The Progressive barrels are available in lengths (12/14/16/20") and are available for most paintguns. They come in black, blue, red , silver & green.
Product Availability
The Smart Parts Progressive Barrels are newer, so they should be commonly available, both new and used. Check out the Places to Buy links below for places to purchase them new.
Spyder Sonix Pro
12oz. Spyder CO2 tank
14" Smart Parts Progressive barrel
12v Viewloader Revolution with X-board
Recommended Paintballs:
Find one that fits it.
Strengths:
Looks really.
Weaknesses:
Hard to clean, SP quality control, barrel is not .689 like it should be.
Review:
I picked this barrel up for $50. This is a review for the 14" Spyder barrel.
Ok I'm editing this review now. Well my friends got some Progressive barrels and I noticed "Hey their barrels are more accurate and they all shoot mech Spyder's and Tippmann's, relatively stock like my Spyder. I then find out that no paintballs would fit into it. I asked my friend to let me use his Progressive barrel. My Heat paintballs fit into it perfectly. I then picked up my barrel and put the same paintball in. Nope rolled right out.
Conclusion:
SP quality control sucks. Get something better like a J&J 14" Ceramic or CP 1-piece. I knew I shouldn't have been so impatient and bought the first barrel I saw.
Rating:
3 out of 10
Last edited on Sunday, December 24th, 2006 at 7:04 am PST
I bought this barrel last year and fell in love with it when i shot my for paint out of it. I like the barrel for its length and accuracy. The only thing i couldnt believe about it was the price, it was really cheap and I think it could be much more expensive. Any body (begginer or expert) paintballer would love this barrel.
Conclusion:
I reccoment that you go out and give the barrel a shot!
Smart Parts Freak-Kit 10in. Tested (Spyder) - A step up from this barrel... A $150 step up... Preforms around the same, but the kit works with any paint, with all those inserts! Progressive is more durable, since the freak inserts are stainless-steel.
Smart Parts All-American 14in. (Automag68) - Pretty much the two-piece version of the Progressive. A tad bit better, but hardly noticable, wheras the price difference of 35$+ is..
J&J Ceramic 12 in. (Autococker) - Self-Cleans, which is nice, but it is less accurate and louder. It also scratches easily, but its still a great barrel, and my autococker's quick-switch barrel I use in recball, incase I get a ball-break
Progressive will shoot around any medium-sized paint well. Follow the same paint "Bounce-Test" on automags.org. Anything around 5-7 bounces is good for this barrel.
Strengths:
Accuracy
Looks Sharp
Very cheap
Preformance
Light-Weight
Paint Acceptance
Weaknesses:
No Major Weaknesses
Review:
Well, I had just bought like 8 cases of paint and two 400$ markers in the same week, so you could tell I was broke. When I got my cocker, I decided to shoot it in my back-yard a bit, to see how it preforms. Other than a few tiny problems that are fixed now, I only really needed to replace the barrel. It came lightly used with a 12in. J&J Ceramic barrel, which is great, don't get me wrong, but it was too loud for my taste. It also would tend to miss a bit, and it didn't accept the same paint-size as my Automag, and I would like to be able to use the same case... I went to the pro-shop and I had to choose from an All-American 8in., a Progressive 12in., a Dye Xcel 12in., and a freak-kit. While I like the All-American better, because of the fact that my 14in. weighs way less than my 12in. progressive, I didn't have $85 to spend, especially since I needed a new bolt. I settled with the progressive, not expecting much of an improvement, but I am surpised. I shot in my backyard with near perfect accuracy, and it quieted my loud 'cocker by quite a bit. It also weighed enough to balance my marker out perfectly, which is great! It was way better than I expected, and I will definately stick with it; Its just as good as any $100 barrel.
Conclusion:
If you want a great one-piece barrel that preforms as well as any barrel for $100, and looks sharp, this is your barrel. If you have any extra money, go with an All-American, though.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Thursday, June 17th, 2004 at 10:20 pm PST
Price is definetly a plus. You can get one brand new from between 35-50 bills. It was fairly accurate when you had a good paint match and it was a nice day outside..fairly quiet compared to my partners lapco big shot.
Weaknesses:
Not a lot of range, on a bad day, broke lots of balls. Once you break a ball, you can't shoot the paint out, you need to clean your barrel because if you don't, every ball with either break or be a curve ball.
Conclusion:
I used this on an automag and i don't suggest it. For the same price you can get a lapco bigshot or put in an extra 25 bucks and get an all american. Get one of those unless you find this barrel somewhere for EXTREMELY cheap. Overall, it wasn't too bad, but you can get a lot better of a barrel for aroudn the same price
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Less than a month
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
2 years
Similar Products Used:
Driver, Razzor,
Marker Setup:
Red 05 vision Shocker
- Nerve Ramping Board
- Aluminum Frak Barrel, Red All-American Tip
- Red NDZ On-Off
- Black CP Regulator
- Red 15* Regulator Adapter w/ Gauge
- Red NDZ Roller Trigger
- NDZ Bolt Guide
- Smartparts HE (High Efficientcy) Bolt
Recommended Paintballs:
evil, medevil
Strengths:
Durability
Weaknesses:
Everything
Review:
Ugly, limited colors, mine came with a flaw, can you guess, no? Cheap, no different between stock, and smart parts. Yes the progressive. Its brutal, i bought it thinking it was going to improve accuracy, and i think it made it worst, it is brutal don't buy. Spend your money on something else. Driver, something on that lines
2003 smart parts impulse all new designs internals and a freak on its way. nothing is stock on this gun but the feed neck, halo b, nitro duck 30/68
Recommended Paintballs:
zaps
gaps
(dont use midnights!!!!!!!!!)
Strengths:
cheap, even though it came with my impy
Weaknesses:
isnt accurate at all
cant go long distances
Review:
its an okay barrel for somthing like a spyder. i would reccomemned spendin another 40 and getting a dye ultralight or somthing because this barrel is hardly meddicore. not worth the money, dont buy it. my impy cannot shine with a barrel like this, im getting a freak. save yourselves! dont buy it ever!
Ultimate impulse, freak factory internals dye sticky grip magnetic trigger frame blade trigger a bad ass trigger mod tape worn and low pressure chamber and max flow regulater with a big drop forward
Recommended Paintballs:
Draxxus hellfire
Strengths:
quiet
Weaknesses:
Shoots straight a little like a 2 out of 5
Review:
good kinda quiet not accurecy is off 14 is a good lenghth i dunno if it is that good for anything over a newbie i personaly would not use this barral i would get an all american it is sooo much sweeter so all in all i would recomend this to u if you have been playing for under a year
Tippmann Pro-Carbine
-operator ten inch
-Progressive
-Milled Grip
-Internal Mods
-Hittmann Buttstock
Recommended Paintballs:
Any
Strengths:
-Price
-Accuracy
-Not Paint Picky
-Cleans With Three Shots
-Ported
-Lengths
Weaknesses:
-HARD to Clean Porting
Review:
I bought this with my a-5 so its an old barrel, (i bought one when they first came out i think) i have beat my progressive to hell and back its got nicks and the threads anodization has came off, but this barrel is truely amazing ive gotten more kills with it then ten times what ever else i have used
When you use it you chop you just rack of two-four quick shots and keep there heads down and it is clean, i have used this for speedsball and woodsball being a fan of each and its wonderful
This is also proably the most quiet barrel ive ever used a million times quieter then my operator
You can put it onto the pro/lite/carbine/ect series with little milling and theres many thread types and colours
If you do chop, the porting becomes gummed up, this will cuz the accruacy to go awol on you. so be careful you need a little "dentist christmas tree" or simmilar to clean it, or just good ole hot water (ive used a pond once....)
Conclusion:
Great Barrel For the money, Very much worth the price, will take years of abuse and many kills. Amazing product from smart parts.
