Barrel extension

[Dirtjump9]

Hi all!
I'm wondering if anyone here has made some sort of barrel extension for their markers. I've been throwing the idea around for a while on how to quiet the loud, sharp "pop" sound on my Tippmann 98C. I still have the stock barrel at this moment but my J$J ceramic is in the mail and should be here next week.
My idea is to get a piece of rigid pipe (PVC, ABS or the like) and have it fit on the last 3 inches of the barrel and extend 4 to 6 inches past the tip of the barrel. I am going to cut notches in the PVC so the barrel porting will line up with it and dump some excess gas in the barrel extension. The rest of the pipe will be covered in a checkerboard hole pattern with angled ports to "catch" some excess gas and force it into the barrel extension. For the packing, I will use fiberglass insulation, cotton gause wrap and open cell foam. The "can" of the barrel extension will be ABS or some small random plastic tube I find. It will be all friction fit and will be painted/camo'd.
Because it will only offer a marginal decrease in sound, I want it to be as light and small as possable, without hindering my iron-sights.
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/opinions on the design? Input is really much appreciated.


A final thought: Sound supressors (a.k.a silencers) are illegal to buy/sell/make/own in many states in the USA and other places in the world. I don't recommend you build one because if you get caught, your screwed... big time! Because of the ease of retrofitting on real weapons, the government feels that there is no use of a suppressor in the hands of a lawful citizen. You have been warned! :mellow:

[Doorman]

And for the reason in your disclaimer I changed all the words to barrel extension. Too many of the other words could finger this to cyber filters.

As for their validity, they actually do work. But with your J&J you are going to notice a considerable difference sound! I'd suggest testing the J&J before building something that is generally a pain to get aligned properly.

[yellowpumpguy]

I've made "barrel extensions" before. They worked pretty good, nearly eliminated any noise. I've done it numerous different ways and most all of them worked as good as the next, some were just nicer and more convenient than the next.

[Dirtjump9]

Hey YPG, do you think you post some pics or something, it sounds awesome! I've got a pretty good idea for my design but I wanna find some lightweight stuff to construct it with.
:)

EDIT: Well... It's 3:07AM and I have almost finished my prototype "extension". The can is made out of a clean, empty plastic caulk tube, the end cap in the open side is the piston from the caulk tube and the outter end caps are cool little tube caps I found which are for capping caulk tubes and stuff. The packing is standard yellow home insulation and the core is a length of window screen cut and tied to form a loose, flimsy cylinder shape to fit over the barrel.
The interesting design feature I wanted to test was the addition of a muzzle expansion chamber. The inner end cap on the "open" side of the caulk tube was drilled to fit tightly around the end of the muzzle, which is recessed in the caulk tube about 3/4". The outter end cap has a 3/4" hole in the center and caps off the end of the caulk tube. On the inside of outter end cap, I glued open cell foam with a hole in the center which will help absorb sound. My idea is that when the paintball leaves the muzzle, the expansion chamber will capture the escaping gasses and let them expand as the paintball exits the expansion chamber though the hole in the outter end cap.
My hope is that this will lessen the "pop" beyond what the barrel and porting can do to the point where only the mechanics of the gun can be heard clearly.
Hmmmmmmm..... :mellow: Hopefully I will have a chance to test it within the next week. I will have basic structural mesurements up tomorrow :)

[SSDDismymotto]

Originally posted by Dirtjump9@Jul 7 2005, 02:14 AM
A final thought: Sound supressors (a.k.a silencers) are illegal to buy/sell/make/own in many states in the USA and other places in the world. I don't recommend you build one because if you get caught, your screwed... big time! Because of the ease of retrofitting on real weapons, the government feels that there is no use of a suppressor in the hands of a lawful citizen. You have been warned! :mellow:
37693



well, here in MD alls you have to do is pay a $200 tax stamp and pretty much everything is legal, like full auto, suppressed, etc etc

[yellowpumpguy]

Originally posted by SSDDismymotto@Jul 9 2005, 04:58 AM
well, here in MD alls you have to do is pay a $200 tax stamp and pretty much everything is legal, like* full auto, suppressed, etc etc
38987

Yes, same here and pretty much everywhere except California. But why pay $200 for a sound suppressed paintball barrel, lame.

[Dirtjump9]

Exactly. There is no way in hell most people are going to pay $200 for a tax stamp for something as silly as a paintball suppressor. That's why I made mine so that if we all get busted, I can easily slide it off and throw it in a bush ;)
Today I'm gonna throw some black spray paint over the primer I layed down yesterday and finish it up. Maybe I will have a chance monday or tuesday to do some preliminary testing. If it really makes a big difference, I'll find someone with a digi cam and get some pics of it :)

[Dirtjump9]

UPDATE!

Here are the physical specs and info on my suppressor:
Length: 8 3/4"
Width: 2"
Packing: Yellow fiberglass insulation
Core: Window screening
Can material: Plastic caulk tube
End cap material: Plastic industrial cap
Muzzle break type: "Expansion chamber" with open cell foam backing pads
Weight: 2.5 oz.

For use on: 14" J&J Ceramic barrel
Gun type: Tippmann Model 98 Custom
Iron-sight inhibition: Somewhat but enough to matter

I still have yet to test it but right now I feel pretty confident that it will have a decent effect on sound levels at the porting and muzzle. Composed of very lightweight materials (mainly plastic and fiberglass), the weight makes it a very practical/tactical solution to combat muzzle pop without weighing down the gun. Actually, I have found that the slight added weight on the front of the gun helps my aiming a little. I have found that with a 12oz tank, the gun feels well balanced. There is minimal inhibition of the stock iron-sights.
Monday, I might get some CO2 so I can do some dry firing tests but I will still not know the true effectiveness until I get some more paint and find a place to shoot.