Evil Pipes and Empire barrel kits

[brianlojeck]

I really don't want this to become a flamewar, but I just don't trust the average review site, and would rather hear it from people who actually use 'mags...

OK, I'm finally ordering myself a ULE RT Pro, and I figure since it's my 30th birthday this week, I deserve a good barrel for it as well.

I'm looking at the Empire barrel kits and the evil Pipe kits, but I can't help wondering if they are really $120 better then the JJ barrel you can get with the RT.

Is there much of a difference in quality/construction between the two kits? does the Evil Pipe's slanted venting really self-clean after breaks?

Why are they so ungodly long? I really like a pretty short barrel (8 inches to a foot, max), and these are all 14", 16"... the short ones are pretty hard to find...

Is it worth the extra money for the larger sets with more backs? I realize barrel fit is important, but does it need to be THAT close? (I'm pretty sure the barrel's sizes are closer then the paintball's tolerance requires...)

should I use the largest back that doesn't roll-out, or the smallest back that lets me blow the paint through the pipe?

if you've used both, have you noticed much difference?

Many thanks...

[spyderpaintball]

well i own a empire kit and i love it but i have friends that have pipes and they work great too.i think personally it comes down to looks.

Personanally in my experinece its easy to bore size they are far enough apart that youll tell which bore is right.

[pointm@n]

Dude congrats on your big 30

From what I hear the stock jj barrel is a good barrel. The reason people get kits is because some use different paints at different fields. With a kit, this gives you the ability to match whatever paint to your barrel. I have the Evil Pipe and it does a decent job cleaning up after you break, but trust me that doesn't happen often with Level 10

haha, i know what you mean about long barrels. I really prefer short barrels. My pipe kit is 10", it's one of the few 10" pipe kits I've ever seen. 12-14" are pretty common. To me you only need about 3 different sizes: .686, .689 and a .691 or .692 if you play a lot of tourney ball and use small paint, a .683 might be good but not that necessary. The pipe kit comes wth 686, 689, 692 and a 695, plenty if you ask me...

Alot of people say to drop a few balls through the control bore and use the one that the ball is snug and you can blow it out easily. If you get blue in the face it's too tight. Well, I kind of like the ball to be a bit smaller than the bore and kind of roll out. I've had good results with that.

[rkjunior303]

I personally have a 14'' pipe kit for my Omen and I love the thing.. The porting really does clean the barrel, generally after about 3 shots I'm good... The barrel itself is a bit loud and I've heard people with problems bending tips but so far I haven't had any problems. Evil also came out with the Ultra Evil tip, which has a little more meat on it but like I said, I've been ok with mine... Granted, I haven't planted the tip into the dirt during a superman anything.....

It's a good solid kit, and for the price you can't beat it.. Generally you can find one under 150 bucks on PBN..

[GordDesigns]

Like you may have realized, barrels are like art work. Everyone has there own opinion, and nobody is actually wrong by this.
Personally I use the 16" Evil pipe, and have for a year. I have been completly satisfied by the performance. Long balling is very easy and every shot goes where I want it to.
The Pipe goes on both my Classic w/t ULE body or my X-mag every time out no exception.
Bore matching the balls is important to get optimum consistancy in both acuracy and velocity.
And like was said previously a snug fit is optimum, the blow test is perfect for that.
Also the J&J is a sweet barrel too, but you are still missing out on the bore size.
I have used J&J's on all my markers, before I got the Pipe. The ceramic is my all time favorite, quiet/ accurate and easy to clean.

Hope all the opinions help you choose what is right for you.

[guysdaman]

I have debated over this exact same thing for my new mag. After all my research I went with a 12" Powerlyte Scepter kit. Like most have said it comes down to personal preference. I just happened to prefer the scepter over the pipe and empire kits.