Barrels
The marker's barrel directs the paintball and controls the release of the gas pocket behind it. Several different bore sizes are made, to fit different sizes of paintball, and there are many lengths and styles. Most modern paintball markers have barrels that screw into the front receiver. Older types slide the barrel on and screw it in place. Barrel threading must be matched to that of the marker. Common threads are: Angel, Autococker, Impulse/Ion, Shocker, Spyder, A-5, and 98 Custom.
Barrels are manufactured in three basic configurations: one piece, two piece and three piece. A barrel with interchangeable bores, with either two or three piece, is called a barrel system, rather than a two-piece or three-piece barrel. This prevents confusion, as many two-piece barrel systems do not use an interchangeable bore system.
One piece barrels are machined from a single piece of material, usually aluminium, but stainless steel has historically been popular. Paintballs can range from .50 to .695 caliber (12.70–17.65 mm), and barrels are made to match these diameters. Some one piece barrels have a stepped bore that increases from their rated bore size to around .70 caliber (17.78 mm) after 8 inches (200 mm). One-piece barrels are generally less expensive to produce and therefore to purchase, but if a different bore size is desired (for a closer fit to the size of a given brand or batch of paintballs) an entirely new barrel is required. The use of a single material for the entire barrel means that disadvantages of certain materials, such as durability (aluminum) or weight (stainless steel), cannot be mitigated.
Two piece barrels consist of a front and back. The back attaches to the marker and is machined with a specified bore between .682 and .695 caliber (17.32–17.65 mm). The front makes up the rest of the length and contains the porting. Fronts usually have a larger bore than the back. The design of a two-piece barrel allows for the use of more than one back with a front, to change the effective bore size of the barrel without changing the entire barrel. It also allows for the back to be made of a different material, or be a different color, than the front, allowing aesthetic and performance customizations.
Three-piece barrels have a single back. A series of inserts, or sleeves, with differing bores are inserted into the back. The front is attached to keep the sleeve in place. Sleeves are generally offered in either aluminium or stainless steel. Aluminium sleeves are light but can be dented or scratched easily; stainless steel versions are more resilient but carry a weight penalty. The user needs only one set of sleeves and a back for each marker. Front sections, which adjust the length of the barrel, can be interchanged. This type offers the widest selection of barrel diameters, usually .680 (17.27), .681 (17.30), .682 (17.32), .683 (17.35), and up to .696 caliber (17.68 mm).
Read more about this topic: Paintball Marker
Famous quotes containing the word barrels:
“What is the good of a man and he
Alone and alone, with a speckled shin?
I would that I drank with my love on my knee,
Between two barrels at the inn.
Oro, oro!
To-morrow night I will break down the door.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The idea that information can be stored in a changing world without an overwhelming depreciation of its value is false. It is scarcely less false than the more plausible claim that after a war we may take our existing weapons, fill their barrels with cylinder oil, and coat their outsides with sprayed rubber film, and let them statically await the next emergency.”
—Norbert Wiener (1894–1964)