Does Barrel Length Matter?

[38super]

Hi All

Noob question 1.

Does barrel length matter?

 

I've read that quality matters most but assuming best quality does a longer barrel give more accuracy? Or is a there a sensible minimum? This will be for woodland as those are the nearest sites for me.

I'm used to running around with a 26" barrel AR style 12g shotgun so anything shorter than that is fine.

 

Noob question 2.

Could I get a short gun for CQB and swap out a longer inner barrel and cover with a fake suppressor for outdoors? Assuming there is a thread to fit a suppressor to. 

 

Long term plan would be M4 for outdoors and MP5 SD for CQB.

I'd also like Semi + 3 round burst if I'm being picky.

 

Any thoughts or help much appreciated.

[Adolf Hamster]

there are a great number of factors that influence accuracy, and barrel length is pretty much bottom of the pile.

 

at least in terms of raw bb lobbing ability, think of how well pistols can shoot.

 

however a longer barrel (or at least longer gun overall) can have some utility outdoors if you're trying to do sneaky shenanigans as you can poke it through a hedge and get a clear shot where a shorter gun might clip branches/leaves.

of course that doesn't need to have a longer inner barrel, a long suppressor can fill that role just as well.

 

if your idea of a short gun is a standard length m4 or mp5sd then you won't need to swap barrels just to go outdoors.

[38super]

Thanks. I'm used to 300mm minimum barrel lengths.

Is there a usual barrel length people use or just whatever you like the look of? 

[Adolf Hamster]

Whatever fits the gun you wanna use tbh.

 

Whats important is that the cylinder is volumed correctly for whatever the barrel length is, easiest way to make sure its still good is just dont change the barrel length significantly.

[38super]

I found this website which explains it but I don't know how accurate the info is. 

 

https://airsoftranch.com/optimal-cylinder-to-barrel-ratio-simplified-airsoft-guide/

 

Is there a rough rule of thumb that people use or is it just trial and improvement?

 

(I like the diagram of how an AEG works)

[Skara]

T&E mostly.

The article is right about over/under voluming to an extent, All my guns are overvolumed (not by much, they all have around between 8" and 10.5" barrels with either type 0 or 3/4 cylinders) and I haven't noticed anything funny in BB flying path.

Barrel length per se doesn't influence accuracy nor range, it's the combination of a smooth running system, a nice clean straight barrel and a good hop rubber and tensioner that give the range/accuracy. barrel bore is mostly to fine tune the energy output (tighter -> more efficient "push" but too tight is bad for your gun especially at super high RPS).

 

With that being said, I say a 10" barrel is the universal length. Short enough for manoeuvrability in close quarters but at the same time long enough to avoid using a stiff ass spring..

[Cr0-Magnon]

Sorry but it's all "bro science" to me.

 

My friend said he had this gun that did that because of that, etc. With so many variables, it's near impossible to establish the exact reason gun A has better range or accuracy than gun B.

[Lozart]

47 minutes ago, Cr0-Magnon said:

Sorry but it's all "bro science" to me.

 

My friend said he had this gun that did that because of that, etc. With so many variables, it's near impossible to establish the exact reason gun A has better range or accuracy than gun B.

 

 

It's all about the physics and while there are a large range of variables in play, it's entirely possible to quantify why gun A outranges gun B. It's impractical to try but it's entirely possible.

 

Sometimes though it's pure user error.

[Adolf Hamster]

Voluming tends to be more apparent on hpa systems than aeg's, can be really quite dramatic actually.

 

Used to have the dwell settings for my 2 main ammo weights carved into the stock to remind me what to set it to on the day.

[Cr0-Magnon]

Also, shows airsofters are lazy Mofo's......rather than worrying so much about getting your gun shooting 100M, work on how to get yourself forward the extra 40.

[Adolf Hamster]

16 minutes ago, Cr0-Magnon said:

Also, shows airsofters are lazy Mofo's......rather than worrying so much about getting your gun shooting 100M, work on how to get yourself forward the extra 40.

 

Works for me, means i have 40m of space before i gotta worry about shifting position

[heroshark]

Yep, I can shoot lazer straight 100m with my 100000mm barrel.

[alxndrhll]

Only thing I have to add here is that proper cleaning and maintaince of a barrel, in my opinion, is much more of a factor than length or 'bore' of a barrel especially when it's consistency you're looking for. I personally think 6.01 in anything longer than a pistol barrel is asking for trouble, and would tend to go for a 6.03 as a minimum once you're past the 150-ish mm mark for length. My personal preference being 6.05, general rule of thumb being the tighter the barrel the more you should be maintaining it. We should all give our barrels a proper clean after every use, so that point should be moot... but not many do clean after every use, so it isn't moot. The reason being, the tighter the barrel the more likely gunk is to impact the flight of your BB.

 

I'll insert the same caveat I do to pretty much anything I post offering advice on these forums, this is largely anecdotal and I'm sure others have equally anecdotal findings which counter it.

[Adolf Hamster]

1 hour ago, heroshark said:

Yep, I can shoot lazer straight 100m with my 100000mm barrel.

 

except for the bit where it bends under its own weight

 

1 hour ago, alxndrhll said:

Only thing I have to add here is that proper cleaning and maintaince of a barrel, in my opinion, is much more of a factor than length or 'bore' of a barrel especially when it's consistency you're looking for. I personally think 6.01 in anything longer than a pistol barrel is asking for trouble, and would tend to go for a 6.03 as a minimum once you're past the 150-ish mm mark for length. My personal preference being 6.05, general rule of thumb being the tighter the barrel the more you should be maintaining it. We should all give our barrels a proper clean after every use, so that point should be moot... but not many do clean after every use, so it isn't moot. The reason being, the tighter the barrel the more likely gunk is to impact the flight of your BB.

 

I'll insert the same caveat I do to pretty much anything I post offering advice on these forums, this is largely anecdotal and I'm sure others have equally anecdotal findings which counter it.

 

absolutely agree, regular cleaning is the best value for money "upgrade" you can do to any airsoft gun.

 

i do agree with you on the higher maintenance of the tighter bores, i do run 6.01's even at 450mm. even with religious pre-game cleaning a heavy enough round count can mean it needs another swab mid-day

 

of course there are a multitude of factors that feed into accuracy, a beautifully polished perfectly cleaned top-tier quality barrel is gonna be absolutely useless if you're trying to yeet .2g bulldogs out of a gun with terrible airseal.

[38super]

I had to look up "bro science"😁

 

It seems to be just get what I like the look of, play with it and if it doesn't do what I want then start messing with it.

I don't think I've ever owned a gun for more than 5 minutes anyway without modifying it, either because I had to or wanted to so that's fine by me.

 

 

 

 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Pretty much.

 

End of the day because you want to is as good a reason to do anything in this hobby.