SpudFiles

This is my Christmas present to Spudfiles; A brand new BBMG barrel material. Carbon-Fiber arrows.

A few days before I left for the holidays (did some testing of a wireless camera while I was there, details later!) I bought two carbon fiber arrows, after it was mentioned that they may make good barrels. Well, today I took one out and cut it open, to make sure it would work. Boy was I surprised. The clearance between the I.D. and the 6mm BBs was so small, the I.D. actually went inside the manufacturing tolerances of the BBs, making some impossibly tightly fitting, some perfect, and some just too big. And we're talking about a tolerance of +- .03mm, here. That's a DAMN tight fit. My recommendation is that the tighter ones be reserved for sniper rifles, as it takes a while to sort out good ammo. Also makes a good blowgun.



And so, pictures.






This is the arrow used.





Tape wrapped tightly around the location of the cut. If it were cut without tape, the carbon fiber may come undone.



The resultant cut.




A brand-new carbon-fiber barrel.









I apologize for the large pictures. I didn't want to go through resizing them all for attachments.

can you measure the I.D of the arrows with a digital caliper and tell us what they come out to be?

I actually DID do that! (love my calipers) I believe it came out to about 5.88mm or so, I'll check again in a few minutes. (Or was that the diameter of the BB....?)

I just checked, it came out to 5.99mm. DAMN tight fit.

Where did you get them? Looks quite good.

I just picked them up at Wal-Mart. Fairly cheap, too. Around $3 a pop.

Its better to just buy a carbon fiber tube, i guess they are stronger and longer

john bunsenburner wrote:Its better to just buy a carbon fiber tube, i guess they are stronger and longer

Ahh, but here is where you fail, not everyone has access to carbon fiber tube. They might not fit and will probably be more expensive. Almost everyone that lives anywhere populated has a place where they can buy a carbon fiber arrow.

Go for the easy simpler solutions unless you absolutely need to do otherwise.

I need a license and a 30km car ride, oh and either an adult or be over 18 to get acsess to arrows, you see my point, i was just suggesting something...

True true.... 30km(~20miles right)? You must have a hunting/department store closer than that..... I can now see your point

Ok thank you(oh and i need to speak french ther(switzerland, you know))

Swiss people speak french?

Hmm, I'm pretty sure arrow tubes have come up before as excellent barrels for things like bb's and such. What's the difference? I've used pentubes, but they usually leave about a half millimeter of space all around the bb. Aluminum tubes work a gazillion times better, but I haven't really been working with anything bb related for a long time.

So I guess I'm asking: Is there any REAL difference that makes cf tubes different, or is it just the great hermetic fit to things like airsoft bbs?

Yeah, it's pretty much the fit. And the price. The barrels work, as you would put it, a gazillion times better than rigid brakeline. It's also the fact that anyone in a populated area can find them, and they don't require any special tools whatsoever.


Finally, our vortex guns can have some added accuracy, range and power!

@Spook: We speak german, french, italian and Retro-Romanisch, each kanton has some kind of different dialect and some one from out side your kanton is regared as a "hura usländer"(damned foreners in bernese).

Back on topic(kinda): Is there some way to get custum made tubes, or is it best to just buy a barrel for something like a .22 caliber pellet as ammo?

Carbon Rebel carbon composite arrows from carbon express purchased at K-Mart for 6.49 USD a piece have a 6.2 mm I.D. and 78 cm length.

And you can just pull the plastic bit at the end out with your fingers, it's just pushed in. But the aluminum piece may need to be cut out. However on a length basis 6.1 mm I.D. brass tube from McMaster-Carr is cheaper at 2 bucks per 30.5 cm piece (not including shipping) and is a better fit, but joining pieces is a pain considering they're only 30.5 cm long.

Ok, I decided this would be the best barrel for my soon-to-be-finished bbmg, but I have been unable to find these near the price ranges mentioned above. If anyone has a link, please give it to me.