've had nothing but luck with my Empire kit.

You might check out the new AIM paintball barrel kit.

[rikkter]

true that titanium cost a lot but i wouldn't want a 2lb barrel lol

[Wc Keep]

im surpised that no one has mentioned the tighter shot groupings with a better bore sized ball. but anyways......

ive heard of this before and was told that if you call empire/national theyll send you a new barrel if you send them the old one and notice it is defective.