alpha black question

If you were expecting bullet-like accuracy, prepare to be disappointed.  Paintballs are large caliber, liquid filled projectiles fired at low velocity from smooth bore barrels.  As such, they are not ideal projectiles and will never be all that accurate.  They are also susceptible to deformation/breakage due to heat, humidity, age or being fired at excessive velocities. These factors tend to negatively impact accuracy as well. Finally, being spherical and moving relatively slowly, they can also be pushed off course by the wind or impacts with small twigs/leaves (if they don't break from the impact).

That said, there are things that can be done to improve your consistency.  (Accuracy being an attribute of the user and consistency being an attribute of the marker.)   The first thing to consider is the velocity you are firing at.  Depending on the paint, consistency can start to suffer at velocities in excess of 300-340 fps.  (This is really not a factor as paintball guns should be set to fire at less than 300 fps for safety reasons.)  I am not familiar with the AB barrel specifically, but most stock barrels are made as cheaply as possible and, in general, almost any after-market barrel will provide an increase in performance.  (The J&J Ceramic and Lapco Bigshots are excellent barrels and recommended here on a regular basis.) 

Paint quality is also a factor in performance.  Out of round or dimpled paint will not fly as true as undamaged paint.  A break in the bag or hopper that has allowed paint to get on the exterior of the other paintballs or transfer to the barrel interior will also send the shots flying all over.  (Think spitballs from baseball.) 

Propellant is another factor:  Compressed air is less temperature sensitive than CO2 and will generally provide better consistency because of this.  CO2 can be delivered at pressures ranging from a few hundred psi to 1800 psi depending upon ambient air temperature and the rate/amount of firing being done.  The effects on consistency of the temperature sensitivity of CO2 can be mitigated through the use of either an expansion chamber or regulator.

Unlike real firearms, with paintball markers longer barrels do not necessarily equate to increased accuracy/range.  Since the speed of the paint is limited for safety reasons everyone is firing at essentially the same muzzle velocity no matter what their barrel length.  Most people on here will recommend barrels in the 12-14 inch range as being the best lengths.  If you really want a super short or super long barrel you can usually expand that range to 8-16 inches before performance starts to be seriously negatively impacted.

Scopes are less useful in paintball than most people think.  They are handy for scouting terrain in big game/large playing field situations but are not that useful for engaging targets.  The limited range of paintballs means that most engagements take places at ranges where either some type of non-magnifying sight or just "point-and-shoot" is more effective for eliminating opponents.  At longer ranges the arced trajectory of the projectiles render scopes almost completely useless for aiming.

For further information, you should check out the stickied posts in the various sections or do searches on the upgrades you are interested in.



Edited by Mack - 28 June 2009 at 1:54am

stick to around 16 at most for barrel length. an apex will increase your range, but again, its not super accurate. high end paintballs will HELP, but not perfect.

lol

mack pretty much covered it all, i would like to add though that in my experience paint really is the biggest factor.

a few tipps along that point, i do not recomend buying paint at walmart, or another big store with a tiny paintball section that few people go too, paint doesn't exactly age well and you never know how long its been sitting at a place like that. ordering online, or buying from a local paintball shop would be a better idea.

as far as expansion chambers and regulators go, expansion chambers certianly help, though a regulator will be much more effective.

that said, some regulators handle co2 much worse then others, the palmer stabalizer is probably your best bet should you decide to go that route.

adrenalinejunky wrote: a few tipps along that point, i do not recomend buying paint at walmart, or another big store with a tiny paintball section that few people go too, paint doesn't exactly age well and you never know how long its been sitting at a place like that. ordering online, or buying from a local paintball shop would be a better idea.

Or one can always take their markers to those big box stores, opening up a case, and firing a few rounds right there in the store aise, to test if it is good, quality paint.

*I dont recommend doing the above suggestion though.