In my journey to build something oozing of old school goodness, I am in the works on a deal that includes a cool BOA barrel. There is little about them, and I came across this mention on Custom Cockers, but it's from the old MCB site so I can't view it...So let's start the discussion again.
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Why are BOA Barrels So Coveted?
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Stainless or bass and well honed. I think they gained the rep from the "concealer".Velcor will save us...
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Simply, they shoot really well. The honing and material choice might have something to do with it, but compared to the stock barrel on my SI Bushmaster, just a world of difference.Feedback
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Your link only circles back around to MCB itself, but here's my take on it.
TL;DR version? They're moderately decent, big-bore barrels today, but when they were new, literally thirty years ago, they were among the best of the very limited number of aftermarket barrels.
Keeping in mind that, today, we think of barrel kits, interchangeable bores, and aftermarket barrels, period, as a given. It's as established as the sun coming up in the morning and lying politicians. That hasn't always been true.
Back in the day, a good many markers didn't even have a removable barrel. Unibody Phantoms and Bushmasters, most Carters, most LAPCOs, any PMI or PGP, the Nightmare, etc. And guns that did have removable barrels... well, nobody made replacements. The Sniper, the SL-68, the NW series pumps, the later Bushmasters, and so on.
So very early on, the "aftermarket barrel", er, market, was very, very limited. Smart Parts just sold you a factory barrel that they'd drilled spiral rows of holes in. (Literally- they'd buy stock barrels from Tippmann and WGP, etc. and just drill the holes.) J&J and BOA would make you custom barrels in brass- and a big reason those two were so popular was they'd make a barrel to fit any gun. (And barrel threading was nowhere near as standardized as it is today.) You had an old Storm or Spartan or Cobra? Nobody ever made aftermarket barrels for those... except J&J and BOA.
BOAs were very well made and were great back in the day, but they're just barrels today- and since you'll never find one below about .689" or so, of rather limited utility, too.
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I never thought they were that coveted here, just admired for their od school flavor like many old barrels are. The first aftermarket barrel I ever bought was a BOA for my ProLite. Nice barrel, but like others said, the bores are humongous, and the bore finish isn't any nicer than my DYE Stainless barrels, or even my trusty $25 CP. I didn't like that the powdercoat finish mine had did chip fairly easy.
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Originally posted by fsj1991 View PostAlways on the hunt for one of the "Concealer" version.
Acquired one a couple years ago with some spyders by happenstance on CL.
It lives in a Lapco Remora adapter in a Stingray II.
I like the thrill of owning such a controversial piece of PB history, but it's not the most effective rain cover TBH.
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they are pretty sweet ! I sold my automag boa snakebite barrel to Jordan , since it had this rough shape speckle hardcoat on it, all chipped and such. He restored it back to its hardchrome brass glory, and now i kind of want it back! :P
I borrowed it for a couple games at one outing, and has such a nice sound, "ting , ting, ting" !
It was raining that day too, and the small porting section on the end of the snakebite was an advantage for those games!'96 RF Mini Cocker, '95 RF Autococker, 68-Automag Classic, Banzai Splash Minimag, Gen-E Matrix, Shoebox Shocker 4x4, Montneel Z-1, Tippmann Pro-Carbine, Tippmann Mini-Lite, Tippmann Model-98, Tippmann 68-Special, Spyder .50 cal Opus/Opus-A , Tippmann .50 Cal Cronus , Gog Enmey .50 cal , Tippmann Vert ASA 68-Carbine, Bob Long Millennium, ICD Grey Green Marble Splash Alleycat Deluxe (runs liquid co2) , Halfblock 2K4 Prostock Autococker , 2K RF Sniper II
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I missed out on a 8in chrome cocker snakebite on here awhile back. I would be sort of happy with a 10 or 12in one but i need that 8in bad. I think many like them cause certain models are considered "nice looking". Its aesthetic+history that drives up the price. They definitely aren't paying all that money for better performance.
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