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Wouldn't a modern day WDP Angel really be something like an Ego or LV? I mean, take away the one tube that was pretty much just for the battery because now you can house that elsewhere, then the rest is derivative of a stacked tube poppet/Autococker, no? Shrink the bottom tube diameter where the hammer resides with lower pressure, use a valve system to actuate the hammer instead of a sear and spring (surprised nobody has come out with this for a cocker other than the Osiris), and its an Ego (or one of many markers that have used this same basic setup).
Oh, and then of course there is the recently closed Bob Long. Is he a 'big guy' though?
I wonder what happened to Crossfire (air tanks and the unique Ramrod barrel).
Surprised no mention of AKALMP with Smart Parts. I guess everyone just kinda knows.
Bob Long is now Field One....still very much open and alive.
As for a modern day Angel being an Ego/any other stacked tube poppet, I mean sure, but that takes all the fun out of it. An Angel *has* to have 3 tubes and hell, I don't even think it has to have the Roto-breech since I like the SB so much. A hoseless, updated Angel would be so tempting - simplify the disassembly side of things, no more dowel pins to hold the valve, ram housing and LPR in place. Make the ram user-serviceable and give it the normal wireless-connection treatment between the frame and body. Use that third tube to make hoseless routing easier and voila. I'd pay so much for that, and not because it does anything better than a used LV1 does or G6R.
Did they ever give a reason for moving away from the BLAST name? I guess they don't have the best rep nowadays and probably wanted to disassociate with that. It's sad to see another formerly great PB company lose it's name or fade into irrelevance like JT, Spyder, etc though.
I too really like my crome 2. I did swap the ASA and HPR for something a little more agreeable.
Bob isn't anything to do with BLAST/Field One anymore from the sounds of it.
They kept Garrett who is a great tech, and now it's Eric Crandall, Alex Fraige, Ryan Greenspan, Yosh Rau and Oli Lang that own it. Yosh seems to be working there full time alogn with Eric, but not sure about the others.
Moving away from the Bob Long/BLAST name as fast as possible is, in my opinion, one of the worst branding decisions in the recent history of Paintball (second only to GI's handling of Tippmann), even if it did have some negative reputation. Fixing that with good customer service and products is a LOT easier than building a whole new brand such as F1 and getting it as well known and recognized in the market place.
good for bob to cash out. seemed like his heart wasn't in it anymore.