Help
1. Quick-thread is kind of a relative term on this baby. While I've never put an old FL on a 98 before, it sounds like there's a lot more to it than this incarnation. But it's still not like my Twister (or other, even MORE normal barrels), in that you're not just screwing it in and you're done. You have to loosen the front two screws and screw it in, align the shroud split with the receiver split, and then tighten the screws back down.
2. As I said, not ideal test conditions. 20 yards would be a generous estimate of the range I had. Also, it was snowing.
3. "Tippmann recommends either Marballizers or ProBall Paintballs for the Flatline Barrel System," probably does NOT refer to the $40 case of ProBall paint I bought, but seeing as how those were the only ones AV offered, they may be. If so, prepare to be amazed.
All that said, here it is. I put about a hopper through it. At 20 yards, I could put the ball pretty much anywhere on the sheet of plywood that I wanted to. As I'd just put the gun back together, and don't own a chrono device, I just started with the velocity screw all the way in and turned it out as I shot, until it felt about right. Then I shot for a while, and hit anywhere I wanted, including the tail-gate of my girlfriend's father's truck (by request only). Having heard forever how paint-picky the Flatline is supposed to be, I was surprised that my REALLY CHEAP paint didn't seem to have any problems with it. Of course, like I said, it may have been one of the two recommended paintballs, but if so, that's just fine with me if I can get good results with $40 paint. I would like to put Marbs through it at some point, but maybe not for a little while. With the limited range, I never really could see it float, so accuracy at a greater distance probably changes, but it didn't look like it could be much.
At one point, I wanted to show the spectators (girlfriend's father and brother) what the Flatline did by exaggerating it, and trying to make the balls actually curve upwards. That, of course, was a bad idea. 3/4 of the way through the hopper, I broke a ball in the barrel, after turning the velocity screw out about another 2 FULL turns. I used my trick of turning the marker upside down to keep balls out while I dry fired it, and it didn't clear so well, but that's expected with the sandblasted interior. About 25% of paintballs fired after the break hit the plywood. This was a good test though, as I don't currently own a swab of any kind, and probably cannot use my homemade squeegee on it. My friend made this particular squeegee by tying a nut to an old sock with kite string, and wrapping electrical tape around the nut to protect the inside of the barrel. While this squeegee works BETTER than any other in my opinion on other barrels, I simply cannot remove the Flatline in the field to use it. So, I now know I need to invest in a battle swab (or make one).
But all in all, not a bad investment.
I'll update this as soon as I get a chance to test it out really well at a field and game.
This post has been edited by murdercrow: 22 April 2008 - 08:29 PM
