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Period of
Product Use: |
| 6 months | 4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Paintball
Experience: |
6 months |
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| Marker Setup: |
Tippmann A-5 with Response Trigger, Flatline Barrel, in-line Tank Pressure Gauge, Double Trigger. |
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| Strengths: |
flat trajectory, no arch. more accurate aiming, great for woods play. |
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| Weaknesses: |
once you hit the end of it's range, it drops quickly |
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| Review: |
I love this barrel, it does exactly what tippmann says it does, adds 100 feet of flat trajectory. I can go out and start to get good shots on targets before I have to worry about them being able to reach me, especially in woods play when the other person can't add arch to their shot to compensate for their shots falling short.
I played one day with the stock 9" barrel on my A-5, it worked great, predictable, no breaks, just not the range I wanted for a $300 gun. maybe I just expected too much since I'm fairly new to paintball, but I was a little dissappointed. then someone showed up with the flatline on their model 98 custom, it only took one shot to make me a believer! ordered my flatline the next day!
it shoots just like tippmann shows on their site here...
http://www.tippmann.com/systems/image/flatline/flatlinea.gif
ok, I think everyone knows what it does and not too many people argue that it does add distance, but everyone who poo poo's it says negative things like "it breaks balls" "it's not accurate" things like that.
Breakage - I've used about 5500-6000 rounds with the A-5 and the flatline barrel, I've yet to chop a ball (go cyclone feeder) and have only broken 1 ball in the barrel. that break was with the velocity all the way up (target practice) and $30 a case paint. with the velocity at a normal range, I don't think I would have broken any paint so far. so, if it does break paint, it doesn't break more than any other barrel, I can't complain about 1 in 5000+ breaking.
Distance - like everyone knows, the distance is awesome, I can aim straight at targets before they can reach me. or maybe they can reach me with a upgraded barrel on their gun, but they have to add arch, which isn't always an option. again, mine acts exactly as the animation from tippmann's site
Accuracy - accuracy is great, I don't want to keep repeating, but the strongest point to me is that I can aim dead on target and hit it. as opposed to the standard barrel where you aim on target, first couple shots fall short, compensate, then hit the target. it shoots very repeatable from shot to shot, which is nice.
I've shot cheapo $30 a case paint, diablo blaze, and about to try some nitro ducks to see if there's a difference. so far the barrel has been good with all the different paint I've put in. more consistant with the diablo blaze, with the cheapo stuff, I would get an occasional shot that would go off target, but after using a case of diablo and not having that problem, I'm figuring that the ammo was to blame, not the barrel.
I don't think I've said anything new here, but I hear a lot of people bashing the flatline, and I think the bashing is undeserved. also, the people I've heard bash the flatline, don't have a flatline or even a tippmann, so I think it's a case of "my (insert brand here) is better than your (insert brand here)".
this barrel has worked great for me, added a ton of distance to my marker, is accurate, and at $105 shipped, is about the same price as it's competitors.
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| Conclusion: |
if you have a A-5 with the stock barrel, order the flatline right now, you'll never regret it! it may not be the end-all, be-all, but it's darn close. and honestly, I haven't seen a better barrel in action yet. |
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