Originally posted by Beerandfuel on A5og.

F.A.Q. The importance of barrel bore to paint size matching.
From Tippmannparts.com



Q: Aren't all paintballs .68 caliber? Why do I want to have different size bores on my barrels?

A: All paintball guns used for regular play use .68 caliber paintballs. But paintballs do vary in size. They vary from brand to brand, between quality levels, and even from lot to lot of the same type of paintball. Paintballs will vary in size anywhere between .680" and .695" in diameter. These are the extremes however. Most balls are between .686" and .692". If you properly match your barrel bore to the paint your shooting that day you will dramatically increase your performance. Accuracy and velocity consistency will be increased because the ball has a consistent guide during it's travel out of the barrel. Efficiency is imporved because no air is leaking around the ball as it shoots (to large of a barrel) and there won't be excessive drag on the ball (to small of a barrel). Breaks will be reduced caused by trying to squeeze a large ball through a small barrel.


Q: Which bore should I get first?

A: When purchasing a barrel you first want to have a good quality medium sized bore barrel in the .687" to .690" range. This will let you shoot most paint the best. Your next purchase should be a larger bore barrel. This can be great for a hot or humid day when the paint swells during the afternoon. If you had a good match in the cool morning, you might notice more breaks as the day goes on. A larger bore might solve the problem. When ever you're able to go ahead an finish out your barrel system with a nice small barrel. This will stop the small balls from rolling out your barrel and increase your efficiency by stopping air leakage around the ball. If you can afford it, go ahead and get a full set of barrels as your first major gun upgrade. This will be the number 1 improvement you can make in the quality of your paintball gun.


Q: Okay, now I've got all these different bores, which one do I use?

A: The best way is to use a paint sizer. Drop the balls through the different sized holes and whatever the smallest size hole that the ball drops through is labeled then that's the barrel bore you should use. If you don't have a ball sizer then you can check the balls by blowing them through your different barrel bores. The ball should not roll out of the barrel but should stick when you put the ball in. It should not stick so hard though that you can't blow it out. it should stick just enough that it takes a firm but not hard puff of air to send it flying.

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