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[Al Ray]

Okay so I did some tuning tonight. It was a pain, mostly because all of my springs have lost there color over time, and I couldnt find my guage to compare them to springs of known color value. Unfortunatly it was too dark for my chrony, so Ill have to do everything over again, but I did manage to get 50 shots all of which I belive were above 255fps by eyballing it. Still having problems with the antikink bolt. Bacci is looking for another pump handle linkage arm for me, so Ill just wait until then to try and fix that. If he cant find one, I'll make one, but since my mill still has problems its going to be "fun" if I have to go that route. I did find my camera, and Ill take some pictures soon. Im fairly happy with the pump handle I made, Its more of the second gen commando handle with a little modification (ditched the front rib) Hower it uses first gen looking bolt on arm(s)Still need one of those WGP dropout/bucket looking changers, but Im running a Taso for now. Ill probably grind the trigger plate for AT just because as well

[mblaster31]

did you know any of the blasters? later - dana

[mblaster31]

also talked with old team mate ken heff about the gun "commando" that was said to be made for the master blasters. that story where ever it came from is completely false. there was never a gun made special for the master blasters. the team back then mostly used termites, a couple carter comps and couple bushmasters. only one of the termites had special bearings built into the pump. the old rental guns you guys have came from our field at sny when we were probably the biggest running paintball field in the country. on a saturday, we would have 800+ people show up to play paintball and it was a long busy day. the blasters ran all the field judging back then and cleaning those rental guns that you now have. so you could say that the gun you have was in the hands of the master blasters. hope you find this info helpfull. later - dana

[Al Ray]

Thanks again for the info Dana. I dont knwo where/who put the info up on VR about the prize commandos, but Ill ask.. I know the gun I have is a rental, but who made it? I was told WGP built these for SNY, is that true?

[mblaster31]

that's a good question, they had their own gun smith back then but i don't think they made those guns themselves. i should be able to find that out. later - dana

[Mayvik]

Just picked up one of these from MadLarkin too, really interested to see how yours comes out Al. From what I've seen pre-cleanup, they're a pretty sweet little gun. I didn't realize they had slots for dual pump arms either which is super cool.

[Al Ray]

Here is an in progress picture. The QC is just a stand in, as well is the grip frame ( I will be restoring the origonal frame with the milled access holes). The Barrel is NOS. The body is smudged up with fingerprints and has not undergone final polishing yet. The pump is one I turned down. I dint like the look of the side rail pump handles milling, so I made somthiong simmilar to later WGP pumps, however you will notice that its missing the fromt rib and the spacing is off. It also needs final sanding and another pump linkage arm ( Bacci is checking to see if he has one like it, if not Ill make one, bothe will need be reannoed anyways)

So its getting there (its now functional) but its a ways off yet,



Edit here is an add of an early commando ImageShack - Hosting :: 128889or.jpg there is some nice pictures of the next version of the commando on vintagerex. Im assuming based on what I know thus far, that these guns were made before the commando.

[MadLarkin]

Research Progress:
I had a powwow with a couple of the long timers here, and everything is pointing to a limited run marker spaced between the Pro45 and the Commando. These also might even predate the Pro45, but I have NO clue what the accurate timeline is other then "old". One of the higher-ups here has a Pro45 in his collection and is bringing it in so I can do some compare and contrast work
Al,
everything you hypothesized has been more or less on the money so far it is now just a matter of wrapping up the details. Im hunting for a way to contact Bud via email, if anyone has the ability and could PM me said info(after double checking its OK first, of course) I would greatly appreciate the hand.

[Al Ray]

Hey thanks man, and be shure to get pics of the Pro45. Ive never even seen one, just knew they existed.

[Mayvik]

Finally got around to tearing mine down and cleaning it today. Sorry, no pics (yet) but the guts and body were in -great- shape compared to the other SNY guns I've picked up, to the point where I don't think I'm going to have to replace any hardware or even o-rings. The only real problem with mine is the powertube doesn't have a nut, or any flats at all anymore, so I can't get into the valve at all. Looks like someone put some vice grips on it and spun them around about 3000 times. I might still be able to get it off but I'm a little wary about fixing it since it seems to be working fine. Maybe if I find I need to swap out the valve spring I'll try cracking it open. The top right external portion of the ASA got the worst of the rusting, and when I get done with getting the rest of the rust off, it'll definitely need a coat of something. The bore on the barrel also seemed remarkably smooth, unlike the other regular Nelson I picked up from ML, which is caked up with dirt and dried paint, and scratched to the point where it's probably going to suffer the wrath of flexhone.

About 2-3 hours of good scrubbing and polishing I've got it shooting, and even with only one screw and the brown Nelspot handle, it's very smooth. Gonna try out a different pump handle, and hopefully find a bolt that's drilled and tapped for a second screw, but it doesn't seem to really need it. Holding off my final review until I get a chance to chrono it, but so far I'm very impressed, these seem to be sweet little markers.