To tell you the truth the hardest choice for me was always between Dye and Empire Custom 2 Piece Barrel. It’s no difference when it comes to barrels. Both companies run so close to each other that basically it’s only a matter of personal choice sometimes. Anyway let’s do some talking about the Empire Custom 2-piece Barrel. Overall a great piece of equipment. It has some flaws, but nothing to serious. You should definitely consider getting this thing, especially if you’re on a budget, because it isn’t really that expensive. The thing is very light, but balances well on the gun. It’s dead accurate and looks really good. It cleans well although you may want to use squeegee instead of just shooting through breaks. It’s not paint picky and rarely breaks balls. It’s a 2-piece so you get plenty of possibilities with the bore size and lengths you need. Here’s the given information about it:
“Empire Paintball now offers a single 2-piece Custom Barrel, as found in pre-configured sets in their 4-, 7-, and 10-piece barrel kits. You can order the individual back pieces specific to your gun’s thread and choose your bore size of .681, .684, .687, .689, .691, .693, or .696, and pick between black aluminum or polished stainless steel. You then order the individual front piece desired, available in lengths totalling 10″, 12″, 14″, 16″, or 18″ when you add them to the back piece, and pick between black, blue, red, or silver aluminum.
No inserts to get damaged. Precision machining for a perfect fit between pieces, and micro honing equals superb accuracy. Not a pre-packaged set means you pick exactly what you want, without anything extra that you don’t. Literally thousands of possibilities.”
As I said it’s an overall great barrel. As to the flaws I mentioned – the thing isn’t really the quietest. It’s not loud, but there’s certainly room for improvements. It’s also not the most durable barrel out there. I don’t know how Empire let that happen, but the thing scratches really easy and if you’re not careful enough you even risking denting it. Still those are flaws that can be ignored, considering that the price is only about $60. For an Empire that’s pretty cheap. In conclusion, if you can afford the Dye Ultralite definitely go with it, if not this one should definitely do it.