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Oh yeah cause I'm gonna try that with Dark Eldar...
I could with the Orks but I play fantasy and my Orcs don't have guns, my Dwarves have a couple and I will for them, but mostly it's crossbows.

Honestly, I never notice.

For me, it's something to do if I have hobby time but no motivation to actually do any painting.

I don't find it very necessary, I just paint black circles on the end. However, it does slightly annoy me when people don't even do that and just leave the end of the barrel as it is.

I prefer it on my models but don't always do it and don't care if others don't do it either

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I am too lazy to drill the barrels. I just paint a black do to represent them
I do think a drilled barrel looks nice though. It just seems like a lot of work for something so small.

With a pin vise, sure, it's a pain. But with a dremel tool and the right size bit, you can do 10 Marines or whatever in less than 2 minutes.


For myself, I think they're not done until the barrels are drilled.

I prefer the look of drilled barrels, but have no problem with others if they aren't.

Besides, I can't drill a straight hole to save my life. About one in three I drill are okay, the rest are noticeably off. Obviously need more practice.

Mandatory for me, but each to their own.

At first, I just saw it as extra work and didn't want to do it, but now I love it. It makes the model look a lot better. Plus the holes allow you to add other effects easily if you want them.

I'm guilty of not drilling or painting the ends, I don't even know if I have a figure that has something like that, maybe my iron hands? I have a friend however that says it "NEEDS TO BE DONE OR THEY JUST LOOK STUPID" but when he does it it's all uneven... I'm like, "WTH is the point if you're just going to mess it up anyways!?" Might as well not friggin do it if you're going to be lazy about it...

I'll be more mindful of this drilling thing but I'll make sure I do a nice job and even give it a nice little crowning job... if I really hate myself I can try making a rifling hob and cut some rifling, probably only on the big figs... I do have a Gerantius that needs to be built!

Undrilled barrels drive me up the wall... but that's my problem

Yep. It looks cool.

Considering it takes about a minute to drill a barrel with a pin vice, there's not much of an excuse not to do it . Then again some folks don't care about mold lines either. I can't stand the sight of them, but to each their own I suppose...

I think it's it all personal opinion.
Sure, you could leave it blank, but it may not look as good. Same with a literal Grey Knights army: grey as far as the eye can see...

By the way, I paint my models, but I don't drill or paint the barrels. I just can't be arsed to, and no-one really bothers me about it.

On a static display or larger format model, yes.

On a 28mm or smaller playing piece - not really relevant in my opinion. You are going to be looking at them from arm's reach most of the time and in the crap lighting of most gaming environs, most people won't notice anyway.

I use to not care as I didn't want to mess it up, but after some practice I did drill all barrels larger than an lasgun/autogun/burst cannon; which include all plasma based, melta based, flamer based, heavy weapon based, even some exhaust pipes from older kits. It just looked better, and that's the goal.

While it is a pretty cool touch I would prefer not to have hollow barrels on models because the barrels would become flimsier and more fragile and I'm pretty clumsy.

I never understood this either. I guess it's one of those things people think should be standard, like cleaning off mould lines.

I'll tell ya what though, unless it's an HQ or maaaybe a Sarge, I'm just not gonna bother. Only the big mould lines are worth my time and gun barrells? Pah! Black dot on the tip, done.

Do Eldar players drill out their shuriken cannons? I've never seen one. Come to think of it I haven't really noticed this practice on anything but Marines.

Plus it really grinds my gears when someone comments on a piece just to say "gun barrel". That makes me want reach through the computer screen...

I've always thought of it as part of assembling the models like removing mould lines. I quite enjoy doing it and I must admit to drilling out every single gun, even my lasguns!

A little tip if you're struggling to get the hole centered is to spin the pin vice backwards a little to make a small divot first. Then the bit won't slip.

For 40k? Sure.

For Bolt Action? Hah hah hah.

 Jimmy_Sip wrote:
I've always thought of it as part of assembling the models like removing mould lines. I quite enjoy doing it and I must admit to drilling out every single gun, even my lasguns!

A little tip if you're struggling to get the hole centered is to spin the pin vice backwards a little to make a small divot first. Then the bit won't slip.

I also find that poking a tiny hole with a xacto knife works good for centering. But I've never drilled out lasguns, I always figured they had some kind of lens at the end of the barrel.

 darkcloak wrote:
Do Eldar players drill out their shuriken cannons? I've never seen one. Come to think of it I haven't really noticed this practice on anything but Marines.

Eldar weaponry isn't usually as vulgar or basic to fire projectiles.
Shuriken are a single molecule thick, so carving a slot for them on the barrel is quite difficult.
I see lasers as having a lens at the end of the barrel, so a bright dot on a firing gun does enough for my liking, and either shiny or dark when not in use.

I spent a lot of time drilling IG tanks and special weapons. They use bolters and GLs, which need doing.

Yeah I think of lasguns as having some kind of lense too, just set back a little into the barrel. I guess it's a bit of a weird OCD thing. Nobody is going to notice it but I know it's been done. My painting is not quite as good as I'd like.

I think if it's a bolter or larger it looks wrong if it's not drilled out. I wouldn't mention it to anyone who didn't do it but I'd be secretly judging them in my noggin.

I just drilled holes in my sniper drones. Source lightning may be interesting.

I drill everything that's possible, or even probable.

For years I got by with a handful of mini drill bits and a pin vice, but just recently I bought one of those matchbox drill sets, an Archimedes drill and another pin vice so I'm all set.
I use shaped burrs for specific barrels like blunderbusses, as well.

Honestly its not needed, but a really nicley painted model with no barrel looks terrible in my opinion, at least paint a little black dot!

Drilled looks Good however it is time consuming so on the rank and file I have not done so..(the thought of drilling 600+ holes just does not appeal to me ..however I have found that making a slight indentation and black dot works well and is a good compromise for the rank and file..

I have always drilled my barrels, for me it's as compulsory as cleaning off mold lines and flash, I'm not overly bothered if someone else doesn't do it though.
For the record a pin drill is about £5, and a selection of small drill bits bought on line only cost a few quid and unless your heavy handed or drilling metal barrels a lot should last you years.
I'd also advise against using Dremmels or the like, far too powerful and very likely to snap your drill bits.

This is an odd subject.

In real life, I run across a guy here or there who likes to drill barrels. They talk like they're the oddball obsessive guy for doing it.

Then, on Dakka, if you don't drill out your barrels, people talk it is akin to leaving a hunk of sprue on your finished mini.

I'm not surprised at the poll results here. They just don't reflect my experience outside of Dakka.

In nearly 5 years of playing, I don't think I've ever noticed wither or not my opponent had drilled his barrels.

It is all about the representation of the model.
Some black dots can do the trick "well enough" for most.
I know I did not like drilling at first because I could not always hit the center.
It looks far worse then.
I agree it looks best with an actual hole.
This is like arguing on how many washes are the right amount.