30 Days of Christmas, Day TWO, 2011 Proto Rail

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30 Days of Christmas, Day TWO, 2011 Proto Rail

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 27 November 2010 15:28

One of the best things about paintball companies that spend a great deal of time and money developing the next high performance, high dollar tournament paintball gun is that their technology quickly trickles down into their more affordable markers. A perfect example of this positive trickle-down of technology, engineering, performance and quality is the 2011 Proto Rail. A clear descendant of Dye’s continuous efforts to improve the performance of their NT and DM lines of professional-level makers, the Proto Rail has been updated and improved for 2011 to create an amazingly affordable yet feature-rich electronic marker. For players on a budget or anyone looking to pick up an affordable electronic marker that will enable them to successfully take on markers costing hundreds more, the 2011 Proto Rail is an outstanding choice!

The 2011 Proto Rail, which debuted at the 2010 PSP World Cup, might have been put in the publicity back seat by markers like the NT11 and DM11, but this marker deserves some limelight. Extremely light at one pound, fourteen ounces with a battery and barrel, the new Rail is assembled from an aluminum body and barrel with a durable yet light polymer grip frame and feed neck. The Rail’s body benefits from rich, attractive anodizing and simple yet attractive milling lines that swoop up and back from the barrel and vertical adapter to a large and attractive Rail logo insert at the rear. Available in black, red, blue and olive to suit any player’s taste, the 2011 Rail is an affordable marker that looks like a much more expensive piece of equipment that takes style cues from its DM and NT big brothers.

Looks aren’t the only things the 2011 Rail inherits from its bigger, more expensive brothers at Dye. The Rail is standard with a clamping feed neck which uses an Allen wrench to tighten around a hopper inserted into it, a Hyper3 inline regulator, Ultralite-style grip frame that is extremely comfortable in the hand, and a swooping double trigger that feels like a trigger out of a marker costing hundreds more. The marker uses Autococker barrel threads. The Rail operates via a nine-volt battery and provides the user with an LED interface, plenty of shooting modes and rate of fire adjustment for tournament play and anti-chop eyes to prevent the marker from firing until a paintball is properly loaded into the breech. Like its high-dollar siblings, the 2011 Rail uses self-cleaning Eye Pipe technology to keep the eyes clean. A simple bottle adapter dovetailed to the bottom of the grip frame sends air to the Hyper3 regulator through a steel braided hose, which itself improves the durability and reliability of the marker. The 2011 Rail operates at an impressive 155psi.

Inside the 2011 Rail’s aluminum receiver is the heart of the marker, a simple yet robust spool valve. Breaking the marker down for cleaning and lubrication takes literally moments and a single tool, a large Allen wrench that is included with the gun, along with all other necessary Allen wrenches and a great owner’s manual. The entire bolt system of the 2011 Rail can be removed for cleaning, replacement of o-rings or greasing in just a few seconds and this, along with removing and cleaning the barrel, cleaning the feed neck and pulling the Eye Pipe out for cleaning is all it will take to keep the 2011 Rail working properly for months. The Rail is a very simple, user-friendly electronic paintball gun.

Out of the box and at the paintball field, the 2011 Proto Rail proves it is more than ready to take on any style of play from the inflatable fields to the woods. Getting the Rail ready for play requires only a compressed air bottle, inserting a hopper into the feed neck, threading the barrel in and installing the included nine-volt battery into the grip frame. With a Pinokio loader pushed into the feed neck, the stock barrel threaded on and a 68 cubic inch, 4,500psi Ninja compressed air bottle installed, the 2011 Rail remained very light, tipping the scales at six pounds, eight ounces. This is more than light enough for smaller players to handle comfortably or those looking for a light marker to carry around for hours in the woods without fatigue.

The 2011 Rail is extremely comfortable and natural to shoulder and shoot. The low-profile bottle adapter and low-rise feed neck keep the overall size of the marker to a minimum, making it a much smaller target that most markers in its price class and the both the Ultralite grip frame and Hyper3 inline regulator are extremely comfortable in the hands. While it’s already been said, it bears repeating: the new Rail’s trigger is excellent! Out of the box, users were easily able to shoot strings well over ten balls per second thanks to the extremely smooth, soft and tactile feel of the Rail’s trigger. During firing, though recoil is perceptible, the marker shoots smoothly thanks to its low pressure operation and the marker’s sound signature is reasonably quiet.

Over the chronograph, the Rail delivered superb performance, with an initial string of 261, 258, 258 recorded. A quarter turn of the Hyper3 regulator’s adjustment nut with the included Allen wrench sent velocity up to a perfect 280, where it remained. Impressively, the Rail then proceeded to record a string of 285, 279, 281, 281, 279, 280, 281, 279, 274 with less than perfectly sized or perfectly shaped paintballs. As long as good quality, fresh paintballs are used in the 2011 Rail, it is capable of delivering outstanding consistency. This excellent consistency lent itself to solid accuracy, though the one-piece, ported Proto stock barrel is a little short and a little large for most paintballs. At fifty feet, experienced players will easily be able to pick the spot on the player they want to hit, or sneak paintballs through brush, windows in structures or gaps in bunkers with relative ease. Groups opened up noticeably at longer ranges, but accuracy remained solid enough with the short stock barrel to allow players to make hits on man-sized targets out to 100 feet with relative ease. A longer, upgraded barrel with a tighter bore will definitely be something a player with a Rail will want to consider and thanks to the marker’s Autococker barrel threads, literally dozens are available. Players can easily expect well over 1000 shots per fill with a 68 cubic inch, 4,500psi compressed air bottle.

The 2011 Proto Rail is an outstanding paintball gun at a very low price. Light, simple, consistent, accurate and packed with features, this marker is a great choice for players stepping up or anyone on a budget who wishes to remain competitive. Well-made and backed by a company that is committed to paintball, the 2011 Proto Rail will be more than enough gun for newer or budget-minded players, yet will definitely surprise more experienced players with its capabilities.

www.ProtoPaintball.com

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