Gun Noise

[Deerslayer]

I know there are going to be two sources of noise from firing a marker. One type comes from the mechanical action of opening and closing the air valve and bolt, and the other would be the air/pb rushing out of the barrel. I've also read in other threads that some barrels are quieter than others. This is why, I assume, that most of the barrels I've seen have a series of small holes near the barrel's end.

Have you noticed any significant reduction in noise by using different barrel brands? What were the quiet ones?

[Trbo323]

"Porting" is the word you are looking for. Those are the smaller holes towards the tip of the barrel. In general, more porting= quieter and longer porting also = quieter. The trade off is the longer the porting is, the less efficient the barrel is

Dye UL and j&j ceramic come to mind for quiet barrels. The marker itself also plays a large roll. Again speaking in generalities, a spool valve marker will be quieter than a poppet valve marker. Planet eclipse makes some fairly quiet spools these days.

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[BrickHaus]

32 degrees whisper barrel quieted my old a5 down a lot.

[Chuck E Ducky]

It depends on the marker, barrel and porting. Quietest maker I have ever heard is Jeepercreepers single shot mechanical ION. The paint hitting a tree is louder then it firing. It’s got like a super lite roofing nailer sound but it’s quieter than any other marker I have ever herd. It’s super cool!

[JeeperCreeper]

I swear that Ion makes more noise resetting the bolt than firing. The key features is its a low pressure spool valve, and with a 20" barrel with about 10" of porting. Like Chuck said, it sounds like a finish nailer because of the mechanical valve.

[JeeperCreeper]

https://youtu.be/WpYHhKr8RFM?si=0CAbO-wQrxEsz3bb

[autococker04]

I think the smart parts spiraled pattern is the quietest I’ve tried.

[flyweightnate]

If you're pushing extra gas out the barrel (dwell too high) it can make the porting less effective. I like skinny porting that increases in density. The Sanchez Orbium barrels with the "flyswatter" tips seem very effective on a well-tuned gun.

[RAZRBAKK]

Of all the barrels I have, my Stiffi Switch is the quietest. The gun plays a significant factor, though. Every MG100 or Emek I see in the field is whisper quiet. My mech ion is very quiet compared to everything else I shoot.

[Cyberpyr8]

I prefer to shoot carbon barrels and they are louder than the aluminum barrels regardless of the porting. But the gun also helps with volume too. I had shockers that were pretty quiet and my Emeks are quieter as long as I use the aluminum barrels on them. When I switched to carbon fiber they were noticeably louder. The trade off for me is that the carbon barrels are much lighter. I usually prefer reduced weight over stealth.

[The Inflicted]

Having the porting start further down the barrel and beginning with smaller ports is important. My Eigenbarrels and stock Etha 2 barrel seem to be noticeably quieter than DYE barrels I have of similar length.

There's a huge difference in loudness between the stock barrels for an old SP-1 and eNMEy, I assume for this reason.

At least on autocockers, diffusion at the bolt face seems to make a difference as well- Venturi-faced bolts being quieter (though perhaps less efficient) than open-faced bolts.

[Grendel]

bah, Crown Pointed Mag barrels for the win, nothing like hearing the "ring" of those barrels.

[Trbo323]

- Venturi-faced bolts being quieter (though perhaps less efficient) than open-faced bolts.

That's pretty funny if you ask me. But pretty much any bolt in paintball listed as "Venturi" is funny. If you know what a Venturi is it's easy to see that (as far as I've ever seen) nobody actually uses a Venturi in a bolt. In theory it would be more efficient if they did actually use one

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[MrBarraclough]

Yes, there can be a significant difference in "sound signature" as most players like to call it, from one barrel to another. Short barrels with little or no porting will be louder. Barrels long enough to allow the propellant gas to expand enough to reach ambient pressure before the paintball exits the barrel will be quieter. Porting also reduces the length you need in order to achive that, by allowing that gas to vent along the length of the ported section of the barrel before the paintball exits. Dye UL barrels are rather quiet, as are the Shaft barrels that come standard on most Planet Eclipse markers. The marker's firing mechanism also affects sound. The Gamma Core bolt engine that Planet Eclipse uses in the EMEK, Etha 2, Etha 3 and 3M, Gtek, 160R, and 170R is very quiet. As are the Gamma Pro, OP, and OP-R bolt engines which are based on the Gamma. Those are all spool valve markers with a firing sequence that has a more gradual release of the air than the single, short pop you'd get from blowback or poppet valve markers. And like all modern spools, they deliver a higher volume, but lower pressure burst of air to propel the paintball. Any high pressure, low volume system will always have a more distinctive pop to the sound.

Sound signature is about more than just peak decibels. The duration of the spike matters. So does the direction of the soundwaves. Porting helps dissipate energy perpendicular to the barrel's long axis (like a muzzle brake on a high caliber rifle or an artillery piece). The less sound energy heading downrange with the paintball, the less information you're transmitting to the target. This can really make a difference in the woods, forcing an opponent to risk peeking out of cover to pinpoint you because the sound isn't sharp enough to easily place it acoustically.

Also, it's just fun. Rental markers are invariably loud. They usually have short barrels with minimal porting or none at all, and very often they are blowbacks that make significant noise just cycling the bolt. New players very quickly learn that it's the quiet guns that are the scary ones.

If you want to go in the completely opposite direction, PaintballDNA, purveyors of all sorts of 3D printed madness, sell a series of loudener barrel tips called the Blunderbuss. They come in a few different sizes, including one that is just absurdly huge. It's nearly impossible to aim with those ridiculous things, but they will startle the pants off people across the field. Good for a chuckle.

[latches109]

That's pretty funny if you ask me. But pretty much any bolt in paintball listed as "Venturi" is funny. If you know what a Venturi is it's easy to see that (as far as I've ever seen) nobody actually uses a Venturi in a bolt. In theory it would be more efficient if they did actually use one

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Technically all paintball bolts have a Venturi effect. The Venturi "miss" marketing caused a lot of confusion in the paintball world.

An open face bolt has a Ventouri effect - as explained by Bernoulli’s principle <- YouTube a few videos and this will make sense.

click on a bunch of these to see the flow is constricted at some point.

http://www.zdspb.com/tech/misc/animations.html

[latches109]

here is a good video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq8zqRRBEEY