Bore Size

[Grimbil]

Hey everyone, first off I want to say what a great site this is...I've spent waaaay too many working hours pouring over the reviews and message boards and I'm very impressed...quite a community you have! I hope to be of some help to others in the future. Hopefully you can help me out with my first purchase.

I've been paintballing maybe 6 or 7 times in the past 5 years or so, tho I've never gotten a marker for myself. I'll soon be purchasing one tho, most likely a JT Excellerator 4.0. Mostly good reviews and I've found one for the right price. I plan on getting a barrel as well, probably a 12" JT barrel (if my marker and mask are both JT, why not?) It's gotten pretty good reviews as well. But now my question:

The JT 2 piece barrel comes in two bore sizes: .688 and .690. What effect does this have? Is there a performance difference between the two? I think every field i've been to has required me to use field paint only, so I don't have control of the ball size. Is it better to get the larger bore size if I don't know what size the field balls are? Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

Grimbil

[Ebonclaw]

Generally, it's better to have your paint fit a little tight as opposed to a little loose. As for the gun? It's a nice gun and all, but be prepared for a REALLY long trigger pull. The JT I handled recently gave me at last 2 inches or more of travel, and was a real pain. I couldn't fire that thing past 5 rounds a secound if I wanted to. There's no telling what your trigger will be like. My reccomendation? Well, that's in my thread. Shutters can be found for $150 or so and they're good looking guns that perform well. The trigger pull is lightened on all the Shutters, so it's fairly short, especially for a mechanical trigger. As for the barrel? That two piece seems a bit expensive........A custom products barrel for about $40 will give you great accuracy with almost any paint, and they have your color to match too! Still, your selection is a good one and with a new trigger frame, that JT would become quite formidible.
As for the barrel sizes? Bore size is how big the hole is in the barrel. A good paint/bore match will cause the paint to stick in the barrel in such a way you can blow it out without your cheeks turning red, but not roll out. .689 is the most common bore size and works the best with most paints. Why JT made their barrel funny sizes is beyond me.

[UTLadiesMan]

Like Ebon said, the CP's are good barrels for a much lower price. I still like the JT's better though and they are a two stage, which is nice. As far as bore size, I would probably get the .688. I have seen more field paint in the .687, .688 range, than the .690, .691 range. Most of the field paint I've seen though is .689 average, but then again, field paint can vary by a point either direction from the average. Well, hope this helps.

Oh, and welcome to the boards. ;)

[Grimbil]

Hey, thanks for the input guys. I'm gonna do a little more research on barrels and maybe get something a little more standard than the JT barrel. If i go for the .688 bore size tho and the field balls are too big, I guess they probably wouldn't object if I brought along my suppy of balls in case of emergency. Thanks!