The paintball barrel is one of the important parts, if not the most important one, of a paint ball gun. Hence if you are a paintball enthusiast, it is necessary to know some of these points about the paintball barrel:
Components: The threading, barrel shaft, and porting are the three major parts of a typical paintball barrel.
Threading: The spiral grooves at the end of the paintball gun are called the threading and these allow you to screw the barrel into the gun. As different paintball guns have different threading, make sure you purchase a paintball barrel whose threading would match that of your gun.
Barrel Shaft: The solid portion of the barrel that a paint ball travels through is called the shaft. Most people say that length of the barrel makes a difference to its accuracy. They believe that the longer the barrel, the more accurate the gun. Though this is true for barrels that are less than 14 inches long, a barrel length of more than 14 inches actually slows down the ball as the longer the barrel, the more will be the deceleration within the barrel and the greater is the amount of air required to shoot the ball, leading to a lower efficiency for guns with very long barrels.
Porting: The porting is the perforated part just before the end of the paintball barrel. These holes help reduce the sound of the gun firing by allowing for a gradual escape of air from the barrel instead of a single burst at the end of the barrel. Though more porting means less noise, it also means a greater amount of air required to fire the ball and hence lower gun efficiency.
Along with these three main components, there are two other things related to the barrel that affect the gun performance.
Diameter: Pay attention to the diameter of the barrel before buying paintball gun. The diameter of the gun should be just enough for a paint ball to travel easily down the barrel when some air is blown down the barrel. If the barrel allows the paint ball to move freely because of the gravity itself or it requires a very strong blow of air for any kind of paint ball movement, it is not a very good barrel.
Material: Paintball barrels are made out of a variety of material, such as aluminum, carbon fiber, and steel. Though the actual material does not affect the accuracy of the gun, the weight of the paintball barrel does; hence, lighter barrels usually cost more.
