Still trying to decide/learn about a kit

[RickLiebespach]

I've been playing for a year now... almost exclusively woods ball. I now use a Tippmann A5 with the 32* Whispper barrel. I like the Whisper, but I'm looking to buy a kit, to gain even greater accuracy and consistancy.

Does my playing woods ball, With a Tippmann A5, make a difference as to using a kit... or which kit?

I think the kits available for the A5 are the:
Freak, Scepter, Empire (?), J&J Edge, Sanchez Machines SM-1, and ????
(Powerlyte is about to release the Sceptor with an A5 back)


Several people have said the Sceptor better...
For you guys that have the 07 and used to use one of the other kits...
Have you noticed a difference in performance?

Several of you have said you'd prefer the Sceptor over the Freak or the Empire.... why?

So far I've not used a kit and when a friend of mine (on the Warriors For Christ paintball team), found out I was looking to buy one he offered me his Empire kit (the 7) for $25. At that price, even if I don't like it... who cares. My friend now uses the Freak. (I haven't asked him why... I tend to forget the obvious)

Oh yeah, do you have any numbers to go with your stuff... such as distance and grouping size?

I suppose cleaning a break could be significant too...
amd some have talked about durability... I don't plan to use it for a hammer, is it really significant? do some break and dent easy enough to consider when I'm macking my decession?

Thanks.

[JChan819]

The Edge kit is pretty nice. Some people like they're Edge kit over their more expensive kits, like the Freak.

I'd get the Empire kit. For $25, that's a bargain.

I'd also get a Sceptor kit. From what I hear (and it's usually what I base my recommendations with), it's a good barrel. Very solid, and accurate.

[calaustria]

Get the empire, no question. As long as it's in good condition. If not, go with the edge. Your friend will probably say his freak is amazing. Most people tend to love what they spent all their money on. My first kit was a freak, and I never really liked it too much. I have yet to pick up a scepter kit though, so if you could test one of those out, you could see if you liked it or not. Durability could be a factor too. Especially in woodsball, as I remember my evil pipe snapping.

[RickLiebespach]

ok, I pick up and use the Empire is about 5 hours... I'll let you know what I think...
All of the above said....
I saw some reviews and comments for a brass barrel... a Palmer. It sounds great... they are willing to make a custom barrel, from scratch.... it sounds like that includes the boring. and from wha I've read, they do their barrel different from everyone else... it's an elipcial bore. ???
supposedly it accomedates balls of almost any size, and quality, with the accuracy that is typical of a kit... starting around $50 (10-13" brass unported barrel)... ported barrels start around $100

Do any of you know anything about these???

[JChan819]

I believe their barrels have a larger bore at the beginning, and towards the muzzle, its size decreases just a bit. But yes, I've heard that those barrels are deadly accurate, with quality paint. Any paint that's been sitting too long, dimpled, etc. won't shoot good out of many barrels, let alone guns.

[RickLiebespach]

Yesterday I bought the Empire
(2 pice barrel - a front and 6 backs - .696 .693 .690 .687 .684 and .681)

When we finished our play for the day I took the empire and the whisper over to and area where I could do some practice shots. (I should have taken the stock A5 barrel as well... oh well, maybe next time)
Afterwards I went back and measured. All shots were fired using field paint. (I think it was made by PMI and the balls were brown - if that helps - supposedly .680, but you know how that goes)
After my test shots I went back and measured stuff.
(with my 25' tape measure)

In the following:
I was firing with a light to mild cross wind. As much as possible, I tried to only fire between breezes. When I talk about spreads, I'll be referring to what I believe to be the main body, or true spread... leaving off stuff that may have been blown too much, and leaving off stuff that was for sure my fault.

From where I was sitting, to the palm tree I was shooting, was 80 feet.
The area that I was using of the tree was 10 inches in diameter. I switched every now and then between the whisper, and the various empires, in various orders, etc. What I noticed was that the accuracy of the whisper fell somewhere in the middle of the empire.

The worst the empire gave me was (a guess), about 20 inch spreads.
The best the empire gave me was 4-6 inch spreads.
The 32* Whisper barrel gave me 6-8 inch spreads.

With the empire, I was getting my best spreads with the .696 .693 and .687
I'm not sure why the .690 was worse than the .687
On this day the the .696 and the .693 were real close, but I felt the .696 was woking best.
The Whisper was somewhere between the .693 and the .687... about where I would have expected the .690 would have been. For some reason the .690 was shooting around the same as .684... the .681 actually shot better than the .684 or .690

I bought the whisper new in July of 2006, and it's only been used by one other person (at Camp Blanding). That was a mistake. When I got it back it was ALL scratched up! like it had been slid across a street a few times. Even the inside looked different. It had linear scratches. Prior to that I kept it in it's original tube and it was almost mint when I leant it to my friend. After that I never felt like it was shooting as good as it used to.

I'm not sure of the age of the empire. The front has some external scratches like the whisper now does.
The front has uniform linear scratches (more than the whisper).
The .696 is very clean, but not mint.
The .693 is as "mint" as the whisper used to be.
The .690 has some external scratches and must have been in use when the front got it's external scratches. It also has some internal linear scratches (more than the whisper).
The .687 is as "mint" as the whisper used to be.
The .684 is very clean, better than the .696, but not mint.
The .681 is as "mint" as the whisper used to be.

The condition of the .690 .684 and .681 are probably what accounts for the accuracy (?) I mentioned above... I was surprised the .684 and .681 shot as well as they had.... and the .690 as poorly!