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How to increase range of an ION

Andygoth

Phantoms are still cool
Apr 14, 2008
506
5
43
Stafford
Freaks with all american fronts don't lob balls all that far. They are accurate but not great for distance.
On our autocockers a 16 inch empire barrel kit or using a freak junior front shoots quite a bit further than the all american
 

Captain-Hi-Top

"Impetus"
Jan 29, 2008
24
0
0
Coventry Bled!
i saw a guy at big game with an apex on an ion, that might have helped, i was using a 14 inch freak barrel and was quite chuffed with the range and accuracy, managed to shoot a fair few peeps who thought they were safe (like the guy who waved at me from an inflatable bunker, so i waved back then put 3 rounds on him lol),
i found it best to just find a clear enough lane, aim up a bit, then ramp the hell out of them, a decent bolt/reg will make sure your guns firing to its full potential every shot without going over 280fps, because there is a lot of fps variation on cheaper guns, also board settins such as dwell can be used to make sure that all your shots are at maximum power however fast your firing,
a 14-16inch barrel is ample, and seems as you have a freak system match up your paint to the tightest bore before the game, and obviously, dont use crappy paint.
 

Marcus Geezer

Platinum Member
Freaks with all american fronts don't lob balls all that far. They are accurate but not great for distance.
On our autocockers a 16 inch empire barrel kit or using a freak junior front shoots quite a bit further than the all american
Yet again another paintball myth in the making.... :rolleyes: Before getting my ul barrel backs sorted on my PM7 I've always shot freak with all american front, and I've never had problems with range. If anything at last years big game I had a few comments from the mil-sim crowd who I was doing some sweep and clears with about how good the range and accuracy was!

On PBNation there is a lengthy thread regarding some very serious independent research about range, accuracy, that kind of thing. They tried different barrels, paint, markers, etc and came up with the conclusion that when you have chrono'd to a certain level, and as long as you have good consistent paint to bore match along with consistency of psi per shot, all markers will only fire paint a certain distance.

They also came to the conclusion that barrel lengths over 14" tend to have a negative effect on the velocity of the paintball exiting the barrel. Don't ask me how or why..... :confused:

Regarding range the one exception is of course the flatline barrel, which puts a bit of backspin on the ball and enable it to go straighter for longer, however the paint loses so much energy it tends to bounce unless it hits something hard.
 

balf

Mr Fantastico
May 20, 2006
1,911
4
63
Stealing Al's PC parts
Yet again another paintball myth in the making.... :rolleyes: Before getting my ul barrel backs sorted on my PM7 I've always shot freak with all american front, and I've never had problems with range. If anything at last years big game I had a few comments from the mil-sim crowd who I was doing some sweep and clears with about how good the range and accuracy was!

On PBNation there is a lengthy thread regarding some very serious independent research about range, accuracy, that kind of thing. They tried different barrels, paint, markers, etc and came up with the conclusion that when you have chrono'd to a certain level, and as long as you have good consistent paint to bore match along with consistency of psi per shot, all markers will only fire paint a certain distance.

They also came to the conclusion that barrel lengths over 14" tend to have a negative effect on the velocity of the paintball exiting the barrel. Don't ask me how or why..... :confused:

Regarding range the one exception is of course the flatline barrel, which puts a bit of backspin on the ball and enable it to go straighter for longer, however the paint loses so much energy it tends to bounce unless it hits something hard.
Finally, someone else that knows!

I LOVE YOU!
 

Exile

The Tao of Pooh
Jun 20, 2006
630
16
43
North London
They also came to the conclusion that barrel lengths over 14" tend to have a negative effect on the velocity of the paintball exiting the barrel. Don't ask me how or why..... :confused:
Friction ;) plus the gas has expanded most of it's KE by 14" of travel, so there's no need for the barrel to channel that energy (that's assuming I remembered the horribly complex equations done by TK and others right!)
 

Skeet

Platinum Member
hi

was at the Warped big game (Great by the way) today and most of my paint was falling seriously short

i got an ion with

ALL American front and back barrel

Standard board

QEV

the rest is cosmetic

so i was wondering, apart from getting a new gun is there any way to improve the range??

thanks

sam
Not sure if it has been said, but.
If your barrel is larger than the paint, then the ball will sit in the barrel with the difference (the gap) at the top.
When you fire the ball, the air will push over the top of the ball, faster than it does the rest of the ball, which induces "Top Spin".
This will make your ball drop off quickly.

If the ball fits the barrel, then you generally get 3 points of contact and a more even push on the ball, maintaining straighter shot.

You may have seen the APEX Barrel, with the end that you rotate, to impart spin on the ball? This is what they are doing, they have a ported section, which increases air flow over that face of the ball, thereby inducing spin on it, to make it bend around corners etc.

Get a barrel kit and match your paint.

EDIT; As Balf has mentioned the Flatline, this obviously does the opposite of what happens as explained above, making the ball travel further before dropping off. Of course, if you paint doesn't match that either, then the effect will be reduced.