ADA: Ask Doc Anything!

[DocsMachine]

Whats the fastest loader?

-The fastest loader that I own is probably my Rotor V2. The fastest overall? No clue. There's been several in the last few years I've never even seen in person. (Nobody sends me a loader for mods. )

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Doc - why is your Mag-Cocker barrel adapter made out of SS? Why not aluminum, and save some weight? Or is the weight difference negligible?

-Mainly the locating pin. The trick to the adapter is it uses the stock barrel locking pin to retain it- makes it easy to install, easy to remove, requires no drilling or tapping, etc.

But I found out during testing that in an aluminum adapter, that hole would loosen up in a relatively short time, leading to slop in the overall fit.

Stainless steel, on the other hand, lasts basically forever. I've seen ones that have had hard use for more than ten years, that are still as tight as the day I made it.

And for most players, the weight is irrelevant- the adapter is meant for the stainless-body guns, and a ton of people are still using the original stainless valves. The few extra grams of an SS adapter over an aluminum one is pretty minimal at that point.

Doc.

[pghp8ntballer]

What material were the black magic cup seals made of?

[Magmoormaster]

Not including those you made, what is your favorite autococker body? If budget was no option, how would you build it (internals, frame, pneumatics), and how would you anodize it?

[moving_target]

Doc, is there such a thing as a metal version of the OG splatmaster? If no, why not?

Outside of the Thumper, I can't think of any gun that follows the same premise.

(also yes if you decide to make one with some sort of barrel system I would probably be up for throwing money at it for the stupidity factor)

[DocsMachine]

What material were the black magic cup seals made of?

-Probably a high-durometer polyurethane. I seem to recall they were cast/molded rather than turned. I couldn't say what the exact material was, but it always struck me it as very close to the same material ad things like inline skate wheels.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Not including those you made, what is your favorite autococker body? If budget was no option, how would you build it (internals, frame, pneumatics), and how would you anodize it?

-Don't make me choose.

Really, I like most of them. I was never really thrilled with the Spanky stuff- the tubes were a cool idea, but often unworkable in real life- and the FBM ones with all the biker-leather studs were just too gaudy.

Personally, I was more into the simple-but-with-a-twist. I liked the original Belsales Evolution bodies simply because the P-block was kind of trick (hey, at at the time ) and I liked the fairly simple, almost understated Carter-type milling. That said, I love the Ripper milling, and wish I could have afforded one back when Jim was still making those. That or one of the Eclipse versions, especially with the Aurora anno- but that's the kind of thing you put on display, not actually play with.

If I had my choice, I'd love to have a later-generation Belsales Evolution body (undrilled, of course) with an Eclipse swing trigger, Inception pneumatics, either stock Belsales or AKA internals, either an Inception, 2nd-gen CP or 2-liter reg, and either a Freak XL, a Stella set or a factory Ressurection barrel kit.

Not particularly flashy, but I think with a nice solid-color anno (blue, green or copper) or a well-done smooth fade (any good primary color fading to black) would make for a top-notch gun.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Doc, is there such a thing as a metal version of the OG splatmaster? If no, why not?

-Yes. They call it a "Nelson 007".

If you mean a metal shell for a Splatmaster, none that I'm aware of, which has, at times, kind of surprised me. I remember many moons ago somebody showing off a metal shell set he'd made for the original Stingray. Which really was putting lipstick on a pig. I'm surprised no one else has tried that with a Splatty.

Outside of the Thumper, I can't think of any gun that follows the same premise.

"Inside a Thumper, it's too dark to read."

-Paraphrasing Groucho Marx.

(also yes if you decide to make one with some sort of barrel system I would probably be up for throwing money at it for the stupidity factor)

-I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for. The Thumper is not a gun that deserves a redesign. It's a gun that deserves having the feed tube jacked up and an entirely different gun rolled under it.

Doc.

[moving_target]

I was thinking about making a metal shelled splat master. I get that it's a nelson still. But the idea of pushing to cock and then allowing the spring power to complete the cycle instead of traditional nelson's where your pump handle manipulates the whole process.

But yeah. If there was a metal splat master that had some sort of actual barrel, or sleeve for freaks etc. I would probably get stupid

[M98punk]

Okay so I’ve been out for about a decade. Went up to storage and dug out what stuff I have... want to restore one maybe two of the old projects. Which should I pick?

98ish STO cocker, basically sold off everything but the body.

I have an automag that was sandblasted and had a Luke’s vert feed put on it.... was building a sleeper pnue

generation 1 Micromag: had someone do some custom work to make it a stock class but if I’m using it as my all around play I would make it something a bit more robust.

[Magmoormaster]

What gun should have been more popular but wasn't?

[fullofpaint]

How do you feel about Schlock Mercenary finally coming to an end?

[DocsMachine]

Okay so I’ve been out for about a decade. Went up to storage and dug out what stuff I have... want to restore one maybe two of the old projects. Which should I pick?

-I'm a 'Cocker nut, so I'd go with the STO. With a little work you can "restore" it to more or less original, or give it a "period correct" custom makeover (Benchmark 45, Rock reg, early STO ram, etc.) or give it a modern kit (Inception pneus, one of the new Shocktech sliders, etc.)

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

What gun should have been more popular but wasn't?

-Oooh, good question. Probably a whole list of potentials, and might actually be a little tough to answer. I'll presume we mean a gun that is otherwise good quality and didn't have some goofy feature, but still didn't make it. Like the aforementioned Equalizer- quality built, but with an absurdly slow ROF and an unmodifiable grip frame. Or the Nova- again, good build quality, but that goofy barrel was always going to be a drawback.The TS-1/AT-85 was a cool gun, but too complex and finicky, and the magazines were fragile.

I suppose we could say the Armson semi. Decent build quality, decent design, but just never caught on for a couple of reasons. Ditto the Desert Fox. Not the greatest design, but workable, and another generation or so likely would have solved the few issues. Just never proved very popular.

The big one I'd have to say was the Andy Greenwell Blade. It came out early in the semiauto boom, had excellent build quality, an a couple of features no other gun had, like a reversible (left/right) feed neck and a relatively quick to remove bolt. Yeah, it was heavy and kind of a gas hog, but keep in mind, at the time, the VM-68 was extremely popular. And, Greenwell, was a "famous name" at the time, being one of the movers and shakers of... I think it was Navarone? One of the first truly famous paintball teams.

But no one liked it. I suspect a big chunk of that was the goofy pistol grip, which was blocky milled aluminum with a built-in bottomline ASA. The grip is not terribly comfortable, and was totally unmodifiable if you wanted to run a stock or something.

Greenwell sold a few, and upgraded it to a Blade II in short order, but it just never caught on, and he stopped making them within a year or two.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

How do you feel about Schlock Mercenary finally coming to an end?

-Mixed. Partly "Noooooo!" and partly "it's about time".

Loved the comic. I have most of the books, and Howard actually kinda-sorta cameoed TWB a couple of times. But it also had twenty years of backstory; at the end, over seven thousand strips. And being serialized, today's events might reference stuff that happened five, ten or even fifteen years ago.

Sluggy Freelance is in a similar boat. It's been running more or less daily since like 1998- he must have seven or eight thousand strips in the archives, and that's almost impeneterably large. Especially for what's basically a single storyline that's so convoluted it makes a Gordian knot look like uncooked spaghetti. I'd bet money that Sluggy hasn't gained any real new readers in years- anyone wanting to do an archive dive is looking at a month of reading, if they have a lot of free time and a fast connection, just to catch up.

I once wondered about guys like Chris Baldwin constantly starting and stopping comics (Bruno, Little Dee, Spacetrawler, One Way, Anna Galactic, etc.) but after a while, that starts to make sense. Each storyline is an easier-to-digest package. A couple or several hundred strips, rather than thousands. You can get through the original Spacetrawler in a day or two, if you have a fast connection, whereas you'd have to take a month off work and have a spouse that will bring you sandwiches, refill your glucose IV and change your diapers to get through Sluggy's archives.

But that's all kind of behind-the-scenes, 'cause I tend to be a nuts-and-bolts guy. Overall, I loved the run of Schlock, I give Howard big props for his regular-as-the-sunrise update schedule, and am interested to see where he goes from here.

Doc.