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Flatlines do have better range. I will never argue that. They will shoot farther and they work wonders for suppressive fire, especially at guys halfway across a field no other players can reach. Up in a tower or some elevated fortification, flatlines are great for sniping down invading forces.
But in terms of overall performance, I believe flatlines lack in effectiveness. First off, they sacrifice velocity in order to increase range. The backspin produced by the curved design poses problems later on down the road. I'd say the Flatline has a good flat trajectory of about 150 feet, after ~150 feet it begins to veer off at random angles and at 200 feet it curves off an goes nuts. My 98 chronos at 250 fps when the velocity screw is not obstructing the airflow at all when it has the flatline on. I'm positive it's shooting hot (over 300 fps) without the flatline on. While extended range is formidable, especially if you're bunkered up and you take a peek and think the enemy is beyond firing range and whatever you're hiding behind starts getting pummeled. But I've found that no matter what kind of paint I use, only about 50% of my balls break upon impact after being shot from the flatline. Obviously, the closer I am to a target the easier they'll break. But I think that a barrel that is marketed as having a longer range than any other barrel should live up to such a claim. I have to get within 25 yards of my target if any of the balls are going to break, and most of the people I get out by shooting them call a gentlemen's out - the balls didn't break but they didn't check themselves for breaks, they just felt the paintball hit them and called themselves out.
A barrel that sacrifices velocity for range is not effective in games where balls not breaking don't count. Balls shot from a flatline may go farther, but they depreciate in velocity much quicker (and aren't very fast coming out of the barrel to begin with). However, it does work wonders for long range suppressive fire, but for guys who get a flatline barrel to snipe off targets, they either need very brittle paint and risk breaking inside the barrel and cleaning it out constantly, or they need to reconsider and get another barrel.
Sorry if this counts as a "flame," I'm just trying to offer a dissenting opinion rather than blind praise. The flatline barrel just does not work well for me.
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"In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." ~George Orwell
"I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up to the weight." ~Malcom X
Tippmann 98 Custom, CAR stock, Evil Pipe Kit, Double Trigger, Response Trigger, Flatline Barrel (bleh).
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