Satco 700

[RhoXi]

This whole story is fascinating. Subbed!

[Have Blue]

The pallet of antiquities is now enroute, and I should be taking delivery next week. I plan to spend at least part of the weekend taking an inventory of what's there. From what I'm told, there are only 23 on the way to me - adding in the one that I own (the one that Doc reviewed, serial #28) and the one that RuleOfSines/peculiarpaintball.com (serial #26) has, being the only two known examples 'in the wild', leaves 5 that are MIA from the 30 made. I can only guess that perhaps the creator kept one for himself, or that some disappeared into the hands of enthusiasts at the company. Entirely possible that some were carved up for testing modifications and ultimately scrapped. I'd love to know which serial numbered gun it was that PCRI reviewed.

I'm told that some are missing accessories (parts manual, owners manual, hopper, tank, etc.), a few are missing barrels, one has a modified trigger, another is missing the feed assist... Yet all the ones inbound supposedly have that glorious fitted case. No mention of the foregrip that came with mine, though, so there's many mysteries remaining.

I did ask about prints/drawings (they were certainly drawn up in CAD), but none of that remains. Fortunately we'll be able to scan in the manuals at a far higher resolution than what was available 20 years ago.

[RuleOfSines]

If you intend to sell any I’m interested, would love to get as close to what the originally intended “factory” release was.

[Have Blue]

[Ecapnation]

That's just bonkers

[Have Blue]

Yeah, the cases really push an already luxury-class item into the stratosphere. I'm bummed that the case for yours disappeared somewhere along the way.

[William the Third]

[Riot]

wow, those cases though...

[Drunkscriblerian]

Wow. I want one just for the case. That's hawt.

[DocsMachine]

Since the last time this topic came up, I found my stash of rapidly-deteriorating PCRI issues. The one in question is the September, 1995 issue, and I took some quick photos, since the format is too large to fit on my scanner:

Cover image

First Page

Second page

Third page

I've been thinking about scanning/photographing these old things, since they're basically newsprint and will eventually basically crumble to dust. I know some guys have been scanning and uploading magazines, but I think most of those have been on Facebook and the like- which is generally neither well organized nor easily searchable. Has anyone been doing PCRI yet?

HB: Sorry, even on close examination, the photo isn't anywhere near clear enough to see the serial number.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Note, by the way, the mention of having tried "the original gun last year". I was only aware of the one article. Is there another one?
Doc.

[Have Blue]

Excellent, I never saw the original article before, thanks! I opened up one of the cases to have a gander at the utterly pristine manuals. Attached is a 600dpi scan of the parts manual, since the scan that was originally provided to me long ago was much lower resolution, and the drawings have pretty fine lines. Satco 700 parts manual hi-res.pdf

[DocsMachine]

On further reflection, I think I do recall the original article. I think the gun itself was on the cover, as as I mentioned in an earlier post, I distinctly recall the author using the line, jokingly, that "700" refers to the number of parts in the gun.

I double checked my stash, and I only have four or five issues of PCRI. Turns out the rest are the later Paintball Players Bible, and Paintball 2Xtremes.

I did have that original issue at some point, but it's since been lost.

Doc.

[Have Blue]

So, I opened up #007 (sorry everyone, but I'm keeping that one for myself - yes, I already have one, but it is not quite fully original, as I'll get to). Supposedly it is one of the few in the lot that is 100% complete, meaning it contains:

• gun (no missing parts
• tools (I think there's two tools in the center pocket)
• barrel
• hopper
• oil
• barrel plug
• user manual
• parts manual

I had a quick peek at a few others, and it's clear that the OEM barrel is this much shorter version than on the one I have (#028) (which Doc assessed to be a re-threaded Smart Parts All-American), which means #026 (owned by RuleOfSines) has the correct barrel. Where the heck did the re-threaded AA with #028 come from, I wonder? Also clear that the standard grip is the Lonestar style, and not the finger grooved version seen on #028 (I'm told there is a mini parts kit stashed in the grips, but have not verified this yet).

I noticed in the PCRI article Doc provided that there's a sling attached, which tracks with part numbers 53 and 57 in the parts manual apparently being sling attachment points. But of the 3 or so cases I've cracked open, I haven't seen any with those attachments. I think there's maybe 5 or so guns that are MIA and can't be accounted for out of this batch plus the two (#026 & #028) already in the wild, so perhaps the PCRI review gun is one of those.

Finally, the dummy foregrip can that came with #028 remains entirely unexplained and a complete mystery.

[RuleOfSines]

The foregrip was neat, was hoping you would find that there.

[DocsMachine]

The gun's a vertical feed- why is there an elbow on the loader?

Just a guess, but I'd bet your original marker may have actually seen some field time, even if briefly. Might have been one of the shop guys' personal guns, in all probability, but who knows?

The fingergroove grip was a Colin-era LAPCO aftermarket piece, popular for use on PMI-3s of the day. I'd wager that was added by the original user, very likely along with the foregrip. Which itself may have been made by the 'shop guy' owner as either a personal accessory, or possibly an idea for an optional accessory.

As for the barrel, keep in mind that back in '94/'95 Smart Parts was damn near the only supplier of aftermarket barrels of pretty much any kind. Whoever put the grips on it may have also wanted a custom barrel, and either rethreaded a common barrel like a 'Cocker, or, as I suspect, the gun may have been threaded for F1 Illustrator barrels, and the owner simply bought one of those. (With a silver back, which is why he wrapped it with the camo tape. A further clue being the reduced neck where it meets the body- the Illustrator needs this to clear the valve chamber knob. You might check that if you have an Illustrator tube laying about. )

If I'm right, HB's original example may be the one and only known S700 to have actually seen the field.

Also, I would like to offer my services to make, if necessary, any missing parts needed to complete any given gun.

Doc.

[RuleOfSines]

Mine was definitely cycled, but not obviously fielded. The internals were peened (I think that’s the word) a bit from use and I had a spot of bother sliding some pieces apart.

[Have Blue]

Dang, Doc really has some interesting theories here - the notion that #028 may have been used by a 'shop guy' is intriguing. One of the cases I opened up had a vertical ASA for the Satco stashed in the barrel pocket, so maybe the foregrip was an outgrowth of that concept. The mysteries don't end there, though - here's tonight's discoveries...


Here's #012, which is missing the tank. But what the heck is that ring next to the gun?? (which apparently previously spent a few decades wedged up in the foam)


Some sort of clamp collar. I'm at a loss for what it was intended for - maybe a hopper clamp?

Since I was told that there's a parts kit stashed in the Lonestar grip of each gun, let's have a look at that....



A key for the case! And pretty much any seal you might require, plus a few other little bits! Quite possibly one of the best in-grip spare parts kits I've seen for a gun.

[Have Blue]

What's that? You want more spare parts? I was told there was a toolbox with spares included, and I unearthed it on the lower level of the pallet.







Ah, another vertical ASA!



Hmm, a few extra manuals - that will help fill out the guns that are missing one or the other.


A few extra bolts, and some strange fixture thing... Almost looks like a cradle for an old Air America system or something...

[William the Third]

[RuleOfSines]

I applaud your restraint, I don't think I'd sleep until every single thing on that pallet had been opened up and looked at.

[Have Blue]

I'm not sure if it's restraint, I think it's mostly shock. Like, this is something I've been chasing for so long that now that it's here, I don't know what to make of it. So all I can do is take pics and post on MCB while trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

[Have Blue]

Went through the remaining cases today and found no foregrips. A couple more vert ASAs and mysterious split clamps, however. Poor #010 was entirely eviscerated at some point and is missing all internals:

But #021 sports an entirely unique, wide-faced trigger machined out of aluminum rather than steel like on all the others:


(but is unfortunately missing the 'side discharge fixture', though that shouldn't be an especially difficult part to recreate)

[The Hobbit]

That trigger assembly looks fascinating.