F4 Barrel Option

[Worr Angel]

Not sure if I should put this in the barrel forum or here. Clearly I decided on the F4 forum and the reason is because I am asking specifically about F4 options. I am going to buy a barrel kit, but before I do I wanted to make sure the MT's aren't going to put anything out with matching anodizing. Anybody know if something like this is in the works.

Not sure if this would be a MT secret or anything, but MT's it will pay for you to tell me, because if you don't then my money will be spent elsewhere very quickly.

[Sparco]

Not sure if this would be a MT secret or anything, but MT's it will pay for you to tell me, because if you don't then my money will be spent elsewhere very quickly.

I remember when my buddy went into Cobra Paintball and said something like that regarding his purchase of a Mamba IR3.

He was told that nothing was coming out anytime soon and ironically the speed came out 3 months later.

Needless to say he doesn't support Cobra.

The MTs are no obligation to tell you anything that they are under oath of secrecy. In case you didn't follow market trends... the paintball marker and accessories industry is becoming a lot like the computer industry. That's why I went with the orange/black F4 because any black anodized barrel matches.

Lesson... don't expect anyone to reveal their development secrets.

[Jetwing@Impactpaintball]

sorta like when sony officially said they had NO plans on the production of a playstation 2 so go and buy ps1... and a year or so later ps2 came out =)

[IwanaANGEL]

If you bought one now and MTs come out with one u can always sell the one you dont want and buy a MT barrel

[Jouster]

If I were them, I wouldn't get into that business. People are notoriously picky about barrels, and they'd only be selling to a small community of F4 owners, besides. I imagine that the only reason they (and, indeed, WDP) bother to include the stock barrel is because the gun would look funny on display without one.

Now don't get me wrong--I've put 25,000+ shots through my stock Infinity barrel and am only now getting around to changing it out in favor of a Pipe Kit. It works quite well. But no serious player out there these days uses anything that lacks the ability to accomodate different bore sizes, unless they have a paint sponsorship and bring their own paint to every game.

What I'm waiting for is a WDP-branded Freak or Freak clone. It'll happen. I just hope they don't base it on the Freak (*hate SP* *hate SP*).

Jouster

[Sparco]

I think WDP needs to stay out of the barrel industry, leave that to the existing brands as there are more than enough.

Many paintball companies obviously don't believe in the business philosophy:

"It's better to do one thing well, than many things poorly."

That being said, it's difficult to market barrels because of bore size choices and a slew of anodizing options. I think that's why DYE has been so successful, they stuck to one basic color (black) and just recently added clear, red & blue. Plus they stuck to one primary bore size and just recently began expanding to other sizes.

Although I would buy an orange anodized DYE tip for my Force in a heartbeat. But the only people that could even come close to matching it are WDP and they don't do public anodizing.

[Jouster]

Although I would buy an orange anodized DYE tip for my Force in a heartbeat. But the only people that could even come close to matching it are WDP and they don't do public anodizing.
If all you want is the tip of a barrel anodized, you can actually just do that at a custom anno shop. By the time the ball reaches the tip of the barrel, precise bore match is quite unimportant.

Jouster

[Sparco]

If all you want is the tip of a barrel anodized, you can actually just do that at a custom anno shop. By the time the ball reaches the tip of the barrel, precise bore match is quite unimportant.

I'm well aware of the bore matching concept, the DYE tips are .7 so I'm not concerned about the bore sizing issues. I'm a firmer believer in the .693 only bore and shoot anything. I believe that "kits" and "sets" are just a marketing waste.

As for matching the orange, I don't want to risk it. I've tried matching blues, reds, greens and even blacks before and rarely do they look like the body. Because WDP's orange is more of an orange sherbert (neon it seems) with a high gloss I do not believe a place like MAX could match it perfectly. At $50-$75 to anodize just a tip I'd want my money's worth.

I believe that only WDP could match it...

[Worr Angel]

Now don't get me wrong--I've put 25,000+ shots through my stock Infinity barrel and am only now getting around to changing it out in favor of a Pipe Kit. It works quite well. But no serious player out there these days uses anything that lacks the ability to accomodate different bore sizes, unless they have a paint sponsorship and bring their own paint to every game.
Jouster

So how do you like your pipe kit. That is what I am leaning towards.

I have an E-Orracle and am very impressed with the Kaner kit that WGP put out. So I think a gun manufacturer can certainly make quality barrels as long as they put the time and effort into the design. If WDP is as quality focused as many of you seem to believe, I would be confident that a barrel product by them would be very nice. I am new to angels so I don't know WDP very well yet.

[Doc Kwak]

I have the pipe kit and have been very happy with it. It is not superior quality, but it does a good job. CP/Scepter/Longbow may be better quality, but as long as I can get a good barrel to ball match the rest is not as critical. It is smooth enough to clear a barrel break with a good squeegee run through or several balls. You can get an idea of what it might look like on your F4 by lookin at my pic post in the official post section.