PPS Brass Barrel, venting and bore opinions please!

[Groff]

I was looking for opinions on two things. The first is the venting PPS offers. It is none, single and double. The description for venting is clear, it increases accuracy by dissapating the air jet behind the ball before it exits the barrel so there is less to knock it off course. In my imagination it would also make your gun less effecient on air by decreasing the distance the paintball can travel. So my question is... just how much venting is too much venting? Anyone ever use a NON vented barrel? I'm unsure whether the difference would even be noticeable.

The second item worrying me is the bore options, .685 and .690. Now I play a lot of woodsball so it's usually pretty hot out. I haven't been known to play in the pre or post summer heat but that's going to change, I've been out of the game for five years and I plan on starting to play heavily. With that in mind, what bore size would work the most on average? In the summer heat does the outer diameter of the paintball actually increase to .69? Would I be slitting my own throat trying to use the .685 all year round? I have a pipe kit and have never had any luck with matching the paintball's diameter to it, I was told by a lot of people that some days, whether you have a kit or not, you'll be fighting the paint. It always seemed as if I was ALWAYS fighting the paint, lol.

Thanks for reading, I'm looking to buy a brass barrel and a squall and am trying not to make a mistake.

Groff

[garbageman705]

Most of the paint is going to be smaller than .685 these days. Brass is slippery too so a tight bore should be better in my opinion.

[GoatBoy]

Why exactly do you want a Squall?

[zondo]

I've got a PPS barrel that's not ported for my Automag. I'm running into the same issue as a lot of people are with paint size because even my .685 is not matched well with my FPO paint... so I can't comment on efficiency firsthand, but it does stand to reason that good paint to barrel match or moving toward underborring will increase efficiency. That said, I don't think the porting that Palmers does effects the shot a whole lot due to the short distance that it covers (looks like only ~2-3 inches). I will say that the sound signature is louder without porting.

[going_home]

Why exactly do you want a Squall?

Great question, I was thinking to myself....

"self, why would anyone want anything PPS especially barrels,
let alone a marker that works sometimes, and needs to be sent back
to caleefornia once a year to re-tune it"

I had a Blazer once.
Cured me of ever wanting anything else from PPS.
Come to think of it i bought a new Ford in 1986 that did the same thing to me.

[Groff]

With the barrel it's all hype really. I was looking for a good general barrel to use in most situations which deep down I know probably doesn't exist. With the characteristics of brass and the supposed effects it's had on people's air effeciency it seemed like a good experiment. "Supposedly" brass has less friction on the paintball gelatin and people are having a jump of 30+ at the chronograph. So I'd basically be getting more shots per tank without investing in something larger than my 68ci/4.5k tank. They claim the eliptical boring is awesome with all kinds of paint which is a big factor for me because I jump to different fields a lot depending on which friends are playing at the time, /shrug.

Not to have this turn into a squall review, with the squall I was introduced to a game with all pistols and in all honesty I haven't laughed that hard in years, it was an absolute blast. Now I don't have a pistol but a gentleman that sat out for a couple of games let me use his squall. I did extremely well during those games because that handgun's accuracy was just as good as any other marker (not pistol... marker) at 50 - 60ft. out. Now for that accuracy AND have the paintball break was impressive to me, I was hit quite a bit but the paint never broke. Also, the reason I bring up the squall is that it's apparently eliptically bored as well, /shrug.

Now the fact that I'd probably have to send the pistol back to PPS to have it retuned every year is news to me. I've never read that in any review and is quite depressing to hear. I'd love to hand my money to AGD but the Sydarm is no longer available.

At the moment the the responses I've gotten have been mixed, I might have to just dump money on the barrel and find out for myself.

Thanks for reading and taking time to respond,
Groff

[Hobbez]

I'd love to hand my money to AGD but the Sydarm is no longer available.

^ This is something that needs to change. Are you listening Tom!?

[2BAD4U]

I was looking for opinions on two things. The first is the venting PPS offers. It is none, single and double. The description for venting is clear, it increases accuracy by dissapating the air jet behind the ball before it exits the barrel so there is less to knock it off course. In my imagination it would also make your gun less effecient on air by decreasing the distance the paintball can travel. So my question is... just how much venting is too much venting? Anyone ever use a NON vented barrel? I'm unsure whether the difference would even be noticeable.

The second item worrying me is the bore options, .685 and .690. Now I play a lot of woodsball so it's usually pretty hot out. I haven't been known to play in the pre or post summer heat but that's going to change, I've been out of the game for five years and I plan on starting to play heavily. With that in mind, what bore size would work the most on average? In the summer heat does the outer diameter of the paintball actually increase to .69? Would I be slitting my own throat trying to use the .685 all year round? I have a pipe kit and have never had any luck with matching the paintball's diameter to it, I was told by a lot of people that some days, whether you have a kit or not, you'll be fighting the paint. It always seemed as if I was ALWAYS fighting the paint, lol.

Thanks for reading, I'm looking to buy a brass barrel and a squall and am trying not to make a mistake.

Groff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwN03...eature=related :)

[Skeeter]

^ This is something that needs to change. Are you listening Tom!?

Hmmm... I bought up a bunch, duing the last production batch (around 2005, IIRC)... Still have a few, new in box, if you want. PM me, if interested.

[GoatBoy]

There's no data that indicates porting has any effect on accuracy.

If anything, when the porting gets clogged with dirt/paint -- it ruins your accuracy, and can take a while to clean out.

Empirically, porting makes the shot a little quieter, although I've honestly not seen lab data for that either.

I believe there is some data that indicates overboring will give you better velocity consistency at the expense of slightly worse efficiency. If you're not a paint hoser, you probably don't need to worry about the efficiency.

Personally, I use a .689 J&J ceramic, all the time (on my primary marker; not on my pistol). I don't "size" any of the paint I use. The only problems I have are when the paint has dimples or isn't very round, or some other defect of that sort. If it's round, I'm good to go. It can be the cheapest, most maligned field paint ever, but as long as it's round, I have no problems.

Squalls go for, what, 500-600 used? All for a marker that, as far as I can tell, doesn't even have a primary regulator. It has one for the ram, but not for the primary firing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. In any event, this results in pathetic velocity performance:

http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/paintguns/pps/squall/index.shtml

It's a waste of money. It was worth it when nobody else was making pistols. There's better stuff for the money nowadays.

Palmer's stuff is in general overpriced, and they only seem to want to make the barrels the way they want to make them. If you're happy with their options, fine.

Can't say I've really been that impressed with their service, either.

[going_home]

See AO Member robertsr1811

robertsr1811 makes his own mag pistols.

Depending on your level of proficiency, you might think about an under the barrel ASA. It makes it easier to deal with the right feed problem.



This is my first pistol build. Now granted it's a little easier to do on a classic mag as opposed to a Micro, but you get the general idea. Since you're running line instead of direct connecting to the valve, you get a lot of lattitude on the feed area.

Steve Spinosa had someone machine him some adapters to use on the feedgates of micromags to allow one of the clip designs to just clip on. It was slick as heck, and could possibly be done with a dremel and drillpress if you were feeling sparky...

Do you have any idea what kind of spring feed you want to use? That's really your starting point...

taken from :

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=250987

What i meant about PPS markers is even with directions most PPS owners still
cant fix their own markers, and there really isnt a "PPS community" like there
is for mags and cockers, so most end up sending their markers back to PPS to fix.

[CatoRockwell]

If you are going to go with a pistol you might as well go with a magazine fed one like the new tac 8.1 or the tpx. They both will provide you with a lot more options.

[Gadget]

I've got a .685 unvented PPS barrel on my 'mag. Fairly accurate but heavy and loud. Used it a couple of times before retiring it to the cupboard and sticking with my WWA freakback & Deadlywind Whip tip combo, which is lighter, quieter and accomodates a wider range of paint.

...oh and brass looks great when polished up, but awful with a few finger prints on it! :)

[athomas]

Always err on the large size with barrels. They are more forgiving than tighter barrels. If you like to get on the trigger once in a while, you definately want a larger id to prevent barrel breaks. I shoot a 0.693 barrel in my mags and I always get compliments on how accurate they shoot. I shoot a larger 0.696 on my Angel with the same effect.

A bunch of small ports won't have as much affect on efficiency as large ports. They can really make a difference on the sound signature though compared to a barrel without ports. I have tried barrels with muzzle breaks on them too. A tight bore with a muzzle break is not as accurate as a sized barrel or an overbore when used with paint that has an imperfection in it (thats most paint).

[Gas mask]

"I had a Blazer once.
Cured me of ever wanting anything else from PPS.
Come to think of it i bought a new Ford in 1986 that did the same thing to me." - Going Home.
I wholeheartedly agree. Also, go for the double spiral porting and make'er quiet.