[firststrike01]

Im thinking about buying a 8" barrel for my x7 because I like the idea of having a compact set up. But im not sure if it will lower the accuracy? The barrel I'm thinking of getting is the lapco Big Shot Barrel, which I hear is a quality Barrel. And the stock barrel is only 9.5 inches and I do pretty good with it. So does anyone with experience think this will be a good or bad purchase?

[Harrison57]

I wouldn't recommend it. It will hurt the accuracy for sure. I would go with a 12 or 14 inch barrel. Hope this helps

[masterofTHUMBS]

disregard what i said

[dps093]

I wouldn't go shorter than a 12 inch

[memorex]

my buddy used a 4inch barrel numerous times and has outshot us in accuracy

[Zippin35]

^^ I must question that.

[Rebel_816]

Originally Posted by masterofTHUMBS

I wouldn't say it would hurt the accuracy but it will hurt your effciency. You will have to put a lot of air out to get the ball up to 280fps in that short distance meaning less shots off a tank fill, how much less is kind indeterminate but it will be less. A 10 or 12in would be the shortest barrel to recommend.

actually a longer barrel will hurt effeciency. for the most part the paintball is already up to speed within 6" of the breach, so the longer the barrel the more surface area the ball has to drag against which slows it down. plus as the ball moves away from the breach, theres more volume behind the ball as it goes forward, so the air that was used to propel it is constantly losing pressure, which means its applying less and less force to the ball as it moves further from the breach.

so basically even with a short barrel as long as theres a good paint to bore match to keep excess air from escaping it shouldnt hurt efficiency, unless its something super short like 3".

a shorter barrel will usually be louder too, due to there being much less porting. if you've got a two piece barrel, take the front half off during a game and youll be suprised how much louder your gun is.

[liverlip]

Originally Posted by memorex

my buddy used a 4inch barrel numerous times and has outshot us in accuracy

You guys must really suck!

[Danny96211]

I wouldn't use a barrel shorter than 10 inches. I remember using the stock 8inch barrel that came with my a5 and if was hurrendous. But then again... it was a tippmann. The stock 10inch barrel that came with my envy worked great and was very accurate, however i ended up upgrading to a 14inch freak barrel. Cant go wrong with a freak!

[YeloSno]

I'd say 12-14" overall is optimal length.

anything less and you threaten your sound signature, efficiency and consistency on making sure you can get the same speed and range like you would with a "normal" barrel.

Besides, most brands that make short barrels usually have short backs, which makes the short barrel complete crap.

I mean, you should try it out and see if it's your thing, but take the time to research.

Something like a Freak back with a stubby tip (a la WhiteWolf Airsmithing products... or from another brand... idk what there is available...) would allow you to be cost friendly as you can also grab a regular full length freak tip and you can save $10-$40 on your overall shtick and carry fewer pieces of equipment with you. I think you can do the same thing with the DYE UL barrels as well. A small bore version of those would work out pretty well as well.


If you rock a freak, avoid the aluminum inserts and check out the Empire Aluminum inserts or the SP/GOG Stainless Steel and third party Brass inserts.

You'll get the most out of the barrel that way.

[tonycon]

Hammerhead shark tooth 8" barrel
/ thread

[Zippin35]

Originally Posted by Rebel_816

actually a longer barrel will hurt effeciency. for the most part the paintball is already up to speed within 6" of the breach, so the longer the barrel the more surface area the ball has to drag against which slows it down. plus as the ball moves away from the breach, theres more volume behind the ball as it goes forward, so the air that was used to propel it is constantly losing pressure, which means its applying less and less force to the ball as it moves further from the breach.

so basically even with a short barrel as long as theres a good paint to bore match to keep excess air from escaping it shouldnt hurt efficiency, unless its something super short like 3".

a shorter barrel will usually be louder too, due to there being much less porting. if you've got a two piece barrel, take the front half off during a game and youll be suprised how much louder your gun is.

Can you define "shortER" and "longER"? Longer like 22 inches? Sure I can agree with you on that, just trying to clarify what your saying.

[YeloSno]

Originally Posted by tonycon

Hammerhead shark tooth 8" barrel
/ thread

ew, they're rifled.

[crich775]

12in one piece or 14in two piece are tested to be the best for efficiency.
I use a 16in but that's preference.

[walkingtall84]

I have the J&J ceramic 14" for the a5 and for the 98 I use. But use the 14" on the tacamo mag feed from rap4. Great barrels I think to use. I have the old python compression kit also to match the paint.

[Iowa]

12-14 seem to have survived the test of time as the best range for accuracy.

[Pdubs]

Uh.....most of all of you are wrong. Go look at the actual data study. The length of the barrel does nothing for range or accuracy. Accuracy is quality of paint and paint size to barrel size matching. Porting will help to stabilize the HPA cloud behind the ball. The more porting and the better fit for the paint the more accurate and quieter(due to porting, prefferably reverse porting) you're going to get. I'd actually reccomend underboring by .003 - .005 for the best accuracy.

[2nwyka]

Originally Posted by Pdubs

Uh.....most of all of you are wrong. Go look at the actual data study. The length of the barrel does nothing for range or accuracy. Accuracy is quality of paint and paint size to barrel size matching. Porting will help to stabilize the HPA cloud behind the ball. The more porting and the better fit for the paint the more accurate and quieter(due to porting, prefferably reverse porting) you're going to get. I'd actually reccomend underboring by .003 - .005 for the best accuracy.

I'm glad someone finally said this! My Stiffi is excellent because of all the porting. Most consistent barrel I've ever used. That being said, I use an 8-inch barrel on my A5 sometimes and it does just fine. It's a ported PMI that works just great and is pretty spot-on as long as the paint fits it. Underboring will give you the best accuracy, however if you underbore too much you'll start to break paint. Hope that helped.
Noah

[Danny96211]

Originally Posted by Pdubs

Uh.....most of all of you are wrong. Go look at the actual data study. The length of the barrel does nothing for range or accuracy. Accuracy is quality of paint and paint size to barrel size matching. Porting will help to stabilize the HPA cloud behind the ball. The more porting and the better fit for the paint the more accurate and quieter(due to porting, prefferably reverse porting) you're going to get. I'd actually reccomend underboring by .003 - .005 for the best accuracy.

while you are mostly right, you are wrong in one area. The length of the barrel does indeed matter. For example, i can guarantee you that a 8 inch barrel will out perform a 3 inch barrel of the same quality. The barrel needs to be a decent length for the paintball to travel through, or else it wont go anywhere accurately.