Flatline problem?

Hey, I just recently bought the flatline barrel for my tippmann 98 custom. But I can’t seem to get the distance or the accuracy. I’m using big ball paint. It seems to be getting a back spin but doesn’t go very much farther, and the accuracy sucks. I’ve tried lowering and raising the velocity on my gun, and it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve read a lot of people saying it helps with accuracy dramatically. What can I do to help with this? ---

Bjg1986 wrote: Hey, I just recently bought the flatline barrel for my tippmann 98 custom. But I can’t seem to get the distance or the accuracy. I’m using big ball paint. It seems to be getting a back spin but doesn’t go very much farther, and the accuracy sucks. I’ve tried lowering and raising the velocity on my gun, and it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve read a lot of people saying it helps with accuracy dramatically. What can I do to help with this? ---

Contrary to some reports, if the paint size is right and the barrel is installed as it should be, then it shoots as well as most barrels out there. But, it takes small to small-medium size paint that is consistently round. The barrel needs to be kept clean, not just of paint, but the residue that wears off the paintball as it gets traction rolling down the barrel (hot water and dish detergent).

I have gotten 10" groups at 120 feet using Nelson Hemorrhage. Nel-Splat has also worked well. Nelson paint, at least as it is being manufactured right now, is SMALL. It drops through .683 on my ball sizer(I've tested size from 16 cases so far). That is small paint!!!

As for distance, if the barrel is clean so that the full back spin is developed and the velocity is CHRONOGRAPHED at around 270 to 280 fps, the paint will travel virtually parallel to the ground for close to 150 ft. Realize that the inside of the Flatline barrel is bead blasted so it has a high friction surface. This is so that the ball rolls to develop the proper backspin...the ball doesn't skid down the barrel. The ball has to roll against the top of the curve to develop the necessary backspin. If the barrel is dirty from residue from the shell of the balls or from broken paint that isn't meticulously cleaned out, the paintball will not fly correctly.

Bjg1986 wrote: Hey, I just recently bought the flatline barrel for my tippmann 98 custom. But I can’t seem to get the distance or the accuracy. I’m using big ball paint. It seems to be getting a back spin but doesn’t go very much farther, and the accuracy sucks. I’ve tried lowering and raising the velocity on my gun, and it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve read a lot of people saying it helps with accuracy dramatically. What can I do to help with this? ---

Big Ball is RPS's lowest grade of paint, and is to large for the flatline.  Move to RPS Premium, All Star, or Marbalizer and you should see an improvement.

Stormcharger wrote: I don't remember reading any statement relating to needing a price range for paint that worked in the flatline, I simply recomended paint that I KNEW had the quality required to play paintball instead of making you an expert at cleaning your barrel.  Besides, I can still get RPS Premium for $40 and All Star for $45, only $3 to $7 more.  So what constitutes a bottomless pocket?  I still pay more for a tank of gas, so what gives?

Well, in my area, Silicon Valley, a case of  Marbs is $65. A case of All Stars is $55. A case of Hemmorhage is, checked today,$27.50.

Marbs and All Star have always been just about the most expensive paint I could use in my Flatline. And for a long time those were the only paintballs that shot well. Then their accuracy suddenly went  to pot and I began to look for something that performed well and cost less.

Diablo Heat was on sale at 888paintball.com for about $34 a case with no shipping cost (had to buy 4-5 cases at one time for the "no freight" promotion). Used it for almost a year. They announced a new supplier and suddenly Diablo went south also...large seam and fragile to the point that it just couldn't be shot through  either my or my son's markers.

About 8-9 months ago we cycled back around to Nelson Nel-Splat and discovered it small...worked well in the Flatline. Found an online sale for Hemorrhage for $35 a case with no freight. We will stick with it, though we are not shooting Flatlines now, until some one lets the QC get out of hand again. (About a year and a half to two years ago, Nelson's size became inconsistent and we stopped using it ...Nelson later appologized when I wrote up the problem and replace the paint and threw in an extra case of their Special Forces paint...but we didn't start using it again until, like I said, 8-9 months ago.)

Tank of gas is up because China is sucking up all the oil available, But the demand for paintballs has actually gone down in the last year. If you are finding Marbs and All Star at those prices, good for you. I couldn't and the price of paint, admission AND the tank of gasoline has me needing good LOW PRICED paint.

Stormcharger wrote: Bruce-  For me the reliability and consistancy is worth the expense.  However I also know from past threads that you have a very wide range of experience with different paint for the flatline that would be especially helpful here.

So far we have found no paint that did not change over 8 to 10 months. We will find a good paint for the barrels we are shooting, go through 10 to 20 cases of it and it will suddenly change so performance drops dramatically. Sometimes it gets larger, sometimes smaller and other times becomes out of round or the seam fit is off enough to effect accuracy.

Diablo Heat was REALLY good for a while, then it became too fragile to run through the Flatline.(or any barrel mounted on the Tippmann) Ten to 30 breaks per hopper full. Nelson quality is back to excellent in any barrel we want to use...including the Flatline...and its small diameter works well in the Flatline. Also works well in the Apex.

Bandit5 wrote: I have been using the Flatline since it first came out... granted, my frequency of play is probably nowhere near what most here probably get (about 2-3 times a year at most), but I can still share my experiences. Marballizer was my first and only choice of paint when I started out.  I don't know why, but I always liked it (I think it was because the green/black swirl looked cool) but it had always performed great in my Flatline.  Which is why in the beginning I was confused when people complained of the lack of accuracy. Using regular field paint, I began to realize how the complaints came about.  Only one time did I have paint so bad I couldn't even use the Flatline... so I switched to my backup Aradus barrel. But recently, it seems like most field paint (especially Draxus) works at least decently with the Flatline.  Last year I purchased a box of Midnight and had comparable accuracy to the Marballizers I used to buy.  I have never tried Scorch, but at that price it seems worth a shot.  But I still swear by my old reliable Marballizers.  Someday soon I might buy a case and see if it still performs as well as it did.

One reason I started looking at paint other than Marbs for my Flatline was they began to loose accuracy dramatically. I went through every fix I could think of and nothing worked. I then began to think that maybe the stuff I was buying was not fresh. I searched far and wide for a shop that was moving a lot of Marbs so I was sure to get the freshest stuff...but there was no difference. Tried All Star, which had been good in the past, and it shot poorly also. Accuracy was gone. I heard other people begin to complain about it so I switched to Nelson. The Flatline went back to excellent accuracy.

As I have said, good paint doesn't stay good, in our experience, for more than 8 to 10 months...then the search starts again.

Bruce A. Frank wrote: [/...I have gotten 10" groups at 120 feet..

Bruce,

Thanks for sharing your accuracy data. I've been looking all over the net for this type of info. I'm having major accuracy problems with my A-5 Steath flatline. I chrono'ed my marker this morning and the velocity over 10 consecutive shots varied by 20 fps. This is with Nitro.

When you shot your 10" groups were you shooting bench rest style or how?

Thanks much.