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[Boone]

Originally Posted by Deuce

When I read this I literally had those deadlywind CF apex shrouds pop into my head. I bet carbon fiber would be and excellent material for a shroud, lightweight and low resonance.

After searching for a long time for the perfect shroud, I have settled on building one around one of those apex shrouds. I just haven't been able to find something better that I can machine in my basement...this, I won't have to.

Very excited to see the finished product, alpha!

[Matt Ribble]

I always thought that if some one wanted to you could make a ridiculously oversized one and apply it to a tm15. Stuff the shroud with scrub pads, port the barrel a bit and then slap a supressor on the end to take care of the excess.

[alpha434]

Just in time for the weekend!



Actually... This one ended up a little messed up. The secondary extruder head clogged up in the middle of the night.



I will probably cut this one apart to use as a display.

[dundadun]

nice! what is the diameter again?
So you think this one is completely non-function cause of the clog or just not as good?

[alpha434]

Which diameter?

Because I can see that some of the fine external geometry is screwed up, there's no telling how screwed up the internal geometry is. Therefore... Not usable for testing.

[dundadun]

The largest OD diameter.

[alpha434]

I don't know. 2 inches?

Why?

[dundadun]

Trying to think what guns have sights that work with 2" and what would need something additional.

Can't sleep Edit:
So basically this is just an expansion chamber for the gas expelled from each shot?
All the gas, and the noise it pushes through the air, still exits out the front, but at a different pressure/tone?

Maybe a couple rear facing ports will let the gas/noise change direction as well?

[vvatts]

Alpha, cool photos even if you do have to make another one. Is it easy to unclog it now that you noticed it?

Originally Posted by dundadun

Trying to think what guns have sights that work with 2" and what would need something additional.

Can't sleep Edit:
So basically this is just an expansion chamber for the gas expelled from each shot?
All the gas, and the noise it pushes through the air, still exits out the front, but at a different pressure/tone?

Maybe a couple rear facing ports will let the gas/noise change direction as well?

I'm not sure I understand where you're going with the sight question. Usually these things are attached to the end of a barrel and the front sights are usually at the front of the body, back a bit from the end of the barrel. Then again, many markers don't even have sights.

Short answer regarding how it works: Yes, only way for the air powering the shot is out the front but by decreasing the pressure before letting it out you reduce the amount of noise created.

Long answer: Alpha's design includes a series of symmetrical chambers. The basic theory is that each one will allow the higher pressure gas behind the paintball to expand outward into the chamber, dropping the pressure of the air that flows into the next chamber, which drops it more, and so on. This means there will be drastically less pressure in the last chamber, so there will be much less of a pop when the paintball exits and that pressurized air hits the ambient air. Without any porting in a barrel, the high pressure air hits the ambient air just as the ball exits the barrel and you get distinctive pop sound. Many pump markers have unported barrels for high efficiency (and being pumps, the marker body makes little sound of it's own when firing) so you may have heard this effect on the field. I certainly noticed it the first time I heard a pump marker on the field. A pop gun is a toy or stage prop designed mostly to make a pop sound with the same principle of a pressurized gas being suddenly released into the ambient air.

Many modern barrels are ported in order to bleed of excess pressure in the last few inches of the barrel to reduce the popping effect at the end. Porting just dumps that high pressure air into the ambient air outside the barrel though so it still makes sound along that area but it spreads it out in more directions and over a longer period of time than the pop of an unported barrel. The porting holes are generally small, which limits how much air they release.

Hammerhead is big on reverse porting, which you can find on their Bang Stixx, Battle Stixx, and M-50 Muzzle tips. From what I've heard, it does reduce the amount of noise sent towards your target even though it's nothing special behind the marker. I am pretty sure the scalloping they have around their porting is as important as the angle of the drilling when trying to maximize that effect.

Being able to hear what's going on around you and easily communicating with your team while firing can also be beneficial. Reverse porting doesn't help with that but a good raincover can in addition to reducing the amount of sound you send downrange to your target and his adjacent teammates. Oh, and it also keeps rain from entering your barrel. Wet paintballs don't work so well.

[ironchef97]

Originally Posted by dundadun

Trying to think what guns have sights that work with 2" and what would need something additional.

Can't sleep Edit:
So basically this is just an expansion chamber for the gas expelled from each shot?
All the gas, and the noise it pushes through the air, still exits out the front, but at a different pressure/tone?

Maybe a couple rear facing ports will let the gas/noise change direction as well?

A 2" would be perfectly fine with a nelspot or R7, think of the tube diameters, the lower barrel tube is 1" OD, and the upper tube is also 1" OD. Going from the center of the lower barrel tube to the sight would yield 1.5" before the sight gets obscured, and the 2" OD rain cover has a radius of 1"...so the rain cover would not obscure the sight picture in any way. You could actually go with a rain cover of 3" OD before the front sight would be "useless".

However if you're talking about using a rain cover on a sheridan with sights, lol you're screwed.