I know at one point people had shrouds on the front of their autocockers to cover the front pneumatics and then those all seemed to stop being used or go away in the early 2000s. Why is that? Was it considered not needed? Was their concern getting shot in the front of the autococker could break a barb or microline?
-
-
It stopped the day the first autococker upgrade was invented. You left the shroud off so you could show your bling...... if you had a shroud it meant you were all stock under the hood. So even in the early 90s nobody used them -
From personal experience I’ve never had an autococker go down from a shot to the pneumatics. While I think it would certainly be possible, my guess is it just didn’t happen to enough people to be a significant concern.
Add in that in the early 2000s markers were rapidly trending towards being faster and lighter. Taking off the shroud is an easy and quick way to shed some weight.
I do love the look of matching shrouds on custom annodized autocockers from the late 90s.
Check out my YouTube channel for overview videos of the WGP Karnivor and WGP Orracle!
https://www.youtube.com/@ScrambledEggs71Comment
-
The shroud was just a place to put your hand on the days before vertical regs. As cocker users moved away from vertical tanks and holding the guns like pumps the shrouds were ditched.
Comment
-
I still want one for my latest buildPumps4ever Feedback Page https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/b...-feedback-page
Need World Class Genetics for your garden
Check out https://californiaseedbank.com/
WE Trade paintball gear Old School to NewComment
-
I sometimes feel like running a neoprene one so I don't have to clean the front end's at the end of the day-Team Silver Creek United-Comment
-
I still have the matching shroud for my Bob Long Cocker, but I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I actually used it. They're bulky and mess up the sight line down the side. I keep it because it's match anodized and original, though it's been a dust collector for decades.Comment
-
So a lot of what people already said...
But the earliest autocockers had, well, shitty regs. The first one really wasn't even a regulator. It didn't regulate. It either made pressure, didn't, or blew the hose. It really needed to be adjusted before every game or at least twice a day. So many folks cut a hole in the shroud so you could adjust it without taking it off.
That's a sniper 1 that was sent back in for the autococker conversion and has the first "reg" on it.
Later on as regulators became a thing: Think Jackhammer 2 regs, Palmers, etc. They still were adjustable, but would actually regulate. Folks still cut the hole.
But yeah, people did want to show off the fancy stuff underneath and now we had secondary regulators to hold... So off came the shrouds. I think this was also around the same time that WGP started making cheaper and "meh" shrouds that people were more than happy with just taking off and removing. It's not like they all went on easily either.
I don't know the first gun to not have a shroud regretfully, but I know my first Black Magic did not come with one. Probably the STO's before that didn't have them either.I am the admin...Comment
-
I would bet some of the first owners were who first omitted the shrouds.
Last gun I held with a shroud on was a ans gx3 when my buddy bought one new in the early 2000's. He put the shroud on more put of curiosity to see how it looked. Only to find out after that it fit so tight it scratched the anodizing on his new gun.Comment
-
I want to love them - I to still get all tingly when i see one of those early smart parts adds. having finally built my dream big block autococker 30 years later, they just feel all wrong to actually play with - you just don't you gun that way, and the added weight just sucks!Comment
-
Personally? Last 'Cocker I built that used a shroud, was this one in 1996:
I also still have my 'Green Cannon' built around the same time, and with a similarly skeletonised shroud, but really, by '98 or so, hardly anyone used them anymore, at least in my experience.
As others noted, most of us wanted to show off the "bling" of the color-matched LPR, the chromed 3-way and the nickeled ram, along with the color-matched hoses and milled front block.
Sliding on an aluminum shroud scratched the LPR and front block- and keep in mind that back then, players were paying upwards of $700 to PK Selective for some really wild anno. Hell, the chrome Quickswitch- the first one Palmer ever did in chrome- on my green gun, cost me $65 back then. That's the equivalent of almost $135 today!
Today? The only time I see a 'Cocker with a shroud is like Happy's pics: Examples of older, rare collectibles, like the APL 'Cockers and whatnot.
Then there's always this one from '96, too:
Doc.
Doc's Machine & Airsmith Services: Creating the Strange and Wonderful since 1998!
The Whiteboard: Daily, occasionally paintball-related webcomic mayhem!
Paintball in the Movies!Comment
-
I typically take the shroud off right before my front block gets removed and put in a box.
Can't pump through a shroud.
Comment
Comment