SpudFiles

Im working on an airsoft pistol, It uses 5/16" brakeline for the barel. It is pretty powerful, but it has accuracy similar to that of a revolutionary war musket. Do any of you have any tips on how to make it more accurate?

Bend the barrel.

Longer barrel...

bend the barrel? what would that do?

Install a hopup that spins the bb, buy a proper rifled barrel, get a lathe and attempt to rifle it yourself, get a longer barrel, use a foster slug (tailed) ammunition.. et cetera..

you want to use a tighter barrel, get either 1/4" brakeline, which isnt much better, or get a airsoft barrel, which will help alot. also, put a hopup in it, its actually not that hard.

Get a REAL airsoft barrel airsoftgi has some. Get a tightbore.

maverik94 wrote:bend the barrel? what would that do?

A smooth ball from a smooth barrel spins the round. Only problem is that each round gets a different spin and hence curves differently. Different curvatures makes the gun inaccurate.

Consistency is the first step to accuracy.

A hop-up is one way to get a consistent spin on the ball.

For loose fitting ammo, a slight bend in the barrel does the same thing.

jimmy101 wrote:For loose fitting ammo, a slight bend in the barrel does the same thing.

The golfball in a drainpipe analogy holds for loose barrels though, bends or now you simply have no idea what angle the BB is going to exit the muzzle at. A tight barrel is definitely a good place to start for accuracy.

tight barrel and hop-up to give consistent spin... and therefore consistent shots.

Consistent ammo, consistent spin, consistent pressure and a tight fit, all of this together determines your accuracy.
For spherical ammo with somewhat medium to long ranged shots, spinning causes the largest deviation from the straight path.

@jimmy101
I first thought that your first comment was sarcastic, but you got a point there.
Downside is that a bent barrel will go flexing and wobbling. Forces perpendicular on the pipe can be devastating for long barrels.

Tightbore Barrel and Hopup when dealing with Airsoft BB's.

Now what weight Airsoft BB's are you using? .12g? .20g? .25g .28g etc..?

Heavier BB's can add distance and accuracy because it doesn't get effected as much by air resistance.

A bent barrel (slightly bent, not one that has been totally wacked) is a well established technique even for tight fitting ammo.

See Tippmann's Flatline barrel for example, a bent smooth bore barrel.

Consistence is from the same exit characteristics for every shot. With the Flatline there is also the advantage of back spin leading to a small amount of lift, which leads to greater range. And the ability to hook a shot (somewhat) by tilting the gun.

Even with loose fitting ammo the bend will ensure that the ammo always exits the barrel against the barrel wall on the outside of the curve. That leads to consistence, which is a requirement for accuracy.

EDIT:
There isn't any more reason for a bent barrel to wag than a straight barrel. Just have to use a stiff enough barrel, or properly support the barrel.

I suspect that for very loose fitting ammo it wouldn't take all that much bend to overcome the venturi/bernouli affect (ammo is held off the barrel wall by the air flow around the ball). Of course, that adds friction, but hey, everything that is going to increase accuracy is going to add some kind of friction.


EDIT²:
So, bend the barrel upwards a bit. That will give increased range, a flatter trajectory and greater consitence and acuracy.

Bend it upwards? That will cause a topspin right?
And topspin drops the ball.
You need to bend it downwards, to create a backspin, which will cause a lifting force.

One must remember that hop-up is very sensitive to cant, far more so than anything else. Adding it will improve the consistency of the BB gun only if the user also demonstrates consistency.

It's good, but it does have it's flaws. Like needing the right BB mass to avoid the little bleeder hooking skywards.

jimmy101 wrote:Of course, that adds friction, but hey, everything that is going to increase accuracy is going to add some kind of friction.

Not if I have anything to say about it...
However, my thoughts on frictionless rifling are not the subject matter of this thread.