Could it be my barrel?

[TwilightG]

So I've been playing at my local field lately and I have been noticing a trend with my Mag.

It seems like I'm just not getting enough distance out of my shots. I'd be firing on an opponent and watch half of my shots falling short. When my opponent would return fire, they'd be whizzing by over my head.

Assuming that no one's shooting hot, what could be the problem?
I'm using an unknown-brand 10" ported barrel, medium bore.
Velocity around 295
Most of my shots are straight w/ very few curve balls.

Is it possible that w/ the porting, the effective barrel length is just too short?
I know I should have proper bore-paint matching and I've tested the paint I'm using to make sure it is not too tight or too loose when rolling through the barrel.

I also know that I am absolutely horrible at judging distances, so I do have a tendency to fire when I'm too far away, but when the return fire is slamming into my bunker, I know something has to be up.

Heh.. I suppose the easiest would be to try a different barrel but I only have one Autococker-threaded barrel.. So I'm trying to figure out if I need to buy another, possibly 12-14"

It's too bad.. I really like my mag's profile w/ the short barrel and the dropforward. I'm sure it'd still be good at speedball or indoor since I'd be in a much smaller playing field.

Any suggestions?

[Rudz]

at the same velocity ALL markers will shott withing a close group to eachother, small differences in barrel lengths and paint to barrel match may add a small difference but for the most part the balls will all alnd withing a few feet of eachother..google web dog radio, tyger did a video on this..the other guys may be shooting hot..

[Rudz]

2nd one down, that sites very helpful with tons of vids

http://webdog.specialopspaintball.com/video/tipclip/s2/

[trevorjk]

is your first few shots at full power? then does it seem to lose power? is there a regulator on your mag? are you running co2 or hpa?

[Tac-OneFun]

i call it "hype".

Don't buy into it.

Haha. I love that guy's commentary.

[TwilightG]

is your first few shots at full power? then does it seem to lose power? is there a regulator on your mag? are you running co2 or hpa?

Using HPA w/ nothing more than the tank reg.

I don't seem to be experiencing any drop off.. the shots are pretty consistent about where they land.

I'm still not ruling out the fact that I may just have bad aim But it just seems odd that most of my shots fall a little short.

[angrysasquatch]

He must B shooting T3H aUTOcOCKER!!! Send him to T3H bANvILLE!!!

But seriously, if there was broken paint in the bottom of the barrel (the place where gravity would pull it), it's possible that it was giving you a forward spin, the same thing that makes a Flatline shoot further, just backwards.

[Blazestorm]

Aim Higher

No srsly... you don't "shoot" paintballs like bullets, you lob them..

[TwilightG]

Ok ok.. I get it. I'm a lousy shooter.

Perhaps I was secretly hoping that my barrel was too short or the effective barrel length was too short which would help me justify spending more money on a nice new barrel.

After reading all of the responses so far, this theory was not even addressed. Although many of the ideas and suggestions were pretty good. And I doubt there's no forward-spin.. my barrel is usually very clean thanks to the level 10.

guess I just need to practice lobbing my paint

[Blazestorm]

I have a 21" barrel, if I swap it with my 16" barrel my velocity drops to about 285 instead of 300

So techincally my longer barrel gets less distance

[TwilightG]

I have a 21" barrel, if I swap it with my 16" barrel my velocity drops to about 285 instead of 300

So techincally my longer barrel gets less distance

Lol, but I bet it looks bad***!

Besides, the longer barrel makes it easier to force opponents to surrender or for pushing random branches and bushes out of the way in the woods.

[drg]

Wind plays a huge factor as well, were you experiencing a headwind?

[BigEvil]

Check the paint to bore match. If you are using a twist lock barrel, I have found that balls that just 'roll out' will do the exact same thing you are describing.

Since you didnt mention your set up, let us know. Also, have you tried different barrels?

[ThePixelGuru]

Yeah, 300fps is 300fps no matter which fancy tube it comes out of. Still, there's spin to account for. Clean your barrel, point it at a light in your house and look down it. If it's not perfectly smooth to a visual inspection, get a new one (half will look darker and half will look lighter, though, that's just how the light reflects).

Different barrels sound different and are more or less efficient (and have different bore sizes, obviously). Just borrow people's barrels for a few seconds at the chrono and see which ones you like. Also, higher fps = higher efficiency, since you turn the velocity down to get back to the correct speed. Just find an efficient barrel you like and go for it.

Also, http://automags.org/resource/tech/tomstech/index.shtml

[madcrisis]

speaking of these barrels............. did MANN ever get his barrel test done?