A Paintball Barrel is usually used to increase the accuracy of a paintball gun. With so many different features, how can a person know which will give the best results. These barrels differ in size, shape and even material. Picking the one that works best, may take quite a bit of trial and error on the part of the consumer. A person who has an unlimited budget may be able to purchase the top of the line barrel, whereas a person on a limited budget may have to try to decide which features make the barrel the most effective.

The length of the Paintball Barrel seems to one of the most important aspects to accuracy. To understand why this is, we must first look at the physics behind the barrel. A barrel uses a build up of gasses to propel an object a greater distance. These are some of the same theories used hundreds of years ago for making cannons. The longer the barrel the more time that the object, in this case a paintball, has to follow a straight line. Which should make the paintball fly in a straighter line towards the intended target. The one other element that needs to be accounted for in this theory is that there is friction placed upon an object moving through the barrel. This friction can slow down the paintball and decrease the distance that the ball will travel or cause it to shoot slightly off target.

To try to reduce the amount of friction involved in shooting a paintball from a rifle, many manufactures have come up with porting options. There are multiple ways that these companies are trying to overcome the prescence of friction. One such porting option is the spiraling the inside of the Paintball Barrel. This is said to put a spin on the paintball and in turn makes the paintball shoot in a straighter line. Another way that manufactures try to overcome friction is through releasing some of the air pressure in the barrel. Holes are placed at the end of the paintball barrel so that there is less air resistance on the paintball. Finding the perfect combination of barrel length and porting is the most effective way to get the perfect shot in a game of paintball.