Flight of the proverbial bb.

[North West Outpost]

I have given this quite a bit of thought.

What happens to the bb as it leaves the end of your barrel?

Dependant on the bb and barrel will depend on how much air has escaped arround the bb.

Can too much air make things worse for the bb instead of better?

My thoughts are this.

Does having a large cushion of air behind the bb while it is spinning backwards actually slow it down in the barrel?

As the bb leaves the end of the barrel the air behind will disperse in all directions as that is a much easier escape route.

Does this dispersal actually hold the bb back, giving less range?

In the case of the TK twist barrel, the grooves allow a larger ammount of air loss arround the bb, could this be the secret. Less back pressure?

[B.E.N.]

Re: Flight of the proverbial bb.

Aerodynamics is mental...

[richardy]

Re: Flight of the proverbial bb.

large cushion of air behind the bb? i should hope so or it wont be going any where...

the air behind is unavoidable, all you can do is change the air on each side of the bb.

some companys have experimented with porting / venting at the end of the barrel to disperse the air your talking about, so as the bb leaves there is no air behind it.

i dont think it makes any diff.... tk seems to work becuase it stabilizes the air around the bb not actually the bb its self, if the twist actually touched the bb youd get all sorts of problems... the problem with the twist is adding power the faster the bb goes the less chance the stabilising air will affect it... at the higher speeds its better to reduce the corupting air cushion as much as possible.. i dont know if youve seen a twist at 400 + fps but its pretty bad. Sub 330 they are great though.. you take your chances at 350...

thats what ive found from testing all the barrels out there at diff fps's

[North West Outpost]

Re: Flight of the proverbial bb.

Richard, there have been many debates over the TK barrel and I don't intend this one to turn into another one.

The twist barrel allows air to pass the bb in the twists befor the bb leaves the barrel. Therefor lower air pressure by the time the bb exits the barrel. It basically induces a leak but keeps the bb in order with the peaks of the twist.

What I am saying is. Do we as a collective need to take this on board and some of us to take it further and develop new techniques and or systems.

[B.E.N.]

Re: Flight of the proverbial bb.

Wouldn't be too hard to experiment porting the end of the barrel... I have a couple of spares...

[richardy]

Re: Flight of the proverbial bb.

and i answered by saying portings already been tried by several manufacturers. Why have ago about the twist i agreed with you.. Dont site it as and example if you dont want to talk about it.