Rifled Paintball Barrels: Increase Accuracy On Your Aim

If you play paintball, then you know about the much heated debate about the best type of paintball barrel to use. Some say that smooth barrels offers more distance and accuracy, while others say that rifled barrels are better in stabilizing the flight of the paintball for a more accurate shot.

First of all, rifling entered the scene in the mid 1800s. This was used to improve the firing capabilities of the cannon. In those days, the cannon balls were not really perfect spheres and the natural spinning caused the cannon balls to veer off target. So, linear grooves were developed and milled in to the inside of the cannon barrel. These grooves reduced the spin in a very large amount and it did indeed increase the accuracy of the cannons.

After that, the same concept was used in other firearms, such as guns, and rifles.

Today, you will see that most guns use a helix-shaped pattern inside the barrel. This doesn't only control the spin, but it also controls the rate of the spin. The controlled spin has been found to stabilize the flight path of the bullets which means that it increases the accuracy of the gun.

In paintball guns, some people say that rifling doesn't work in it. However, there are also a lot of people who says that rifled barrels in paintball guns are the best way to go if you want accuracy on your shots.

Basically, there are three types of barrel design in paintball guns.

The first type of design is polished barrels. This type of design contains no rifling at all inside the barrels. It is micro-honed and polished to a mirror-like appearance that is believed to reduce ball breaks inside the barrel and reduce drag to maintain longer distances. This type of barrel is cheaper in price with few exceptions. Most barrels in paintball guns are polished barrels.

The second type of barrel design in paintball guns is the no spin barrel. This type of concept has rifling grooved inside the paintball barrel designed to minimize the amount of spin that the paintball has when it exits the barrel. This concept was copied in the cannon ball design concept where minimizing the spin will increase the accuracy of the gun. The linear grooves will basically grab the ball to prevent it from spinning. Manufacturers of this kind of barrel states that the paintball are not perfect spheres much like the cannon balls in the mid 1800s. By drastically reducing the amount of spin, they claim to increase its accuracy.

The third type of paintball barrel is the spin rifling barrel. This concept uses the helix-pattern barrel concept. Unlike the no spin barrel which has the linear grooves, this type of barrel will have grooves that twist down the length of the barrel. What this does is to get the paintball to spin in a controlled motion, which is believed to aid in stabilizing the flight of the paintball, which means that it will be able to resist outside factors that may disrupt the flight path of the ball, such as the wind.

Whatever you decide on what kind of barrel you should use, you will see that most barrels designed today are capable to reach long distances and are quite accurate. Just get a high quality barrel for your paintball gun and you can be sure that you will indeed have a great gun that will offer both accuracy and distance.