First Strike Barrels

[Chuck E Ducky]

So over the years rifled barrels for First Strikes have changed bore sizes length and such. There are a bunch of different brands and length. I’m a lil confused at to what to get or if I need anything at all. Is the benefit of a rifled barrel only going to be realized by squatting in some cover with a scope?

I’m not using a scope and won’t it’s just not my style. I point shoot everything I don’t want some super long barrel designed to reach out to the very edge of effective range. I shoot the thing like a Stock Class phantom with longer range engagements and a bit more accuracy / consistency would be nice.

Is it worth investing in a Rifled barrel?
Who makes the best one?

Current setup is a Dye Dam, with the GBD bolt kit, the stock UL and a FS 15ci off the grip frame. This will only shoot FS and will never see standard paint. I have much better setups for regular paint that I would prefer to use.

[Hellion360]

Hey Chuck,

I think the rifled barrels shoot FSR really well. You can borrow a hammerhead from me to try it out if you like and see what you think.

This fall I shot my FLE100 body MG100 which just has an occluded red dot site on it (DYE Izon). Made some damn long distance shots at scenarios this fall, but plenty of just accurate midrange shots. I reckon I use it exactly the same way you use your DAM.

I use a 10" hammerhead plus tip.

I mostly shoot this by point shooting, but have it sighted in for midrange shots. If I have the drop on someone I can take my time and put the shot on target for sure.

[Chuck E Ducky]

You coming to Hoth? Bring it along I would love to give it a try.

[Hellion360]

I am intending to be there, so long as the weather is decent. I'll bring it for you.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Awesome thanks

[XEMON]

Similar situation with my SSR (dedicated FSR platform)

I have a Lapco on it ant it works great for mid to long shot with the Supremacy scope. I usually stay in the 50-80 yard range, but i have een up to ~100 , above that i need to re-sight the scope ... so i usually dont go that far ...
I have tried other rifled and the HH and Nemesis are about the same (I could not see any difference).

If you want to stay a very short step bello (and a lot cheaper) the lion claw smooth barrels works great with FSR (it shot dart on my TIPX)

[Chuck E Ducky]

For smooth bore I would just use my UL. I’m looking more for a rifle barrel I think to take advantage of the round and if it’s worth the investment.

[Lt. head-shot]

I have had great results with Lapco and Carmatech barrels. The Hammerheads were problematic in the setup I had (MCS 468 Bolt action) because the rifling is wider than the fins and the bore is larger, so without a detent to keep the round in place, I had issues with the round falling out the tip of the barrel. But other guns shouldn't have this problem, and I would assume the DAM has detents.

[AnarchicArctic]

Main brands are carmatech, lapco and hammerhead. Hammerhead is now part of mcs, which was formerly rap4. I’ve run nemesis on a Sar and lapco on mg100, bolt action sniper and bolt action phantom. Both put paint on lens. Never played a hammerhead. The rifling really tightens up your shot group the farther you reach out. If you plan on sitting at 40-50 yards just outside paintball range it won’t really make a difference over smoothbore. But step out to 60-70 and you’ll notice you connect more.

To step up on a soap box for a minute, you shoot your phantom damn well. It’s like an extension of your arm. You should just buy a roundhead, mill it for bolt action and slap on a lapco. No mags, super light rig. Point and shoot. Painting lenses at APE from across the brook

[Chuck E Ducky]

Is this because you want my Dam. I see what you are doing… honestly for the amount of times I’m going to shoot FS your probably right. I do have an extra round head and to many phantoms as it is. I could use my bolt action PGP as a back up if someone gets close. That might be a fun setup.

[AnarchicArctic]

Hah! I think you’ll prefer the setup actually. We love our single shot games and adding fsr to the mix really makes single shot against open class more fun and less of a handicap. Having that sidearm is a good idea. Could always have a separate ball bag too. Beauty of hand load is you can chamber whichever round is appropriate for the moment.

[JeeperCreeper]

I would love to hit people across the brook. I will say that wasn't our best option to go that way for that particular game setup. I ended up 40ft from enemy spawn, pinned down in a hut, then got overshot to hell. I would have definitely had more fun just plinking them from across the water

[Ecapnation]

I saw zero shot improvement with a nemisis shooting first strike.... Fwiw.

Ended up selling it and moving on.

[Trbo323]

Until someone puts down the time, effort and money to do some legit testing, the question of if they are better is always going to a be keyboard debate

It was the same way with hammerhead rifled barrels with round ball as well. Then cocker punk came along and did legit testing and found that they were no better than any halfway decent aftermarket smoothbore.

Suddenly, much of the hype went away

Maybe things will be different because it's FSR but my point is, nobody has done any legit 3rd party testing that I've heard of

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[Jonnydread]

You buy me FSR and I'll do it

[P.I.C.T. Tactical]

I have a TCR with a HH Oneshot, a Traccer with a Lapco Rifled, and two nemmys one on an MG100 and another on my FS Scout.
The Lapco requires you to size your FSR to avoid breaks. Accuracy is definitely there but you want to use this on something with a tank because of the pressure.
The Hammerhead requires a lot of tuning but can produce great results.
The nemmy is on par w the Hammerhead but requires less setup and doesn’t do roundball as well as HH.
I tested my Parabolic set and many other smoothbores and accuracy w FSR doesn’t match Rifled Barrels, no question.

[Jonnydread]

What kind of tuning can you do to a barrel? Or do you mean inputs to the gun?

[Seajay]

I shot a lot of FSR these past years. My experience is that any barrel that is between .683 - .686 will shoot FSR perfectly fine out to 60 yards, and then you'll start to see small accuracy differences out to 80 yards, finally dramatic accuracy differences between rifled vs smooth and closed bolt vs open-bolt at 100+ yards.

All markers that shoot consistently can shoot 100 yard shots with FSR, smooth or rifled. You'll just use less shots with a marker that shoots consistently with a rifled barrel.

The biggest factor I have found is barrel length. My 8 inch Nemesis shoots 22 fps higher than my 14 inch Nemesis and 16 inch Hammerhead Bangstixx. Accuracy is roughly the same out to 80 yards using my Phenom.

Find the barrel that shoots the most consistent for your gun and you'll have a great experience. Sometimes it's an 8 inch barrel, sometimes it is a 16, in my case my 8 inch barrel performs overall better than either of my longer ones.

They all have issues, so practice makes perfect.

I will say the MG100 is one of the best shooters out there with FSR, only being outmatched by SSR/SAR owners with closed-bolt setup that specifically planned for 100+ yard shots.

What really makes or breaks your fun though... are the magazines. If it doesn't feed you don't get to play and spend too much time cleaning expensive FSR out of your barrel and breach.

[P.I.C.T. Tactical]

I shot a lot of FSR these past years. My experience is that any barrel that is between .683 - .686 will shoot FSR perfectly fine out to 60 yards, and then you'll start to see small accuracy differences out to 80 yards, finally dramatic accuracy differences between rifled vs smooth and closed bolt vs open-bolt at 100+ yards.

All markers that shoot consistently can shoot 100 yard shots with FSR, smooth or rifled. You'll just use less shots with a marker that shoots consistently with a rifled barrel.

The biggest factor I have found is barrel length. My 8 inch Nemesis shoots 22 fps higher than my 14 inch Nemesis and 16 inch Hammerhead Bangstixx. Accuracy is roughly the same out to 80 yards using my Phenom.

Find the barrel that shoots the most consistent for your gun and you'll have a great experience. Sometimes it's an 8 inch barrel, sometimes it is a 16, in my case my 8 inch barrel performs overall better than either of my longer ones.

They all have issues, so practice makes perfect.

I will say the MG100 is one of the best shooters out there with FSR, only being outmatched by SSR/SAR owners with closed-bolt setup that specifically planned for 100+ yard shots.

What really makes or breaks your fun though... are the magazines. If it doesn't feed you don't get to play and spend too much time cleaning expensive FSR out of your barrel and breach.

Absolutely well spoken. I need to get a pic of my MG100 FSR Shooter up I agree she is a great platform. Also agree the mags should be the first thing you pay attention to buying/building an FSR shooter.