Paintball Gun Barrels
Just like in guns that shoot real bullets, the barrel is an important part of the paintball gun. The main part of the barrel, the shaft, is after all where the paint ball will pass through on its way to the target. Unlike in real guns however, paintball gun barrels can be interchanged, although you will normally still have to purchase a barrel that is the same brand as the rest of your gun.
The typical paintball gun barrel is made up of three major components: the threading, the porting and the barrel shaft, which we mentioned earlier. The threading, as the name implies, is the part of the barrel that contains the spiral grooves where the barrel connects to the main part of the gun itself. The barrel shaft, as explained in the previous paragraph, is the pathway that the paint gun ball will actually pass through on its way out. The porting refers to the part of the barrel where there are holes or “ports”, just before the end where the ball exits.
Getting the threading right is crucial if you want to ensure that your paintball gun barrel fits properly. Just as a bolt will not fit into a nut if the threads do not match, a barrel with the wrong sized thread will not fit into your paintball gun. Usually paintball gun barrels will only fit in guns of the same brand, although there are adapters available that can make a barrel from one manufacturer fit into a gun from another manufacturer. In most cases though, it would be best to stick with one brand for both gun and barrel.
The issue of paintball gun barrel length is one that is up for debate. Some experts are of the opinion that a longer barrel will result in a more accurate firing gun. While this opinion has a bit of truth to it, if a barrel is any longer than 12 to 14 inches, the paintball gun’s accuracy will actually suffer. It would probably be best to stick to barrels that are 8 to 12 inches long at the most.
Most paintball gun barrels are made from materials such as steel or aluminum, and in some cases even carbon fiber. While the material used in the barrel will have no bearing on the performance of the paintball gun, it will have an effect on the weight and that in turn will affect the accuracy of the gun to some extent.