at www.buylightfixtures.com they have a socket thats supposed to be for protected metal halide lamps its pink in color to avoid confusion,whats makes it diffrent from a regular pulse-rated socket?

It is made so you CAN"T stick a e rated metal halide in it.

thanks gem400a1.

your welcome!

Protected sockets have a skirt that extends up higher than on normal sockets.  The neck of a protected lamp is narrow (same width as the screw base) where a regular lamp fairs out above the base.  The narrow neck of a protected lamp will fit into the protected socket where a wider regular lamp won't.

Here shows protected and regular metal halide lamps side by side.  Ya can see how the neck is much narrower.