F-1 Illustrator Questions

[Drunkscriblerian]

As those who follow the "What Did You Get In The Mail Today?" thread already know, Cdn_Cuda was nice enough to sell me his F-1, a paintgun I first encountered as a teenage player and have wanted ever since. I've managed to find a scan of the manual and between that and Cuda's breakdown on it was able to successfully disassemble and reassemble it. Y'all, this is a sexy piece of paintball engineering if ever I've seen one. Design-wise its pared down to the bone (seriously, its almost as light as my Phantom) and its beautifully made. They just don't build them like this anymore, and that's a shame.

My knowledge on these is somewhat lacking however, having never actually owned one before now. Thanks to having read the manual I know you aren't supposed to dry-snap it else you might break the cocking handle. There's a ding on the front of the cocking handle slot where someone probably did just that, but otherwise the gun is in remarkable shape considering its over 30 years old. Are there any other design quirks I should know about that aren't in the manual? I know old paintgun manuals are often incomplete.

The manual also warns about the possibility of the gun discharging if aired but not cocked if its jostled/the cocking knob is bumped, even with the safety engaged. Since there's warnings about this possibility in like four different places, does anyone know how likely/easy this is to do, and is there a way to adjust the gun so that its less likely? I want to run this marker but don't want to run too big a risk of being "That Idiot" who discharges his gun into his barrel sock.

The manual also states that the F-1 shouldn't be run on liquid, but I've always heard that you can. Was this warning a piece of legal CYA by FAStech, or is this actually a no-no? I've always been curious about liquid builds and would like to do something "special" with this gun if I can, but I sure as heck don't want to break it.

Lastly, I noticed that the cocking knob is a bit loose. After about 30 shots it had grown quite wiggly and had to be re-tightened. I'm hesitant to apply thread-locker since its something I'll have to remove often for regular maintenance, but I also don't want to lose the cocking knob during play. What's a good answer here?

As always, thanks in advance for your time. I'm really glad I discovered this community, you guys really are the best side of paintball.

[Grendel]

• Ding at front end of the slot, normal, it happens after a while with regular use/abuse. I kept is under control with a file once noticed, pay particular attention on the inside as it will nick the hammer o-ring.
• The cocking handle has a detent in the end facing the connecting rod. Make sure it is there and in good shape or it it doesn't I would cut a piece of fat o-ring and stuff in there to catch the cocking rod and use a little Vibratite on the threads. The cocking handle on the F-1 was its weakest point that is why it went away in the F-2.
• There is some slop in the hammer and if you hit the cocking handle hard (I mean hard) you can get an accidental discharge because the hammer slips over the sear and the safety will not prevent that. It is not an issue I would worry about you really have to hit it hard.
• It will work on liquid but the gas passage from the ASA to the front of the marker is tiny. Getting liquid through that is going to be hard. I ran my F-1 on a 20 oz CO2 bottle without anti-siphon and would occasionally shoot enough to get liquid into it. It will work but not well until you let it warm up.

By the way I loved my F-1, I used it for several years then I went down the rabbit hole of Automags and it ended up getting used as a rental. Enjoy it they are fun and really well made with the exception of the cocking handle that is the best upgrade they did on the F-2.

[Drunkscriblerian]

All good stuff to know, thanks! It looks like the detent is missing, so I'll have to make one. Glad to hear the accidental discharge thing is an outside possibility, the way the manual worded it they made it sound like farting near it would cause it to go off, guess that was just legal CYA by the company.

Question about feeding that I forgot in my OP; have you tried the F-1 with modern paint at all? I put some rounds through it and it mostly fed fine, but that was old, swollen rubbery paint...and even that double-fed once. Also, is the F-1 a candidate for barrel inserts and might that help with the "paint is tiny now" problem?

[Grendel]

The F-1 has a wire detent to help with double feeds but when it was made paint was closer to 0.690. I have not used one with modern paint but I would not be surprised if you needed to bend and deeper penetrating wire detent. Not a hard thing to do especially if you have a wire bending jig.

https://www.duluthtrading.com/wire-tool-wire-bender-28011.html?&srccode=GPSDSHOP&ogmap=PLA%7CNB%7CGOOG%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C20768012558%7C161222459928&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwx-CyBhAqEiwAeOcTdZo18dPZRolU9vTxIL4vemB1gJnws6O7iH6r4dIsRrNgTlQTRyHkRBoCka0QAvD_BwE

The barrel of an F-1 is not suited for Freak Inserts (too thin) but a little bit of electrical or coaches tape will work as a barrel detent as well as finger nail polish detents. I never did it on an F-1 barrel but Wedgits could be pressed into the barrel or Freedummy insert made or an o-ring mod done on the barrel. I would go with the tape or fingernail polish as the first solution.

[Drunkscriblerian]

Grendel I'm looking at the Illustrator's detent and definitely thinking I'll go the "tape and nail polish" route. It seems to me a bit of tape in the barrel and possibly on the detent will solve feeding problems just fine. I'll need some fresh paint though, so we'll see how that goes when I take it to the field.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

The Brass Eagle Raptor has the same barrel threads as the F1. So plenty of barrel options. I think the barrels are too thin for inserts. Could be wrong. .

[scottieb]

Yes, the barrels are too thin to bore for inserts. Doc had made a few Raptor Freak backs a short time ago though.

[OpusX]

Do you have a threaded or breach-drop screw retained barrel?

[Drunkscriblerian]

I have two threaded barrels. One has a muzzle brake on it, the other is brass, no maker's marks and heavy as all heck. My SO joked about how if you ran out of paint you could just use it as a bludgeon. Not sure on the manufacturer of either.

[Grendel]

Breach drop Illustrators are the F2 Illustrator all of the F1 Illustrators had threaded barrels similar but not the same to one of the early Sterling barrels. BE Raptors barrels work on F1s.

[OpusX]

Ahhh well there you go F1 vs F2 makes sense now.

[Drunkscriblerian]

Well, after way too long of a wait I finally got a chance to take the F-1 to the field. Predictably, it had a few minor issues starting out (mostly regarding some loose bolts which may or may not have been my fault when I assembled it after shipping) as well as some feeding issues due to the tiny paint. The brass barrel it came with was a non-starter; double-feeds all over the place, as well as serious problems with curved shots. About all I can say for it is it did give me one "magic ball" tag-out when two came out, magically didn't break and one suddenly flew to the side 60 feet downrange to strike an opposing player who was behind cover. Other than that one shining moment, it shot poorly. Since its so meaty I might have it bored out for inserts.

On the advice of an Old Guy at the field who actually knew the guy who designed the Illustrator in the first place (!!) I gave the detent a sliiiight push to bend it inward a wee smidge and switched to the shorter aluminum barrel with the muzzle brake. That worked; the Illustrator stopped double-feeding and shot much straighter...but man, GI 1-Star paint still sucks ass. I found myself having to close pretty tight to make hits.

Also, the Illustrator reeeeealllly wanted to run hot; the first shot over the chrono was about 320, and it kept spiking above 290. Granted it was a hot day and I was running it on C02, but when I switched to my Pro-Lite later in the day (when it was even hotter) I didn't have nearly as much of an issue keeping the velocity in check.

As to why I switched; despite Loctite, the cocking handle did start to work itself loose again after a few hours of play. Between that and a front frame screw that did not want to stay tight, I do believe this will be a "sometimes" gun. Still, for being 34 years old it ran like a champ, and I did love the ergonomics on it...shifting hands was a breeze, and thanks to the balance even having the "M-16 style" tank configuration wasn't a problem at all.