Promaster
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The promaster is a Paintball marker made by Indian Creek Designs which was released in 2005.
The promaster was designed to replace the aging Bushmaster design which was the Indian Creek Designs main marker line through the year 2000 - 2004.
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[edit] Specifications
The Promaster has a significantly smaller profile than its Bushmaster precursor. The Promaster is an electronic solenoid actuated computer controlled marker. The major components of the marker are machined from solid, aircraft-grade aluminum, and then hard anodized. The stock board can operate in Semi Automatic mode, Ramp Automatic, Ramp, and Ramp Burst. All modes can be capped at 15bps or completely uncapped. Modes are selected by changing switches on the circuit board under the markers grip.
The Promaster comes stock with an 12" ported barrel which can be removed and replace with any other barrel which uses Autococker/Intimidator threads. The stock marker also comes with a four-way adjustable aluminum double trigger, Paintball Detection System (or EYES), a delrin bolt, and quick pull pins for field stripping.
Designed to operate on low-pressure, the main operating pressure is 250-300 PSI nominally adjusted to visually via the gauge on the primary (input) regulator. The secondary pressure is factory pre-set and regulated to 85-95 PSI. Gas usage is controlled through these 2 internal regulators. C02 is not a recommended propellant for the Promaster or any electropneumatic marker. If however for some reason the user feels compelled to use C02 over HPA, an anti-siphon is needed to reduce the chance of liquid C02 from entering the marker. The use of C02 even with an anti-siphon is not recommended. If you would like to buy the Promaster, plan on using HPA.
Since the Promaster is able to reach firing rates of over 15 bps, it will operate best when used with a force-fed hopper such as Vlocity/Vlocity Jr., Halo, Empire B, Pulse. However a force-fed hopper is not absolutely necessary and an agitated or other electronic hopper may be used with the Promaster at low rates of fire (ie. Viewloader Evolution 2 or 3, Revys, Halo Frontman and Backman, Ricochet, etc.)
[edit] Drawbacks
One of the main drawbacks for buying a promaster is that it does not come stock with an ASA or macroline, this doesn't affect its performance it only means that the buyer will have to spend extra money before the marker is usable.
Many users have reported a "break-in" period before the marker performs consistently, as is common in most markers.
The promaster does not come stock with a clamping feedneck, this may lead to a hopper becoming detached from the marker if dropped or otherwise. This is not a major problem but many users upgrade to a clamping feedneck.
Unfortunately ICD products are generally not as readily available as products from more popular paintball companies such as Smart Parts, or Tippmann, etc. This means that replacement or upgrade parts can sometimes be hard to find, particularly for players living outside of the U.S.A.
[edit] Lasoya Promaster
Indian Creek Designs also made a variant of this marker known as the Lasoya Promaster. The Lasoya version has slightly different milling which is more simplistic and comes in a dust finish two tone fade colour. The high pressure regulator is different from the standard promaster, as is the trigger. It also come with a low pressure regulator gauge so the user can see exactly what the LPR is set at. The board in the Lasoya Promaster features more firing modes and a "debounce" adjustment.
Like the original, the Lasoya Promaster does not come with an ASA or clamping feedneck.
The Lasoya finish comes in black/gold, black/blue, black/grey, and black/red.
[edit] Other Models
Prototypes for a GS Promaster and a ND Promaster were designed but not released.
The GS Promaster was designed by Greg Schutte who is an ICD tech and operates Blue Fork Designs. It has a the ICD aftermarket cylinder assembly, BlueFork modified stock ICD LPR, HPR, new ICD clamping feedneck, stock grips, Humphrey high-flow noid (same noid used in the freestyle pro) and full predator coding v. 5.0. The GS Promaster looks much like the regular Promaster with a different "tail" design. It was going to be produced as a Private Label Promaster however ICD decided not to proceed with the project. Greg Schutte owns the only existing GS Promaster. GS ProMaster
The Naughty Dog Promaster was made for and tested by the Naughty Dogs. This model was not put into production; however, a couple of these models were made.
[edit] History
The original Promaster was designed as a mechanical blowback paintball marker. It was one of the first stacked tube semiautomatic designs in paintball. It was sold under the company called Line SI in the late 80s to early 90s. This company was half owned by Jerry Dobbins. Jerry Dobbins owns Indian Creek Designs. He is also there main designer. When the Bushmaster was redesigned in 2005 the ProMaster name was used to help update and promote the new model. Some of the other paintball markers Jerry Dobbibs has designed are: Promaster, Bushmaster, FreeStyle, Puma, Alleycat, Thundercat, Panther, Bobcat, and Desertfox. Most of your current stacked tube mechanical blowbacks are based of the early ProMaster design.
