It depends on the quality of the bore. I have polished stock barrels up the wahzoo and ensured a 'perfectly' circular bore and they work great. Or, alternatively, a prometheus barrel kicks ass because the bore and crowning are damn near perfect.

 

What you tend to get with a tightbore is a smoother, more well shaped barrel. That is what makes the biggest difference.
Dont trust the size they claim it is(6.06, 6.03, you get my point) Its probably not true anyway.
Its a bit like the myth that a longer barrel will increase accuracy, if you get an increase in accuracy, chances are the barrel is simply better.

TL;DR, Its not the size it´s the shape. A perfect big bore will give you better accuracy than an imperfect tight bore. I can vouch for Prometheus, best barrel I ever bought.

 

6.01= Edgi
6.03= Prometheus
6.05= Stock UTG Type 96
6.08= PDI

0.43bbs were used.

450FPS w/ 0.20g bbs

No wind.

Each barrel and distance test combination was done FIVE times to get an average.

All barrels were cleaned beforehand in the same manner, and before averages were taken the hop up and barrel were tweaked for maximum performance.

50ft shooting a 1.5in x 1.5in target
6.01 19/20
6.03 18/20
6.05 16/20
6.08 15/20

100ft shooting a 20in x 16in target
6.01 10/10
6.03 10/10
6.05 10/10
6.08 10/10

150ft shooting a 20in x 16in target
6.01 8/10
6.03 10/10
6.05 7/10
6.08 8/10

200ft shooting a 20in x 16in target
6.01 7/10 <-Avg. 6.8
6.03 9/10 <-Avg. 8.8
6.05 6/10 <-Avg. 6.0
6.08 7/10 <-Avg. 7.4

 

Thanks Silent this dosen't suprise me that you would have done this....

 

It's my pleasure. I thought people preferred Prometheus 6.03 TBBs because of some peer pressure type of effect...

But test after test it outperformed better than the rest except at closer ranges where the 6.01 Edgi was more accurate.

 

belive the hype, TBB's are one of the best upgrades you can get for accuracy.

 

I saw Silent's results.... I'm a beleiver I need $10!!!!

 

Please take note that I put a lot of work into my rifle with DIYs.

These results are attained with a rifle that is fully upgraded and carefully modded with room still left for improvement.

This means that these results would be far from the results of a stock gun+ only a TBB.

IMHO, I personally believe your rifle will perform better with a Prometheus 6.03 TBB, but achieving the same results as mentioned above is a different story, but it is possible.

Finally, recall that I used 450FPS w/0.20g BB's. I have done other tests with higher and lower FPS, and the results are actually a different pattern than above (i.e. 550FPS= I could only get 70-80% with the Prometheus at 200ft.) However, the Prometheus TBB was overall the better performer which is why I still use it in my main setup.

 

Great tests there SilentScope.
I was expecting the 6.08 to perform much better at longer ranges than the 6.03. I guess it's only better at the 300ft mark.

To OP, I think a tightbore barrel is the first upgrade an airsoft sniper should get.

 

Good work Silent! Could this information possibly be typed up in a new thread so it could be stickied as a kind of, "laymans guide to tight bore's"? As this information could very well be made useful by new and experienced members across the forum.

Zero

 

Thanks for all the effort, there are some good information!


Wolf

 

I would have liked to sticky this however there are too many variables that can change (i.e. FPS, bb size, installation, target size, hop up adjustment, etc.) In my opinion the hop up adjustment is what helped/deteriorated performance the most. Since these are relatively long distances, even the slightest maladjustment of the hop up will have a significant negative affect.

I am simply reporting my findings :tup:

From my other tests at 250ft and 300ft, the 6.08mm and 6.03mm were head-to-head (although much lower hit % than previous distances, but still better than the rest.) In certain trials the 6.03 performed better and in the other trials the 6.08 performed better. The 6.05mm stock performed atrociously and the 6.01mm wasn't too far behind in comparison to the 6.05mm.

This basically confirms (at least from these tests):

1. Barrel quality matters the most
2. A 6.01mm barrel is fine, but at further distances the performance plummets.
3. High quality 6.08mm barrels begin to show their worth at further distances
4. Stock barrels are usually okay, but if you plan on shooting further than 100ft, I would recommend buying a high quality barrel
5. There is a slight factor of "luck" when shooting very far. At 250 feet for example, I once managed to get 8/10 with the 6.05mm stock.

p.s. Please keep in mind my target size. The results may be VERY different if I had changed the dimensions. Unfortunately I don't have raw data for adult human-sized targets.

 

Thank you so much SilentScope, I was going to order a 6.08mm PDI barrel when pay-day comes around but I guess I will go with a 6.03 if it performs better at around 300ft than the 6.08!

 

You're welcome. The 6.08mm did perform nearly equivalent (and sometimes better) at 250-300ft compared to the 6.03mm, but in my honest opinion the 6.03mm performed better overall.

I wish someone could perform an experiment with similar variables so we can compare results :yup:

 

IDEA! Not sure why anybody hasn't suggested this before actually, but with the thread being named, 'how much do tightbore's really work', wouldn't the best way to test each barrel be to have a stock, untuned gun then test each barrel and see how they perform as that would show a greater difference and show how they truly perform. As you say, you have many DIY mods and upgrades where as others may not..

Sorry to be a pain.. ;D

Zero

 

Great idea I've done that with a M28 and results are nearly identical :yup: The only difference is that the hit percentages for each barrel is lower since the only upgraded parts were the TBB, hop up unit, and bucking. Without an upgraded hop up or bucking, the hop up is just erratic at times so I deemed them necessary for the experiments.

My only personal issue is how I adjust the hop up and what I consider an "ideal" adjustment. Maybe someone who replicates my experiment (or a similar one) will get different results because of how they adjust the hop up. I aim for the straightest trajectory as possible, but for very far distances the straight path is nearly impossible.

 

How about we make a thread where everyone posts their groupings at different ranges, telling us ALL the variables. We would work out what barrel really is best at each different range and we could compare the brand and diameter of the ammunition with the brand and diameter of the inner barrels.

 

That would be a dream come true :yup:

The big problem is everyone has to use at least two different barrels

But yes, it should be done!

 

Oh cool, didn't know you had already tried it :L Yeah good idea for a new thread Milo..

Zero

 

By any chance can we have a comparison between a Madbull and Prometheus 6.03mm?

I would love to know if the wall thickness and quality between the two brands will make a significant difference or not.

 

The Prommy is thicker than Madbul and it's made of steel, the Madbul is made of aluminum I think.
The Promytheus barrels are among the best if not the best.
I personally don't like Madbuls.


Wolf

 

I really like madbull V2s (6.03 diameter), they ER-hop really easily and LRB nicely too.

 

I read from a German inner barrel study a long while ago that 6.03mm Madbull V2 "TBBs" were actually closer to 6.016mm!

Prometheus 6.03mm barrels are closer to 6.036mm.

This is the pdf if you're curious. Warning-- it's all in German! :yup:.

http://www.madbullairsoft.com/images/Advertising/MadBull%20Barrel%20Report.pdf

 

Definitely +1 for R-hopping easily a Madbull barrel.

But +1 for Prommy for being actually closer to 6.03mm

It really just comes down to money I guess eh~!

 

I have tried both the Prommy 6.03 and my EDGI 6.01 and my EDGI gets better groupings. I don't have any numbers for you because it was a while ago and the Prommy barrel wasn't mine. I think it was about a 275-200 foot range with the m170 spring. This is before I got the r-hop so I was using the nineball bucking with the TDC.