Puma!

[nicmauro]

Have been wanting some older ICD stuff but life, money, etc. kept getting in the way. Until now!

Got this off eBay for about 70 bucks all in, what made me really want it was the original paperwork... That stuff makes me feel all warm 😂

Holds air and cycles but haven't gotten any further than that yet...

[OpusX]

Verynice

I bet Myrkul will be along shortly to oggle it and comment on tunning

[NONOBLITUS]

Nice grab

[BrickHaus]

Knowing I'm going to be parting with the cool cat, I need to find another cheap icd blow back for myself. You will love her!

[un2xs]

Congrats! Is this an early or late Puma?

I would like to snag one of the later ones with the flat surfaces separating the two halves. (I have never seen one in person.)

[nicmauro]

Not totally sure but sale date was 95 so guessing somewhere around then but it does have the notches between the halves if that's what you are referring to? It does take my ICD barrels that I have from my B2K and I was under the impression the older ones were threaded differently? Or maybe I misunderstood that when I saw people referring to "old ICD" threads 😂

[Toestr]

Old ICD refers to these threads. ICD switched to cocker threads in 2004.

[Toestr]

This looks really good with the Lapco grip.

[Kp2 Hero]

Wow I remember those , my brother has one still in the original box . he got his at Unique Paintball in Anaheim California . Brings back memories !

[Myrkul]

Verynice

I bet Myrkul will be along shortly to oggle it and comment on tunning

Mostly to oggle. I can certainly answer tuning questions as needed, so don't be shy about dropping a line if you have issues or questions. I don't work for free though, and the only form of payment I deem acceptable is more photos of that sexy beast! (I can't make out the serial number).

Here is the tuning guide.

https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/paintball-news-aa/the-armory/icd/186726-cat-modernization

[nicmauro]

Thanks! I gave it a pretty reasonable breakdown and rebuild and did a little tuning based on your info and I was able to take it out this weekend.It was shooting about 260 with velocity screw pretty much all the way in, recock all the way out and spring tension as far in as I could go. This was the only way I could get it to cycle on HPA *but* the stack clipping is real! I made some soup before giving it a break. Off to buy some nylon washers it seems...

Curious, did you try shimming the spring or sourcing something a little stiffer? I don't really want to try to drill the angled VASA, particularly without a press and I'm pretty close to where I want to be so I kind of feel like just a little more of something would get it there. I might be able to tweek the recock/velocity jets a bit too, I didn't spend a ton of time tuning that, just kind of looked for the crossover I could get it cycling consistently.

I will say, having owned a few STBB's in my life and this feels way nicer. I'm kind of surprised this valve setup didn't catch on although I am guessing milling/production was way more involved than a hollow tube with a valve jammed in. I'm not a big fan of right feeds but I think that the fairly "low and long" profile helps plus not a ton of kick, balanced gun, etc. I can keep up with the rental EMeks for sure 😂

[Myrkul]

Thanks! I gave it a pretty reasonable breakdown and rebuild and did a little tuning based on your info and I was able to take it out this weekend.It was shooting about 260 with velocity screw pretty much all the way in, recock all the way out and spring tension as far in as I could go. This was the only way I could get it to cycle on HPA *but* the stack clipping is real! I made some soup before giving it a break. Off to buy some nylon washers it seems...
Curious, did you try shimming the spring or sourcing something a little stiffer? I don't really want to try to drill the angled VASA, particularly without a press and I'm pretty close to where I want to be so I kind of feel like just a little more of something would get it there. I might be able to tweek the recock/velocity jets a bit too, I didn't spend a ton of time tuning that, just kind of looked for the crossover I could get it cycling consistently.

I will say, having owned a few STBB's in my life and this feels way nicer. I'm kind of surprised this valve setup didn't catch on although I am guessing milling/production was way more involved than a hollow tube with a valve jammed in. I'm not a big fan of right feeds but I think that the fairly "low and long" profile helps plus not a ton of kick, balanced gun, etc. I can keep up with the rental EMeks for sure 😂

Yep, those washers are the way to go, beveling the bolt tip really helped too for when the paint gets crazy small.

I did not try sourcing a different spring. A stiffer main spring is going to mean a way "rougher" shot, a way heavier trigger pull, a higher chance the sear doesn't catch, and be much harder on paint. All bad things.

I've drilled out a few puma's with a cordless at this point, it's not hard to do, just go up one drill bit at a time and be slow about it.

The other thing you might want to look into to help the velocity is a SHP tank reg, especially if you don't want to drill anything out. I run all my tanks at 950 psi, with an SHP you can get the pressures even higher, just keep bumping it up by 100 PSI at a time and test firing it until it makes field velocity. That's what I'd do if I wasn't comfortable drilling it out.

These are infinitely better then most blowbacks. Especially when you consider that they are quite a bit older then most blowbacks too, I think the puma came out in 94, hell in 94 Tippmann didn't even have the CVX valve out yet, it was Pro-AMs and Pro-Lites. Just based on trigger pull alone these beat the absolute hell out of Tippmanns and spyders of the same era. Honestly I think the reason it never caught on better was just ICD's marketing has never been super great for any of their markers. People just didn't know how good they were and weren't willing to take a gamble when they could save a few bucks with a known brand like Kingman or Tippmann or spend a lot more and get a cocker or a mag.

[nicmauro]

Good deal, I'll probably work up the nerve to drill it out, I just usually try to go non destructive first as I tend to be a bit too destructive 😂