RE: Muzzle-loading [TANKS]

["Steve Tyng" <SteveT44-at-comcast.net>]

Amir wrote:

> Btw, speaking of accuracy, I'll check in with our resident
> paintball sharpshooter?  Steve, how was the barrel doo-dad you
> got for human paintball?  (I forgot what its called "flatline
> killer" or something)

It's called the Apex barrel.  It's basically an adjustable flatline with a
"twist".  It has an adjustable device on the end (it looks like a short
silencer) that departs an adjustable amount of backspin to the paintball.
The more backspin you have the longer the range.  The device can also be
rotated which allows for some interesting shooting.  You can hook a shot
behind a tree or dive-bomb a ball into a bunker for example.  My thoughts on
the barrel are mixed.  It can give you longer ranges (longer than the
flatline) but accuracy is not to hot.  At longer ranges there's not enough
energy in the shot for the paintball to break.  At medium and short ranges
accuracy is better (though not as good as my CMI barrel).  I experienced a
lot of ball breakage that day at the scenario game but it may have been the
paint.  If you get breakage it's a pain to clean out.  I found the barrel
most useful for dive-bombing balls into bunkers at medium range to flush
players out.  I'd play with it again but only as a secondary.  I'd keep it
in my pocket and only pull it out to bust a bunker.

The Apex pushes the ball downward as it comes out of the barrel.  As you
crank the backspin up the more it pushes the ball down as it exits.  You
have the tip the marker upward to compensate.  It's for this reason that I
wouldn't recommend the Apex for R/C tank combat.


Steve Tyng