Welcome To P8ntballer.com
The Home Of European Paintball
Sign Up & Join In

Poppet or Spool Valve?

Liam92

#16 Reading Entity
Nov 4, 2009
2,370
587
148
Glasgow, Scotland
I'm sorry but unless you're talking trick barrels, saying that one marker has a flatter shot than the other is complete bollocks
exactly. without using a backspin barrel (apex/flatline) gravity doesn't give a toss which gun your paint comes out of so its still going to fall at 9.8m/s2 like every other paintball :)
 

Dan Newton

Member
Apr 8, 2013
34
0
16
40
Perhaps the spin of the different markers make it fly up a bit. I'm considering buying a etha but people have told me to buy a second hand ego but I'm worried I might end up buying a lemon
 

Niall W

Platinum Member
Dec 13, 2007
958
30
53
Cambridgeshire / Swansea
You'll be very happy with either mate.

It's just a case of weighing up if you want a more recent product (Etha) or don't mind an older model with the spec of a higher end.
As long as they've been we'll cared for (which 90% on here will have been) then older markers wont be a problem.
 
Mar 14, 2012
92
11
18
37
Given that there is nothing to back up flatter shot/drop shot other than anecdotal evidence, and I've never seen it myself I'd also say it's nonsense. it's a very short distance for air to affect a sphere enough to spin it even after its left a 14" tube! If someone can do some tests with real evidence I'll believe it but until then, nah!
 

Chris@warpedsports

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2012
131
67
63
39
warped hq
www.warpedgear.co.uk
different guns do tend to hit the ball differently and porting etc can affect the type of shot you get! The AA smarts barrel used to make a difference to the shot on my ion!
some guns do shoot flatter etc due to the the barrel and I suppose the way it hits the ball. Not sure how I could test it to show would have to fix the marker and shoot at a target without moving marker at all!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Care_Bears
Mar 14, 2012
92
11
18
37
The barrel can make a difference, bore size, surface quality etc all can have an effect on the way the ball spins. I'm just not convinced that the different air cushions from poppet/spool (i.e lower volume and higher pressure for popper, higher volume, lower pressure for spool) could make such a difference when the ball still has to travel through a 14" barrel.

The way to test it would be with the same barrel, same paint, marker set up in a fixed stand, ideally bolted down! with a fixed camera behind it, firing over a set distance of say 30m into a sheet with a grid on it. Fire 30 shots through each gun. From that you could analyse the footage and see how the balls fly, from that you could determine if there is a difference in their flight. But ideally you'd have to do it with a few different makes of spooly and a few different makes of poppet, all using the same barrel and paint.

Wouldn't do it myself because I haven't got the time or equipment to do it, but that's a way it could be tested.

I may well be wrong, and am quite happy to be proven wrong. But IMO the biggest factor is paint and barrel, even if the air cushion did spin the ball, which logically is unlikely, it has to travel through a straight tube which would even it out, I think... :)