Smart Parts

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Smart Parts' Ion
Testing
By Bill Mills - Photos by Dawn Mills - Aug 2005

Overview  - How It Works - Disassembly - Testing - Raw Test Data

The Ion used for review performed admirably on the field.  It handled the way one expects an electropneumatic paintgun to handle – easy to rapid fire, relatively quiet, and with little shake or recoil from each shot.

To check velocity stability, the Ion was set up on the WARPIG Ballistic Labs test stand powered by a Crossfire compressed air system and fired over a ballistic chronograph with DraXxus Hellfire paint through the stock barrel.  After the velocity was adjusted to approximately 285 fps, thirty shots fired at microprocessor controlled one ball per second intervals yielded an average velocity of 279 fps, with a standard deviation of 5.2.  The 95% +/- value is a predictor based on the standard deviation, it is a somewhat easier to understand way to describe the SD.  Statistically, not counting the 5% most deviant shots (thus discounting possible odd paintballs) one can expect any shot to be plus or minus that amount from the average.  At one shot per second, the 95% +/- value was 2.0.  In comparison, when rapid fired at a microprocessor controlled 12 shots per second, the average velocity dropped to 263.6 feet per second.  The standard deviation rose to 10.8, and the 95% +/- value to 4.0.  Firing faster brought a drop in stability, and average velocity, that was measurable, however in practical use, on the field, it was not enough to be noticeable. Click Here for the raw data.

Target groupings of 20 shots taken at microprocessor controlled one second intervals were fired at paper targets from a distance of 75 feet with both the stock barrel and a Smart Parts Freak barrel with .687” insert which matched well to the paint with a typical breath blow fit test.  Both test strings yielded 3 shots, which flew high of the target, and similar sized overall groupings.  While the groupings were of similar sizes, the one achieved with the Freak barrel appeared to have more of its impacts near the center of the grouping.

In all, the Ion proved to be a lightweight, compact, easy to maintain, reliable and fast shooting electropneumatic paintgun available at a price point that may serve to define a new category of electropneumatics.

For further discussion of the Ion and this review, Click Here.