Furyon wrote: I've had my flatline for about 2 months now and have probably fired about 2000 balls through it. I looked down the barrel and noticed fine scratches beginning to appear in the barrel. Just wondering if thats normal and if theirs a way to prevent further barrel wear from occuring.

Those visible scratches are normal. Clean your barrel with hot water after matches so there is no paint residue that can collect grit (even when you have no paintball breaks in the barrel they leave residue from the shell that will collect dirt). In normal usage you'll get 100,000 to 300,000 rounds from the barrel before performance starts to drop off.

schnappi wrote: So washing it out with water won't damage it any?

Hot water and dish detergent is about the best way there is. The internal mat finish is a bead blasted finish that does not come off. The aluminum is textured. Relative to other barrels the Flatline is rough so there is friction for the ball to roll and develop the backspin necessary for its flat trajectory. No ordinary soap is going to hurt the barrel. Some laundry and dishwasher detergents are slightly caustic and may cause corrosion if left in the barrel for days on end.

Rinse the barrel with hot water; put a drop or two of dish detergent on a wet mop or swab type pull through and run  it through the barrel first in one direction then from the other. You can run the swab through with the barrel submerged in a sink of sudsy hot water.

You probably don't need to do this strenuous a cleaning job after every game, but hot water through the barrel followed by the squeegee or swab will assure you start with a clean barrel every week.

When your Flatline starts to shoot flaky and a pass of the squeegee doesn't fix it, then it is time for a good soap and water cleaning.

Zippered! wrote: I have heard that Evil brand paint strips that coating out of the flatline barrel, can ne one varify this? or is it just a story ive been hearing lately?

The Flatline barrel is not COATED with anything. It is bead blasted on the inside to give it a textured or almost sand papery insides. The barrel is aluminum which is relatively soft so the blasted finish eventually wears smooth from paintball friction against the curve of the barrel. At that point, when you are no longer getting the flat trajectory, send it back to Tippmann and they will refinish it (fresh internal bead blast) for free. 

Bruce A. Frank wrote: schnappi wrote: So washing it out with water won't damage it any? Hot water and dish detergent is about the best way there is. The internal mat finish is a bead blasted finish that does not come off. The aluminum is textured. Relative to other barrels the Flatline is rough so there is friction for the ball to roll and develop the backspin necessary for its flat trajectory. No ordinary soap is going to hurt the barrel. Some laundry and dishwasher detergents are slightly caustic and may cause corrosion if left in the barrel for days on end. Rinse the barrel with hot water; put a drop or two of dish detergent on a wet mop or swab type pull through and run  it through the barrel first in one direction then from the other. You can run the swab through with the barrel submerged in a sink of sudsy hot water. You probably don't need to do this strenuous a cleaning job after every game, but hot water through the barrel followed by the squeegee or swab will assure you start with a clean barrel every week. When your Flatline starts to shoot flaky and a pass of the squeegee doesn't fix it, then it is time for a good soap and water cleaning.

yep, that's about right. I have a friend that auctually sends his barrel through the dishwasher. Suprisingly, it works and doesn't harm the barrel.

Yes, the scratches are normal. Scratches occur on other barrels too, not just the flatline. It doesn't hurt anything.