As for similar products, I have never used a rifled paintball barrel before, but I have used the Tippmann Flatline, Armson Stealth, Tippmann Sniper, JJ Ceramic, and numerous other barrels over the years.
Marker Setup:
Main: Tippmann 98C, Low Pressure System, Bob Long Torpedo regulator, Air Tipps Stainless Steel Screws, Toxic Performance double trigger, Dead On Paintball Pro Seal Front Bolt and Power Tube, Staight Line remote with Pro-Connect, 12v Revolution, numerous barrels and air tanks.
Recommended Paintballs:
I used several for testing. The paintballs I used included:
Draxxus Midnight
32Degrees Team Colors
Brass Eagle Super Swirl
Tiger Eye (some paint a friend had, can't remember the manufacturer)
PMI Premium
Strengths:
Well, the barrel was very accurate and quiet. In comparison to other barrels I have used I would give it a resounding 9. I tested the Twister over a couple of distances and a couple of conditions. For the sake of this review I will call the the first range "average range" of most barrels, say maybe a 35 to 45 yard distance. The second I will call "long range", like the distance of a Flatline barrel, say maybe 65 yards. The conditions were still and windy.
First lets look at accuracy. At average range it was was every bit as accurate as a JJ Ceramic or Armson Stealth, actually I think it had a little tighter spread. The wind appeared to have much less effect on the Twister than with the others tested. At long range, it couldn't compare to the Flatline of course because it couldn't make the distance, but was every bit as accurate as the Flatline at the average range. And when I say more accurate I mean it shot a tighter spread of paintballs.
As for paint breakage, I had some of the Brass Eagle and Tiger Eye break in all of the barrels tested. I did not however, have any other paint break in any of the barrels I tested. So, to that I can conclude that the Brass Eagle and Tiger Eye paint was either old or is just cheap.
As for velocity consistancy. Here is what I found most interesting. With all of the other barrels tested, when I would change paintballs I would also record a change in velocity (FPS) on my chrony. The largest was between the Brass eagle and the Team Colors on the average. However, with the Twister I had very little velocity change. I don't know if this is some unknown benefit of the rifling, but this is just what I found. Even going from the Brass Eagle paint to the Team colors I had less than a 10 FPS change in velocity. Therefore, I must conclude that the Twister takes a wider range of paintball sizes with more consistancy.
Weaknesses:
Well, I don't really like tha spider on the top of the barrel, actually on my Tippmann the threads are such that when the barrel is screwed in tightly the spider is actually turned halfway to the right, not on top. Also, you have to run a squeegy through them a few times if you have a ball break. They don't clean as easily as a JJ Ceramic.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I am buying another one of these for my son. It is a very good product. The rifling inside the barrel is subtle so I don't know if the balls actually spin when they come out of the barrel or not. I do know it is accurate, and very quiet.
yo pretorian. this barrel is good and i know you will back me up on it. and i have the same problem as you do. but i dont think that it is a problem. i think that the spider is supposed to go to the right because mine does too. but it is also at a right angle to the top of the marker. i think this is the way it is supposed to be but i am not 100 percent sure.
I don't know if the balls actually spin when they come out of the barrel or not.
they SLIGHTLY spin out of the barrell hoever at further distances the paintball actually turns into a square so there is some spin involved however its not much.
