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Period of
Product Use: |
| 1 year | 10 of 14 people found this review helpful.
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Paintball
Experience: |
1 year |
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Similar
Products Used: |
All American, Boomstick |
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| Marker Setup: |
Timmy, mac-dev, freak, EVO II |
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Recommended
Paintballs: |
Just about any |
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| Strengths: |
Inserts, adjustable fronts, even adjustable backs |
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| Weaknesses: |
durability, and quality issues |
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| Review: |
First let me say I really like my freak, I love the idea that I can totally match my paint/bore with just a quick change. Its modular design is/was really breakthrough (Smart Parts was years in front of everyone else here).
I believe it has pretty good (not great) accuracy/consistency because the paint can match the barrel back pretty well.
One of my biggest beefs here is that on the inserts, the chamfer is out of round or not present at all and trying to tell which direction to install the insert is aggravating. I try to do it by determining which side has the largest, most round chamfer and install with that facing backwards (towards the gun). Clearly a quality problem while making the inserts and I do believe the accuracy of the barrel takes a hit because the entry point into the barrel isn't symmetric allowing the paintball to enter the barrel unevenly.
On the durability of the inserts, if you put even the smallest amount of care into the inserts they will last for long time, just keep them in the case and it shouldn't be a problem for you.
Here are my pros and cons for this barrel system.
Pros:
- modular inserts offer great versatility to shoot whatever paint you want.
- you can also change out the front with other smart parts 2-piece barrel products AA etc
- replacability of parts (fronts, backs, inserts)
- barrel case is also nice way to protect those not so durable inserts
- the inserts are fairly low cost
Cons:
- The chamfer on the inserts is not round (none of mine are) which again I believe this is one of the reasons the accuracy can sometimes suffer.
- The finish on the inserts is what ever it is for extruded tube (the next generation 2 modular barrels have begun to address this no .7 micron finish here etc)
- The placement of the Oring on the front is bad, because it makes getting the thread started difficult and I have noticed higher wear on the threads between the front and back because of this. |
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| Conclusion: |
I would recommend this barrel, since I do think it is a good system. However I don't give a 10 because the next generation systems have taken what SP has done and made some needed improvements. |
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| Rating: |
| 8 out of 10 | Last edited on Sunday, May 25th, 2003 at 9:03 am PST |
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