Choosing A Paintball Barrel

By Author: Razvan Jr
Total Articles: 273
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The paintball barrel is just as crucial as the paintball gun itself used to propel the paintball through the barrel. Without a proper suitable paintball barrel, a player, regardless of his experience and good aim, will find it very hard to hit the target within time. A high quality barrel and paint to bore match will significantly increase the accuracy and the ball on ball precision, very important in the world of paintball. With this article we will offer a few tips regarding how to choose a paintball barrel.

1. Set up a budget and stick to it. You need to know that barrels can be bought as a single barrel or as a kit. The first ones cost around 40-50 dollars while the kits go from 75 dollars up to 175 dollars for the complete models.

2. Now, choosing the barrel type. You need to answer yourself the following question: do you need a single barrel or a barrel kit? The kit will allow the player to match the size of the barrel bore. The bore is the distance inside the barrel. The paint size varies from .683 to .696 which means that the correct paint to match the barrel will give you the much needed maximum accuracy.

3. ...
... Choosing the length of the barrel. A shorter barrel will give the player more mobility while the longer barrels will provide more accuracy. Most of the paintball players use 12-14 barrels. Of course, there are some players that enjoy using a 16 barrel in woods, but you need to know that these types of barrels require more gas to propel the paintball. More than 16 is overkill, at least in our opinion and there is a great drop in accuracy in a 10 barrel. The choice is up to you of course.

4. Barrel kits. Such kits allow the paintball player to chance back bores and front lengths. The more experienced paintball players use these kits as they provide the best accuracy with any given paint. Here are some recommended barrel kits that paintball players use on a regular basis:

a) Powerlyte Sceptor (2000 series);
b) JJ Edge;
c) Smart Parts Freak (stainless steel inserts);
d) Dye Ulralite;
e) TI Longbow.

5. If you consider that a barrel kit is out of your price range, you need to start looking for a reliable single barrel. Here are a few examples of good single barrels:

a) J&J Ceramic - has a Teflon/ceramic coating to help the barrel clean better through ball breaks;
b) Lapco Bigshot - a rather loud to some but a great barrel for the price;
c) CP .689 - a rather popular barrel by a good company.

6. If by any chance you find someone that has the barrel you are planning on purchasing, give it a try on the paintball field. You must check for accuracy and marker balance.

7. The last obvious step would be to purchase the desired product. Check at your local paintball store, online shops and in paintball forums.

Good luck.

About Author: Skirmish paintball services can be acquired at www.skirmish-paintball.co.uk, where information about kids kent paintball is available.