A good barrel "wtf?"

[dre1919]

I was looking at the St!fi barrels on paintballgear.com and in the product description they list this as a selling point (it's a carbon fiber barrel very much like Deadly Wind's):

"It shoots straight all the time, as carbon doesn't change with temperature fluctuations"

WTF?

-Andrew

[Chaos_Theory!]

Metal barrels contract and expand with temperature changes which effect the bores size to a degree, CF does not.

[rawbutter]

Of course.... paintballs also expand and contract, and so do inserts. So having a barrel that doesn't expand/contract might actually be a disadvantage.

[thejere]

Carbon Fiber doesn't expand or contract as much as metal, it still does.
what does it matter if you are matching paint and inserts? If it doesn't roll out and you can blow it out its good 'nough for me. Don't see too many people with micrometers checking every ball that goes into the hopper

[Hilltop Customs]

H-Y-P-E.....they are just grasping at straws for a way to get you to buy products....it works because we are now discussing it, hence more advertising for the site and the barrel!

I really doubt the coefficient of thermal expansion was taken into account when designing the barrel. More likely the creators just thought "hey is carbon fiber, kids will definetly buy it" or "hey its a few grams lighter, that will give all the hype junkies a reason to buy it" I love people who try to save a few grams, but are carrying around 10lbs in paint.....but thats a whole other subject.

Even if for some reason a person would think the SLIGHT change in barrel diameter with the temp change would matter, and benifits gain by reducing the thermal expansion(reduction in this case) is moot because of variations in the paintball diameter.

[Spider-TW]

Carbon Fiber doesn't expand or contract as much as metal, it still does.
what does it matter if you are matching paint and inserts? If it doesn't roll out and you can blow it out its good 'nough for me. Don't see too many people with micrometers checking every ball that goes into the hopper

Hmm...how do I know someone's secret method isn't to stay up the night before game day and segregate a few cases of paint into sizes 0.002" apart?

[Empyreal Rogue]

H-Y-P-E.....they are just grasping at straws for a way to get you to buy products....it works because we are now discussing it, hence more advertising for the site and the barrel!

I really doubt the coefficient of thermal expansion was taken into account when designing the barrel. More likely the creators just thought "hey is carbon fiber, kids will definetly buy it" or "hey its a few grams lighter, that will give all the hype junkies a reason to buy it" I love people who try to save a few grams, but are carrying around 10lbs in paint.....but thats a whole other subject.

Even if for some reason a person would think the SLIGHT change in barrel diameter with the temp change would matter, and benifits gain by reducing the thermal expansion(reduction in this case) is moot because of variations in the paintball diameter.

You act as if you're better than us carbon fiber users simply because we use carbon fiber. So what if the difference between metal and carbon fiber barrels is minute, what's wrong with being different? Isn't one of core concepts of marketing to play to the strengths of a product, no matter how insignificant they may be? Fact: Metal expands much more drastically than carbon fiber. No matter whether or not you think it's helpful, it's a fact.

[phatty123]

Still bought into the hype though.. didnt you? Be honest. OMG WTF carbon fiber WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. lol just giving you a hard time.


barry


aluminum FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hexis]

It looks cool is enough for me. I got a Ti Longbow because iI personally liked the idea of a titanium part. The different thermal expansion of Ti and Al (back and front) is actually a pain, when the barrel is cold (like after a lot of gas has expanded through it propelling paintballs for example) the front contracts more and makes the two halfs impossible to separate.

[Hilltop Customs]

You act as if you're better than us carbon fiber users simply because we use carbon fiber. So what if the difference between metal and carbon fiber barrels is minute, what's wrong with being different? Isn't one of core concepts of marketing to play to the strengths of a product, no matter how insignificant they may be? Fact: Metal expands much more drastically than carbon fiber. No matter whether or not you think it's helpful, it's a fact.

I dont have any problem with someone using a carbon fiber barrel. Its nice to have different looks and products to choose from. Hell I almost bought one from deadlywind, because of I have a ton of freak bores that a friend made, but I found a great deal on a pepperstick.

Now on to the facts....The Aluminum Associtaion Design Manual lists the thermal expansion of 6061 aluminum as 13.1x10^-6 in/in/DegF. Even if you have a 100degree swing in temp your still roughly only have a 0.0009039 change in a .69 inner diameter barrel. So for it to have any application in paintball your balls would have to be consistantly within a 1/1000" range. So IMO using the fact that a carbon fiber barrel has lower thermal expansion than is just marketing, and has no real life benifit whatsoever. The weight difference betten a carbon fiber barrel and an alum barrel is a much better claim.....since it can make a slightly noticeable difference in the weight of a marker.

I do agree marketing is used to play to the strengths of products....and it also is used to sell products that have strenghts that are unnoticable for certain applications. What I dont agree with is using technical data to make claims to consumers who do not have the backround to know any better.

I dont consider myself better than anyone, I have too many faults of my own to be better than anyone else.....and I guess sounding arrogant by the way I type online can be added to the list of my faults. I apologize if thats the way what I said came off.

[questionful]

Empyreal Rogue, there is a difference between "facts" and marketing. Thermal expansion has such an insignificant effect on bore matching that it can be considered completely irrelevant. You might call the statement "It shoots straight all the time, as carbon doesn't change with temperature fluctuations" a fact, and it may be based on a fact, but I will always call it deception.

Not to mention the variation in size between paintballs, variation in radius within just one paintball, variations in humidity, air density variation, atmospheric pressure, variation in a paintballer's bore-matching skill, large bore increments, etc.

[Hgblues]

heh, funny thing is, I had a 32 degree's carbn fiber barrel on my mag in 1999. Nobody was freakin out about carbon fiber then, it was just another barrel. Now , in the past couple of years, it's like carbon fiber was just discovered by the mars rover. Just proof of how trendy marketing can be.

[kenndogg]

heh, funny thing is, I had a 32 degree's carbn fiber barrel on my mag in 1999. Nobody was freakin out about carbon fiber then, it was just another barrel. Now , in the past couple of years, it's like carbon fiber was just discovered by the mars rover. Just proof of how trendy marketing can be.

yeah but that barrel still weighed a ton(a stainless back, really? what where they thinking?). Now CF barrels are extremely light.

[michbich]

yeah but that barrel still weighed a ton(a stainless back, really? what where they thinking?). Now CF barrels are extremely light.

Although it's a SS back, i still love it. The twist lock grooves don't get mooshed like with Al. The SS still looks brand new compared to my Al barrels. It's a preference thing i guess.

[ta2maki]

Hmm...how do I know someone's secret method isn't to stay up the night before game day and segregate a few cases of paint into sizes 0.002" apart?

I do this when I play stock class. It's not too bad sorting out a few dozen tubes of paint from a case.