SpudFiles

Wasup guise,

I want to drill an airsoft barrel out of something because the only barrels I can find in home depos have IDs ranging from 6.2 to about 6.5 mm.

Even though the fit is tight enough to propel an airsoft bb at decent speeds (.20 gram bb going out of a 70mm barrel connected to a pill bottle mini can go trough a cardboard box, in and out, bloody accurate) I want to archieve the same (or better) results using a shorter barrel.

Ordering (tight-bore) barrels from out of the country (I live in the Netherlands, where airsoft is banned) is too much of a pain, so I'd like to drill my own barrel out of something since I have alot of drill-bits available in different diameters.

So here are some questions:
-What is the best material I can use to do this? (block of aluminium, plastic, wood, lol)
-How well would the performance increase with a self-drilled barrel with, say, the ID of a tight-bore, compared to my current one?
-Drill-bits are quite short, so if I want a longer barrel, should I "stack" pieces of barrel?

Thanks for reading and hoping to get some nice replies.

Edit: Holy crap I meant 700mm not 70mm

To drill a good barrel you will need a lathe and reemers. With out those tools your shooting blanks in the dark.

Honestly, Just order a 650mm Tightbore from an Airsoft Shop. You will be amazed at the accuracy..........

Reaming a Barrell of any decent lenght takes some serious tools. Im pretty sure only larda posesses the tools and the knowhow to do so.

Not to mention, Drilling a hole doesnt make it perfectly smooth. It will be all rough in the inside........

actually... drilled out a barrel and it work just fine...granted, it was only ten inches long, and off center...but that's the drill press's fault, just get a dowel and a really long 1/4" drill bit and experiment with it...

pic

Thanks for all the replies, but I still wanna give it a try.

Eddbot wrote:actually... drilled out a barrel and it work just fine...granted, it was only ten inches long, and off center...but that's the drill press's fault, just get a dowel and a really long 1/4" drill bit and experiment with it...

So you used wood right? Will it do just fine for the job?

Tsukiten wrote:So you used wood right? Will it do just fine for the job?

Yes he did, and no it won't. That cannon was mostly for fun, proving that it could be done. Although nice to look at and a bit of a laugh, it's performance didn't exactly shock.
If you want a semi decent barrel that will withstand pressure, don't use wood.

Now, if you want the same results from a shorter barrel, the simple solution is to put more oomph behind the projectile, rather than fretting overly over barrel diameters, because you're not going to extract much more out of a tighter bore - a little, but not much.
In other words, consider building a cannon that isn't a mini combustion, as they don't provide much power.

Ragnarok wrote: Yes he did, and no it won't. That cannon was mostly for fun, proving that it could be done. Although nice to look at and a bit of a laugh, it's performance didn't exactly shock.
If you want a semi decent barrel that will withstand pressure, don't use wood.

Now, if you want the same results from a shorter barrel, the simple solution is to put more oomph behind the projectile, rather than fretting overly over barrel diameters, because you're not going to extract much more out of a tighter bore - a little, but not much.
In other words, consider building a cannon that isn't a mini combustion, as they don't provide much power.

Well I don't want to up the power just yet when there's still about a 0.3-0.5 mm gap between the bb and the barrel... I know I can get quite alot of extra energy from that same mini combustion with a slightly tighter barrel.
Also I want to archieve the same (or better) accuracy with a shorter barrel, with I think, is archieved through a tighter fit in the barrel.

But about the wood...what if I waxed/lubed the inside with something? To smooth things out...

Tsukiten wrote:But about the wood...what if I waxed/lubed the inside with something? To smooth things out...

You won't get a bore that's smooth, and you won't get accuracy.
Wood shouldn't be used for any pressure bearing parts anyway. One thing making a rifle-esque stock out of it, but not barrels, chambers or valves.

BTW - there's no need to quote my entire post. You can either address it to me like.....

@Ragnarok:The parts of your post which relate to me

Or just clip out the bits of the quote that don't have to be there (i.e. most of it)
And to be frank, a lot of the time, even that's not necessary - just make the post without any back references.

Ragnarok wrote: BTW - there's no need to quote my entire post. You can either address it to me like.....

@Ragnarok:The parts of your post which relate to me

Or just clip out the bits of the quote that don't have to be there (i.e. most of it)
And to be frank, a lot of the time, even that's not necessary - just make the post without any back references.

Ah, thanks for that!

But about the wood thing...I don't think putting up pressures of a maximum of, say, 75 psi (when I switch to an air resovoir) for half a second would cause any problems...

And how about other materials?

(But yeah your pretty much right about the "wood should be used for this and that"-thing.)

weer een nederlander

you can buy perfect barrels in model shops
if you can't find any I can send one but that will be very expensive.
I need to finish my bbmg soon but never have time for it.

Eddbot wrote:actually... drilled out a barrel and it work just fine...granted, it was only ten inches long, and off center...but that's the drill press's fault, just get a dowel and a really long 1/4" drill bit and experiment with it...

pic

nice ghetto barrel edd... (and nice halo rank too )

i think the idea of drilling your own barrel is flawed though, your best option is to order one from abroad

http://www.ebaybanned.com/ they probably ship to you.

Gegroet, landgenoot.

You can buy airsoft barrels just fine in NL, just search around a bit and you will find what you need. I dont thing drilling out a barrel is going to work fine, you'd better buy one or change your ammo.
Try to google for things like: "schietsportartikelen"

Hehe thank you all for your replies!

Yeah okay I guess it's clear for me now; I'd better buy an ordinary barrel instead of drilling my own.

But I'm still wondering about one method of making barrels: Cold hammer forging.
Is this archievable just by using a rod with a diameter of 6mm and hammer some aluminium plates around it?

You want to smash plates in shape of a tube? I think you will get a seam, and thus not a smooth inside, which is not what you want.