Do I really need one of those expensive barrel kits?

No. Now that is a simple answer to what could be considered a complex question.

Here is a fact about paintballs you may or may not know paintballs are not .68 cal. I do not think I’ve ever knowingly used paintballs that are really .68 cal. I’ve bought paint as large as .694 and smaller than .679. In addition your paint can vary in size in the same case and change through the day. Currently my experience is that paint has gotten tiny. I’ve had balls so small they roll out my barrel with my smallest insert of .679, which is annoying as hell. One day I would love it if paintball manufacturers would get a little better quality control. Now these variations might seem insignificant to some of you but in the terms of ballistics and making accurate shots these variations are important.

Enter the barrel kit. I’m not sure of the fact, and if anyone knows for sure let me know, but that evil company Smart Parts [said with a sarcastic voice ] came up with a barrel kit, the Freak. This barrel kit allows you to vary the interior dimensions of their barrel to more closely match the paint you are actually shooting. Since then many companies have come up with many different ways to accomplish the same thing, but the theory is still the same.

The idea is since we can not depend on the manufacturers of paintballs to provided consistently sized paint we should be able to vary the size of the barrel to compensate. What you want to do is have a barrel size that you paintballs will not roll out but stay at the end of the barrel but will exit the barrel with a firm breath. With this you get a good seal behind the ball for you air to propel the ball when fired but not so tight that you add unnecessary friction. Also you can have such a tight fit that you will over stress the ball when loading/firing that you get ball breaks in the gun. This is particularly important for rapid firing guns. I tend to go with a tighter fit for a pump and as loose a fit as I can for a semi-automatic.

Having a nice fit, ball to barrel, you will gain more consistency from shot to shot due to more uniform air leakage around the ball and friction between the ball and barrel. As I’ve stated often times before consistency is very important to making accurate shots. I’m sure there are some people who can describe all the science behind this and all the different variables in play but for most players that is unimportant. This works from empirical knowledge from years of play so just trust me having a GOOD barrel kit is important to accurate shots.

I use Smart Parts Freak Kits. I bought them a long time ago they work for me and I’ve never felt a major need to change. I know some of you hate Smart Parts in general and some do not like their kits. Well that’s fine they work for me, I already own them end of story. What is important is that you get a good quality barrel kit without manufacturing defects and with as many different sizes as possible. Some manufacturers say you only need three different sizes some say six. In my personal experience more the better. The closer I can match my barrel to the paintballs the happier I am. As I said earlier I’ve had paint roll out my barrel with my smallest insert in my kit. The manufacturers with only 3 sizes may as well not have different sizes when it gets that small.

I like the Freak Kit, as I’ve said before, but some of my friends have systems that they swear by Thumper likes the old style Kaner Kits and Sly Kits. I have friends who love the J&J Edge kits and Sanchez Machine. I’ve used CCM carbon fiber and LAPCO Accushot kits before and I like them. I think it is more important to have a good quality barrel kit then it is to have a specific manufacturer’s barrel kit. Try out some friends kits and see what you like, inspect the quality of manufacture and get yourself a barrel kit. Remember you tend to get what you paid for. If you get a kit that costs $40 new it most likely will not be as good quality as the $90 or $200 barrel kits

Some of you will be thinking “but didn’t you say at the beginning I do not need a barrel kit what’s up with that?” Well you do not have to have a barrel kit there are some “tricks” you can use with stock barrels to get an approximately the same effect though not quite as effective.

• Nail Polish – you can add some nail polish to the backend of a large bore barrel to decrease the interior dimensions to get small balls to fit better

• Tape – you can use a small piece of tape to the backend of the barrel to keep a ball from rolling out

• There is nothing you can do to a small bore barrel to help out with big paint

• Multiple Barrels – keep different stock fixed barrels for the different sizes. Different barrels have different interior sizes. This is basically how LAPCO’s Accushot works, you get three different barrels with three different size interiors.

• CCI sells ball detents that work with Phantom barrels to “size” the barrel for different size balls. Dirt Cheap [<$10] and work with some other guns than Phantom too.