Reviews
The Bob Long Marq Series Closer
By Dale Ford and Josh Beason
Jul 28, 2007, 20:52

Photo courtesy of Bob Long Direct

The Marq series markers were the follow-on to Bob Long's Intimidator series of markers.  Given the success of the Intimidators over the years. The Marq had some big shoes to fill.  The Marq Series markers include the Marq 6, The Marq 7, The Rapper and the Closer.  The Closer is the most heavily optioned marker in the Marq series, and served as the test marker for this review.

The Closer used in this review is owned by Review Crew Member Josh Beason.  His Marq is finished in white dust, with black accents.  The Closer differs from the other Marqs in that it uses the 4 eye system, which claims to maximize cycle speed, because the marker can start the firing cycle as soon as the first set of eyes detects the paintball entering the breech.  Also stock on the Closer is a Tadao Technologies M8 board.  The Musashi 8 is extremely adjustable, allowing the user to tweak the marker's settings to precisely what he wants.  Also included is a multi-bore barrel kit.  The Closer comes equipped with a "Dragon" style trigger, which minimizes bounce.  The Closer is more aggressively milled than its mates, making it the lightest of the bunch.

During their development, the Marq series markers were thought to be a spool valve marker.  At first glance, it seems a reasonable enough assumption to make, since there's no bolt pin sticking out of the top of the marker or any other indications that it uses a nelson valve design in any way, shape, or form. 

However, the Marq Series markers use an inline poppet design to handle air in the marker and fire a paintball.  Rather than have two tubes, one housing the bolt and the other housing the ram/hammer/valve assemblies, in the Closer and the other Marq Series markers, all of these parts are housed in one tube in line with each other.  During the firing cycle, the hammer slams forward, hitting a poppet valve to release the stored air to fire the paintball.  The hammer is attached to the bolt, which directs the air to the paintball to be fired.  During testing we found that this arrangement provides the accuracy and soft firing impulse of a spool valved marker, with the inherent efficiency of a poppet valve system. 

Out of the box the Closer showed excellent build quality, and on inspection we found no mill marks or defects in the annodizing.  There's a well-written manual to help the owner use and maintain his marker .  The biggest initial impression was the extremely light weight, comparable to an Ego 7 or Angel One. Another distinguishing feature of the Closer was the no rise "Wedge" feedneck, which instead of being pressed into or screwed onto the marker's body, is actually a part of the body itself.  This allows the Closer and Marq Series markers to have an extremely low feedneck, and with it being a part of the body itself, allows for maximum strength, with no worries about breaking off or stripping the threads on the feedneck holding it into the body.  The grip frame is noticeably thinner than what is typically found other markers.   Normally Marq Series markers are fitted from the factory with a cam drive on/off ASA, but apparently they were out of stock with Josh's marker was made, so his Closer was fitted with the Marq Series gear drive ASA.

The Closer was fitted with a Crossfire LP air system, and the stock barrel from the kit provided with the marker.  To feed paint into it, we used a DraxXus Pulse, VL Vlocity and VL's latest offering, the VL Eye-Force.  The VLocity had no problems feeding the marker, but Josh noted that the Eye-Force seemed to be struggling to keep up.  This may be attributed to the batteries, which in this case were rechargeable batteries, which normally put out less voltage and amperage than standard alkaline batteries.

On the field, Josh and I immediately noticed how the light weight of the marker helped during the all-important breakout, as well as during the course of the day.  With the Closer there was less to carry around, making things easier.  Efficiency is claimed to be around 1500 shots per 4500 psi fill, and this is roughly what we saw during testing.  The marker has a nice solid 'feel' to it, and with nothing moving around on the marker as it fires, it minimizes any distractions to the player as he's working the field.

Josh working back center with the Closer

The stock marker's inline regulator provided exceptional shot-to-shot consistency, which aided the marker's accuracy.  We used a variety of paintballs during testing, from low end field paint to high end tournament paint.  As expected, consistency and accuracy were best with the higher end paint, but we did notice a minor improvement across the board when we fitted the marker with a Custom Products One-Piece barrel.  During the course of testing we did run into some breaking and jamming issues with the marker, which was later traced to the insert in the Pillow Bolt.  The insert tore at roughly the 8 case mark, causing the marker to jam.  Once the insert was removed, we noted no more jams or breakage from the marker.  Bob Long Direct is aware of this issue, and is providing improved bolts to replace the original ones.  While the perceived kick of the marker wasn't as soft as a spool valved marker, it's negligible by any stretch of the imagination.

The Closer is Bob Long Direct's top-of-the-line offering, and the $1250 price tag reflects it.  However, taking into account that the marker comes stock with a barrel kit and an aftermarket board goes a long way in justifying the marker's price.  For more information on the Closer as well as the rest of the Marq Series, check out www.boblongdirect.com