OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Thanks to Dingwol2's friend Gram, I've been recently getting reacquainted with an old friend of my own: the Dr. Neubauer Pistol short pip rubber. Before the ban, I used Pistol on my forehand with Super Block on my backhand with a variety of Dr. Neubauer blades. However without frictionless on the other side, I felt it wasn't spinny enough to keep using, so after a long period of experimentation, I settled on a Phantom 007/Tenergy combination.

Gram had mentioned that the Pistol went well with the TTMaster Evolutive Defense blade. Since I had the blade and a few sheets of unused Pistol laying around, I gave it a try and all the reasons why I previously used Pistol came back to me.

For me it's the best pure blocking rubber ever. Very consistent and super control. Has fast and slow "gears." Flat blocks sink rapidly and usually hit the table with some type disturbing effect. It's also superb for smashing. Counters are reliable and can be hit pretty fast. Easy to add sidespin. Not bad for long distance chopping, although closer in chops/chop blocks tend to sail long. Terrific for attacking underspin. Rolling and flipping are simple. Great for serve returns. Unforced errors are at a minimum.

Of course, Pistol isn't great for everything. Serves are lousy compared to inverted. You can't topspin very well. Good loops are impossible.

Anyway, Dr. Neubauer's famous white Pistol sponge is super soft, extremely lightweight and unlike any sponge I've seen elsewhere. The short pips are mildly milled and are not particularly susceptible to spin. By the way, I thought the 2.0 sponge was too fast for most Dr. N balsa blades (except Barricade), but it seems a good match for the equally lightweight, high control, carbon Evolutive Defense blade.

Anyway, I'm not ready to abandon LP/Tenergy (yet), but I've been experimenting with Pistol 2.0 on BOTH sides of the TTMaster blade and it seems to be a great combo for a controlled SP blocking game, ala He Zhi Wen/Gao Jun, albeit in a shakehand flavor.

Maybe I'll switch back if I can figure out Gram's Pistol chop-smash.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Nice review, intrigues me. I never tried Pistol, but your description reminds me of Pluto, especially if you can get the topsheet on a very soft sponge, like Cole can do. Might be worth trying just for the price savings.

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-- Andrew

Spintech All Around Penhold blade
Spinlord Keiler II 1.5 black
Nittaku FastArc G1 red

729 all around blade
Tibhar Grass D-Tec S Red
Nittaku FastArc G1 black

I've always thought Pluto in it's original form was too springy; perhaps indeed in a more linear sponge, it'll work similar to the description of Pistol.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

Yeh, the original sponge is fairly fast even in 1.3, though I liked that feature. I've got a sheet in 1.8 Saviga, which feels a little too soft and thick, I'm planning to try some in black in 1.6 Dr. Z Orange as my "long pips simulator" unless I decide to give it to someone else in the club.

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-- Andrew

Spintech All Around Penhold blade
Spinlord Keiler II 1.5 black
Nittaku FastArc G1 red

729 all around blade
Tibhar Grass D-Tec S Red
Nittaku FastArc G1 black

Perhaps I should ask galaxy if they can make Pluto with a super soft sponge... might be worthwhile?

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I think it would be worth looking into.

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-- Andrew

Spintech All Around Penhold blade
Spinlord Keiler II 1.5 black
Nittaku FastArc G1 red

729 all around blade
Tibhar Grass D-Tec S Red
Nittaku FastArc G1 black

I find the sponge too springy in the original as originally stated -- granted, Pluto IS marketed to have built-in tension. (might translate to spring in playability)

I might like it better if it was more linear, but it will probably make Pluto, well, not like the original Pluto if you remove the spring.

Softer sponge might make more compatible with the 7-plies and harder blades.

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Viscaria. H2 Neo 2.15. Tenergy 05 1.9.

I read those new se7en pips have a sponge similar to the Pistol. I wonder how they compare? I didn't like Pluto with the 1.3 sponge.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I've been using the Se7en short pips for the past week. They are supposed to have a version that has a "Zero" sponge that Cole says is like Pistol's.

I'm just using the "allaround version" with a 33 sponge and plan to try their "offensive" version with a 39 sponge. It is definitely a tensor rubber with a spinny topsheet but a bit harder than others so more linear in behavior.

Not sure how that would compare to Pistol, but it is a lot spinnier than Pluto.

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-- Andrew

Spintech All Around Penhold blade
Spinlord Keiler II 1.5 black
Nittaku FastArc G1 red

729 all around blade
Tibhar Grass D-Tec S Red
Nittaku FastArc G1 black

I read this as "more dynamic (slow/fast gears) Chinese-style (block, hit) SP", is that about right?
How would it compare to 799 for example besides more gears?

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USATT 1700 ··· 11/02/2013 ◄ ПЕШ

Hi there is the Pistol good for pushing and what thickness is best for blocking and quick attack

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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pistol is faster than pluto and doesn't have the same 'down' effect of pluto. I prefer pluto to pistol

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Yasaka Dynamix 17
Tibhar Q 50
Butterfly Raystorm

I hardly ever pushed. It was flick, roll or hit. 1.6 is probably the best thickness for blocking on most blades. The 2.0 goes long more often.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I have checked pluto 1.3mm and pistol 1.6mm from a attacking point of view.
I can say that pistol has very better control than pluto, even you can play similar than with a very short pimple or inverted, being very dangerous when attack or block.
Pluto is very dangerous with the block, even more than pistol, but you must change considerably the angle of the blade when defense on the table.
I prefer pistol because it has more control, you can put every type of ball where you want, in attack or defense, and this is not possible with pluto (for me).

I have found that pistol has a disavantage that I have not found with pluto: if you are very offensive (this rubber is for it), the pimples break down a little bit on the base of the pimple in 4-5 weeks, you can play with it but with a little bit less of control and you must to change the angle of the blade when defense on the table. Somebody has the same problem with pistol??

I have to agree 100% to your analysis. I played both the Milky Way Pluto in 1.3 as well as the pistol in 1.6 mm.

For me there are three mayor differences:
- Pistol ist absolutely lightweight, so helps a lot to reduce the overallweight(Skyline 3 Neo on forehand max)> PLUTO quite heavy
- Chopping at the table was always a problem with the Pluto, balls tend to go up, while the Pistol stays flat most of the time.
- Pluto worked on most of my blades.(all wood, basalt and Arylate), I misjudged Pistol at first, cause it didnt´t work well on several blades. After switching to harder, faster blades it turned out to be an absolute winner.