Tippmann A-5 with Response Trigger
Polished Internals
Palmer 12 inch Brass Barrel
Lapco Snapshot Barrel .687
Pure Energy 68cu 4500 psi Compressed Air
Palmer's Stabilizer
SpecOps A-5A2 Stock
Kingman Java Remote Coil
TechT Vortex Mod
JCS Redhot Powertube/ Hexadecagonal bolt
Recommended Paintballs:
Anything that is moderately consistent. No size preference needed, just don't shoot Brass Eagles through it.
And I mean it, this will shoot ANYTHING with the best accuracy I have ever seen.
Strengths:
Very, very accurate. Not loud without porting. Accurate. Cheap. Accurate. Looks good. Accurate.
Weaknesses:
A bit heavier than other barrels.
Review:
Just got this barrel, and I loved it from the beginning. It looks great on my A-5. Dry fired a bit, and it really was NOT any louder than with my Snapshot or stock barrel. When I used it at the field, I was shocked and amazed. I had amazing accuracy, I almost couldn't believe it. At 20 feet it was literally ball on ball accuracy. It widened a bit as it got farther out, but it was never outside of a man sized target. I have never seen this accuracy with any other barrel or gun, be it Tippmanns, Spyders, Ions, Matrices or Egos.
Ah yes, the paint I was using? Diablo Nightmare. When I did a bounce test with this stuff, it ranged from 1 bounce to 10 bounces randomly. Basically, a bunch of them just break as soon as the air hits them. I would get 20-30 shots off, and then get a break. The barrel doesn't shoot well through breaks, but I'll test it further.
I just can't wait to see how this thing shoots with regular grade or high grade paint... I'm so excited...
At the field, I know at least one person who used a high end who was pretty amazed at the accuracy this thing was doing. I just never realized an A-5 could be this accurate.
Ok, I'm raving now. Anyways, this is the best barrel I have seen so far, I doubt it could be topped by anything...
Conclusion:
Buy it, it is arguably the best barrel there is on the market. Works well with different paints and is amazingly accurate.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 4:00 pm PST
Tippman A5/A2 32* 12" Palmer Brass Barrel, Lapco Offset, BT raised rail, Lapco Suppressor and BSA red dot..
Recommended Paintballs:
Anything
Strengths:
Great value @ $45
Weaknesses:
Well made, easy to clean and take of.
Review:
I picked this up essentially on hype. The word on the forums was that the barrel could handle a wide variety of paint without issue and even as far as increase accuracy of said paint. Plus, I wanted something a little shorter then 14" and I wanted unported since I was tired of having to clean out the damn venting after a break, so it was a win-win for me.
Its a great barrel, very durable, looks great and easy to take care. At $45 for the unvented and standard finish, its a great value. I had no trouble firing a variety of paint through it, but it didn't handle breakage or increase accuracy any better then my other two barrels. I would even go as far to say I had to squeegee this barrel more then my 32* Carbon Fiber, but it was on par with the Thunderpig.
And when I say squeegee, I'm talking one or two breaks out of 500 rounds with some 5 month old paint. The 32*, a few dry fires and I was ready to roll. On the Pig and Brass....dry firing didn't always help. Out comes the squeegee.
Another concern some folks had was the loudness of the barrel. Personally, I haven't seen (heard?) much to the dramatic descriptions of how loud or how quiet barrels are, but I do acknowledge frequency differences. Barrels do sound different...however, whether or not they are louder is another story.
So, upon receiving the barrel, I set out to do a little side by side action of checking volume differences as I have access to a dB meter.
3 barrels, c weighted running max dB with the meter 6" below the end of the barrel.
This was done firing a few single shots and then rapid firing (about 7 continuous shots as fast as I could pull the trigger). The rapid fire succession is what pulled the figures above. Both 14" are of the ported variety.
It takes at least 2dB for a noticeable difference in volume (if you're paying attention), otherwise, account for 3dB for someone to go "hey, that's louder". Now, although the volume differences were inaudible to the human hear (you could argue anechoic chamber differences...but that's just damn silly to the current discussion), there was a frequency difference between the barrels. The brass barrel seem to have a heavier mid range then the 32*, which gave it a "wack wack" sound when firing vs a "pumphm pumphm" sound of the carbon fiber. Best I could describe, I'm sorry. hahaha.
Could you tell the difference on the field? In regards to sound characteristics, absolutely. In regards to actual volume, no. Do certain frequencies travel farther then others? Another topic altogether, as there are too many variables at play. ;)
Conclusion:
If you are looking to upgrade from the factory barrel or your current barrel is some bargin basement left over that is chopping paint badly...yes. If your current barrel is working fine, you are not likely going to see an improvement with this upgrade.
Jungle Green SP-8
Extendable Stock
Tactical Rail Kit
TechT L6 Lightening Bolt
Clippard QEV
CP Regulator, Long
PMI Pure Energy 68/4500 HPA
PMI remote
Palmer Pursuit Shop unported, 14" brass barrel
Tasco BKRD30 RedDot Sight
Q-loader System
Tippmann Triumph SSL-200 hopper
Recommended Paintballs:
Draxxus Hellfire - just about anything shoots well though (tried X-ball Bronze and Silver).
Strengths:
EXTREMELY accurate, paint tolerant, no breaks. APEX tip adaptor available.
Weaknesses:
Heavy?
Review:
General
When I ordered my barrel, PPS had to custom make it to fit my Impulse/Ion threaded SP-8. A PPS employee was more than happy to answer questions over the phone. I was looking at their website later and found they make an APEX tip adaptor for their barrels. I called back and spoke ot the same woman who was very helpful and simply added the adaptor to my order. PPS is wonderful to deal with. The barrel arrived less than a week after being shipped, extremely well packed in a styrofoam "tube" inside a Tyvek envelope.
Accuracy
In the 2000+ balls shot through mine (unported, 14" on an SP-8/Ion), it's been nothing less than outstanding. This is a frighteningly accurate barrel.
Out to about 60', I was putting paintballs right on top of each other.
At 100', I could keep the vast majority of shots inside a mask sized area with no problem shooting into windows across the field.
Out to - and past - 150' (the length of my regular indoor field is about that, perhaps 175' if you go right to the walls), the group starts to open up - maybe 5 to 7 of 10 would stay inside a "man-sized" target. Great for longballing or suppression with accuracy. Firing 5-10bps at 150', if someone sticks their head, toe or hopper where you're aiming, they're going to get tagged.
All things considered (marker and paint inconsistency) I couldn't hope or wish for any better accuracy than this barrel delivers.
Paint Differences
The difference between really good paint like Hellfire and lower end X-ball Bronze or Silver was the number of wild shots. Hellfire might send one in 25 shots off by a few MOA (minutes of angle). The lower end stuff had more flyers. No breaks evident with any paint, shooting at any rate from 1bps to 20bps. Either there were no breaks or the barrel self-cleaned on the 2nd shot and I didn't notice. In any case, by the end of the night, the inside of the barrel was still a mirror finish.
Other Barrels for Comparison
I shot a Hammerhead kit and the OpsGear interceptor on the same day. While they come close, there's a noticable difference and the PPS brass wins, at all distances. Note: the marker was chronoed to 275fps, +/-3fps.
Other
I also received the PPS's APEX tip adaptor and I'm looking forward to trying it next. (APEX on order). The nice thing about that setup will be the possibility to disable the APEX tip to just shoot the brass or activate the APEX tip for "creative" shots. Best of both worlds.
Conclusion:
I recognize a lot of different factors can add up to affect results.
For me, shooting an SP-8 and Draxxus Hellfire (my new favorite paint), there is no reason for me to own another barrel - the PPS brass is as accurate as I could ever hope for. There are enough people who swear by these barrels they're worth trying.
The folks at PPS can talk to you about options like porting or different bore sizes (small, medium, large - I'm shooting medium). Medium will shoot a lot of different paint well. If you regularly shoot small or large paint, you might ask for a different bore size.
This is a great investment and it's given me new excitement about the game because I can aim and know the paint is going to go exactly where I want, predictably.
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Sunday, November 19th, 2006 at 8:27 am PST
Smart Parts Progressive
J&J Ceramic
32 Degree Quiet Riot
Marker Setup:
PPS Blazer
10.5" Unported Brass Barrel
Recommended Paintballs:
Anything of decent quality. Draxxus Hellfire worked pretty well.
Strengths:
Accuracy
Brass
Color
Weaknesses:
Weight
Color
Review:
I've used a fair amount of aftermarket barrels and nothing compares to the brass barrel. With all of my other barrels, some paint works great, other paint doesn't. With the brass barrel, it shoots basically all types of paint equally well. Even when my other barrels are perfectly matched to the paint, they don't shoot as accurately as the brass barrel.
The brass provides less friction against the shell of a paintball so it requires less force to propel the paintball. That means you use less gas per shot. Also, the nice golden color of the brass is both a strength and weakness. It's a strength because people off the field are always commenting on it. It's unusual and makes you feel like you have something special (which you do). However, in some situations it stands out a little bit and can give you away in the woods.
Some Brasso on the barrel every so often and it's good to go.
Conclusion:
It's the most accurate barrel I've ever used. It shoots all paint very well. I recommend them to anyone.
Tippman SL 68 II, 12 oz aluminum, homemade hopper adapter, Indian Creek 150 round hopper.
Recommended Paintballs:
GAP, PMI Premium
Strengths:
--PROS--
Accurate
Durable
Palmer's Pursuit name
Weaknesses:
--CONS--
Weight
Loud
Bright brass color (I love it)
Tarnish (see below)
Review:
The reason why I got this barrel is because my friend has a J & J ceramic on his and I wanted a barrel that he didn't have. Very hard to find barrels for a SL 68 II since it is a clamp on design not a threaded. This barrel shot so much better than the stock 11". I got the 14" brass .686 bore size non ported just because they had it in stock at PPS. Very loud since it isn't ported but you can always get it done if you like for a price. Unfinished meaning the brass will tanish and to stop this you can use BRASSO, get it nickel plated or clearcoat it like me. Heavy but it balances my gun evenly.
Conclusion:
I recommended this barrel for a SL 68 II because the gun has no ball detent and the balls listed above works perfect for this gun. $50 for a custom barrel is a A+. The Palmer's Pursuit name is top of the line. Palmer's Pursuit Shop of Sacramento, CA 916-923-9676
Rating:
10 out of 10
Last edited on Wednesday, March 9th, 2005 at 7:15 am PST
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Less than a month
5 of 25 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
2 years
Similar Products Used:
Lapco Bigshot
Smart Parts AA
JT 2 piece
Dye SS
Dye Excel
Marker Setup:
Palmer Blazer, center feed
Torpedo Regulator
Shocktech Drop
Center flag N2 tank
Richochet 2k
Recommended Paintballs:
JT Maxums 2
Strengths:
Pretty accurate
Weaknesses:
Loud without venting
Heavy
Sucks through breaks
Review:
Good stock barrel, but I don't really like it that much. It looks cool on my blazer, but I'm going to replace it with by bigshot and excel. Kinda small bore, so if you have big paint, your screwed.
I broke at least one ball down the barrel every game, and in order to clean it out you have to basically shoot about 4 to 7 shoots through the barrel. (Can't uscrew brass barrel on blazer)
Loud without vents, but not worth paying another 40 dollars to do it. I recomend something like the Dye Excel because its big bore, so you can shoot any paint through it, also its cheaper than the brass, lighter, and quieter. Also the bigshot is just as accurate, and the same bore size.
Conclusion:
Pretty good barrel for the price, but other barrels that are just as good if not better for cheaper. I recomend either the CP one piece, Dye Excel, or Lapco bigshot. So I'll give it a 5 because its basically average.
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Less than a month
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
More than 5 years
Similar Products Used:
Smart Parts - TearDrop
Smart Parts - All American 14"
CP 14"
Marker Setup:
Spyder Compact ( pre 98 )
- KC no hot shots regulator
- 45 Grip frame + Double Trigger
- AKA Venturi Bolt
Recommended Paintballs:
RP Marb.
Medicap - Thai made paint ( Thailand)
Strengths:
Less paint breakage compared with Teardrop , AA and CP
Very easy to dry fire to clean up paint breakes in the barrel - only 3-4 shots that all.
Good accuracy and range
Weaknesses:
Weight is heavy
Must polish the brass more frequently to keep it shiny
Conclusion:
Very good for the price $50. The big deal is , all PPS barrels were made by custom order. You can specify the ID bore to suite your needs. My Brass is 0.692 and 12" lenght.
Its pretty accurate. Never had any problems with breaking paint. This is the base model of the Palmer barrel series. Its brass so get soem Brasso and voila the barrel looks like gold. Accepts a wide variety of paint. But once in a while I guess everyone gets a bad batch.
Weaknesses:
Again its brass so it will tarnish. and also since it is brass I would use it as a shovel.
Conclusion:
The barrel I tested was 12" in length. I used it on a Autococker/Sniper. I tried just a mix. In other words I took what was left from all my other trips.(Big Ball, Marbs, All Stars, Nelson) And then I mixed it up and put it in my hopper and the accuracy was about the same. For 50-60 bucks its a nice barrel to have but I do recommend you at least vent it but that is another 39 bucks. This is a great barrel to have. But again I do recommend venting it and maybe have them put a finish on it. Perhaps Nickel or Powder Coating.
