Number of Reviews: 5
I love this barrel Iam using it with the Tippman crossover it works great.
Unlike the other reviewers, this barrel was actually recommended to me (along with a couple of others) but I went with it because it was on sale. Normally, this is a tactic that doesn't necessarily pan out, but I got very lucky this time. The barrel is great - two days, two cases of paint on a very, very humid weekend, and not a single round chopped.
As for actual performance, it was noticeable. Granted, I'm used to using a stock A5 barrel, so a roll of cardboard that's longer than 8 inches would have been an upgrade...but this barrel provided a pronounced upgrade. There are definitely limitations (it's an air-powered .69 caliber musket, after all), but it shoots remarkably straight considering.
The spiral porting looks a lot more pronounced in the picture, which originally made me a little leery, but once it's on the marker, you don't notice it. There is, however, an annoying logo printed on the base, which is in white, and breaks up the otherwise great lines. Personal preference, I know, but I'm debating whether I want to try to find a solvent that gets it off. The barrel also will occasionally unscrew itself maybe a quarter-turn over a period of a couple of hours, but I never actually had it fall off.
I'm very happy with the money I spent on this barrel. It performs like barrels six inches longer.
Like other reviewers, I also was offered this in place of a JJ Ceramic and I admit to being sceptical as the JJ generally has gleaming reviews whilst the Pathogen has mixed. But Hustle assured me it was comparable and their word is golden imo.
I play in the UK hybrid scene, where Tippmann 98 and BT4 site guns are predominant. Accuracy-wise, the Pathogen 2 holds its own against even Hammerhead rifled barrels (which my team has an extensive collection of). This isn't so surprising, since if you dial in your A5 for each barrel, it'll be roughly as accurate regardless, when shooting budget paint at least.
The Pathogen 2 hasn't had any problems shooting budget paint so far, though it isn't "self-cleaning". I doubt any barrel truly is. You can shoot through a breakage, but it's not like the next ball whips out a mop and bucket and cleans the inside of the barrel. Accuracy is still affected.
Where the Pathogen 2 really succeeds is its quietness. Compared to all the other barrels I've heard on the field, this is by far the quietest. It's almost eerie. Is that the full-length spiral porting at work? Or maybe I'm just over-exposed to noisy barrels.
If you can convince Hustle to do you a deal on one of these barrels, and want a barrel that's accurate but also a talking point, try the Pathogen 2.
I ordered the J&J Ceramic 14" and they offered me this barrel instead since they were out of stock on the J&J. My friend who has the J&J Ceramic barrel on his A5 is far more accurate than I am with this barrel, although this barrel is still accurate enough to take someone out from 30 feet with one shot head shots. The amount of porting on this barrel makes it hard to clean on the field, but once you can make it to a sink you just run it under water and all the port holes get cleaned instantly. I did however quickly find out that this barrel does not like cheap paint at all. The self cleaning feature of this barrel is non existent, if you try to keep firing when you break a ball you won't be able to hit anything and just keep breaking balls which makes it worse. Once I switched to mid grade paint I had no issues. I would have to say that for the price I paid for the barrel, which is 35 dollars (the price of the J&J ceramic) it is a good barrel and I am extremely happy.
I received this barrel as a replacement for one I ordered due to it being out of stock. For the first time I was glad the item I ordered was not in stock. The barrel is very light, and very accurate. I have had no chops or ball breaks in the barrel, just cyclone blending (my own fault for too many BPS) When that did happen though, the barrel did as good of a job as a J&J ceramic at self cleaning. All in all great barrel, A+ Hustle paintball, and thank you for such an awesome barrel.
