text and photography by Joshua D. Silverman

I don't know if everyone got the memo, but scenario games are long. Add to that the fact that a great deal of them, especially the bigger ones, are played in the heat of the summer on terrain that's rarely flat and you've got a recipe for some tired players. Dragging a paintball gun up and down hills in the woods with an air bottle big enough to let a gun breathe and a hopper full of the good stuff, even in this modern day of light, fast paintguns isn't easy on anyone. Any product out there that looks good, shoots good and happens to shave precious ounces off a scenario player's gun is a God-send, so when the good people at St!ffi put their new Switch carbon fiber barrel kit in my hands, I was anxious to find out if it could deliver.

Sure the St!ffi Switch looks the part, available in an array of colors including a hot digital camo that I immediately jumped on, but looking good doesn't make a barrel shoot good. However, St!ffi's reputation preceeded them, with top professional tournament teams like Stockholm Joy Division and Miami Rage winning tournaments with their carbon fiber barrels. The company's history, I discovered, added to their impressive pedigree, including work on parts for the space program. That alone lent credence to claims that their barrels were top-notch, as a company able to build parts that literally travel out of this world can probably figure out how to make a paintball fly straight.



Delivered in a cordura nylon pouch with four bore sizers enabling players to shoot paint of practically any size, the Switch, like every other St!ffi barrel, features the company's famous micro-jeweled, carbon fiber construction that creates a smooth but strong and incredibly light barrel. The Switch is available in twelve, fourteen and sixteen inch lengths threaded for Smart Parts guns, Autococker-threaded guns, the Angel and Spyder. A few rows of small, in-line ports along the length of the barrel tip help reduce firing noise and air turbulence. At over two hundred dollars, the St!ffi Switch isn't cheap, but the ability to shoot any brand and bore size of paint is ideal for scenario players who are almost always at the mercy of field paint and the weather, and the ridiculously low weight is worth some extra cash as well.

Thanks to Autococker threads, I was able to try my St!ffi Switch kit on a variety of paintguns, including an ETek Ego, SL74 Ego, WGP VF-T Autococker and an AGD Tactical EMag. Picking up any paintgun after switching the barrel to a St!ffi immediately shows off one of its top features; it clearly reduces the weight of any paintgun it's used on. That alone is a huge bonus to any scenario player who might be called upon to spend hours on the field at a time, roving over hundreds of yards of terrain in varied weather. It also looks good, and that doesn't hurt.



Luckily, a well-attended scenario game happened to be closeby, so I hit the road to test the St!ffi Switch. Over the chronograph with some dismal field paint, the barrel handled its business well, delivering consistent velocity with both an SL74 Ego and Tactical EMag. Once on the field, the Switch truly shined, keeping groups at long range extremely tight and predictable, while at closer ranges I had no trouble putting one splat on top of another on anything, including opponents. After a few hours shooting the barrel and learning its nuances, at extreme ranges I was able to shoot opponents with only two or three shots, while they often emptied hoppers at me and only managed to land paint in my general vicinity. Considering I'm really not that good, the barrel had to have a lot to do with that.

With velocity readings with horrible paint documented at 274, 274, 276 with an EMag and within 10 feet per second shot-to-shot with an Ego that had never been fired with regulators not yet broken in, devastating accuracy over all ranges and such light weight that it can make paintguns seem back-heavy, the St!ffi Swith is an excellent barrel delivering top-notch results. While it may carry a premium price tag, its performance and versatility make it worth a look for any serious scenario or tactical player.

www.stiffibarrel.com