I've got a bunch of barrels, and I wanted to test them. Plain and simple. The goal wasn't so much accuracy, but consistency in groupings based on measurements.

Here's the criteria and results:

- Everything was tested on my stock Tippmann X7. I would have used my A5 but it has internal mods which I don't think would be fair in this test.

- Marker is chronoed at 280-290 using an X Radar chrono with each barrel change

- HPA was used for consistency

- Paint used was Draxxus bronze. I figured something middle of the road that wasn't "field paint seconds" or "high end tourney paint that costs twice as much" would be reasonable.

- Paint and all gear was stored at room temperature for over 24 hours.

- Every barrel got 10 shots. No more, no less.

- Distance from the marker to target was 45 feet (measured with a tape)

- dry day, temps 8 degrees celsius, no wind

- Marker was held in a Craftsman type workbench and clamped into position

- Targeting was aided by tactical laser mounted on the underside of the marker

- I initially made a paper target and laminated it, but the paint started tearing it to pieces! I just ended up using a piece of melamine 3/4" thick particleboard and looked for consistency in groupings instead.







I will continue to test a second batch of barrels next week, this is what I had on hand at the time.

- stock A5 barrel (not shown in pic)
- Specops Stiffi C-Series 12"
- J&J Ceramic 14"
- J&J Ceramic 12"
- Smart Parts Freak with bore matched .687 insert / All American front 14"
- Smart Parts Freak with bore matched .687 insert / All American front 12"



Summary as of March 16th:

I'd have to say that at 45 feet, all of the barrels were good in the sense that if a person was standing there and you were shooting at their torso (center of mass). You would probably hit them. This tells me a lot: if you have a stable shooting platform and are not "praying and spraying", you will get decent results with most barrels in that you could hit someone in the chest.

However, if you wanted to hit someone that's peeking over the top of a log or bunker, you're shot needs to be a lot more accurate to hit something that's half the size of the human torso. That's where a more accurate or consistent barrel comes into play.

Of the 5 barrels tested so far, the Specops C series delivered the most ball on ball accuracy. The J&J 14" and Freak kit 14" were a close second. Keep in mind I'm not just basing this on the photos, but what I saw "during" the tests. Some barrels had shots hitting on top of shots, where as others were more spread out. You wouldn't be able to see this in the pics because the paint tends to run all over the place. The only way you can see the results would be to videotape the test, in order to see ball on ball accuracy.

Next week, I am going to try and test the following barrels (if I can borrow them from my team):

- 12" Palmers Brass
- 8" Lapco bigshot
- J&J Edge kit

1. Stock A5 Barrel



The A5 barrel is pretty short, about 8" in length. The bore is bigger so that it accepts pretty much any paint and can shoot it right out of the box. However, it's usually one of the first upgrades that most players make.

As expected, the A5 barrel was "all over the place". The groupings were wide and not consistent. You can see that one shot ended up way on the upper left, and another went under the picnic table hitting the cardboard in the back. No other after market barrel did this.

2. J&J Ceramic 12"



The groupings were more consistent, more shots were delivered closer to each other. Asides from the 2 strays on the upper right, all the shots were in an 11" range. More accurate than the A5 barrel.

3. J&J Ceramic 14"



So finally the question of "Does size really matter?" comes up. This is the eaxct same barrel as the 12" only a couple inches longer. If you look closely, the impact marks (what I will now call shot "centers") were only 8"-9" apart.
Also notice that there are more "shot on shots", there's a lot more paint centered rather than scattered around like the 12" version.

This truly is more accurate than the 12" barrel. Even if it's only a slight improvement, it does show that the extra length is doing something positive.

4. Special Ops / Stiffi Blackcell C-series 12"



The Special Ops barrel is a stepped bore. the first few inches are smaller, then the bore gets bigger in one step. The barrel is carbon / fiberglass and has a different finish from the Stiffi barrels. This one is .691 but the bore looks HUGE compared to other barrels that are also .691.
By the picture, the grouping is good (in the 9" range) but what amazed me during shooting was the shot on shot consistency. Even though the bore was really big, the "centers" were laid on top of one another, almost like Robin Hood "splitting an arrow with a second arrow". I was quite surprised by the results.

5. Smart Parts Freak kit, .687 bore, All American 12" front



Asides from 2 stray shots (far left and bottom middle), the 12" All American Freak performed well. The most consistent centers were about 9" apart. The ball on ball accuracy was not as good as the Special ops C series, but fairly consistent.

6. Smart Parts Freak kit, .687 bore, All American 14" front

Again, let's see if size matters. This All American tip is 2" longer than the previous barrel.



The shots are somewhat more consistent in that they are grouped more tightly together than the 12" version. It's comparable to the 12" in that most of the shots are about 9" apart, but there's more ball on ball consistency.

nice stuff. I'm waiting to see rest of test.

I hope that is 8 degrees Cel. rather than 8 degress F! (If it is in Cel.... What is that in normal temperatures? LOL)

8 degrees celsius, 46.4 degrees farenheit.

great job! are you going to get a st!ffi to test? oh, wait i just won one on ebay! i hope its better or as good as the c-series. Panda, where is the noodle write up?! i want noodles, but i don't want to eat them wrong!

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Great job! Id love to see how you clamped the marker also!

Great write up, ive heard people talk about the grouping and their spread but never seein it actually. Awsome!

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This is going to be helpful for all those "what type of barrel to get" thread. You should try these barrels at different ranges as well as trying more barrels. Great thread!

Sorry, I didn't get a chance to take a pic of the clamped marker. Basically, it was "sandwiched" between the expanding slot on the workbench / table. It's one of these:



It was clamped on the magwell and the stock, it didn't move at all.

Very nice......