Paintball

[russc]

Originally Posted by flyweightnate

Raincover works only with UNported barrels? How's that work? Does it hang over the tip several inches?

Well, if the pressure is coming out of the ports prior to hitting the rain cover, it obviously isn't going to do much.

[Lrrpie-CT]

I have a very quiet stiffi on my cocker.

Seriously, I picked up a Stiffi barrel and put it on a Sniper. It is very quiet even when using a plain old CO2 tank. I'm sure that using low pressure would make it even quieter. I hardly ever use it though. When I used to play more small team stuff I noticed that the well muffled guns would make it harder to get a bearing on where the shots were coming from.

[Moosepatrol]

I am doing a suppressor for my black widow right now. Trying a set of plans from the net. I have a decibel meter. I'll take some readings when I'm done.

[TrojanMan]

The first step in trying to quiet a marker is to know how it makes sound in the first place. If you don't know what you're trying to fix, you're just going to spend money on gimmicks that may or may not work as advertized (see also: Hammerhead. It's a good-quality barrel but the noise reduction is just a sales pitch. IMHO, they should have stood on their high-quality manufacturing processes and materials and skipped the salesspeak about the 500 other features it has.)


Firearms produce sound from two sources. There is (in most calibers/loadings) a sonic boom associated with the velocity of the projectile itself and also a pressure wave created by the escape of high temperature and pressure gasses into the atmosphere. In many calibers, subsonic ammunition can be purchased or manufactured in order to counteract the sonic boom. If the bullet doesn't pass the speed of sound, it won't crack. In order to alleviate the rapid escape of hot, high-pressure gasses, a silencer/suppressor is used.


Paintballs are fired at a muzzle velocity of 285FPS. This is nowhere near the speed of sound (about 1100 FPS) so we don't have to worry about a sonic crack.

We do still have the problem of high pressure gasses escaping rapidly into the atmosphere.

Imagine a balloon popped with a pin. It creates a fairly loud report. This is due to the rapid decompression of the gas. The gas pushes on the atmosphere and that compression creates a sound wave. Anyone who has taken high school physics knows that sound is created by the sequential compression and decompression of matter. Any method that reduces this effect will reduce the report of the marker. (note that the following modifications may or may not adversely impact your performance and efficiency)

* Use lower operating pressure - less decompression, less sound
* Use a longer barrel - the more you allow the propellant to expand before the ball exits, the less decompression will take place
* Ported barrels - allow gas to escape before the ball "uncorks" the barrel, thus limiting the ammount of decompression.
* Rain cans - capture gas within a larger volume chamber allowing it to expand more before the ball "uncorks" the barrel.
* Good paint - with a uniform size and shape and as small a seam as possible will have optimal firing characteristics and the best efficiency. This allows you to use less gas per shot, thus limiting the ammount of gas that must expand as the ball exits.


The idea is to open the "balloon" and allow the gas to escape slowly rather than popping it with a pin. Each of the above features (and some more tricks, such as quieting the action of the marker itself) should be used in conjunction for optimal noise reduction.




Or you could just remember that the effective range of a paintball is about 75 feet and realize that, at that distance, if someone doesn't see you before you shoot then they're probably not going to see you after you shoot.

[HurtCow]

Originally Posted by Cunha

Is there a non moving nova barrel?

No. Avery has access to machining tools, and so his Nova had a reciprocating Dye barrel.

[fog]

The Ion i just traded had a 14in stiffi an was very quiete.
I have a venturi barrel 8in for my classic mag i havent used it yet, but i read some reviews that said yes it ports the air back as well as SPRAY
PAINTING your mask on occasion ,lol im hoping not to experiance that

[amcfall]

Originally Posted by HurtCow

No. Avery has access to machining tools, and so his Nova had a reciprocating Dye barrel.

And that is the quietest gun I've ever fired!

Avery

[Schmitti]

And I'm sure it was insane!

On another note.. I wish I had been there when you running that Shocker through it's paces at Spring castle '06..... Al said the two of you had it set up to your lappy and were making it do insane things that should never be put down in words, let alone mentioned

Avery... you are just an evil genious!

E

[Matt H]

18" Dye Boomstick that i used on my A-5 a long time ago. Sounded like little puffs of air.

[Simptumz]

I have an SP8 (let the snickering begin) and I have the silenced barrel smart parts makes for them and it does work but gets louder the faster you shoot it - my guess is because it cant vent the air out of the expansion chambers in the foregrip on the higher ROF's. But if shot at a realistic ROF it actually is so quiet that my empire b (not a b2) sometimes doesnt hear it and that does get a little frustrating. I havent used the marker in about 2 years but it is a great conversation piece and works excellent when showing new players how awkward and heavy a marker can be.