Paintball x3

When the first Angels made their appearance in paintball they rocked paintball with their mix of performance and style. Compared to other guns of the time, especially electronic guns, the early Angels were smaller, lighter and faster, and only paintball’s elite got their hands on them. Since that time the Angel has soldiered on through tournament paintball’s format changes and changes to the Angel platform itself as various refinements were added as rates of fire increased and players demanded smaller, lighter and more efficient markers. The latest incarnation of the Angel is the culmination of years of refinement and lessons learned.

The Angel 1 retains much of what makes the Angel an Angel such as its three-tube design with an internal low pressure regulator and flip-open breech area that allows the bolt to be pulled quickly and easily from the receiver. Improvements over previous Angels are extensive and include break beam anti-chop eyes, a soft-faced bolt to reduce its impact on paintballs during shooting, an ergonomic inline regulator fore grip, excellent on/off bottle adapter with the macro line protruding through the middle of the knob and an LCD interface with a “blackberry” knob to allow for switching between modes and making selections. Rather than rechargeable internal batteries, the Angel 1 uses a more standard and simple nine volt battery.  A clamping, low-rise feed neck makes attaching a hopper simple while the barrel features new threads that makes finding an aftermarket barrel difficult. However, the stock barrel is ported, two-piece kit featuring multiple barrel backs of different bore sizes, so finding an aftermarket barrel is almost unnecessary.

Lightweight and very small, the Angel 1 is easy to handle and comfortable in the hands. The blade double trigger is extremely light when pulled and snaps back quickly, allowing for very fast semi-automatic fire. Furthermore, the trigger pull is so light that the motion of pulling the trigger does not push or pull the gun off-target, thus enhancing accuracy. Standard modes on the electronic board include ramping modes for PSP, CFOA or Millennium play, the ability to cap at any rate of fire and fully automatic mode. Custom modes can be created and saved as well.

With a hopper and bottle attached and paintballs loaded, the Angel 1 performs well. It shoots fast and switching from mode to mode to suit any format of play is extremely simple. The gun shoots like every other Angel, with an extremely flat trajectory that drops off perceptibly near the outside of its range. While players shooting at opponents at long range may find this frustrating, experienced players will learn to play this drop and use it to their advantage by dropping shots onto the backs of opposing players crawling in snakes or crouching behind shorter bunkers. The Angel 1 is very air efficient, shooting well in excess of a thousand shots per air bottle, and thanks to its low pressure operation and anti-chop eyes, breaking or chopping paint is extremely rare.

Light, fast and easy to care for, the Angel 1 is a solid paintball gun, though its basic operating principles are several years old, and a good value at its new price of less than 800 dollars. European professional team Joy Division has used the Angel 1 to great success both in the United States and in Europe, while scenario and tournament players in the United States find them more than capable of putting opponents in the dead box.

Manufactured by Angel Paintball Sports

Website: www.AngelPaintballSports.com