How ridiculous you are to ask a question like this I put the shiny side facing the player. But factory should have 3 washers on a shooter rod, 1 on the outside by the barrel spring, 2 on each side of the long spring on the inside. Now concerning the washer by the barrel spring, I decided long ago that I disagreed with the factory and put my washer close to the knob as opposed to close to the ball shooter housing, the theory being the barrel spring won't dig into the plastic knob and possibly cause chipping or a crack to start.