What I've noticed about barrel Buying.

[xmetal2001]

To tell you the truth, I stopped reading this thread a quarter of the way down:o , but in my opinion:

Stick with the stock barrel unless you are going to purchase some sort of barrel "kit" that allows you to adjust for different bore sizes. Paint to barrel bore match is where you get your accuracy from, not how shiny or expensive your barrel is.

The only reason I dont shoot a stock barrel on my Matrix is because it was 14", and thats waaay to long. So I traded with somebody for a 10"

[dcmander]

Pshhht.... 14" is a great length! I had a 14" CP 2piece on my sonic bushy (its actually the stock barrel on the macdev sonic bushys) and it was perfect.

I've always liked 14" the best, then 16", then 12" I guess... I don't like 10"s..too hard to aim down the barrel for me. But I have to admit..I'm really likin' the 11.5" Lapcos on my mag! Maybe its just the mag!

[hardr0ck68]

if your playin tournys a barrel kit is very handy.
1st you never know what the size or condition of the paint is gonna be
2nd if you have LX and are playin at low velocities its a handy to adjust your velocity without changing springs
3rd position on the feild, in back i perfer something i can sight with, up front something i can snap with
4th type of feild, if you on hyperball feilds, a 12-14 is nice to work those groves, on soft nylon sup air a 16-18 to push the bunker around..and so on


these are all just handy options of a versitale barrel kit, in the case of a freak with only one front it wouldent make much difference. I dunno, there nice but not the only way to get things done, i have a large bore AA, med bore J and J 2 peice with different length tips, and a small bore dte alum...there all i really need.

[xen_100]

another thing you have to consider. If you buy one barrel(or use the stock one) and use the same paint every week.........that paint will not be the same size every time. different batches vary in size slightly, humidity and temp will effect the ball size. if you have more than one barrel size(or a barrel kit IE: freak)you will always have the perfect match and more acuracy.

[dre1919]

When I ordered my RT a couple years ago, I ordered a new barrel right along with it. I did this because I wanted something nicer than the stock, although I had no real problems with the stock per se. I understand the technology of how barrels are made and what the porting done to barrels does for your performance, and since that wasn't present on the stock RT barrel, I got a different one. I agree however, if you don't have a good paint to barrel size match it's mostly moot anyway.

I ordered a DYE black aluminum 10" and have been extremely happy with it. It has a beautiful finish on the inside and has been a very accurate barrel for me. I would have to say if there were times I would see some shots get inaccruate, it was my paint match. Mine is a middle of the road bore size, but I bought this before the whole revolution of bore sizes and barrel kits to increase accuracy. I'd love to have a Freak Kit or something like that, but then I'd love to have a lot of things. :)

[hitech]

I use the stock emag barrel on my classic. I like the way it looks and it has dual nubbins (good when you have a warp). It shoots every paint I have tried as well as any other barrel. I'll keep using it until I find it does not perform.