Barrel improvements

Hey guys, I got a life changing situation here(well almost life changing). Courtasy of this guy named VindicareAssassin on another forum I frequent.

I read a few articles on accuracy and tightbores, this is my Interpretation of what I read. I have always wondered how a super tight bore would increase my accuracy with the shooting system that we use in airsoft(backspin). I guess I wasn't that wrong at all really. Essentially what I read was super tight bores(6.01) can cause too much friction between the BB and the barrel, meaning your accuracy can be thrown off a lot depending on the conditions. What is needed to maintain great accuracy is good airflow around the BB. A 6.01 cannot deliver as much airflow that is needed to give good accuracy. A 6.08 barrel should in theory give the best accuracy because it give the largest cushion of air on the BB. An intermediate barrel would be a 6.04, its supposed to be the middle ground(makes sense). The reason stock barrels have bad accuracy compared to TB barrels is because they are not made to the same degree of precision as TB barrels. Which also makes sense, for my test I re crowned the stock CA barrel(509mm). A crown is the very end of the barrel, you may notice that the tip(crown), is shaped outward. This is arguably(in Real Steel and airsoft), one of the most essential components in accuracy. I used 220 grit sand paper and went just on the crown for about 10 minutes. You will probably notice when you have a good crown. You don't necessarily need to totally redo the crown but in most stock barrels you will notice 'burrs' at the end of the barrel where is is shaped into a crown. Those burrs greatly reduce your accuracy.

Now what the articles recommended is that to compensate for a lack of good machining is to coat the bore of any barrel with metal/acrylic polish(liquid car polish/firearm polish, cleaners). I was a little skeptical at first but after a more experienced player on another forum tried it with great success I went for it!

I will post some pics when I am done, basically it worked out great. The accuracy is greatly increased, and it is a much cheaper solution than buying a TB barrel. I need to shoot 2 more groupings with my KM TB barrel(6.04), then i will post my results.

Articles: http://infectedairsoft.wordpress.com/tech-info/how-to-choose-a-new-inner-barrel/

http://forums.airsoftmechanics.com/index.php?topic=891.0

I had trouble understanding some of the stuff they stated in the second link, however I understood most of it.

I will edit this post with some pics once I'm done testing, I'm also going to do this to my stock TM G-Spec barrel(6.05, 303mm). I need to get it back first though!

Pics:

Unpolished Stock CA barrel, 509mm brass. .25G Excel Bio BB's. No wind, indoor shooting. @30ft



Unpolished KM 6.04 TBB, 480mm. .25G Excel Bio BB's, no wind, indoor shooting. @ 30ft



Polished Stock CA barrel, 509mm. .25G Excel Bio BB's, no wind, indoor shooting. @30ft



Polished KM 6.04 TBB, 480mm. .25G Excel BB's, no wind, indoor shooting. @30ft



Enjoy! I'll also be doing this with my brother CA stock barrel(363mm, AKA M4 length), and my friends Systema TBB(455mm, AKA AK length). I'll edit this post with the results of those too!

sticks

Awesome I am going to try one of those polishes and see if it works or not.

Very interesting.....A TB barrel is third on things I'm getting for my Thompson. you may have caused me to re-think this. So, in YOUR opinion, would going from a stick barrel to a tighter, lets say 6.03 barrel DECREASE accuracy?

Well to dumb down the airsoft mechanix thread ALOT, basically it works out like this.

Super tight bores(6.00, 6.01)= greater FPS, as long as you keep the normal barrel length(for good cylinder output). Also a few of the guys said that Immediate accuracy(I'm guessing this would be >50ft, but they didn't say) increases.

Normal tight bores(6.03, 6.04)=a mix between a super tight bore and a normal barrel.

Normal barrels=Greater Accuracy at range, as long as you mod it a little(polishing, and re crowning).

If you were wondering what the polish does, basically is fills in any minute crevices in the barrel. I'm talking about very very small things, ie to small for the human eye. By polishing you make a very consistent inner bore. Which in turn greatly increases the consistancy of the ariflow around the BB, which makes the BB fly straighter.

After I eat I will get the pics up.

sticks

Agreed double taps very interesting but when you think about it makes sense . I gotta show this to my snipers and DMs. Mind if I show em the pics and info your posting sticks.

I am alittle confused. Wouldn't a 6.08 give horrible accuracy becasue even though there is a good airflow it would have the bb bounce around the barrel alittle more. Compared to a 6.01 where is causes friction( which seems more like a problem with range not accuracy) have less bouncing around so it be more accurate then the 6.08. What one would be better. If anythign wouldn't that make 6.03 the besst because even though its not as much airfolw as stock it has less room to bpunce around?

The debate at AM has been going on forever under diffrent thread titles,

The things that need to be kept in mind if you are going to change up to a TB inner barrel are,

1, Your energy Out-Put, if you are running about the 330fps range, going to an extreme .01 inner barrel will more than likly hurt your guns performance, the increase in usable Air Energy ( roughly 2% ), will only have a minimum added benifit.

2, Your Hop-Up Buckling, again this also couples with your energy out put. If you are using a SOFT Hop-Up Buckling and Nubbing, these may not be able to put the proper amount of back spin on the BB to get any great benifit from th TB.

3, The most important of all, Your BB quality !!! if you drop down to a .01 and your BB´s are Junk, you are going to be spending all your time clearing Barrel Jams, if your BB´s are Middle of the road quality, you will not see any added benifits to using a TB, either way all you are going to achieve is Ruining a good TB and throwing alot of money out the window.

First and foremost, I only reccomend going to a extreme TB if you are shooting above the 480FPS level, only on guns with a minimum barrel length of 363mm ( M4 ), and only if you are playing SEMI, F/A with a TB is just a waste. So where does that leave us ??

6.01 Inner Barrels are mainly thought about and used in SNIPER rifles, well maintained, properly tuned and using nothing but the best quality of BB´s.

For the average player the 6.03/.04 inner barrel will offer the best overall level of Accuracy, Range and Reliable performance.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

I'm trying to get pics up, the cameras being stupid. Can anyone make a user friendly camera?

I'll edit my first post when I am done. I'll show groupings at 30ft, sorry I couldn't get more. Maybe when it heats up we can do some 150ft tests. I'm very excited as the polished 6.08mm stock barrel performed better than my normal Km barrel(unpolished). And the pretty much tied when I polished the KM.

I'll get the pics up very soon.

sticks

Pics Up!

Sorry about the double post, was bumping it!

Sticks, Could you elaborate on how to do this? I have made the decision, and the results you have produced are undeniable. I am going to take this up to Bing Shop and have them help me do it there. But I'm still not sure how to actually DO it.

yes me too. I want to do it, just not sure how..

I'll make a guide with pics tonight, its very simple.

Do you want to know how to do it with a cordless drill, or a normal AEG barrel cleaner9the rod thing)? If its the drill I need to find a .22 cleaning kit, if not I can do it tonight on my Brothers CA stock barrel.

Satan: go ahead and spread the pics! just make sure to reference AirsoftAllies.com!

Gracie: The friction against the BB(in theory) would affect the backspin on the BB, thereby decreasing both range and accuracy. Oh and one of the guys on the airsoft mechanics forum supposedly made linoleum barrels to see if the BB bounced or rolled(bad description, float would be better). Apparently it does both, bouncing at first then started to "roll" later on down the barrel. He didnt supply pics but it makes sense, it would bounce because the force the Hop-Up applies. When it settled a little it should start rolling.

sticks

Create the guide on the aeg cleaning rod because most people don't have a .22 cleaning kit. I only have my airsoft cleaning rod.