Hey everyone! Just bought a 98 Custom Platinum today. Got a Cyclone Feed coming in the mail soon and a stock on it already, and now I figure it's time to upgrade the barrel. My only problem? I'm a paintball n00bie. I've played, sure, but the equipment was already set up so I didn't have to do anything. I'm looking for the best barrel for the best price, say a 12 or 14". If it helps any, I've got a case of Brass Eagle paintballs, think they were .687 or close to that. Thanks in advance!

Welcome Jester. I am currently run J&J 16inchers on both of my A-5's and have no complaints, actually, nothing but GOOD to say about them. Well, sometimes it is a little too long, so I am gonna try and find a 14 eventually. I installed one on Old Faithfull (98 Custom) with the help of a converter of course. Very Accurate. So now I am looking for a J&J 14 incher for my 98.

My 2 cents. J&J 12incher would work pretty well. 14inches should be pretty good as well you just have to find what length barrel fits your play style.

I find forward aggressive attacking play needs a shorter barrel about 12inches. Back play say denfensive line, can use a linger barrell. My 16's work well but there are times when it is just a little too long. Do a SEARCH o the Forum for best or optimal length barrell.

Guys? Am I right?

12 to 16 inches, 14 bein about the best all around length.

I recommend a kit barrels so you can adjust length and bore to your situation but if ya gotta go 1 piece, look for a .689 bore(should handle 90% of the paint you come across.)J&J's are very good for the $$$. I have one and love it

.

__________________

Welcome to the 98OG TheJester34! Now to answer your question, The best bang for your buck barrels that I would reccomend are the J&J ceramics, the Custom Products classic series, and the Smart Parts Linear barrels. They will all perform extremely well for the price paid, and they are all under $40 apiece online. Hope this helps.

Midnight out

Welcome to the OG! The J&J Ceramics and CP Classics are both excellent one piece barrels for cheap. If you want the ability to have threaded muzzle breaks for milsim, a Lapco Bigshot Assault or a CP Tactical will do the trick. As far as kits go, you could go with a J&J Edge or a Python Kit. A Hammerhead Kit would also be nice but very pricey. Good luck with your search.

__________________

I would definately just stick with a J&J Ceramic barrel at around 12-14". I had the 14" on my 98 a while back and loved it, still in use today at 4 years old with my little bro's Alpha. He loves it too! I'm not a 100% positive, but I think they have an adaptor for an Apex tip as well to help with range. If I am wrong and there is no such adaptor for the Ceramics, you could always do the tape mod and utilize the Apex tip.

This way you can save money on your barrel and when you feel like it, you can upgrade to a barrel kit, although I don't think that is really all that necessary in your case. Since you have a stock and cyclone, the only other upgrade I would do is purchase the X7 hopper and then leave it alone and adapt to the gun, and then decide where you need to upgrade after a few games. Just because some of us are running crazy fast setups, doesn't mean that it will suit your style. As with everything in life, just adapt and learn. More than likely, the improvement will lie with your abilities to paintball, not the gun's.

__________________
Xbox Live- SilentAgent047

Welcome to the best site ha! I run a 16in SP linear barrel on my Project Salvo. Love it, sometimes it is a bit big so a 14 would be your best bet. Only reason i dont mind it being big is the salvo is a big boy itself! Hope ya find what ya need!

__________________
Image removed as it was too tall.

Thanks for all the input! The few times I've played it's been woodball. There's a paintball field close to my home so I'm gonna try that out. Just a simple one piece barrel looks like it would work fine for now. Maybe an upgrade to a barrel system sometime down the road. Looks like a 14" J&J for woodball, stock for the field. And I did see somewhere about using an X7 hopper instead of the one the Cyclone comes with. Wolf16731, what's the advantages of using the X7 hopper as opposed to the one it comes with?

Well, for one it doesn't look so clunky. My main reason for doing it is it brings the profile down some. Go ahead and check out the link in my signature to see some pics of my 98 with it bolted on. I also modded the hopper itself with some neoprene lining to get rid of the clatter from the paint bouncing around. I only lost about 20 rounds in capacity because of the amount of space the lining takes, but I'm not a heavy gunner for my team anyways, so it works out very well. I got my lining from Techie, not sure if he still makes them anymore though. Shoot him a PM sometime and he should be able to help you out. He precuts them to fit perfectly, so it is very well worth the money.

__________________
Xbox Live- SilentAgent047

Ok cool. Thanks for the info. Your 98 looks pretty sick. I like the look of the Barrett mag on it. Also, how does your barrel perform in your opinion? I was gonna get a J&J 14", but I found a BT M16 for ~$45 I think I'd rather go with instead, if it performs ok.