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This is a general information and lineage page about SP barrels and some information about them.

Smart parts barrels are produced at SPHQ and use a patented stiff-arbor honing method. The barrels are internally impregnated with a ceramic/teflon coating for a strong finish that is very smooth as well as helping to penetrate the inconsistencies in aluminum and create a more linear bore size. SP barrel fronts use a 19/70 o-ring; Freak backs use two 18/70 o-rings to hold the inserts. Grease may be applied to the outside of the Freak insert if its fit within the back is especially tight. Barrel threads may be wrapped with an o-ring for a slip fit onto your marker if you wish. Impulse/Ion barrels come from the factory with an 18/70 o-ring around the threads. Shocker barrels don't use an o-ring from the factory but you can use one if you wish.

All American fronts combined with a Freak back will produce a barrel length one inch shorter than the advertised length. For instance, a "14 inch" AA front will make a 14" barrel if used on an AA back, but if used on a Freak back it will be 13". Alternately, a "14 inch" Freak Front will make a 14" barrel if used on a Freak back, but if used on an AA back it will be 15". This is due to the Freak backs being shorter than the AA ones.

Current Barrels: 2006 series
These are the barrels that SP produces at the moment. Most of them use the same "flared" barrel shape, which is noticeably different from the last series barrels which curved inward instead of out.
· 06 Progressive - Flared barrel shape with spiral teardrop porting, available in multiple colors and lengths.

· Linear - Flared barrel shape using straight "linear" porting. A cheaper version of this (less porting and less cosmetic milling) comes stock on most Ions.

· Tactical - This is a 21" one-piece barrel with linear porting and a huge muzzle break. Extremely quiet sounding when used with an SP*8 suppressor shroud.
· 06 All American two-piece - New cosmetic milling from the previous version. Bore size is 0.693 for Ion/Impulse/Shocker NXT threads, or 0.689 for everything else. Works with all Freak and AA fronts. Available in gloss or blast finish. The fronts feature the same spiral porting and cosmetic milling as they always have, since 1989. Comes stock on Shocker NXT markers.

· 06 Freak barrel - The original multi-insert barrel, and still one of the best. Freak backs are compatible with all Freak and current AA fronts. Available in stainless or aluminum back. Current-style (2006) Freak backs have ovular cutouts to view the inserts, and the current Freak fronts use linear porting with the flared barrel shape. Comes stock on Epiphany markers as well as private label Shockers.

Freak inserts: Available in aluminum or stainless. Both materials use the following sizes: 0.682, 0.684, 0.687, 0.689, 0.691, 0.693, 0.695. Aluminum insert kits also use the small 0.679 insert; stainless kits also use the large 0.697 insert. A batch of 0.670 reball inserts was produced in 2006 but these were limited.

Recent Barrels: 2002 series
These barrels are easy to recognize because they all use a similar curved barrel shape (except for the AA). These are the most common SP barrels out there since most were produced during this time.
· 02 Progressive - Used spiral porting like the AA, with a curved barrel shape. This was later upgraded to the 06 progressive and given teardrop ports. Came stock on Impulses as long as they were around.

· Teardrop - Same as the Progressive barrel, except with added teardrop porting. Discontinued in 2006 when the 06 Progressive was released.

· 02 All American two-piece - This barrel uses a standard 0.689 back and is compatible with all Freak and AA fronts. The back uses new cosmetic porting from the last version (one-piece AA), however was upgraded to the current milling versions in 2006. The fronts are virtually the same (spiral porting with straight barrel shape). This came stock on Shockers at the time, as well as a few private label Impulses.

· 02 Freak barrel - These were used between 2002-2005. The backs had the text FREAK milled out and the fronts used spriral teardrop porting (using the same barrel shape as the teardrop/progressive). Fronts compatible with AA backs. Came stock on Besales Evolution Autocockers.

· Stainless Freak - Different milling to compensate for the added weight. These are still used through 2006 and later. Came stock on Nerves.

Old & Rare Barrels: 01 series, and older
These older barrels are long since discontinued, but can still be seen here and there nowadays. At this point in time, the basic SP barrel shape was just a straight tube, without curves or anything fancy (unlike the 02 versions which have curved fronts to them, except the AA). The threading on these old two-piece barrels is NOT the same as the current ones. Additionally, the old two-piece barrels are glued from the factory (they can be separated if necesary but it takes a lot of force).
· All American old-style two-piece (1989-2001) - The original Smart parts product; this barrel was the first to feature SP's patented spiral porting. This was originally available with different sized barrel backs (0.686 light gray, 0.691 dark gray, and 0.689 black) but all except the standard 0.689 were dropped in 1998. The threading on these was changed in 2000 when SP created the Freak barrel and switched to the barrel front threads that they use today. This came stock on pneuVentures Shockers as well as SP Shocker Sports at the time.

· All American Stainless (1999-2000) - Same as the old-style AA two-piece except made from stainless steel. These also functioned with old-style aluminum AA fronts if the user special ordered. Stainless front version available in 14" only.
· Smart Stainless (1999-2001) - Similar in function to the Progressives, except with a different shape, and of course made from stainless steel. Although heavy, these steel barrels featured a very smooth internal bore. They used spiral porting and were available in 12" only.

· Progressive original - The original SP one-piece barrel; this used a straight barrel shape with spiral porting. This was the stock barrel for the Impulse of the time, and it also came stock on some 2001 Shocker Sports instead of the AA two-piece.

· Teardrop original - Upgraded version of the Prog, this one-piece used spiral teardrop ports.

· All American Teardrop - Another name for the Big Daddy barrel.
· Big Daddy (1999-2000) - This was an old-style AA back using a spiral teardrop ported front. This was discontinued in 2000 when SP released the Freak barrel, and the teardrop front evolved into the Freak front that was used on Freak backs and new-style AA backs.

· Freak original - Freak backs originally said SMARTPARTS as pictured. Also, the original Freak fronts used spiral teardrop porting that was first used on their Big Daddy barrels, but weren't curved like the 02 versions (the front was straight like all the other 2000 barrels, see the Big Daddy barrel for pictures).

Shocker/Impulse Thread Conspiracy:
Possibly the single biggest misconception against Smart Parts is that they created Shocker and Impulse barrels to make more money. This is a rumor, started to discredit the company by those that don't understand the production process and reasoning that went into the production of the guns.
Shockers were the first electronic closed bolt marker available and thus the chance for chopping was much higher. In a situation then and now, the ability to remove the barrel for cleaning in a timely fashion was ideal. Shocker barrel threads are short, double-lead threads which unscrew in only two full turns, instead of 5-6 turns with Autococker threads. Additionally, the Shocker body design could be made shorter if it didn't use Autococker threads (which require a 1.4" barrel hood, not necessary on every single marker out there). The other reason is that Autococker barrel threads are very fine and as a result easier to strip or crossthread than Shocker threads. These considerations were all taken into effect when the marker was released and this is why Shocker threads were created.
Impulse threads were later created for similar reasons. The Impulse body design wasn't long enough to use Shocker barrels (let alone Autococker, which are even longer), so the original Impulse markers were actually threaded with a 1/4" shorter Shocker-threaded barrel. This posed an inevitable problem of people using original Shocker barrels on their Impulses, which would only thread some of the length and not be effective (increase the chance of stripping due to overtightening, breaking off during impact, or other problems). For this reason the thread profile was changed to the Impulse thread to help prevent confusion. Impulse threads are even more coarse than Shocker ones, as well as being shorter in length, making it a premier barrel profile for shorter markers that can utilize them.
During the design process these considerations have to be weighed out. The fact that most other markers use Autococker threads doesn't mean Autococker threads are the "best", it just means they're the most prominent. The choice to start using a different thread is a sound production decision in this case, backed by logical engineering, not greed. Remember, Smart Parts isn't the only company that makes barrels for their gun. Other barrel manufacturers profit from barrel sales as well.

Please, let the conspiracy end.

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