Noob Barrel Question

[MyUsernameIsTooLong]

Hi,

So I understand that decreasing the barrel's inner diameter will improve accuracy and FPS, and I thought that for 20 bucks or so, I can improve accuracy, which is not a bad deal.

Now my question is: I have an ICS - 147 which I came to understand, are a bit finicky to upgrade, probably because of the split gear box, (which I think it's pretty cool). But as far as the barrel goes, I am a little perplexed, because the hop up is unconventional, compared to the standard AEGs.

- Will ANY barrel work with my hop up?
- Is the OUTER barrel diameter the same in all AEG barrels?

Thank you

[Nodachi]

- Yes. Most AEG barrels except for V7 gearboxes use the same cuts for the barrel retention clip.
- No, but there are very few that have a large enough outer diameter differential to make a difference.

Also, barrel quality will trump inner diameter every time. Your muzzle energy increase only comes because with a smaller bore, you're changing the compression, and wide barrels also exist that will lower your muzzle energy in the reverse manner. (Note that wide bore barrels have an entire different set of behavior when used over 1.25J, though they are favored for bored-up cylinders and HPA systems.) Go for quality rather than just the cheapest 6.01 you can find.

You will almost always see greater range and accuracy gains from hop tuning and hop up work, much more than barrels. I have translated article http://imgur.com/a/W2DSn that shows that even at most, your accuracy gains from barrel alone are somewhat negligible, note that the difference in grouping size between the stock and the best barrel tested is only 20mm.

[MyUsernameIsTooLong]

Coolio, thanks!

[MyUsernameIsTooLong]

Alright so for what I understand the hopup makes a huge difference in terms of accuracy. My question is: Does it make a difference only when engaged? Or does it help at all times?

Also, Anybody know if i can use a conventional hopup for an M4 in my ICS M4?

Thanks