Do gel ball sorters actually help? What sorting did to my MK18
Quick Answer: For a tuned or tight-bore blaster, yes: often more than any part you can buy. A sorter canโt make gel better. It removes the gels that are too big (they jam and burst) and too small (they fly wild and double feed), so every shot leaves the barrel the same way. On my MK18 it fixed what a new barrel and hop-up hadnโt. For a stock blaster at close-range CQB, itโs optional. Good gel gets you most of the way.
I run an E&C MK18 with a 7.3mm stainless barrel, a 120 spring and a Rizer X hop-up. Thatโs a properly tuned setup. And for a while it couldnโt reliably hit a target 10 metres away. On the same mag I watched the chrono swing by up to 89 FPS from one shot to the next. I blamed the hop-up. I blamed the barrel. I blamed my own aim.
None of them was the problem. The gels were. Not the brand and not the soak time, but the fact that no two were quite the same size. Once I started sorting, the blaster changed completely, and I didnโt touch a single internal.
What a sorter does (and doesnโt)
A sorter separates grown gels by diameter. The RedSpear electric sorter uses a stainless bracket with a 0.10mm window: gels inside the window drop out the middle, smaller ones go out one side, bigger ones out the other. It comes with six brackets from 7.10 to 7.45mm.
It doesnโt make gels bigger, harder or rounder. It canโt rescue a bad batch. It only cuts the tails off the size spread, and every batch has a spread. In our 3 August test, even SummerCat SV, which is made to stop at 7.15โ7.35mm, had 9 gels in 100 outside that range at the best soak time (how we tested).
Why a few odd gels wreck accuracy
Your barrel has one bore and your hop-up is set for one gel size. A gel thatโs too big squeezes through the T-piece and bucking: it jams, bursts, or grips too hard. A gel thatโs too small lets air blow past it. It leaves slow, the hop-up barely touches it, and it flies wherever it likes. Small gels also double feed, because two can ride up the feed together. Thatโs exactly what happened in my blaster.
Mix those into one mag and every shot seals, spins and leaves a little differently. On a chrono thatโs FPS that wonโt settle. Downrange itโs a group that opens up like a shotgun. Your spring and hop-up donโt change between trigger pulls, so a big shot-to-shot swing is the ammunition, not the blaster.
What changed on my MK18
Before sorting, a game day meant jams mid-fight, double feeds, flyers in every direction and a chrono that read like a random number generator.
After sorting, on the same blaster: the jams and double feeds stopped and the flyers settled. In our 3 August 2026 test, gels double-sorted to 7.20โ7.25mm put 20 of 20 shots on a 600mm square at 20 metres, in a 30cm group. Thatโs twice the distance I couldnโt hit at before.
To be straight about it: that blaster is also dialled in, and I learned the hard way that the gel and the hop-up both matter. The sorter didnโt replace setting the hop-up properly. It made the hop-up setting mean something, because every gel now meets it at the same size.
Sort to the size your barrel wants
Six brackets, 7.10 to 7.45mm, in 0.05mm steps
Gels in the window drop out the middle. Too small one side, too big the other. Our kit adds a wall bracket and outlet adapters for chaining two sorters. $119.95.
When a sorter isnโt worth it
If you only play close-range indoor CQB with a stock blaster, you probably donโt need one. Spend the money on good gel instead. Stock blasters usually have looser barrels that forgive an off-size gel, and across a room a flyer rarely costs you anything.
The tighter and longer-range your setup, the more each odd gel costs you. Tight-bore barrel, HPA, gas blowback, a DMR-style build or outdoor fields like Donnybrook? A sorter is one of the best-value things you can buy. Stock basher at Blacksite? Good, consistent gel will get you most of the way.
How to sort properly: my two-pass method
1. Grow fully, then drain. A sorter works on finished size, so sorting dry or half-grown gel tells you nothing. I grow in distilled water for about 3 hours (growing guide).
2. Measure your bore. A cheap digital caliper settles it. Pick a window that sits below your bore, because the gel bigger than your bore is the one that jams.
3. Sort twice with overlapping brackets. For my 7.3mm barrel I sort first with the 7.15โ7.25mm bracket, then run the keepers through the 7.20โ7.30mm bracket. What survives both is 7.20โ7.25mm. With one sorter thatโs two passes. With two sorters chained, itโs one.
4. Sort close to game time. Grown gel keeps changing as it sits. I sort the morning of the game, seal the keepers and keep them shaded.
5. Keep the rejects. A 0.05mm window throws a lot out. Rejects are fine for a looser barrel, a pistol or practice.
That routine is all I do now. Since I started double sorting, I havenโt needed to do anything else to the gel.
๐ฃ The cheapest accuracy upgrade isnโt a part
Why I spent money in the wrong order.
A barrel, a hop-up unit and a spring together cost far more than a sorter, and I fitted all three before I sorted a single gel. They were good parts. But a precision barrel is built to make every gel leave the same way, and I was feeding it gels that werenโt the same. The parts could only be as consistent as the ammunition.
Think of it like tyre pressure on a race car. You can tune the engine all day, but if every tyre is at a different pressure the car wonโt hold a line. Gel size is your tyre pressure.
So if youโre about to buy an accuracy part, sort first and test again. If the problem goes away, youโve saved the money. If it doesnโt, you now know the part is worth buying, because the gel has been ruled out. The upgrade guide puts this test before any part for the same reason.
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Frequently asked questions
Do gel ball sorters actually help?
Yes, on tuned or tight-bore blasters and at longer ranges. They remove oversized gels that jam and burst and undersized gels that fly wild and double feed. On a stock blaster at close range the gain is small.
Will a sorter improve my FPS consistency?
Usually, if your spread comes from mixed gel sizes. Same-size gels seal and leave the barrel more alike. If your spread stays wide with sorted gel, look at air seals instead.
What size should I sort to?
Just under your bore. For a 7.3mm barrel I keep 7.20โ7.25mm by sorting twice with the 7.15โ7.25 and 7.20โ7.30 brackets.
Do I need a sorter for close-range CQB?
Probably not on a stock blaster. Spend the money on graded gel first.
Can I sort dry gel?
No. Sort after the gel is fully grown and drained, as close to game time as you can.
Sources
- RedSpear Armory - SummerCat Pink SV soak-time test, 3 August 2026
- RedSpear SummerCat, GLOW and electric sorter listings: prices, sizes, hardness and bracket windows, checked 1 November 2026
- Patrick Amadeu, RedSpear founder - interview on his own gel, sorting and game-day routine, 1 November 2026
Last checked: 1 November 2026.
Sort, then grow it right
The electric sorter ($119.95) pairs with SummerCat gel balls ($8.95 a pack). Looking for a blaster to put them through? Browse used gel blasters in Queensland.
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Written by Patrick Amadeu
Founder of RedSpear Armory and a critical care paramedic since 1989. Iโve played indoor at Blacksite and the former GelSoft Yatala, and outdoor at Donnybrook, Kooralbyn and Bundaberg. RedSpear exists because my first rifleโs gearbox died four days after the shopโs warranty ran out. More about me
RedSpear Armory โ Queensland's dedicated marketplace for used gel blasters. Browse listings, sell your gear, and connect with the local QLD community at redspeararmory.com.au.