Shooting through a break

[spikeball]

It's happened to the best of us and usually at the worst of times. Something I've been wondering though; what bore is better for shooting through a break when you're in the heat of the fight? Is a tighter as close as you can get paint to barrel match better, or something a little on the looser side going to shoot through optimally?

[shadow191]

Local field had some big variations in paint quality this past summer as they were getting inconsistent supply due to Covid and some of their stuff was sitting for a while due to shutdowns. So was having some pretty significant breakage - tried shooting through on .689 barrels (overbore) and it didn't work. Decided to underbore everything and swapped to .679 or 682 inserts on 3 separate guns and it got a lot better. No increase in barrel breaks but when it did happen, it would clean up after a couple of shots.

But now the weather is cold and may have to go back to overbore. Field paint sits in unheated containers so it gets brittle and last weekend, everything was a blender. Could still shoot through the breaks but there were so many that all the porting was pretty much just spraying paint. Will test it next time and see if it was just bad batch of paint or if underboring in cold isn't a good idea. I hope it was just really bad batch of paint as I hate cleaning barrels while playing and would much prefer to just shoot through it.

[Ecapnation]

Easier to do on single bore barrels..... Absolute worst one to shoot through after a break has been the Stella barrels. There's a gap between the threads and paint gets in there.

[Spider!]

It's a conflict. A tight bore will clean better if you can get a shot through it. However, chances are good that you had a break because the paint was too fragile for the bore in the first place, providing worse conditions for shooting through.

You can more often get a shot through a loose barrel, but it will not clean well. The resulting streaks of paint in the barrel can cause incredible random curve shots. If you're behind any of your own players they will not be safe in a pretty wide cone of possible mayhem. At that point you are at least shooting paint, so you can try to get closer if you can't get back to squeegee/swab. Swab doesn't always work if you have a lot of porting or barrel transitions holding on to the paint.

[Jonnydread]

I have never had success shooting through a break.

[Jordan]

I have never had success shooting through a break.

Neither have I. If I can't get the barrel clean between games, I switch guns for the day.

I've yet to break paint in my Mini and Thundercat, so I save them for a backup.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I have better luck with one piece barrels. But they never shoot the same after breaking paint. I try an shoot good paint to avoid it. There are fields I just don’t play anymore due to them being a FPO field while offering crap paint.

Often if I break paint I usually call myself out and go clean the barrel. I will try overbore if that don’t do it and I still break paint. I hand my case to the youngest kid in the staging area and go home. I usually wait a few months for them to shoot threw there crap paint. But some fields are notorious for buying the crap other fields send back. I don’t play there, every time I do I leave early disappointed.

Freak bored barrel will never shoot clean. No barrel really will. But the less places for paint to get trapped shoot better dirty after a break. One piece are superior when it comes to breaks. But they still never shoot like a good clean barrel.

It’s best to avoid breaks to begin with. Often it’s a low battery issue or a maker needs to be cleaned or detent system is shot. Some paint just isn’t designed to shoot in the cold. Like Summer balls in the winter temps especially good quality summer paint below 55* won’t shoot very well. I like Graffiti it’s a hard enough shell that shoots year round. Summer it’s a lil to hard but in the winter it shoot really good because it’s a hard enough to shoot brittle enough to break on heavy winter gear.

With FPO fields you get what you get. If I get crap paint I go to another field. Some may not have that option. Low volume fields unloading there summer paint on rentals in the winter sucks for the sport but lots of fields do it.

[snoopay700]

It's a conflict. A tight bore will clean better if you can get a shot through it. However, chances are good that you had a break because the paint was too fragile for the bore in the first place, providing worse conditions for shooting through.

You can more often get a shot through a loose barrel, but it will not clean well. The resulting streaks of paint in the barrel can cause incredible random curve shots. If you're behind any of your own players they will not be safe in a pretty wide cone of possible mayhem. At that point you are at least shooting paint, so you can try to get closer if you can't get back to squeegee/swab. Swab doesn't always work if you have a lot of porting or barrel transitions holding on to the paint.

Actually testing has shown pretty definitively that barrel breaks are most often caused by loading induced fractures (loading system being too rough, bolt clipping the next ball in the stack, etc) and that paintballs can deflect .060" to .120" before breaking, so underboring isn't going to cause more paint breakage.

The best best for shooting through would be an underbore, but you're going to break more paint as long as your loading system stays the same; rollback issues are pretty common in a lot of markers. It's also pointless to try to shoot through unless you have a single piece underbore as others have stated.

Given the configuration of how most people play, you're just better off taking off the barrel and cleaning it.

[SETHZILLA!]

The old J&J ceramic barrels did a fairly good job of getting the broken paint to bead up on the inside.
Break a ball? Turn the gun over and shoot 5-10 times. The empty chamber would blow most of the paint and shell away. Flip it over and the next couple balls would usually clear out any remaining shell or paint residue.

One of our old team tricks was to swab the barrels with Rain-X as well.

To this day i still carry a stick squeegee with spring loaded rubber disc on the end slid under my pod belt. It's there when i need it, or i see a renter spraying mist.

[Cunha]

I have a friend who shoots through breaks all day, like hoppers and hoppers full. When you shoot like 900 rounds through a break it ends up being fairly clean.

I will stop everything and get that shit sorted out. I have a trusty pull through squeegee that cleans 100% but of course requires the barrel to be taken off on anything but a tippmann 98. I use it on the field when I get unlucky because I don't have a lot of fun having my guns be even MORE inaccurate than they are at their best.

I bring a folding swab and the pull through. Folding swab for faster work to keep the game moving if I really care about what I'm doing.

[shadow191]

I pretty much use the same method as your friend, I don't even bring a squeegee onto the field. Tried it, took way too long to take barrel off since all my barrels are AC threads and I kept losing them. So now I just shoot through and for the most part it works. First few after the break are always off but it they straighten up pretty quick.

Last time out though, I had so many breaks that I was always shooting through and the barrel almost never was clear. During one game, I made it down the snake to the other side and so was behind a bunch of players who didn't know I was there. But all I shot were corkscrews so it basically took a hopper to clear a couple of bunkers from 50 ft. since the paint was either breaking or so off. Ended up just getting closer to surrender them.

[glaman5266]

No one's mentioned anything about barrel LENGTH. I have had much more success in shooting through breaks in short barrels. When I play in the cold I always use a short barrel just in case.

I remember one time I played in the winter years ago. 8" of snow, 10*F. Was running an A-5 on co2 with a 3" stubby. It was the best shooting paintgun out of all ours that day. Everyone broke tons of paint but 3" isn't much to shoot through.

I know 3" isn't what many people are willing to use, but maybe consider something 10" or less for winter use. Single bore, of course.

[Arthur]

If I’m breaking I try a different sized or barrel or two. Usually just end up charging people with my salad shooter.

[Spider!]

Actually testing has shown pretty definitively that barrel breaks are most often caused by loading induced fractures (loading system being too rough, bolt clipping the next ball in the stack, etc) and that paintballs can deflect .060" to .120" before breaking, so underboring isn't going to cause more paint breakage.

I was assuming the occasional break, not a chronic setup. Getting the odd ball that is already 0.060" out of round or otherwise previously flawed. Depending on the marker, paint near the bolt face promotes higher friction and higher ball pressure. Different source of the same problem. So yeah, of the setup was on the edge, lightening the forces would help.

Paint quality helps as always. I'm glad I don't have to put up with winter paint much.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Winter paint actually shoots decent as long as it’s used in the temperature it was designed for. Otherwise it’s bouncy. You certainly won’t get breaks with it. Unless your equipment is the issue.

[lew]

A tight bore has given me the best results shooting through breaks, although it will still need to be swabbed when I get the chance.