Traditionally, Angels have dominated the field because of their unmatched speed and consistency. The 2005 Angel Speed is certainly no exception and lives up to its namesake.
Out of the box, the Speed performs exceptional with standard features such as: twist lock feedneck, optical trigger, 14″ barrel, and a nice, low profile asa. The speed comes with the option of either a 45* or 90* frame. The 45* is definitely more comfortable and easier to walk while maintaining a grasp of the marker. Upgrades are not a necessity with an angel, but are readily available for the speed. I chose to upgrade the barrel to a 14″ DYE Ultralite which is deadly accurate without sacrificing weight. Also, the board was re-flashed with PSP ramping. Finally, to make the gun more extravagant than necessary, G7 laser eyes had been installed.
A nice feature of the 05′ Speed is the “Rev Counter” located on the back of the grip frame. Not only does the Rev counter make programming easy, but it’s great to see it “Rev up” as your bps increases. The easily accessible breech and bolt are other features found only on angels that make having one a bragging right, plus, by having the bolt enclosed, the accuracy is increased and there are absolutely no external moving parts; a nice and rare feature for a ram-operated marker. The very low pressure reg operates at about 150psi, so there is truly the potential to shoot a whole case out of a single tank. If money isn’t an object, spending $175 on a Full Evolve kit will operate the marker at around 100psi.
After shooting the gun for about 2 months, I came to the conclusion that Angels had gotten better with time and should be owned by anyone who
wants one of the best guns money could buy. It is very accurate and fast, two things that serious speedball players look for. There is very low kick if any and extremely low maintenance. The trigger is incredibly easy to fine tune and with dual magnets, it is able to be configured to any shooting style.
With any good gun, come drawbacks. There are not really any significant drawbacks, but for the sake of saying nothings perfect I can mention some small parts that could be better. First off, the gun is by no means heavy but compared to later model Angels it is a little heavy, yet falls in the same weight range as Intimidators, post 2005 DMs (Dye Matrix), and most SFT shockers. When they first came out, 05 speeds were over $1000, but with new models coming out, the price has steadily declined to around $500 new and even less used, and a severely upgraded Speed will go for under $650.
So if you find yourself looking for an amazing gun, with even more potential, don’t bother spending extra on newer guns, just look for a 2005 Speed. If you happen to find yourself with an angel needing repairs, the Angel 05 speed has a lifetime warranty of defects due to normal use!