Z0MG 17's 73h 1337...

4NSW3RS 70 C0MM0N1Y 4SK3D F147L1N3 QU3S71ONS

    I'm really tired of little newbs asking alot of the same quetions about Flatlines so I made this post. I'm going to sticky this because I'm not sure who to PM for permaission. If any moderators want to unsticky it then I'm sorry for wasting that moderator's time. Sorry If this has been done a while ago but the newbish questions still pop up.

4b0u7 7h3 F147l1n3 B4rr31 Sys73m:

    This is what Tippman says about the Flaltine: Introducing the Flatline Barrel System made exclusively for the Tippmann A-5, 98 Custom and Model 98. This system is now available complete or as a conversion kit for your existing A-5, 98 Custom or Model 98. The Flatline Barrel System is the first production back spin barrel ever produced. The principle behind the system is Tippmann's newly designed slightly curved barrel, which applies centrifugal force to the ball, creating backspin. Not only does this system offer increased accuracy and distance but also offers flat trajectory for thick brush and canopy play. By minimizing trajectory of the ball and increasing accuracy, you increase the amount of targets which would ordinarily be out of range. The Flatline Barrel System adds 100 feet of flat trajectory GUARANTEED.

    Basically it adds backspin to the ball making the ball travel much farther than any normal (not curved) barrell. This backspin would, in zero gravity, cause the balls to curve in an upward motion. But, since we have gravity here on Earth, the gravity works against the upward curve which results in a straight line. The barrel only works on the A-5, 98 custom, and model 98.

BEST PAINT FOR FLATLINE: The absolute best paint for the Flatty are marbilizers. Zap and othe better quality rec paints work well though.

H4v1ng Pr0bl3ms?

If your Flaltine is not firing accuratly then there are a few quick things for you to check.

!!!: Practice with it! The barrel 7akes time to get used to so, before you become a Flatline hater, make sure it's not you who is causing the problems. Of couse if it is firing way off then check for these things...
1. Make sure you're using a good quality small bore paint
2. Make sure you installed it straight
3. Make sure your velocity is somewhere around 270 fps (the Flatline operates it's best at 270fps)
4. Make sure the barrel is clean
5. Check for abnormalities. like a bend to the right in the barrel or a dent. If you find any I'm sure the store would take it back or that Tippmann will send you a new one.

72h 1337 curv3b411:

I recently recieved a PM concerning this so I figured I'd add it here. If you tip your gun to the right or left the balls coming out of flatline will not have to work against the force of gravity in the same sence as before. This causes them to curve in the direction corresponding to the direction that the barrel is tipped. Some people, like myself, who have had considerable time to practice with this, find it to be a useful tool while others find it to be annoying. 

S0m3 Rum0rs:

The Flaltine barrel jams alot.
    Not true in the slightest. The Flaltine barrel will only really jam if you use crappy old paint or maybe Blue streaks or Walmart paint. If you know any other paint brands that are as bad as them or have broken in your experience with Flatline then PM with them. The Flatline is a large bore barrel but small-medium bore paint gets the best backspin.
    I personally use Zap Paintballs with my flatline. I have played alot of games and have not had one single break and have had great performance from the barrell.

You can't use it with the R/T or E-bolt/E-Grip.
    I don't even see the logic in this. When one of my friends told me this I had to try it so I got my friends gun who has R/T and put my Flatline on it and fired off a hopper full. Not one break. I hd to ask my local pro-shop about the E-bolt/E-Grip and he told me that I should have no problems.

The Flatline gives you bad accuracy.
    Also not true. The Flatline has great accuracy up to the point where it goes farther than any other barrel could even dream of going. A common misconseption is that the backspin makes the ball more vulnerable to wind and other weather conditions. This is false. The ball is only more vulnerable to those things at longer ranges like any other barrel. The longer the ball is out of any barrel the longer it is effected by these conditions and the more the accuracy will decrease.

The Flatline slows balls down.
    This barrel itself does not slow paintballs down and neither does the backspin. The balls appear to be moving slower because they are spinning and going much farther on a flatter plane.

It's hard to clean.
    Not really. for quick cleans a squeegee will do fine but for a better clean you might want to disassemble it and put it back on. But that's only if you really REALLY NEED to clean it better than a squeegee will work.
    A cool method of cleaning a ball break in the middle of a game was suggested a while ago. You take a bag with alcohol in it and put some cotton balls in it. When a ball breaks pull out the cotton swabs and put them in you gun manually (take off your hopper first and feed the swabas manually through the hole) and shoot them off. I don't know if this works because I have yet to have a ball break with the flatline but I will be trying it when I do have one.

    Also, don't worry about the installation proccess. All the needed tools come with it and I, being 13, was able to put it on straight in one try with no help.

C0nclusi0n:

    The Flatline RULES!... For woodsball. For speed ball it is kind of big and you need a more compact gun for speedball. This barrel is definitly a must have for woodsball palyers with enough money. You will enjoy a huge increase in range and good accuracy.

    When peopel say bad things about the flatline it's really only because they personally dislike it. If anyone tells you something contradicting what I said here DON'T LISTEN TO THEM.

    If you are considering buyng the Flaltine do not be disuaded! Unless of course you play speedball. Then you really should avoid it.
Thanks for reading this post. Hopefully it will help contain the amounts of Flatline posts.

HEY DON'T LISTEN TO 98 SNIPER OR SHOTBYBOTHSIDES ESPECIALLY.

Update I'm going to be gettign a teardrop and A Lapco bigshot soon so I can finally prove that 98sniper is just being stupid.

W00t: I got the teardrop today and I must admit it is a nice barrel. I really like the red color. It's true that at normal range this barrel is very good but, 98sniper, there is no way for you to shoot as far as the Flatline. I took 10 shots at a tree about 160 feet away and hit it with the Flaltine 9 out of 10 times, the one miss being the first shot where I was taking aim. Then I took off my Flatline and put the teardrop on. The Ffirst shot was horrid. It went on line with the tree but fell very short. I tipped the gun upward and shot a few more each time tiping it up even more until finally the balls were reaching it but flying off very wide of the target. I ended up shooting 32 paintballs with the teardrop to hit the tree once. I'll be practicing weith this a little more to see if it improves when I get used to the tilting.

Update: I got better with the teardrop but it's no Flatline. Didn't get biggy for Christmas so I still dont have it. I'm probably not gonna get it though. Post has also been 1337z0r1z3d.

^its ok...if you build it they will come

nice post! definitely sticky worthy!

Large Unit wrote: very nice post, seems sticky worthy for awhile, but after a week or 2 I think it should be put in the Uber FAQ.

Yep

I own one for the A5, my brother owns one for his 98 custom...

They are not all that they are cracked up to be. End of story.

I replaced it with a Armson stealth and have had an 80% accuracy increase and better shot-to-kill ratio then i ever had with that damn flatline, its fun to play around with and intimidates your enemy when they see it or hear about it, but it isnt something I'd use on a regular basis.

The barrel is subject to a "shotgun effect" (even at 270 fps with RPS marballizers), you will find that paintballs bouce off your targets even at close range under certain conditions.

Now as for the 98 Custom Flatline...Its total trash, the thing comes in multiple poorly machined pieces (unlike the A5's flatline that is one solid metal unit that resembles a supressors) the muzzel break falls off, the barrel is a serious pain in the ass to get set straight & the paintballs take a steep upward sloped path after flying straight for 30-45 feet. The paintballs (marbalizers) flew of a straight flight path then abruptly hurl upwards (think Fortune from Metal Gear Solid 2) and over your enemys heads

In other words while the A5 flatline loses effective velocity at extended range (resulting in the "shotgun effect")  the 98 custom flatline has a horrible effect that once your enemy find the point at which this happens, they can stand and return fire at you while your paintballs swirl upward and away from them (just like Fortune in MGS 2)

The entire system is clearly an after thought

The A5 version is a fun toy to goof around with, the 98 version is a nonworking rippoff.

Shotbybothsides wrote: ...I replaced it with a Armson stealth and have had an 80% accuracy increase...

That fact alone makes me doubt that anything in your post was true, but thanks for the laugh!

My comment was more around the math he used to get "80% better accuracy".  As for the rest of his comments, I have the feeling he may not have followed the instructions, I've seen it with a lot with flatty's and if you dont ensure the barrel is all the way in, and lined up, it will be a disaster; I scratched a mark in the bottom of mine so I can take it out, clean it and put it back in the exact same position.  It does as it's advertised to do, which makes it worth the $ right there for me; I certainly didn't expect it to perform miracles or even be the best barrell out there, nor does Tippmann.  When I get intersted in upgrading my gun with something else, I certainy found it pays to check the forums out, pbreview sites and I always carefully read the negative comments; when I see "40% better..80% faster.." and nothing to back it up, I tend to wonder about the logic and move to the next post. If possible, it sure makes it easier to try it on a similar setup to my own gun, which I was able to do for most of the upgrades I've done. I certainly appreciate the boards here for the experiance and opinions that are represented, both pos and neg.

Tippmann fanboys, act civilized.

98sniper and Shotbybothsides are unhappy customers. They paid handsomely for hardware that was praised, but they failed them. To disregard their complaints is, really, pretty obnoxious.

I haven't used the Flatline yet, but I have experienced a few "defects" in my marker. I sent the gun in to Tippmann for a free repair, and the problem was gone.

This hardware is mass-produced, so you never know if what you are buying is a bad apple or not. My Playstation 2 was screwed up, so I sent it in and got it fixed. If you send in your products for adjustment or repair... maintenance and cleaning, even... you will be surprised by how well the product actually is.

Erik is the only one with more than half a brain here.

I'm not from a rival company, i'm not selling anything, what is my modivaition for lying to about some gun part?

80% accuracy increase, the flatline is designed for range not accuracy, thus you will notice a slight to drastic diffrence in accuracy when switching from a conventional barrel to the flatline.

I am simply not impressed with the barrel. It is way to expensive for something that does something that is cancelled out by its inaccuracy, all the flatline does is alert your opposition to your position, they are in range but you cant mark them becuase of the inaccuracy and dreaded shotgun effect

like i said, the A5 flatline is kinda fun to play around with, you will still be a contender on the field but you will probably do better with the conventional barrel...but the 98 Custom's flatline is a total joke & complete ripoff.

ok Shot by both sides. The 98 custom flatline is not a rip off. Most of the good people will testify that the Flatline is the best barrel for woodsball as you can see by the other posts here, only one person agrees with you.

grumpy wrote: I didn't read all the posts but a complaint I have read at other forums is this: The ball takes 4 seconds to shoot and is not good for fast action. I would like a gun that can be used to snipe or for fast action so I don't have to carry two guns from field to field. I've considered the flatline for my custom 98 but would be highly pissed if I bought it, installed it, and it slowed my gun down. Comments?

WHAT?!?! The ball comes out of the barrel in milliseconds! wow, whoever told you thant is really really stupid.

I've had the flatline for just under a year on my A5 and I like it a lot. I used to use a bigshot which is an awesome barrel but the flatline has much more range. Accuracy is only a little better with the bigshot than it is with the flatline so I wasn't devastated when I made the switch. I was actually kind of surprised with the accuracy I got because I heard so much bad about it. Everybody had me thinking that I wouldn't be able to hit anything with it but the accuracy is fine. At normal ranges I can hit things about just as easily as I could with the bigshot. When we go beyond normal ranges I can land some shots that I wouldn't even bother attempting with a normal barrel. It's also good to keep the enemy pinned down at a safe distance.

At d-day this year I kept some germans from moving their frontline up on us simply by tossing paint at them. I doubt I could have hit them because at that range my accuracy was gone but I had enough range that they thought I could land a hit and that was enough to keep them pinned. One time I made a shot through a small opening in the brush that was probably only possible because of the flat trajectory of the flatline. I saw the enemy moving up on my group so I moved out to the flank where they couldn't see me. Then I found a clear firing lane through tons of bushes and trees so I took the shot and landed it without a problem. The guy never saw me and both shots I took landed on target right where I wanted them (shot an extra just in case). Without the flatline the ball probably would have dipped down a little and hit a branch.

When you play speedball, the flatline doesn't really offer much for you because range and flat trajectory aren't really important on a field that small with no trees. In that case you'd be better off getting slightly better accuracy for half the money by getting a bigshot. If you play both speedball and woodsball then I'd just use the flatline. The flatline will work just fine in speedball and if you play in the woods too then it wouldn't make sense to switch barrels all the time. The flatline is honestly not a bad barrel. I actually used to think it was garbage based on what I heard and I didn't like my friend's 98 flatline too much but when the A5 version came out I changed my mind. I saw them in action at d-day 2003 and I heard more good about them so I decided to try it out. I got it for christmas and now I use it all the time. I have had no problems with mine so far; no increase in breakage, no accuracy problems, nothing.

time out here.

first. they don't have accuracy. (killernoodle) no matter what you define accuracy as.

Second. why go threw all the troubles of the cleaning probs and accuracy being lacking, when you can get a ultralight or boomstick and have accuracy make up the stupid range.

Three. Range, r u guys to scared to get up and close. you have to sneek around and shoot people in the back. form 100 feet more away.

four. when a ball breaks you might as well play with out a barrel. it will be more accurate than the grose, slimey flatline.

Five. what do you clean the barrel with when it chops. (not sure) but since the barrel is bent can you even use a straight shot.

Six. yes, i know you need to match the paint to the barrel. but how often can you decided to play in a last minute game and find small bore paint. you might be able to but not every body can.

Seven. holding of 6 guys doesn't prove any thing. they just could have sucked. maybe they where chickens and stayed behind the bunker, instead of movin because the flatline might get them.lol. you can keep people down just shooting at the right times. it doesn't even have to be at them.

Eight. back to accuracy. why? they don't have it. they have range i will give them that. but does it matter when u can't hit any thing.

Nine. i would want some one to cover me, if i am making a move, with the flatline. you guys might like them but i don't trust the for any thing

just to let u all know i don't own a flatline. i just have heard a seen to many of them brake paint. yeah yeah paint and barrel. but like i said above, not every one can do that. i would take a boomstick over a flatline any day. Look and see what the pros use. BOOMSTICK.

i quess thats for cents now. i don't mean to p any body off i just don't like them and don't trust them.

98sniper wrote: time out here. first. they don't have accuracy. (killernoodle) no matter what you define accuracy as. Second. why go threw all the troubles of the cleaning probs and accuracy being lacking, when you can get a ultralight or boomstick and have accuracy make up the stupid range. Three. Range, r u guys to scared to get up and close. you have to sneek around and shoot people in the back. form 100 feet more away. four. when a ball breaks you might as well play with out a barrel. it will be more accurate than the grose, slimey flatline. Five. what do you clean the barrel with when it chops. (not sure) but since the barrel is bent can you even use a straight shot. Six. yes, i know you need to match the paint to the barrel. but how often can you decided to play in a last minute game and find small bore paint. you might be able to but not every body can. Seven. holding of 6 guys doesn't prove any thing. they just could have sucked. maybe they where chickens and stayed behind the bunker, instead of movin because the flatline might get them.lol. you can keep people down just shooting at the right times. it doesn't even have to be at them. Eight. back to accuracy. why? they don't have it. they have range i will give them that. but does it matter when u can't hit any thing. Nine. i would want some one to cover me, if i am making a move, with the flatline. you guys might like them but i don't trust the for any thing just to let u all know i don't own a flatline. i just have heard a seen to many of them brake paint. yeah yeah paint and barrel. but like i said above, not every one can do that. i would take a boomstick over a flatline any day. Look and see what the pros use. BOOMSTICK. i quess thats for cents now. i don't mean to p any body off i just don't like them and don't trust them.

okay, so your Flaltine hating opinion is based off other people's failures to either install it correctly or send it back because it is a bad one and get a new, good one. Thanks for your 2 cents.

Also, I don't see many pros with 98 customs or A-5's.

98sniper wrote: ...first. they don't have accuracy. (killernoodle) no matter what you define accuracy as. Not true. The flatline is almost as accurate as my bigshot and the bigshot has often been said to be just as accurate as the boomstick but for less money. Neither of those barrels offer flat trajectory or increased range though. Second. why go threw all the troubles of the cleaning probs and accuracy being lacking, when you can get a ultralight or boomstick and have accuracy make up the stupid range. For the 98c you just have to drop the elbow and pull the squeegee through the breech, no big deal. For the A5 you're screwed unless you come up with a good way to get the cyclone off in the middle of the game which some people actually have. Somebody posted an idea to use a long screw, a wingnut, and a longer hose so that you could quickly pop the cyclone off the gun and squeegee through the breech. I did something similar with mine. I bought a thumb screw that replaces the one that holds the cyclone on. Now if I have a break, I just unscrew that and pop off the cyclone. It takes a few minutes but it's better than leaving the game to squeegee. Three. Range, r u guys to scared to get up and close. you have to sneek around and shoot people in the back. form 100 feet more away. Lol, you couldn't be more wrong. You might as well tell me that my dad is in the mafia because I'm italian. Just because people own the flatline doesn't mean they restrict themselves to long range shots. Whether I have my flatline or not I tend to be up front right in the action or coming around the flank and causing chaos from behind. In that case, I'm usually severely outnumbered and outgunned so having the flatline allows me to stay out of their range while still taking them out and causing disorder so my teammates can move up. It's strategy, not cowardice. four. when a ball breaks you might as well play with out a barrel. it will be more accurate than the grose, slimey flatline. Not true. After a break you lose accuracy but not enough that you can't hit a thing. I played through a break for a good 10 minutes before I had a chance to squeegee and I was fine. Any barrel loses accuracy after a break so you can't blame the flatline. Five. what do you clean the barrel with when it chops. (not sure) but since the barrel is bent can you even use a straight shot. Pull-through squeegee after I pop off the cyclone. Six. yes, i know you need to match the paint to the barrel. but how often can you decided to play in a last minute game and find small bore paint. you might be able to but not every body can. That applies to all barrels pal. Small bore paint is probably more common on a tourny scene anyway since most tourny-grade paint is small bore. Any paint will work ok but best results are achieved with small bore. Medium isn't too bad either. Seven. holding of 6 guys doesn't prove any thing. they just could have sucked. maybe they where chickens and stayed behind the bunker, instead of movin because the flatline might get them.lol. you can keep people down just shooting at the right times. it doesn't even have to be at them. So then poor accuracy at long range wouldn't matter according to what you just said and that conflicts with your other point (number 8) that the flatline is useless at long range. You can easily keep people pinned at long ranges, I know because I've done it plenty of times before. It's very hard to hit them because of the distance but you can come close enough to make them stay put. You can get hits from very long range which is why people allow themselves to be pinned down by the flatline. Eight. back to accuracy. why? they don't have it. they have range i will give them that. but does it matter when u can't hit any thing. Again, this conflicts with point 7. And on top of that, the second part is wrong. You can hit things at long range and I've done it before. It takes more shots than a target within normal range but it can be done. Why do I say that? I've done it before. Nine. i would want some one to cover me, if i am making a move, with the flatline. you guys might like them but i don't trust the for any thing If they can give good cover then why are they no good to use? just to let u all know i don't own a flatline. i just have heard a seen to many of them brake paint. yeah yeah paint and barrel. but like i said above, not every one can do that. i would take a boomstick over a flatline any day. Look and see what the pros use. BOOMSTICK. If you've seen a lot of them break paint then the paint is crap or the barrel is on wrong because mine doesn't cause any more breaks than my other barrels and that's with any paint I've used so far regardless of bore size. You can take a boomstick over the flatline if you want but doing it because the pros do is the dumbest reason I've heard, no offense. Professional teams are sponsored by companies and in return they want them to use their products. Even if the team doesn't really like their goods, they'll use them so they get sponsorship money. You can get just about the same accuracy from a bigshot for much less money. You can't always go by what the pros use. Buy what works and sometimes the most expensive thing isn't the best. ...

Until you own a flatline or have at least used one for a decent amount of time, you shouldn't be trying to tell people that it's bad.

1st

(shooky)

 i have shot many flatlines, for the a5 and the 98. i know alot of people that bought them and r not happy, they just don't want to admitt that the bought **edited**. so i know plenty about them to have a opinion.

(mod98commando)

 like you said almost but isn't. the reason people buy the flatline is for the range, well why have range when its not accurate. yes i will not say that they don't shoot flatter. but some one said on here, don't remeber who, that they like it because it shoots flat for a long range in the brush. if its that brushy whats the chances you hit him if it is accurate, which its not. if its brushy move up get close you snipers. joking about the sniper thing. on can go on about the range and stuff all day.

2nd

(shooky)

 like you said, the longer there in the air the less there accurate. why get it. u just want to shoot far and not hit nothin. there not even as accurate as another gn up close so just think what there like at long range. just put alittle under your shots with a nomarl barrel.

(mod98commando)

 the 98 has quick threads for a reason, so u can take the barrel off with only three maybe four turns. take the breech off and wacth paint fall all over the places because you ion a hurry. then make sure you turn your revi off so the enemy doesn't here the noise so you don't blow your cover. NO, its not a pain to take the breech off compared to unthreading your barrel on squeeging it out.LOL and like you said its a pain with the a5. you have to take every thing off.

3rd

(shooky)

 you pop up in the middle of them and shoot from a long range. you love the range, flatness but not the accuracy, just checking. like i said it shoots flat and far but doesn't matter. you can make up the distance with a boomstick. just aim a little high. they will fall prefect. i do it all the time.

mod98commando

what ever you want to call. but like you said you like to be on the front line, boomstick, why won't a boomstick be good. more accurate in every way. why get the flatline if your not taking long shots. i believe in flanking, but take some one with you and tear threw the back. don't just sit bak there and take some pop shots. then you would have help and wouldn't try to argue about being outnumbered so you have to sit back and take long inaccurate shots, as said by shooky, the longer its out there the less accurate.

4th

(shooky)

 i have played with the flatline i just don't own one because i dislike them. its a waste of money.i have shoot alot of them.

(mod98commando)

yes i can blame it. alot of barrels will self clean. it just gets balled up in the barrel and doesn't put the right spin on the ball. when this happens you can shoot around trees. if your aiming to hit them

5th

(shooky)

look at what i said to mod98commando in the 2nd thing.

(mod98commando)

after it takes you minutes to get that off. when with a normal barrel you would just take it off rfast and clean it.

6th

(shooky)

i know this but why should a preson have to do this everytime they want to play. not evry one can go out and get that paint in a last minute fix.

(mod98commando)

how many people use the flatline in tournies buddy, or as you would say pal. you get the flatline for range. and you don't need alot of that at tournies. even if someone does play in a tourny, what about when you wanna go play with your friends. medium isn't bad but not good. what about the large bore pal.

7th

(shooky)

O...No way the had jerseys. o now there would have killed you. yeah.. ok, i have seen a group of little kids get a good spot and take out many of those people when the kids just had like 98 and a couple stingrays. just cause they look good doesn't meen anything but that the have money. if you had the money you would buy gear too, but it wouldn't meen your oliver lang.

(mod98commando)

how in the world did you get that. wiht people like that you just have to shoot straight up in the air and they duck. and who said they where at a range. and he said instead of being righ in front of them he was a huge five feet back, thats anought to make a huge difference at close range. i can hol people down at ranges with my teardrop. i have shot alot of barrels threw my gun.

8th

(shooky)

look at my new 1st response.

(mod98commando)

like you said once in a blue moon you hit someone like that. i have done it with a $40 teardrop.

9th

(shooky)

 i missed typed it should be would'nt have i just got caught up in typing fast.

(mod98commando)

jsut what i stated to shooky

i just think htat there not as good as what every body makes them sound. its just that the don't want to go around and say the just bought a piece of crap barrel.

98sniper wrote: ...like you said almost but isn't. the reason people buy the flatline is for the range, well why have range when its not accurate. yes i will not say that they don't shoot flatter. but some one said on here, don't remeber who, that they like it because it shoots flat for a long range in the brush. if its that brushy whats the chances you hit him if it is accurate, which its not. if its brushy move up get close you snipers. joking about the sniper thing. on can go on about the range and stuff all day. That's just the thing, it has enough accuracy that you can hit people with ease just like any other good barrel only you can make the longer shots more easily because you can reach without lobbing the shots. It's good to have a barrel that can give you flat trajectory for long range because sometimes low-hanging branches don't allow you to lob your shots. Remember, you're talking to a bunch of woodsballers most likely and in the woods you don't have an open sky. At the fields I play at, it's very common to have trees preventing you from lobbing shots out there and I know that from experience. With the flatline, I can easily shoot right under them and not worry about the ball hitting the ground at the target's feet. And I do get shots on target, that's why I can keep people pinned from outside their range. I can hit people through the brush if I have a firing lane. With a normal barrel I have to worry about the ball dropping too low and hitting a branch but with the flatline it will fly straight through the path until it reaches the target. Obviously you can't do that at like 300 feet but around 100 feet it's possible and your chances get better as you get closer. That may not sound that great but with a normal barrel your chances are slim even at 50 feet in this situation. ...the 98 has quick threads for a reason, so u can take the barrel off with only three maybe four turns. take the breech off and wacth paint fall all over the places because you ion a hurry. then make sure you turn your revi off so the enemy doesn't here the noise so you don't blow your cover. NO, its not a pain to take the breech off compared to unthreading your barrel on squeeging it out.LOL and like you said its a pain with the a5. you have to take every thing off. If you know what you're doing, you can get your 98 squeegeed and ready to go in no time without a problem. I don't have the 98 flatline but I have a pro team barrel kit that can't be removed without tools so I go through the breech and I don't have trouble at all. All you do is shut off the hopper, tilt the gun to the right to allow the paint to roll into the hopper, release the elbow, tilt the gun back up (without removing the elbow), pull the squeegee through until the barrel is clean, hold the elbow, roll the gun to the right until the elbow is on again, and then you hold the gun upright and flip on the hopper. Sounds like a lot of steps but if you try it, you can do this very quickly and it works well. Of course just unscrewing a 98 barrel is easier but doing it this way isn't horrible, just takes an extra 5-10 seconds. ...what ever you want to call. but like you said you like to be on the front line, boomstick, why won't a boomstick be good. more accurate in every way. why get the flatline if your not taking long shots. i believe in flanking, but take some one with you and tear threw the back. don't just sit bak there and take some pop shots. then you would have help and wouldn't try to argue about being outnumbered so you have to sit back and take long inaccurate shots, as said by shooky, the longer its out there the less accurate. It's not that I like to be on the front lines but I just end up there all the time. People sometimes are reluctant to be aggressive and they just sit and trade paint until somebody decides to lead them forward. If I see nobody else taking the lead, I yell for them to move up and I go. Usually people will follow if they see me make it. I get them moving up and then I take a look at the situation. If it looks like we can't take them head on then I take a few people and disappear out to the flank while the rest of the team holds them off. Then we get ourselves behind the enemy and we move back in on them. We make sure they don't know about us until we fire and I tend to like hit and run tactics for this. I find a good firing lane from a place with good cover and I take well aimed shots once every 5 seconds or so. Since they're distracted with the fight in front of them, they usually don't notice until a shot hits them and by then it's too late. I'm usually at the edge of their range when I do this so the chances of them hitting me are slim because they can barely reach me and I still have enough accuracy to hit them. It works very good actually even though I'm sure I'll get criticized by people for this tactic. ...yes i can blame it. alot of barrels will self clean. it just gets balled up in the barrel and doesn't put the right spin on the ball. when this happens you can shoot around trees. if your aiming to hit them Yeah, ok. The J&J ceramic is supposed to self-clean and mine doesn't. I got one for my SL-68II and a ball broke when I was target shooting one day. I tried shooting it clean and after a good 10 shots I was still getting poor accuracy, it didn't clean at all. I don't think it was small bore paint so I doubt the paint was too small to push the paint out of the barrel. Nobody I know will keep shooting after a break and be happy with their accuracy. The only reason I shoot through breaks on the flatline is because I need to make sure the enemy is pinned while squeegee since I'll have the cyclone off and I can't act quick if they move and get an angle on me. Accuracy loss is no more on the flatline than with any other barrel after a break. In fact, I think the ceramic handled a break the worst to be honest (in comparison to my bigshot and my flatline). ...after it takes you minutes to get that off. when with a normal barrel you would just take it off rfast and clean it. It doesn't take minutes to get it off actually. You would think that it takes forever and it does take a while the first time but I think, after you get used to it, you can do it very quickly and it isn't such an issue. I first did it on the beach at d-day this year and it only took about 5 seconds to get the cyclone off. The problem I had was with the stupid little hose. For some reason I couldn't get the hose to connect so it took forever but I think I may just find a longer hose and leave it connected when I do this. In the meantime I'll probably just get used to doing it and it won't be a problem anymore. Other than that little problem it didn't take very long at all and I'm sure that if I got the hose on the first time then it would have actually been very quick. I just need time to get used to it and I'll be able to do it very fast. ...how many people use the flatline in tournies buddy, or as you would say pal. you get the flatline for range. and you don't need alot of that at tournies. even if someone does play in a tourny, what about when you wanna go play with your friends. medium isn't bad but not good. what about the large bore pal. I think I said before that a tourny player is better off with a normal barrel like the bigshot since range isn't needed, maybe that was a different post. Anyway, I agree that the flatline isn't the best speedball barrel. The reason is that it's main features (range and flat trajectory) can't be taken advantage of at such short ranges. The accuracy is good enough but for about $120 it's not worth it since you can get a bigshot for half that and it has a little more accuracy. However, in the woods, you can make use of the long range and flat trajectory and then you have a reason to pay an extra $60 for it. You'll have accuracy close to that of the bigshot but a LOT more range and your shots will not drop until they reach almost maximum range. That makes it much easier to take people out at longer ranges in the woods. By longer ranges I mean just outside of normal range and a little farther. That would be the flatline's effective range, not the max. When you shoot the same distance as a flatline by lobbing it, you're out of your effective range and just pushing your maximum range. ... how in the world did you get that. wiht people like that you just have to shoot straight up in the air and they duck. and who said they where at a range. and he said instead of being righ in front of them he was a huge five feet back, thats anought to make a huge difference at close range. i can hol people down at ranges with my teardrop. i have shot alot of barrels threw my gun. There's a difference between just holding people back and holding them back with a chance of eliminating them. Any gun can make the enemy stay put at a distance if the paint is able to break on or around the bunker but that doesn't mean the shooter can actually hit the person if they were trying. You can reach but your accuracy isn't going to be too great at that range. With the flatline it is much more likely for you to hit the person at that distance because you just aim straight at them instead of aiming a few inches above them. The shots will get there faster because of the flat trajectory and probably at a higher velocity too (since they fly straight instead of in an arc). ...like you said once in a blue moon you hit someone like that. i have done it with a $40 teardrop. I'm talking about the very long shots with the flatline, not long shots with a normal barrel. The shots I was talking about are at the edge of the flatline's maximum range which is beyond hope for a normal barrel. There are some shots you can land by lobbing the paint like you said, I'm not denying that. Heck, I've done it before. What I'm saying is that the shots you wouldn't even bother attempting with a normal barrel are sometimes possible to make or are at least worth attempting with the flatline. At west point I got a headshot from probably 200-250 feet away. It took about 10-15 shots but the guy shot back a lot more than that and didn't even come close to hitting me, they just bounced at my feet, literally. I may have even hit him sooner if he wasn't being blocked by thorns. That is a perfect example of why I prefer the flatline. ...i just think htat there not as good as what every body makes them sound. its just that the don't want to go around and say the just bought a piece of crap barrel. I'll admit that some people exaggerate when they comment on their flatlines but that doesn't mean that the barrel is crap. I honestly had no intention of buying the flatline before d-day 2003 (not including when I was a newbie). I had read up about it and it sounded good but my friend got it for the 98 and I wasn't impressed. He also had a lot of problems getting the thing adjusted and he hated it so I stayed away from it. I heard a lot of negative stuff about it here too so I just forgot about it. Then I went to D-day about a year later and skirmish has tons of fields with trees that hang low which made lobbing shots nearly impossible. Because of that my range was ridiculously short and every time I came across a guy with an A5 flatine I made sure to stay nearby because they could do damage from much farther away, it was a huge advantage. I liked what I saw and the owners I talked to there liked them so I started to change my mind about it. Then I started seeing a lot of stuff about the flatline on the forum and there were a lot more people supporting it this time, including some of the more experienced players who were against the 98 flatline. I had always trusted them in the past so I trusted them again and I don't regret getting my flatline at all. In fact, it's now the only barrel I use on the A5 and I usually use my A5 before any of my other guns mainly because it has the flatline. Maybe you're right that some people don't like the barrel but are too embarrassed to admit it but trust me, I'm not one of them.

Also, you're more than welcome to dislike the flatline. The only reason I'm arguing this is because you're saying that it's a bad product which, in my opinion, is totally wrong. People may be deciding whether or not to buy it based on what they read here and I think there's too much bad information and rumors going around about it. It's really not a bad barrel.

Visirale wrote: I've had my flatline for a month.. I'm definately not liking it. Something's wrong- or at least I hope so. I went out with about 50 balls in my backyard today and chopped about 7 of them. Not to mention the feed release is stuck, so I can't clean it out either, without completely taking the barrel out, which requires me to fetch allen wrenches... The best thing about the barrel so far has been the entertainment provided by watching the erratic directions of the balls going through the dirty barrel. So at the moment, I have a friend who wants to buy the barrel, and I am considering a normal barrel... Any ideas on what could be wrong with my barrel?

Well, it is a mass produced product so you could have gotten a bad one. Also, you may have screwed up the installation process.

Viserale, do you have the A5 flatline or the 98 flatline? The 98 version is much easier to mess up because the installation is more complicated but the A5 installation could be done by an infant. If you really can't get the thing to work then send it to tippmann and see if they can help you out. I'm sure they can get it working for you. And if that much paint is breaking then maybe you're not using good paint. Try using something from RPS such as marbs or PMI premium. Evil is also very good for the flatline. Your barrel is defective or the paint is bad if your results are so horrible because my flatline works very well. If it didn't work I would have found a newbie to buy it already and I would have gone back to my bigshot. And what is with everybody saying that the muzzle is falling off? Is that even possible? I know the A5 flatline has no muzzle to fall off but I thought the 98 flatline and the muzzle are one piece. If the elbow on your 98 will not detach then the screw going through the front site is most likely overtightened. Just loosen it up slightly and it'll work again.

Also, I think we should all specify which type of flatline we're talking about here since the A5 flatline and 98 flatline are slightly different and the A5 version is supposedly better. All the stuff I said applies to the A5 version. It sounds to me like everybody that is against the flatline has the 98 version which I wasn't too impressed with either.

i have an A-5 witha flatline it works great better than my dye in range slightly key word there slightly worse in accuracy i think it works great worth every penny if yours doesnt work right send t in get a new one if that doesnt work send t in get a new one if that one doesnt work i think you are majorly screwing something up the flatline works great end of story

I have used the flatline for a year and mine is not that consistant. It works fine sometimes and then the others, lets just say I'm sitten out a few games tring to fix it.

98sniper wrote: mrod: they are accurate and what makes you think your not doing the same as i am. you promote the flatline and i tell people that its not worth the money. you r doin the same thing. you could be telling people that there the best go out and by one. then there out alot of money that they could have bought a response and tear drop. (i might add that my teardrop is awsome on my 98, i cover peoples paint up at about 30 40 feet maybe a lil more. man another victim of the flatline. i bet i can hit something as far and more accurate than your flatline. i have proved this be for.

30 to 40?! your kidding me thats all you get thats like dealing range lol i can get way more then that with my flat line and i still yet to have a prob with it. i think im geting up to 200 feet maybe even more and i think any barrel can get 100 at least what are you doing wrong maybe not shoting right lol tip the gun up if you dont have a flat lol maybe you get more then you can spit :P

he thinks he can out shoot a flatline with a tear drop at any range.......humm i wonder if his tear drop can even reach the range of a flatline.he should set up a target 200 feet away and see if he can hit it with his amazing tear drop, than have someone else shoot at it with a flat line. he's so full of him self he still would'nt exept it, he would say his gun's broken

98sniper ur the biggiest **edited**iot i know, ur soooooooooo full of ur self and ur gun with its amazing tear drop, if u cant realaise it im being sarcastic. u can not shoot 200 feet with a tear drop and its also not more accurate than a flatline. i have a evil driver for my 98 custom and soon getting a flat line, and if u say ur tear drop is better than either one of those barrels u can go eat a penis. the evil driver is probly one of the best barrel u can get for the 98, other than the flatline. my frinde has a tear drop and i know that he agrees that the flatline can shoot farther and better, he also agrees that the barrel i have is way better than his he also has the amazing TEAR DROP and he would trade any day for any one of those barrels. my frinde has a cousin that has a autococker and a 98 custom with a flat line and a zuse pistol, and if he thought that the tear drop was better than the flat line(wich its not) i think he would have got the tear drop dont u. this guy has been playing longer than any other player i know, probly at least 6 years. u can see iv got my info from both fact and the owners of those barrels......i wonder how long u have been playing, that is if u have even played before.

I shot RPS premium at the local field. It's all they sell and it kinds sucks ass because it shoots like **edited** in my gun. So can somebody tell me the names of some of the small-bore paint you've used in a flatline and have had good results. I've heard that zap is good?!?! Please let me know!!

well i saw a post that says " i went out with 50 ball and chopped 7"

lol what were u using wallmart paint come on

i have a flatty and its perfect i scratched 2 lien on the barrel and marker so i can see where to put it back together at gees so anways people who say there barrel sucks just didnt put on right or its a bad barrel and 3rd it could be wallmart paint or very cheap paint or old ect

shooky, if the paint gets inaccurate at that range why by it. and why do you think you can't do it? thats being just as arrogant. what i am saying about you holdin people off isn't new. people do that all the time.

if i did wrap blankets around it what makes you think the flatline will hit harder. the only way you do that is by turnin you velocity up no matter what barrel you got. a stock barrel accuracy sucks compared to a werks barrel or teardrop or ultralight. i am not talking about buying good paint but small bore paint. people do carry all the size of paint. i am a very good shot, i didn't mean that the blue streak was good just some one said that it blows up in the barrel, and thats hard to do when you shoot marbels.

98sniper wrote: oh john, just to let you know i already don't like canadians. but u piss me off with out being that. i can out shoot your flatline, close and long range. 65 yards isn't completly  as hard as you think. i shoot a 2ft on the stump tree at 40 pretty easy. thats about the size of a person. i know i could hit somethin at 65 yards i have done that. so don't think your hot **edited** because your from up north and you have a flatline. i would bet your gun to mine that i can hit more targets at n e range than you can.

Well, Well, Well. looks like we gotta a real hater on the forums. I can completely understand your argument 98sniper, I'm quite happy with my AA on my 98. Playing against a majority of Flatline owners is really frustrating at times but I always hold my own.

Now to the point of this post, Whats wrong with Canadians Eh? You could have just shared your opinion with him, but then you bring all of us Canadians into the mix with your comments. I don't like the war in Iraq but you don't here me Flaming America on the Tippmann forums now do ya?

Just a reminder next time that words are weapons and you should choose them wisely

I'm having a little trouble with my flatline...I havent gotten it fully adjusted yet, I've only put about 500 balls through it (no breaks yet by the way) but I am noticing that the balls are pretty accurate at first but then after about 50 feet they start to curve.  They don't just curve up or to one side, which would mean that the velocity was too high or the barrel wasnt on straight.  Most of the shots are pretty accurate but about one in three will curve in a random direction.  Any ideas what might be causing this? Barrel is totally clean.  I dont have a chrono to test the speed unfortunately, but I have a feeling that maybe the speed is wrong (too high or low).  I was messing with it earlier and since I dont have a chrono I cant tell where it is roughly.  Any ideas?

EDIT: By the way I am using fresh marbalizers so that isnt the problem.

What other upgrades do you have?  It may just be the inconsistency of the co2.  I just got an x-chamber and it seems to even things out a lot.

I hope it's just the velocity or warped paint.  I dont want to have to deal with a bad barrel. Here's my setup:

98C, 12V revy, RT, flatline, palmer stabilizer, remote coil, rocket cock.

I used to use a flatline for a 98 and hated it.

For 119 dollars plus tax, I at least expected to get something that shot straight.  For all the problems you can have from it, when you actully get it working it isn't worth it.  You have to go out and buy 60 dollar paintballs for it to shoot even close to accurate, and it takes so much tuning and frustration when you finally get it working you're mad.

First off, it isn't a easy experiance to install.  For cleaning, taking the adaptor, barrel, and shroud out every time you want to clean your gun is a pain. 

Second, when you chop a ball in it if you don't have the right equipment your done for quite some time.

And like was posted earlier, if you don't have your marbs or premimums ready, you're screwed.

That isn't even half of it.  Its just more trouble and money than it is worth.

The 98 custom's worked great for me with the right paint... Used PMI premiums and it worked GREAT.. no problems whatsoever. got blue streaks lost its distance.. with good paint this barrel worked great.. as for the A-5's Flatline here's the Reveiw from http://www.pbreview.com - www.pbreview.com ...


First off let me start by saying I have read a lot of reviews about this barrel and would like to put an end to some myths. The reviews go from real good to real bad. Most people who dislike this barrel have not given it a chance or do not own one just borrowed it for a game or witnessed someone shooting one. So here we go

Myth one. The barrel floats the shoots out to the target making the balls move slower. One person on a review I read even stated that the balls move so slow that he could “swat them out of the air” so when my gun/barrel showed up I when to my local range to test this out. I set my speed to 275 fps (deviation of 5 fps up and down) measured at the end of the barrel. I then backed off 30 yards (90 feet) and shot again speed average was 265 at 55 yards (165 feet) I was still going 250 fps and at 75 yards (225 feet) now I do not know about you but I would love to see a player try to swat a ball from the air at 225 fps I am not saying it can’t be done (I have seen people catch arrows at that distance) I would just like to see it. For comparison I did the same with my jj ceramic barrel the numbers are 275 at the barrel, 30 yards was 260 fps, 55 yards 240 fps, 75 yards 200 fps. Some of the reason that the jj was so much slower could have been the arc path it was following as it when over the radar gun.

Myth two. This is an inaccurate barrel. When my barrel showed up I tried shooting a five-gallon bucket end on from about 15 yards and sent 2 out of ten in the bucket. This bothered me. At the range I found out what was happening the gun was set to 200 fps as I increased the speed I was able to hit 5 out of 10 at 250 fps at 25 yards. Then at 275 fps I was able to send all ten into the bucket. At 285 fps I was able to hit a standard CD at 30 yards 10 out of 10 times, with the right paint. At 300 fps I could not hit the bucket at all. The speed that you set a flatline to is very important. So go to the range and find out what speed your gun likes the most and keep it there.
Paint is everything. I started with marbs. They were ok. I read that evil worked well, they did. All in all I tried 27 different paints from super swirls, and dusk (Wal-Mart), venom, inferno, maxim (1 and 2), nelson, etc. to platinum, evil, marbs. The one that worked the best in my barrel was big ball (lucky for me $45 a case at the local sporting goods store). Big ball placed 7 out of 10 hits on a police issue man size silhouette target at 75 yard (225 feet!!!!!!) my jj hit 2 out of 250 rounds. Note: my friends gun, an identical setup to mine, does not like the big ball at all. His setup liked the evils. So try them all and find which on works for you.

Myth three this barrel is an air hog. My jj ceramic gets 550 shot out of my pure energy 48 cu HPA set to a speed of 275 fps my flatline get 540 shots set at 275 fps. Is that an air hog I do not think so. Ten shots out of 550 has not won or lost a game for me yet.

Myth four. This barrel and the a-5 hopper are a “paint blender” in the effort to find the right paint I shot over 27 different paints from 14 sellers and 6000 round. Any ball bigger then platinum will come out the end of the barrel as a squirt of liquid. The old test of placing the paint in the barrel and looking for two half moons around the ball has never been better then here. Big diameter paint will come out of your barrel in a stream of liquid paint. The second it hits the top of the arc in your barrel it will explode. With that said. I have shot Marbs, Evils and big ball over 2000 rounds with out one break in the barrel. Even when set to full auto and 18 rounds a second.

Myth five the barrel is hard to get off incase of a break in the field. Well let’s get a little creative here folks. I am a Mechanical Engineer by trade. If you do not like something then change it. You customize every other part of your gun why not this one. Could it be because there is not a kit you can buy? I went down to my local nuts and bolts store and bought three thumbscrews (cadmium coated they are black to match the gun and will not rust when they come in contact with aluminum or water) that match the three bolts on the front of my A-5. All I have to do is use my hand to twist the screws two turns each turn the barrel one quarter turn and remove. Clean barrel and reinstall in reverse order. I have raced my friends, which have spiders, m98s and auto cockers. Only the 98 beat me the big threads on the 98s take a lot less turns to get off. The total mod cost me a dollar fifty.

Myth six this barrel does not like the wind. I was out playing in a mesa canyon with a 10 mile per hour wind and did not notice any difference between the wind affect on my flatline and ceramic barrels. With one exception when you shoot directly into the wind. The flatline tends to rise a little (one foot over 55 yards). But my ceramic was not even getting to the 55 yard mark so in trade the rise did not bother me that much.

Myth seven you can shoot around corners with this barrel. Not exactly but if you turn it on its side you can get it to throw on very useful curve ball. Just like in base ball the curve ball does not turn 90 degrees all at once. But it does let you hit a player that is behind a barricade or wall before they can get a clean shot off at you. The arc is about two feet at 30 yards. I can compare this to using the wind with my ceramic barrel to arc a shot around a barricade and hit someone. The only difference is I do not have to rely on wind to be there. Also for those shots in the wind where you need your ball to fly straight but the wind is making it arc. You can with a little practice tilt the flatline and compensate for the wind allowing you to get a straight shot.

I hope this helps some of you who are on the fence about this barrel/gun combination. Please do not believe the things you read out there about this barrel/gun combination go out and try one yourself, And not just for one game ether. Play with the speed setting and the ball combinations. if you put a little time into your set up you will not find a more accurate, flat shooting gun that will reach out and touch someone at 75 yards.

January 29 2004
I am adding a section because of questions I have received about the screw replacement.
The number one question I have received is where do you find the thumbscrews that replace the ones on the front of the a-5 so you can remove the barrel fast. The link is as follows: http://www.mcmaster.com/ then in the top left corner type in thumbscrew and do a search. You will come up with a page that has all the choices. I liked the knurled head shouldered screw with in Stainless Stee, part number 99607A172 in 10-32 with a 1 inch long thread. You can choose anyone you would like they even have plastic covered large headed t-handles.

98 custom review. from http://www.pbreview.com - www.pbreview.com


The Flatline System for the M98 Custom is a personal choice for most players. The advantages will far outweigh the disadvantages for most recreational players.

I would recommend this system for any player that has prior military experience or training as a MUST have upgrade. The difference between a regular barrel (excluding the stock barrel because it's useless) and the Flatline is the difference between shooting a 9MM and an M-16 when playing paintball. The Flatline gives you a MUCH better chance to "reach out and touch someone" than you get with a non-Flatline system on your M-98.

For younger players, I would recommend that you borrow a M-98 with the Flatline before you go and purchase it. It improves the balance of the marker by giving you a forward position to place your hand, but it may be too "long" for younger players or players with short arms.

Fact - Better Distance/Accuracy

The Flatline offers users the opportunity to reach targets at a greater distance than is possible with conventional technology. While I have yet to experience the "awesome" range increase that some users claim, I am easily able to shoot an offhand 12 inch group at 135 feet (yes we measured) placing 24 out of 25 balls (RPS Marbs) within a 12 inch grouping at that distance.

Fiction - Eats Paintballs

The Flatline doesn't "chop" any more balls than any other barrel if you use the correct paint. I enjoy testing things and on our most recent country outing, I fired 6000 paintballs to test various paint in the barrel (having read so many reviews about what a vegi-matic this system was.)

1000 RPS Marbs
500 Single Shot (Zero Breaks)
500 3-5 Round Burst (1 Break)

1000 RPS Premium
500 Single Shot (Zero Breaks)
500 3-5 Round Burst (Zero Breaks)

1000 RPS Big Ball
500 Single Shot (1 Break)
500 3-5 Round Burst (2 Breaks)

1000 Diablo Dusk
500 Single Shot (3 Breaks)
500 3-5 Round Burst (Zero Breaks)

As you can see in the decent to premium paint range the Flatline broke 7 out of 4000 paintballs. I didn't sort the bags or look for mishapen rounds, I just dumped them in and fired away.

1000 View Loader I-Balz
500 Single Shot (1 Break)
500 3-5 Round Burst (5 Breaks)

500 Zap Sport
250 Single Shot (Zero Breaks)
250 3-5 Round Burst (7 Breaks)

The lesser quality paint was much more prone to breakage when firing rapidly . A friend of mine had box of Brass Eagle Ammo that he wanted to get rid of, so I bought it from him for a few dollars. When trying to use BE ammo, the breakage was unbelievably bad.

When you break a ball in the barrel, it does affect the accuracy of the marker. I was unable to to consistantly hit anything past 70 feet after breaking a ball in the barrel, but cleaning the barrel with the supplied tool takes less than 20 seconds.

Fiction - The Balls "Float"

I have a friend that can dispell this myth in a hurry. I've read that the balls appear to be moving slower because of the lack of arc. I can't attest to that, must have lost my physics degree somewhere, but I can tell you that my friend said the balls coming from my gun towards him looked "slow and lazy" so he decided to catch one. He was off the field icing his hand shortly after that, he also said the next round that I shot (the one that hit his mask) hurt quite a bit. Some people say the balls from the Flatline travel so slowly that they can be dodged. At 280 FPS the ball leaves the barrel approaching 190 MPH, a human being standing 60 feet away has 0.20 seconds from the time the ball is fired until impact. How far can you move in 0.20 seconds? Your mind can't even register that the trigger was pulled in that amount of time, so I'm dubious about claims that people "dodge" paintballs.

If you're shooting a longer distance, the ball actually gets there first. At 80 feet my friend with a M-98 has to aim slightly high to make sure the ball reaches the target. We stood an equal distance from a target as someone counted down and pulled the trigger at the same time. His ball had to arch through the air (thus traveling farther) while mine went straight downrange. My ball hit the plywood noticiably before his.

Fact - At Extreme Range Balls from a Flatline May Not Break

This seems like a no brainer to me, but a big deal to some people. Yes, if you're shooting at something 175 feet away (even something hard) the ball from the Flatline may not break (I'd say one out of two do though.) But since you CAN'T hit something that far away without the Flatline a 50% chance of breaking on the target seems like a huge improvement over a 0% chance.

Fiction - Maintenance is a Problem

If you have the wit to work on/clean a real firearm, the M-98 with a Flatline presents about as much challenge to maintain as pumping gas. I'm no mechanical genius, but I can break down the whole system in under two minutes.

Fact - Installation Takes Care and Concentration

To install the system correctly, you need to take your time and follow the directions. The only problem I had was the spring clip that provides tension to the front sight (and the bar that allows you to swing the feed arm down) kept popping out of place. Poor design on Tippmann's part, really ZERO to do with the Flatline because it's part of the stock M-98 marker.

Fiction - The Barrel Uses more CO2.

I won't even dignify that complaint with a response.

Fiction - The System Makes the Gun Too "Big/Heavy"

This is likely true for players of short stature, I'm 5'9" and it's not a problem for me. As for it keeping you from "taking corners" here's some advice. Most paintballers I've seen move around the corner and follow with the marker. The head/shoulder of the player comes around the corner and then the marker is aligned for the shot. In the Army we used to call that "dumb." Point your marker down (not up) and move it around the corner first, as you bring your leg around snap the gun up into firing position as your shoulder clears the obstacle and bring your head around and crouch. If it's clear proceed, if not, from the crouch you can make the decision to engage (your marker is up and ready to fire) or retreat behind cover. Crouching lowers your profile. If you watched any of the Iraqi war coverage, you saw how the soldiers moved around corners. Weapon first, snap it up, bend slightly, look, fire/retreat/advance. I know for a fact that an M-16 or even a cut down M-4 is longer than a Tippmann with a Flatline.

As to it being to heavy, maybe if your 10 or really weak it is, for me nope and I doubt it is for most players either.

Get the right paint, mess around with the velocity and install it correctly and the barrel will shoot great... Great for woodsball as mentioned before and works good for back players in speedball... Hope this helps you out, Sorry for it being so long

I have shot just under 4 cases of RPS paint through my flatty (2 pods left) and have not broke one ball.  For an upgrade it's probably the easiest and simplest upgrade you can do for a 98C, after I lined it up, I marked it so when I take it off, it's very easy to put back in the same position.  I have not used it exclusively, I used a JJ ceramic, after everything is said and done, the fact is the flatty shoots farther, as for accuracy, I will say it does take more practice to get used to how it shoots, and you really need to watch your pressure, I find that 250-260 fps with my setup works the best, but that will change for every person depending on paint, and marker setup. Unlike other barrels, you don't just screw it on and shoot, you really have to line it up, try different pressures and find what works best, which is why most people are dissapointed with them initially.