Power and barrel problems

Ok i'm not a pro at paint ball or any thing but i'm kinda disapointed with a purchase i made a few years ago. I bought an A-5 with a 14 inch J$J barrel at first played my a few games and was doing great. (even won a 5 vrs me in woods against first time players). and i loved my tippmann a-5. but then my cousin bought his own tippmann but a 98 with an empire rifled barrel. He dominated! i was pissed i payed about 300$ bucks for the gun alone(sumthing close to that at least)and he pays about 200 and kicks my ass. so we tested out our guns just shooting targets not only was his gun shooting better then mine  it was also shooting faster. we swiched guns and both agreed his gun was performing better.(used same balls too) so then i decided to to buy a flatline to counter his barrels long range and speed with at least longer range and hopefully improved accuracy. i won but after we did our little test again and both agreed his gun was shooting better. so i was pissed i spent  125$ on a flatline that was losing to a 55$ barrel.
so i decide  to fight fire with more expensive fire and bought a 120$ hammered barrel. i tested this barrel out and ehh if i got the exact right sized balls the barrel was dead accurate but with out them it was crap. but still his gun shot farther.


thats my story sorry about any spelling errors and slang. but i ask tippmann what the **** i spent about $600 on my gun buying tippmann products (also got the e grip witch i need to get fixed but i think i broke it changing batteries or the batteries i tried were dead)
and my cuzin with an older model have  more power than my gun.(also at this point niether of us touched our velocity ajusters.)

my flatline barrel = good range but i've seen 98s with flatline shoot farther about 90% of the time so/so accuracy (this one time i was less then 40 feet away from an enemy player and unloaded about 10 shots at him not one of them came close to hitting but the tempeture was below 32 degrees i donno if that matters)

so i'm wondering why my gun has less power then the 98 and why does his gun shoot more accurate i even have a starbolt in there and it doesn't help much.?

is there any way my guns leaking power or sumthing? i took it apart when i first got it being the complete idiot / novice paintplayer i was and screwed things up pretty bad and sent it to the local shop to get it fixed and they said they fixed it all up but hey mabey not.
please write back soon

mittenman379,

Read what S\/\/4T-L() wrote again, then one more time. He is dead on correct. The only way your friend can shoot further is that the ball is exiting his marker at a higher velocity than the paint from your marker.

Your first purchase should have been a hand held chronograph. It should be your next purchase right now.

BTW, which brand of paint did you find that fit the Hammerhead so well?

YES Tippmanns come shooting way hot we tested my brothers gun without messing with the velocity and were getting like 412fps. more than once. I dont think it will crack masks though because we played with it for like a year and noone even noticed the bigger welts. i guess were just tough

I am pretty sure paintball masks are more durable than they have to be.

As everyone has said it the velocity.  And on the Flatline higher velocity doesn't equate to longer range.  This particular barrel has a sweet spot of somewhere between 260 and 275.  You will have to find it at a shooting range with a chrono.  And as far as accuracy is concerned, you have to practice, practice and practice with this barrel in order to make it work for you.  Personally I have only 2 barrels that I play with and flatline is one of them.  I have been using this barrel for awhile now and now I can predict its accuracy whenever I shoot.

With that said and done, it's not the marker that makes the better player.  Although it is true that some mods will definitely help your game but ultimately it all comes down to your skill as a player.