Paintball Barrel Accuracy

1
Paintball Barrel Accuracy

• 9-4 Project 3

2
Purpose

• My purpose is to find out which paintball marker
  barrel is the most ball on ball accurate between
  the Custom Products barrel, Smart Parts Freak
  barrel, MacDev Matchstick barrel, and the Dye
  Boomstick.NOTE Ball on ball accurate refers to
  how close the spread of paint is to each other.
  An easier way of saying this is how close the
  balls hit to each other.

3
Hypothesis

• My hypothesis is that the Smart Parts Freak
  barrel will be the most accurate.
• I believe the Freak will be the most accurate
  because from personal experience I have found the
  freak to be the better product. I think the
  Custom Products barrel will be the least accurate
  because it is the cheapest barrel and cheapest
  usually means not the best.

4
Materials

• Marker (07 MacDev Cyborg)
• 500 Evil paintballs
• Empire Reloader B loader
• Compressed air tank
• Chronograph
• Chair
• Small table
• Metal pipe stand
• Piece of ply wood
• Measuring tape and ruler
• Large indoor field
• Marker
• Paper
• Smart Parts Freak barrel 14 inches 0.689 bore
• Dye Boomstick barrel 14 inches 0.689 bore
• Custom Products barrel 14 inches 0.689 bore
• MacDev Matchstick barrel 14 inches 0.689 bore
• Cases of paint
• Tape

5
Method

• I first got a piece of wood and put another
  smaller piece of wood on the bottom to keep the
  cardboard in the same place.
• I then secured the piece of plywood to my metal
  pipe stand and put a piece of card board there to
  record the position of where the paintball hit.
• I took a chair and small table and placed my
  marker tank and loader on them both and secured
  the marker, tank and loader to the chair and
  table with a large amount of tape to keep it in
  the same position for all shots. I then put cases
  of paint around it to offer more stability and
  put on the barrel I was testing.
• I loaded the paint into the loader and placed the
  chronograph by the barrel to record the speed at
  which the paintball was traveling.
• I moved my target for a while to set up the right
  speed of the marker which was 243 feet per second
  (fps).
• 6. I then placed the target in the right place at
  35 feet away. I took off the cardboard to have a
  few practice shots to make sure everything was
  lined up correctly and then returned the
  cardboard to its original position.

6
Method continued

• I repeated this exercise for all four barrels.
• I then took five shots and repeated this three
  times.
• NOTE The paintball leaves an indentation in the
  spot that it strikes. I used the cardboard for
  this reason. At 243 fps the paintballs leave the
  same size indentation. If it was traveling at 243
  fps, I wiped off the paint and marked it with a
  black permanent marker. If it was not, I wiped
  the paint off and I did not mark it. If a shot
  that was not 243 fps overlapped with a shot that
  was traveling at 243 fps, I would discard the
  piece of cardboard and use a new piece.

7
Manipulated Variable(s)

• Types of barrelsex. Freak, Boomstick,
  Matchstick, CP

8
Responding Variable(s)

• The accuracy of each barrel

9
Controlled Variable(s)

• Wind speed. I was indoors so there was no wind
• Place of experiment
• Temperature. The building is heated to 15 degrees
  Celsius and that is where the thermostat is set
• Position of marker
• Type of paintball
• Size of paintball. According to the manufacturer
  the paintballs should be the same size and shape
  therefore giving an accurate result.
• Type of loader
• Material used. I used cardboard, and it was from
  the same box in order to ensure each piece had
  the same texture, thickness and strength.
• Position of target
• Speed paintball is traveling
• Distance from target to paintball marker
• Length of barrel 14 inches
• Size/bore of barrel 0.689
• Marker used

10
Results
Barrel Trial 1 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 3 Average Average
H W H W H W H W
Freak 13.4 17.8 12.8 18 14.7 17.2 13.63 17.67
Custom Products 19.6 17.5 20 18.3 19.3 17.5 19.63 17.77
Boomstick 9.7 10.2 9.3 10.4 9 9.8 9.33 10.13
Matchstick 15.3 14.8 14.7 14.3 15 14.8 15 14.63
In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last. In centimeters. H is height spread. W is width spread. The Dye Boomstick was the best, then came the MacDev Matchstick, then Smart Parts Freak and Custom Products barrel came last.
11
Analysis Custom Products barrel
12
Analysis Freak barrel

• In cm

13
Analysis for Dye Boomstick
14
Analysis for MacDev Matchstick
15
Analysis Average in centimeters
16
Conclusion

• My conclusion is that my original hypothesis that
  the Smart Parts Freak was the best barrel was
  wrong, when the Dye Boomstick was the best
  barrel, but my hypothesis that the Custom
  products barrel was the worst was right. The Dye
  Boomstick was best, followed by the MacDev
  Matchstick, Smart Parts Freak third and the
  Custom Products barrel was the worst.

17
Sources of Error

1. When I got to the indoor field I started right
   away so the temperature in the car was different
   from the temperature in the building. The
   temperature in the car was quite warmer then the
   temperature in the building. As a result of this
   its quite possible that while I was doing the
   project some barrels may have had a chance to
   cool down and give different results than the
   barrel I started with.
2. The temperature may have also played a factor on
   the paintballs I was using. The paint that was in
   the warmth of the car may have cooled down and
   produced different results for the barrel I
   started with and the barrel I ended with.
3. The spin of the paintball and the way it is
   lodged in the breach of the marker. All
   paintballs have seams so when fired air may catch
   in the seams and put a rotation on the ball. The
   rotation could make the ball curve as the seam
   catches on the air creating an even larger curve
   because the already rotating balls seam would
   catch on the air and rotate even faster creating
   more of a curve.
4. The barrels had been previously used and may have
   had dents or scratches on the of inside the
   barrel that I was unaware.

18
Ways to Improve

1. A way I could have improved the experiment is
   instead of using a chair, small table and a large
   amount of tape and paint to hold the marker
   steady I could have bought a marker holder which
   would hold my marker steady while I shot without
   the assistance of tape or paint.
2. Another way was to have allowed the paintballs
   and barrels to cool in the room where I was
   conducting my experiment for a few hours instead
   of using them right away. This could possibly
   have given me a more accurate result.