Talk to me about barrels

[Ms54Coupe]

I need advice on barrel pros and cons for my micromag/rt build. My marker came with a carbon fiber stiffie barrel which I have not used yet...the cf barrel is very light which is a plus but I am not sure how well it will shoot (ill have to try and it find out).

After picking up my marker I ordered an Armson Stealth from PTP it is very long and I put about 200 balls through it the first time I aired up my marker after getting the Emag valve on it. I had 4 barrel breaks but they were not chops, the ball broke way down near the end of the barrel and I have a feeling it may have something to do with the wal mart balls I picked up????

I only bought the wal mart balls because I finally had air and wanted to test the emag valve so I stopped at wal mart because its the only place in my area that sells paint. I think the brand I picked up was Stinger??? The shell was decent but the paint seemed extra watery inside.

My question for you guys is this...what kind of performance can I expect out of my Armson barrel if I shoot good quality paint (marballizer??) I would certainly prefer to keep this barrel because I am happy with the sound but I am going to blame the paint not the gun or barrel for the breaks so far.

If you have good reasons NOT to recommend staying with the Armson please let me know what they are and what barrel/paint combo you would recommend for maximum accuracy.

thanks!

Nate

[MANN]

marbs are usually always good paint. As is xball silver/gold. You want a barrel that has different size backs to adjust to the paint that you are using. You do not want the sizers that are less than 4" long.

Everyone has a different opinion on what barrel does what. Good/great paint will always make a huge difference.

I personally use a titanium longbow barrel, and from time to time will pull out a pps or javilin. IIRC some armson barrels are rifled. Do not use any rifled barrel they don't work with paintballs.

[CatoRockwell]

Is it an Armson kit or just a one bore? If it's a kit any barrel kit will work well for the most part. I've got a Kaner for a few months now that shoots amazingly. If it's a single piece find a paint that is high quality but fits well. I would just recommend getting a good priced kit.

[Ms54Coupe]

Guys,

I am interested in how to size a barrel to paint...is there a drop test/roll test/ shot test or how do you determine what barrel to use with the paint you have? I am not familiar with the barrel kits so this is all new to me.

Ill have to get a few cases of marbs and call it a day : )

[chafnerjr]

Actually both of your questions are answered by the man himself in this section of AO (http://www.automags.org/resource/tec...ch/index.shtml) called Tom's Tech Tips. Really good info on both sizing and bounce tests along with some other fun stuff.

As long as the paint will match your barrel you're fine. I prefer the DW Fibur barrel because it's a very lightweight swab-able CF barrel that takes freak inserts. A lot can simply be personal playing preference.

Part of me wants to find an excuse to buy a few of the new dye boomsticks but I can't justify the price.

[Ms54Coupe]

Thanks!

[Ms54Coupe]

So can I count of marbs being the same size and matching a one piece barrel to them or should I get a kit even if I plan to shoot marballizer all the time?

[athomas]

Paintball barrels are just round tubes that send the paint in the right general direction. They are all fairly equal in accuracy given the same conditions of use. Some will have different sound and efficiency profiles due to length and porting, but accuracy/consistency should be fairly constant.

Smaller bore barrels will give the best efficiency, but can cause barrel breaks on poor quality or on brittle paint. Smaller bores also can have negative affects on accuracy if the paint is too tight, especially for odd shaped paint.

Larger bore barrels or barrels that have bores larger than the paint you are shooting, tend to have the least amount of barrel breaks, because there is no restriction when chambering and firing the paint. The downside is decreased efficiency. This could partly be due to the larger inner volume taken up behind the ball as it is accelerated out to its maximum velocity, or it could be due to some air escaping past the ball. I haven't found any negative affects on accuracy and odd shaped balls are handled much better. If the barrel is way too big for the paint, accuracy could be affected but I haven't experienced it and I shoot a 0.960" barrel for everything including 0.687" paint.

The best accuracy and really good efficiency is obtained when you size the barrel so that the paint touches on just two tiny spots opposite each other on the ball as it travels down the barrel. This only matters in the first few inches of acceleration. Ideally, the control bore should be about 11", but even 5 or 6 inches is good as long as the porting isn't too aggressive until the ball gets past the 11" point (and thats just for efficiency). If you are sizing a barrel to purchase, if you are not sure of the consistency of the paint, err on the large size.