I loved the compact and forward thinking J12. The smooth body contours, internal A/T, no bolt pin slot or openings to get bunked up by dirt or paint or whatever, the new 86 frame looked like it would feel amazing. Things I didn’t like is that some of the assembly looked….fragile and awkward. So a straight up copy didn’t really appeal to me… so there the beauty sat in my mind for years. Always taunting me whenever a picture popped up in one of the many paintball groups I’m in.
Well a few years ago a marker was sent to me for machining. Relatively simple mods but it wasn’t a platform I was very well educated on or better said, had forgotten about. Enter the Sterling. I roundtop milled the body, added a CCM feedneck stub, and internally routed a regulated airline through the grip. But what else could be done? I then began hoarding inexpensive Sterlings that crossed my path. I opened up the valve chamber, dropped operating pressures, lightened springs, lightened hammers.. but always yearned for more, irritated by the constraints of the platform until I remembered the beauty of the J12….
so I designed a hybrid. Sterling in all the ways that mattered, with refinements that make life a little better. I made the valve independent, now secured in place by 5/16-24 grub screw, valve cap is ASA threaded so a port reducer with gauge can be installed or 12 gram charger or any other air source (if you so chose). 86 frame up-scaled to fit my murder mitts. Will have three guide rods (two routed through body channels connected to back block), one driven into the pump handle. The guide block for the hammer catch assembly was elongated and has two treaded ends for oil filled bronze bushings that are easily replaceable (should they ever wear out). Gas thru frame, and will have Bob Long/Field one quarter turn ASA.
of course design elements are still being worked out on the fly. Frame is currently 3d printed but will hopefully be machined soon enough (as soon as I decided if I want to add an internal regulator or not). The pump handle adaptor is 3D printed as well. All a work in progress..
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