PMI Razzor Barrel Review
PMI has recently introduced a new line of barrels called the Razzor. Many manufacturers are bringing all sorts of barrels to the market, some gimmicky others not. The Razzor is definitely not just another gimmick.
PMI sent us the Razzor to be included in our comprehensive barrel and paintball test of 2001. The barrel we received was a one-piece 14 inch aluminum barrel that was finished in a dull black anodizing. What do you mean dull? There isn’t a better way to describe it, it just wasn’t extremely shiny. We prefer dull finishes because they don’t attract as much attention and aren’t as flashy. As you know from our articles, we are into functionality not looks.
The Razzor looks very sharp with the ‘coke bottle’ curvy back end. The first half of the barrel is not ported at all while the latter half is spiral ported with very small holes. The porting is actually not really spiral but rather unique. If you look from afar it will look like spiral porting, however, from up close you will notice other ports in between the spiral ports that probably offset the spiral porting effect. Either way, the barrel shoots very well.
The barrel’s bore measured to be 0.690 inches using a digital measuring device with an accuracy of 0.0005 inches.
The test:
We were in the process of testing the barrel in our comprehensive barrel and paint test of 2001 and when we put on the Razzor and shot a few rounds everyone gasped together. The first three shots from a distance of 55 feet from the target landed exactly one on top of the other. No exaggeration. Exactly one on top of the other. We can’t emphasize it enough, one on top of the other. Unbelievable.
We tested the Razzor in the midst of our comprehensive barrel and paint test of this year. We are in the process of gathering statistics and results of a 14 barrel test with 5 different brands of paint that run the gamut from recreational paint to the top tournament performing paint. Complete results will be published at a later date.
On the test date we used a Minicocker (mini autococker) running on compressed air from a Max Flow. The Minicocker was a Danny Love special with an input pressure of 375 psi. We also used a Black Magic Autococker with an input pressure of 220 psi. Both markers were bench clamped to a non-movable bench at the target range of Toledo Adventure Games.
The temperature ranged between 81-84 degrees in the shade all day. The humidity was between 24-29%. We used a digital scale to take temperature and humidity measurements, and later verified the readings with the local weather service.
We chose a target 55 feet away and controlled the velocity to be between 260 and 295 fps using a handheld Radar Chronograph manufactured by Glove Radar Inc. with a tolerance of 2%. We used the following brands of paint: PMI Marballizer, Zap Performance Plus Purpulsion, 32 Degrees Team Colors, Zap Tequila Sunrise, and newcomer Direct Hit paintballs. Other manufacturers were invited to participate, but as of test date, either they elected not to participate, or we had not received the products in time. The paintballs span the entire spectrum in terms of cost and quality.
Results:
The way we measured the marks was horizontal then vertical for the two readings. In other words, we took a measurement from the two farthest points horizontally, then the two farthest vertically. Vertically usually was always more.
| Paint | Dist. | Outliers | Radius | Velocity |
| Marb | 55′ | 0 | 8×9 | 279-283 |
| PP | 55′ | 0 | 8×10 | 260-278 |
| TC | 55′ | 0 | 15×16 | 287-295 |
| ZAP | 55′ | 0 | 14×13 | 272-276 |
| DH | 55′ | 0 | 10×7 | 280-288 |
How to interpret tables:
The first column is the type of paint; Marballizer (Marb), ZAP Performance Plus (PP), Team Colors (TC), Zap Tequila Sunrise (ZAP), and Direct Hit (DH).
The second column is the distance. All were shot from a distance of 55 feet.
The Outliers column is what percentage of shots did not hit the target at all or were so far away from the rest of the grouping that it would be unfair to include them. So if a barrel lands all the shots in a 10×10 inch area, except for one which lands 2 feet away, it would be unfair to include that “off shot” in the rest of the results. In statistics these are called outliers. So if you have 10% outliers, that means that 10% of the shots were way off the mark. (not good)
The Radius column list the size of the mark by taking the farthest two points vertically x the farthest two points horizontally.
The Velocity column is a measurement of how close the velocities were. What we did is adjust the velocity of the paint for every paint and barrel so that it is between 270 and 300 fps, or what most paintball players play at. After that, we took 3 shots and gave the range that those three shots were in. For example, if we shot 270, 269, and 290, the range we’d give would be 369-290. If we shot 283, 283, 283, then the range in that column would be a perfect 283-283. The smaller the range the better the paintball and the better that barrel shoots that paintball.
Significance:
The PMI Razzor barrel was one of our best performing barrels in our comprehensive test of 2001. PMI did an excellent job!
