Best performance/value AEG inner barrel

[SuperHog]

As the title says, best performance/value AEG inner barrel. Not interested in the expensive barrels, got a PDI already. Unless there are actual tests to prove they are more accurate, then I will consider them again.

[pestobanana]

Prometheus EG 6.03. Performance is pretty much the same as PDI. Their tolerance is better, however the PDI manufacturing process is better. These are the barrels I use in all of my guns. If I don't have cash to throw one in, I use the stock barrel until I do.

[ThunderCactus]

You question makes no sense. If you understand how barrels were made, you'd know that cost and quality go hand in hand.
The tricky part is weeding out gimmick barrels. Barrels that have higher cost due to some fancy feature that doesn't do anything for you; like miracle barrels.

So basically what you're looking for is the best quality REGULAR smoothbore that will last the longest, which is the prometheus 6.03
No fancy features, nice square hop window for Rhop, nothing but clean and super polished stainless steel in a straight line.

If you want to get detaily, the madbull 6.03 actually performs pretty darn good. Problem is it's aluminum and is super easy to scratch. Big downer is if you ever scratch it (which is 90% of the time), you have to buy a new one, and then you're on par for the cost of a prometheus barrel, but you're still stuck with an aluminum piece of crap.

The PDI 6.05 is good, just not quite as concentric as the prometheus 6.03
PDI 6.08 is crap.
prometheus ASH is crap.
ORGA 6.13 is pretty darn good, the 6.10 is amazing if you have a PTW, the 6.23 is a complete waste of air in HPA guns and you can't even use one in an AEG.
Lonex is a downgrade from even a stock G&P 6.08 brass barrel that's been bent.

What it comes down to is you have 4 kinds of barrels on the market:
-stock
-cheap, either complete shit or disposable barrels
-slightly expensive high quality barrels
-more expensive gimmick barrels that do nothing to improve performance over high quality barrels

And now that we've figured out that you don't need anything longer than a 10" barrel, prometheus barrels really aren't that expensive anyway.
I mean, if you're shelling out the big bucks for 509 or 550-650 barrels then consider the extra $100 to be idiot tax lol

[SuperHog]

I owned a few Madbull's and I have found after some extensive use, the performance goes down hill.

So my search is for decent SS barrel. Looks like back to a Prom 6.03.

[lurkingknight]

if your stock brass barrel is crooked, a madbull stainless will be good enough for low cost. If you want the best on the market for the price, the prommy eg is hands down the best.

[ThunderCactus]

Oh right, I forgot madbull makes stainless now.
I actually Rhopped one and it was not bad as I recall.
HS5 uses the ZCI barrels, but I don't really trust any of his recommendations...

[Drakker]

Some people have been experimenting with ZCI barrels on airsoft mechanics. They are all bent, so you need a strong arrow straightener to fix that, then they require a lot of lapping, many hours quite literally, to get them to perform ok. Not worth the trouble unless you are very very low on money but happen to have a whole lot of free time you are willing to waste on lapping.

[ThunderCactus]

So you're better off spending the extra $20-$30 on the prometheus barrel to save say 4 hours of work and specialty tooling.
I don't know about anyone else, but the 4 hours alone is worth hundreds of dollars of my time lol

[hyz980517]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

You question makes no sense. If you understand how barrels were made, you'd know that cost and quality go hand in hand.
The tricky part is weeding out gimmick barrels. Barrels that have higher cost due to some fancy feature that doesn't do anything for you; like miracle barrels.

So basically what you're looking for is the best quality REGULAR smoothbore that will last the longest, which is the prometheus 6.03
No fancy features, nice square hop window for Rhop, nothing but clean and super polished stainless steel in a straight line.

If you want to get detaily, the madbull 6.03 actually performs pretty darn good. Problem is it's aluminum and is super easy to scratch. Big downer is if you ever scratch it (which is 90% of the time), you have to buy a new one, and then you're on par for the cost of a prometheus barrel, but you're still stuck with an aluminum piece of crap.

The PDI 6.05 is good, just not quite as concentric as the prometheus 6.03
PDI 6.08 is crap.
prometheus ASH is crap.
ORGA 6.13 is pretty darn good, the 6.10 is amazing if you have a PTW, the 6.23 is a complete waste of air in HPA guns and you can't even use one in an AEG.
Lonex is a downgrade from even a stock G&P 6.08 brass barrel that's been bent.

What it comes down to is you have 4 kinds of barrels on the market:
-stock
-cheap, either complete shit or disposable barrels
-slightly expensive high quality barrels
-more expensive gimmick barrels that do nothing to improve performance over high quality barrels

And now that we've figured out that you don't need anything longer than a 10" barrel, prometheus barrels really aren't that expensive anyway.
I mean, if you're shelling out the big bucks for 509 or 550-650 barrels then consider the extra $100 to be idiot tax lol

wait, so 10 inch barrel is enough?
i was about to build a dmr with full cylinder air volume and a 455mm prommy barrel, u know, taking the advantage of full cylinder so i can push .30g or .32g bbs.

need your advice about full cylinder question. cuz if 10 inch is enough i'd always go half size cylinders for them.

[SuperHog]

You would think all dealers would carry only Prometheus or Madbull inner barrels. I see most dealers prefer selling Angry Gun barrel barrels, maybe for other reasons.

Had a look at a Madbull SS barrel yesterday and definitely the Prometheus is so much better in finish and machining quality.

[Stealth]

Prometheus EG barrels have been in extremely short supply. I'm not sure what has been happening but if you want one you should buy it immediately.

[ThunderCactus]

Originally Posted by hyz980517

wait, so 10 inch barrel is enough?
i was about to build a dmr with full cylinder air volume and a 455mm prommy barrel, u know, taking the advantage of full cylinder so i can push .30g or .32g bbs.

need your advice about full cylinder question. cuz if 10 inch is enough i'd always go half size cylinders for them.

5" of barrel is enough. In the 400fps range, you really don't need a lot of barrel to get that BB up to speed and centered.
You only need to lengthen the barrel as the muzzle energy goes up, just to have the length to accelerate the BB without using really high air pressures.

The reason I don't run a 16" DMR is because my 10.5" MK18 shoots just as well as any DMR.

As far as "pushing" .30s or .32s, you can just use a ported cylinder for a slightly longer barrel and maintain steady muzzle energy between .20s and .32s on a very short barrel. Or you might even get a bit of joule creep.

[BioRage]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

5" of barrel is enough. In the 400fps range, you really don't need a lot of barrel to get that BB up to speed and centered.
You only need to lengthen the barrel as the muzzle energy goes up, just to have the length to accelerate the BB without using really high air pressures.

The reason I don't run a 16" DMR is because my 10.5" MK18 shoots just as well as any DMR.

As far as "pushing" .30s or .32s, you can just use a ported cylinder for a slightly longer barrel and maintain steady muzzle energy between .20s and .32s on a very short barrel. Or you might even get a bit of joule creep.

TC was this the gas for AEG exclusive, or did it apply a bit to GBB's?

[ThunderCactus]

Applies to all platforms.
The shorter the barrel, the lower the gas volume needs to be, the higher the gas pressure needs to be.
GBBR's and P*s start with high pressure anyway, so using longer barrels is inefficient.
GBBRs are just less adjustable since you need to adjust the poppet valve to adjust gas volume. For example; those fools running 14" barrels in their vectors aren't actually shooting much harder than I am with the stock 5" barrel using .30s. They get higher fps on .20s, but joule creep in reverse like crazy, because the gas volume per shot is tuned to a 5" barrel.

In an AEG, the smaller the cylinder volume, the faster the piston hits that compression zone, the higher your initial air pressure will be.

Neat funfact: If your P* is tuned to be air efficient (you're not joule creeping very much switching between .20s and .30s), then the pressure dynamics inside your barrel are almost identical to that of an AEG.

[SuperHog]

Do you have tests that show a 5" barrel shooting better than a 14" barrel?