Longer barrels decrease ROF: fact or fiction?

[impostal22]

I've heard a lot about longer barrels causing more barrel ball breaks as your rate of fire increases. People advocating this theory say that it's because the balls don't have enough time to leave the barrel before the next one is shot out, causing them to collide and break. Using loose physics, if you think about it, there's evidence against this. If you start shooting say 13 balls per second, assuming the velocity of every ball is pretty consistent, there is no way those balls are gonna collide. They will theoretically accelerate at the same rate and, because they aren't shot at the same time, they will keep an equal distance their entire route (the acceleration (positive and negative) should remain constant between the two balls). So, is it true that a longer barrel causes more barrel breaks as you increase your ROF? In other words, are you sacrificing rate of fire for increased length, or sacrificing length for increased rate of fire?

[tommyd46290]

ive seen it happen once that was when curt from k2 did morlock tests on the viking/excal no at full auto at 20bps. Had some collide in mid air out side the barrel i guess.

Really quite rare for it to be a problem. I would say no. Who really uses past a 16 any way? And if there were something seriously bad about using a 16inch barrel I highly doubt you would see so many tourney players using them.

My answer is this theroy is bull. Prove me wrong and i will cowtow to you untill then....

Tommyd
"Take it to da house"

[justinburchill]

this theory is total fiction... at 280 fps and 18bps, the first ball will have gone approx. 15 and a half feet before the second one is fired. how long is your barrel???

[tommyd46290]

Originally posted by justinburchill
this theory is total fiction... at 280 fps and 18bps, the first ball will have gone approx. 15 and a half feet before the second one is fired. how long is your barrel???

and at 30 bps the first ball will have gone 8.4 feet whoo shoots this fast? Drag plays a part but there isn't that much

[impostal22]

justin: wouldn't the barrel length not matter, because wouldn't the paintballs move the same distance in the same amount of time regardless of barrel length?

this is what i'm trying to figure out, and i'm glad we have some discussion going on already. the more input the better.

[Lord_Whoopass]

The only way that this could happen would be due to a change in velocity rate. At that high ROF guns do have a tendency for velocity changes. Lets say one ball shoots out of the barrel at a low point such as 260 fps while the ball right behind it exits at 300 fps(big spike for demonstration purposes) the one going 300 would catch up to the other causing them to collide outside the barrel and the high ROF makes this possible because the balls are so closely shot together that it gives them a chance to collide. If you where only shooting lets say 5 bps the second ball would have no way of catching the first. And I wouldnt think that the length of the barrel would matter in this instance but I could be wrong...

[impostal22]

Then what's the disadvantage to having a longer barrel if it isn't lower rate of fire due to barrel breaks? I agree that the balls couldn't collide that way, so I'm wondering why say 12" in more preferrable than 14". Is it just personal preference, or is there more to it?

[justinburchill]

exactly. barrel length does not matter at all. and you're right, the fps jump example does not depend on barrel length, only bps and gun consistency. pick a barrel length that you're comfortable using, i shoot a 16" some people shoot 14" and some shoot 8" but in the end, its all personal preference.

[Lord_Whoopass]

Actually you should get a barrel with a certain length (depending on the specs of your gun) between the chamber and the begining of the porting of the barrel. I forget the specs but supposedly this should help to stabilize the acceleration of the paintball making your gun more accurate. I believe for mags its 6 and a half inches and remember thats the length from the chamber to the first porting in the barrel not the length of the barrel...

[justinburchill]

while this is true, it has nothing to do with decreasing ROF.

[impostal22]

according to Tom Kaye, 8-10 inches of effective barrel (barrel without porting) is what is needed for mags for peak barrel efficiency. link here: http://www.automags.org/resource/tec...rrel_eff.shtml

[Lord_Whoopass]

Yeah i said i wasnt sure on the specs but i knew that thats what affected accuracy...