Empire axe barrel upgrade

[slayerklx88]

I have been firing my new empire axe around the back garden and paint was curving off all over the place. Have most people found this problem with the stock barrel? What is the best upgrade, 14" or more? Been thinking about the dyeultralite or an apex barrel, but I've heard the apex is good for curved balls but not too good on straight line accuracy... I play mostly woodsball and scenario.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[TrikkyD]

I use a Unitec on mine and as a few people can tell you it puts the balls in very accurately at long range! I never even took the stock barrel outta the box cos I heard It was not good at all also look at Freak cos lots of tips can screw into them from Deadly wind CF barrels to Hammerhead ones with an adapter that'll give you plenty of options depending on what you need on the day.

 

[BDN]

Start with good quality paint which has no flat spots on it. The Axe I use is second-hand, the stock barrel is fine with unblemished paint balls.

 

[slayerklx88]

Thanks for the replys, what brands of paint are good quality and will fit well in my stock barrel?

 

[Care_Bears]

Do yourself a favour and listen to what Trikkyd has posted , most that have bought the AXE just look at that stock barrel in the box and leave it there, I run with a Stiffi .693 all day every day with never a ball break , take down the psi going into your gun to 160 - 180 then re-adjust the fps from the back of your bolt , you should find that the AXE is about the BEST gun out there in every department

 

[Bolter]

I would do as the manual says and have the psi at 200 or just a click under. There is no need to change it to 180 or 160.

A barrel is a barrel is a barrel. They are all tubes. They dont make them curved, they just sell different bore sizes and materials used for the barrel. What Im saying is, if your paint was winging off everywhere, its probably either a) poor paint (paint that has been sitting around, or paint that has been stored in pots for a while) or b) you have some crap in your barrel/breach area.

Get yourself some fresh paint, and clean the insides of the AXE properly and try again. If you need a hand taking the AXE apart, just PM me and i'll help you out.

 

[phil-boy]

Our team all shoot the wonderful Empire Axe as part of our deal with Kee and Empire, we have 15 of these guns and we all run different barrel systems. I think that only 2 players use the stock barrels.

We have Hammerhead, CP, Sly, Empire, Freak, Stiffi to name a few and all work flawlessly. Yesterday whilst playing I somehow managed to break a ball mid game and just kept firing, the first few were quite good curve balls and then after that they seemed to sort thereselves out. I was using a Hammerhead and we were using New Evil paint.

You made a wise decision in getting the Axe and as its autococker threads Any barrel system you use will work really well.

 

[Care_Bears]

So now you see there`s nothing but glowing reports about the AXE, here`s something I`ve posted you should find anything and everything on the Axe.

http://empirepaintball.com/empire-paintball-videos/

 

[slayerklx88]

Thanks for all of your opinions, this is obviously the most helpful forum I've been on.

The paint I was firing had bounced around in the back of my car for a week now that you mention it, but I still think I'll upgrade the barrel to a 14", anyone got a preference for 1 piece over 2 piece?

Is it fine to stick to a larger .693 bore, or will I need to match my paint? (I only play for fun but want real accuracy)

I agree this axe was a brilliant choice, can't wait for my rotor to arrive so I don't have to drop every ball into the breech

 

[Liam92]

Thanks for all of your opinions, this is obviously the most helpful forum I've been on.

The paint I was firing had bounced around in the back of my car for a week now that you mention it, but I still think I'll upgrade the barrel to a 14", anyone got a preference for 1 piece over 2 piece?

Is it fine to stick to a larger .693 bore, or will I need to march my paint? (I only play for fun but want real accuracy)

I agree this axe was a brilliant choice, can't wait for my rotor to arrive so I don't have to drop every ball into the breech

Increasing the length of the barrel does not give you a technical accuracy gain unless you find it easier to 'point' at what you are shooting with a slightly longer barrel, but 14" is the longest you need before it starts getting impractical. the shorter the barrel the slightly less time the ball takes to accelerate to 300fps but anything 12-14" is absolutely fine.

matching the bore of your paint has one overall aim which is to fire the paint as consistently as possible because the same amount of air is pushing the ball every time. overboring is better when using cheap brands of paint because the size/shape of the paint varies ball to ball so a larger bore means there is less chance of breaking but a less consistent velocity. just remember that consistent velocity = better shot on shot accuracy.

if you are playing woodsball with cheaper brands of paint then go for a larger bore like a .691 or .693

before jumping into buying a new barrel do exactly as Bolter said and make sure the gun is spotless in the barrel, breach and bolt and for good results get some nice fresh high quality paint. do that and i'm sure you'll realise the money you were about to spend on a barrel upgrade will be better spent playing 'ball!