Paintball

[Phantom Power]

First, the pics (click to enlarge):









I just recently got this KP off a local guy who used to work for Tippmann. Apparently while he was working for them he found this along with some other old guns in a storage room and asked if he could have them. They were only too glad to get rid of them so he packed them away.

I have no idea how old this is, but I'd love to know. Some interesting features about mine that I've noticed compared to all the pictures of seen of others are:

1) Only 1 bolt removal notch
2) No locking BB's on the bolt
3) The lower tube doesn't say "Sheridan K-Series". Instead it says

Pursuit Marketing, Inc.
Northbrook, IL 60062

I assume that the 60062 there is the zip code of PMI, and not the serial number ? That's the only stamp anywhere on the gun so if it has a serial number I don't know where it'd be.

Anyone know the deal with this ? Many thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on it or give me a rough estimation of when it was made.

[angelpena]

wow nice snag, not being a kp historian, I can't help with the details, but very nice find...

[chplnstone]

sounds like mine, i was told it was most likely originally a bolt action, not needing the bb holes, later "upgraded" to a pump...look for a serial number on the left hand side, same place as most sheridans...mine's b 0252c...about 1.5" to the right from the pmi stamp you saw

[c6quad]

your gun was a K2 and the pump was added on later as an upgrade. K2's have no bearing holes for the bolt. nice find.

about the lack of a serial number, i'd say it's a very early model or it was made for someone that worked for PMI or someone in the paintball industry.. i own a K2 that does not have a serial number and the gun was a gift to someone in the paintball industry from PMI.

[Phantom Power]

Awesome. I knew you'd have something to say about it Chad. It's entirely possible that the gun was made for Tippmann, or someone who worked there. The guy I bought it from said it had been there forever.

Does anyone know when K2's stopped being produced ? Or how many were upgraded to KP2's ? I'd love to know more about the dates the various K-series were available and the approximate introduction of the various changes (pump handles, trigger groups, etc). I think it'd be good to update VintageRex with that stuff.

[Drum]

I doubt that this started life as a K2 on account of the stock. Most if not every K2 conversion that I have ever seen was in a chopped K2 stock. This stock is pure Sheridan and pure KP2 and exactly the same stock as was used on the early KP2's.

I would guess instead that this was an early KP2, pre-BB's and soon after the bolt-action and longer stock were added to the manufacturing line.

Also, if you scan the side of the gun toward the middle, right above the wood stock (on the left side as you are pointing it) you may well find a very faint serial number, all by itself. This will help us to guess how early the gun chassis is.

Good luck,
D.

[c6quad]

Drum might be correct too. it could be a early kp2 using the k2 chasis. the stock does look factory, but it could also have been cut and shaped to look nice too. either way, it's a nice piece.

that still doesn't explain the lack of a serial number.

[Latoolman]

I remember selling an old kp2 with no BB holes most likey a K2 chassis... Serial was in the 10,000 range...


Edit... I remember bringing it over to Drum's place to ask him about it...

[Phantom Power]

May be resurrecting an old thread, but I thought I'd add some new info. I had the KP apart this evening in the shop doing some work and discovered that the bore of the barrel is 0.684". I know that most other sheridans, at least all the other ones I have are 0.686 to 0.687. The brass used on mine seems to have a much higher copper content than the other sheridan's I've got.

I don't know if any of this helps in dating the gun or sheds any light on it's origin. I just found it interesting. It's also great because it fits the small paint that my field uses perfectly.

I made up a lightened hammer for it, probably about 25% lighter than the stock one (no good scale on hand right now for hard numbers), and the initial results over the chrono look good. I've got from about 10 good shots off a 12 gram to about 15.

[russc]

Hey no fair...my KP doesn't stand a chance with its huge bore size!

Keep me posted on those bolts though - I need to get rid of this silly mismatched one. I've never liked how leaky the adjuster choke was.