stock spyder xtra barrel - poor consistency from shot to shot, clearly not on par with the teardrop.
Marker Setup:
spyder xtra
14" teardrop
20oz co2
vl200 clear hopper
Recommended Paintballs:
rps marbs, rps super swirl - great
draxxus dusk - good
Strengths:
accurate
no barrel breaks
inexpensive
quiet
Weaknesses:
chops cause major problems
Review:
The Good
I'm really pleased with this barrel overall. I've played about 10 days of paintball with it now, and it performs well. It's very accurate, which is obviously the most important feature of a barrel. Expect tight spreads even at 80-100 feet with a good paint/barrel match. In my experience, Draxxus Dusk is a bit small for this barrel but still shoots pretty good. RPS Super Swirls and Marbs are a good fit and both shoot great.
It also happens to be pretty quiet, as others have mentioned. It's not like you're going to be some super stealth sniper (heh) with this thing, but it is nice as it probably takes an extra second or two or opponents to figure out where initial shots are coming from. This helps most in woods fields, but even on larger speedball fields it can be a little advantage.
I've never broken a ball because of the barrel; it's just a matter of picking the right paint. Don't pick paint that you can't blow through the barrel with your mouth, or paint that will roll through uninhibited (though I think the latter is the lesser of the two evils if you can't get a perfect match).
The price was also great for a barrel of this level - I got mine for $42
The Bad
Like I said, I've played with this a bunch and I haven't had a problem with it... until the last time I played. It was speedball, and for reasons unrelated to this barrel, I ended up chopping a ball in 4 different games with the bolt. When I chopped, my accuracy with the teardrop became entirely non-existent. I couldn't help but laugh at some of the truly extreme curves the balls were taking as close as 30 feet out of the barrel. As far as I could tell, there is no possible way you're "shooting through a break" with this barrel. The balls will just keep on flying in random directions. Most of the time I was lucky enough to have teammates cover me while I ran a squeegee through the barrel. This barely helps at all, as a large part of the problem comes from paint inside the porting, which a squeegee won't clear. Then I tried turning the gun upside down, covering the end of the barrel with my hand and dry firing a few times. This helped more, as it cleared the porting a decent amount, but still left a lot of paint around the holes. At this point, balls were still curving a lot and accuracy was worse than a stock barrel. I could sort of aim and actually eliminated someone with it at about 60 feet - but with all the curving it was mostly luck. Basically the only way I got the performance back was to run a hose over the porting to fully clean it. It is really hard to fully clean mid-game. And when it's not totally cleaned, accuracy drops noticably.
Miscellaneous
Obviously this is a matter of opinion, but the barrel looks pretty damn nice. The "smart parts" and "teardrop" labels are indeed upside-down when it's screwed in all the way on spyder threading, but you can take them off and reverse them.
Conclusion:
Despite the hassle I dealt with after chopped balls, I still rate this barrel high. It shoots great, is pretty quiet, looks great, and is relatively inexpensive. I look at it this way - it only gave me trouble one out of ten days of play, and even then it was only because my hopper was feeding poorly and didn't match my rate of fire. From what I've read, comparable barrels include the sp progressive, j&j ceramic, and lapco bigshot. But ultimately I'm happy I picked the teardrop.
Rating:
9 out of 10
Last edited on Wednesday, July 21st, 2004 at 2:36 pm PST
I don't really think the $40 extra for the all american barrel is a good idea,Im2ShOr2Die, from the reviews i've read its not as good as its reputation says it is. Go with the teardrop,i'm gonna get one for my b-day, the teardrop beats the all american by a long shot.
Last edited on Sunday, May 23rd, 2004 at 3:38 pm PST
it's easy to flip the logos, i advise using a small sharp pocket knife with a small tip, and just gently try to wedge it out and then pull it off slowly with your hands..and then carefully place it back on..it's simple but just be patient with it
if you need to clean the porting turn your gun upside and fire once to make sure theres no paint in the barrel then put your hand in front of the barrel and shoot until the port are clean
i also have a way to clean the porst midgame thats kinda odd. carry a toopick in your pocket and when they get clocked run it down into the holes and it will clean it enough to improve the accuracy. this will probally only work on a woods field were you have more time other wish in speedball your pretty much screwed with the chopped balls. also to clean them thourly when your not midgame take it to a sink or hose and set the tip flat against the sink bottom (or a table if your using the hose) and run the water in at a nice pressure so it fills up the barrel like a cup after it gets about halway the ports will start having water drain from them. not to hard to do just make sure you dry it very well or else your balls will slip and curve on the way out. oh and also according to your review im now buying this barrel. i was on the edge of thinking of it now i am.
if anyone reading this cant find the right paintballs ....i did a science fair projecton paintball "waht wal-mart paintball shoots best?" and i had many differnt types of paintballs and after burner worked the best for a walmart brand.the first paintballs i ever use through this barrel were dioblo midnights and those were perfectly dead on so if you like only speand money on cheap paintballs get afterburners and if you dont mind spending the extra $$ on paintballls get the diablo midnights.
another good paint is pmi premuim and if you have a tippman and u break a ball midgam cary some big cotton balls flip ur gun depress the hopper thingy and shot cotton balls down and put ur hand at the end of course this works with n gun but 98's are beter for it
Gradius, I noticed you said Marbelizer shoots pretty good with this barrel. I have been playing for three years now and still have this question. Is there a barrel Marbelizer DOES NOT shoot good out of? I've seen it shoot very well out of a 98 custom stock barrel, so is it possable for Marbelizer to NOT shoot good?
WHAT IS BETTER ABOUT THE ALL AMERICAN BARREL THAN A REGULSR TEARDROP (im really sorry about all these all caps, bold posts that ive been makiong but i have a lot of questions about this review.)
