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paintballimpact.com / Barrels / Barrel Porting
Barrel Porting - Marker
Porting is the array of holes drilled into the paintball barrel. The porting of the paintball barrel can be seen in a variety of different hole patterns, depending on the manufacturer of the product. The paintball barrel is part of the main body of the marker. The barrel is the last part of the marker the paintball passes through before it exits the machine.
Porting holes can be seen drilled into paintball barrels of many compositions, including aluminum, brass, and stainless steel. Aluminum, brass, and stainless steel ported barrels are all popular products. Aluminum barrels are popular for their lightweight properties. Stainless steel barrels are heavier but offer precision accuracy. Brass barrels offer a smooth flight out of the marker with a maximum amount of friction. Many of these barrels have holes (called porting/drilled into them in different patterns).
Porting holes are symmetrically drilled into the barrel to reduce noise and provide for a true precise flight out of the marker. Experts believe the excess gas is dispersed through the porting polls enabling a smooth flight out of the marker. There is some controversy in the field as to the functional value of barrel porting holes. Some paintball players insist that the porting holes contribute to the reliability of their marker firing. Others say the porting holes have no other purpose other than making your marker "look cool".
Proponents of the functionality of the porting holes say that a ported barrel helps to disburse some of the air and energy from the airpower coming from the back of the marker. The porting holes help to ensure that just the right amount of energy travels through the barrel for it to fire off an accurate shot.
To understand the theory of porting, imagine that you are a paintball waiting in the chamber, ready to be fired. Before the trigger is compressed, you are experiencing the same pressure inside the gun as the air outside of the cozy confines of your marker. Suddenly, the trigger is pulled and you feel a tidal wave of pressure on your back, launching you forward. As you rocket towards the end of the barrel, you must get the air in front of you out of the way before you are able to reach daylight. The air between you the paintball and the end of the barrel must go somewhere, and something's got to give. The air between me and the paintball and the end of the barrel is slow and lazy does not cooperate as much as I would like it to in just getting out of the way. The air pressure in front of me resists a little as I try to push it out of the barrel as it try to leave, squeezing me and from my perfect spherical shape. The further I stray from my perfect shape, the less reliable I travel away from the paintball barrel.
To make my flight out of the barrel easier, the owner of my temporary home drilled some barrel porting holes into the gun barrel. As the air is forced out of the holes as I rocket forwards, I don't have to fight so hard against the air in front of me, and I fly towards my targets straighter.
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