Bob Long Protégé -- By: Richard

Bob Long brought one of the first electro-pneumatic markers into paintball and sent the markers into speed and performance that was unheard of before. Well Bob Long is back in 08 after his hugely successful Marq series with now the new Protégé markers.

What really sets the Protégé apart from other high end guns is going to be the ability to upgrade to four Anti-Chop Eye sensors. Normally the gun has a set BIP (Ball in Place) delay that the gun will wait for after the eyes have sensed a ball in the chamber before it will shoot. The reason for this is to make sure that the ball is actually settled in the breech before firing. The Protégé can be upgraded to have a pair of eyes at the top of the breech, onto the stock pair it has at the bottom. The pair at the top will see the ball as it drops in and tell the bottom eyes when to anticipate to fire, eliminating the ball in place delay. The extra pair of eyes shaves precious milliseconds off the cycling time which add up when you need to achieve such high rates of fire.

Operating on an inline Poppet-Valve system, the Protégé is unlike any other high end marker available today. Just as accurate as a spool valve but easier on gas puts you up around 2000+ shots on a 68/4500 tank. The Protégé is the only gun available that you can go through a full case without having to refill.

As well as being light on air the Protégé is light in weight. Weighing in at only 1 pound 14 ounces it is tight and compact. Bob longs milling has always been amazing and unique and the same is present in the Protégé’s open bolt body.

The insides of the Protégé are a lot easier to maintain then the original Intimidators the Bob put out almost a decade ago. Easy Bolt out the pack stripping allows for easy access to lube and clean the gun. The solenoid is manifold mounted which eliminates confusing and messy hosing.

The Protégé is a definite recommendation for any player looking to get into a high end marker for tournament play. Available in many colors it is easy to find one in the perfect color to show off to your friends.