Help with dating this PGP?

[Drunkscriblerian]

Hey y'all, this is my PGP I used to rock back when I was a teenager in the mid-90s. I bought it used in 1995 off another player, and have always been curious about how old it actually is. I asked the question on Reddit and everyone bounced me back to here. I didn't see any threads in the Sheridan section about properly dating old markers individually (if I missed one I'm sorry in advance), but what I want to know is how old IS my old friend?

What I know about the gun;

-The serial number is "D117915".

-According to the person I bought it from, he inherited it from his older brother who in turn had bought it used from a field that was transitioning away from stock-class rentals and wanted to switch to constant-air guns. I have no idea if any of that is true, that's just what I was told when I bought it.

-It was already worn and "patina-ed" when I bought it. Legit, y'all...back in the day I was surprised to learn that new PGPs were black. When I bought it at 16 I assumed the brown patina was a from-the-factory thing.

Can anyone help out here? I already tried emailing baccipaintball but their weird "I'm not a robot" system kept defeating me (I'm not a robot I swear!) so now I'm asking here.

[FredMnkyDad10]

I dont know, you do sound like a drunken bender. Hahahaha sorry I do not info for you. But that is a nice looking one, the patina looks great.

[jokers]

Well in order to date a PGP you must first ask for her name, then you must buy her chocolates and flowers (she is a little old but traditional girl). When she starts to show interest you can ask her out on a date! I suggest Olive Garden all PGPs love Olive Garden!

I am going to say 90-92 because Pyrate Jim said so!

[jokers]

Can't always account for taste but I mean really who does not love some Taco Bell!

[JeeperCreeper]

This must make me Jack the PGP ripper! I skip straight to taking them to the basement and start cutting

[William the Third]

Drunkscriblerian that's because your PGP is named Wynona.

[BrickHaus]

Im not good at aging pgps, but the fact that its a Racine one tells me its likely old enough to be a component valve. Early 90s is a decent guess.

I have other pump handles like that, not sure if those are early delrin factory ( after the anodized aluminum ones) but they may help age them them.

[JeeperCreeper]

The Racine models are definitely earlier in the production run. I'm curious about that bolt, looks like a cut down Speed Demon bolt. Either way, it has just about all the fixins that you can put on a stock PGP.

[Drunkscriblerian]

@JeeperCreeper: Your eye is correct, that's exactly what it is. I was looking for parts to trick out my PGP and the shop/field owner I frequented at the time offered to garage-modify a Speed Demon bolt for it. I took him up on it. if you run the bolt back to full rearward extension you can see where he cut it down. I forget what I paid, but it ended up being worth it...made the gun much easier to cycle, and noticeably more accurate.

[Drunkscriblerian]

Thanks for all the input, y'all. One of the facts that makes aging my old friend challenging is, I bought it used. So I don't know what features came from the factory and what might have been added later. The gun did (apparently) pass through multiple owners before I bought it. Obviously the PMI grips aren't standard (they came with the gun as I bought it), and the cut-down Speed Demon bolt and C02 quick-change were added under my ownership. That pump handle though, it could've been added/changed out by someone before I bought it and I'd never know.

Question; does anyone know how about how long it takes the original black-oxide finish present on Sheridan guns to age into the "patina brown" color? Because my PGP already had the patina-brown look when I bought it in '95. Could that fact affect anyone's ability to tell its age?

[JeeperCreeper]

So if that's the pump handle it came with, (assuming it wasn't swapped out at some point) it's probably from around '94, or right around the Crossman buyout of Sheridan. After that, they dropped the rear sight. This is about as accurate as I can be.

Source: wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP_(paintball_marker)

So she's old enough to date

[AnarchicArctic]

Interesting bit of history there

[chplnstone]

the finish on your pgp is a worn/faded ebonal treatment, a product no longer available (caustic), it would have been nearly black new. p-series markers switch over to a painted finish right around the time of the crosman buyout iirc

[Drunkscriblerian]

Interesting, I didn't know that. Do you know if they switched metals in the grip frame/tube body also after the buyout? I remember the new PGPs I'd see in stores in the mid to late 90s were always noticeably lighter than mine.