Interesting read regarding the elliptical honing of Palmer Pursuit Shop's barrels for their gun, the BLAZER:
From: http://www.palmer-pursuit.com/techpages/Palmerinfo2.htm
Glenn Palmer says that it is most important (for accuracy) to match the barrel to the output of the valve.
Huh? Read on...
Really, this is another way of saying you need a good paint to bore fit. Not too tight, and not too loose. A paintball will deflect radially (get bigger) when pressure is applied by compressed gas. The pressure output of the valve rises, peaks and then falls. It is not a digital on/off device. If the valve output pressure rises, peaks and falls, then the paintball diameter will rise, peak and fall. This makes it impossible to get a good paint to bore fit with a straight-profile (constant I.D.) barrel.
A good example of this is when you get ball breaks halfway down the barrel with a high-pressure gun and a straight profile barrel. Enter the elliptical profile barrel. The inside diameter of an elliptical-profile barrel is tight at the breech, loose down the middle, and tight at the muzzle. Sound familiar?
The elliptical-profile barrel allows a good fit of the paintball to the barrel all the way down its length. The vented barrels are tight all the way through the venting, so the bulge is closer to the breech of the barrel. I believe this only applies to high/medium pressure guns like the Typhoon. It would seem that the benefit of elliptical honing diminishes with low-pressure guns that don't deform the paintball as much. With low-pressure guns, a properly fitted straight-profile barrel is all that is required to achieve the same quality of paint to bore fit.
The goal of the hone/shoot/rehone process was to get the balls to come out with no spin. It follows that a good paint to bore fit will produce less spin than a bad one. Spin detracts from accuracy at long ranges, as the paintball slows down, the spin becomes the dominant force. This produces the "hook" shots you get out of lesser guns. A paintball with no spin acts like a "knuckleball" in baseball, causes it to wiggle back and forth, up and down along its path. This wiggling will keep the ball close to the initial path, at all ranges. A spinning ball will be closer to the path at close ranges and further from the path at long ranges.
Very interesting theories regarding the physical dynamics of paintball ballistics... 
What do the brain trusts of AO think?
From: http://www.palmer-pursuit.com/techpages/Palmerinfo2.htm
Glenn Palmer says that it is most important (for accuracy) to match the barrel to the output of the valve.
Huh? Read on...
Really, this is another way of saying you need a good paint to bore fit. Not too tight, and not too loose. A paintball will deflect radially (get bigger) when pressure is applied by compressed gas. The pressure output of the valve rises, peaks and then falls. It is not a digital on/off device. If the valve output pressure rises, peaks and falls, then the paintball diameter will rise, peak and fall. This makes it impossible to get a good paint to bore fit with a straight-profile (constant I.D.) barrel.
A good example of this is when you get ball breaks halfway down the barrel with a high-pressure gun and a straight profile barrel. Enter the elliptical profile barrel. The inside diameter of an elliptical-profile barrel is tight at the breech, loose down the middle, and tight at the muzzle. Sound familiar?
The elliptical-profile barrel allows a good fit of the paintball to the barrel all the way down its length. The vented barrels are tight all the way through the venting, so the bulge is closer to the breech of the barrel. I believe this only applies to high/medium pressure guns like the Typhoon. It would seem that the benefit of elliptical honing diminishes with low-pressure guns that don't deform the paintball as much. With low-pressure guns, a properly fitted straight-profile barrel is all that is required to achieve the same quality of paint to bore fit.
The goal of the hone/shoot/rehone process was to get the balls to come out with no spin. It follows that a good paint to bore fit will produce less spin than a bad one. Spin detracts from accuracy at long ranges, as the paintball slows down, the spin becomes the dominant force. This produces the "hook" shots you get out of lesser guns. A paintball with no spin acts like a "knuckleball" in baseball, causes it to wiggle back and forth, up and down along its path. This wiggling will keep the ball close to the initial path, at all ranges. A spinning ball will be closer to the path at close ranges and further from the path at long ranges.
What do the brain trusts of AO think?
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