Curious Case of the Sniper 1 Autococker

[Painthappy]

I had to have this gun. It fit in my collection perfectly, but is quite an interesting piece. It doesn't really have any value as it is a mutt, not as valuable as a sniper 1, not really usable as an Autococker, but she fits in my space just fine.

Sniper 1

Lets upload some photos so everyone is on the same page. This is an original unmolested Sniper 1.









Things to note. The pump only has 4 rib marks, the sight rail is screwed on and is only on a small section of the gun. The back block hold the bolt via screw.

Next up is the Sniper 1.5

I've always called it this, the name seems to have stuck. It really should be better known as the Gen 1 Sniper 2, but sniper 1.5 is just easier to say. This one is well used. It is the first gun I ever purchased that was not plastic. I have photos of me using this at EMR for pump play. I love this gun, hence why it shows signs of much use.





Things to note: The only thing different here from the Sniper 1, is that the body has changed. We now have a full extruded rail body, but the back block, bolt, pump, etc is all the same. Serial number 2440

[Painthappy]

Now for the Autococker!

This is the earliest known unmolested Autococker I am aware of. There is probably an earlier one in existence, but this is mine and is stock aside from the milled barrel.

Serial Number 6427





Now here we have an all brass front as most of us know them. That's not really a regulator per se. The way that works is you screw it out, pull the trigger and hold the trigger in, then start screwing the know in (clockwise) until the back block comes out and cocks the gun. Now you can play.

It now has the Gen 2 sniper back block with the new through bolt and also the extruded body style. This will not change for quite some time.

Also note that the rod is not bent. It is actually two pieces (ram and back block rod) that are welded together.



This is the Autococker I purchased in 1992 (Maybe.. I really can't fully remember exactly when)





I always love to point out the lack of a secondary regulator. We never used them (they didn't exist) and the gun will run fine. This version I purchased new, and has been woefully (looking back on it) upgraded. Trigger job, detente, hammer 2 regulator, etc. But the rod is the same. It is a bent rod. We have moved on from the two-piece rod.

This is all to lead me onto the next post

[Painthappy]

The Sniper 1 Autococker.












As we've seen through the gun's generations, they had the new body style for the Sniper 2 before they came out with the Autococker (hence why it was actually called the Sniper 2 Autococker)

The early versions of the Autococker had the welded rod.

Here was have the Sniper 2 everything, early brass autococking front, bent rod, the shroud is circa 1998 aftermarket so probably a replacement of the original... What's left is that we have a Sniper 1 body.

So odd. You couldn't buy them this way.

The only thing I can assume is that this is an example of someone that owned the sniper 1 and sent it in for a conversion to be done. Unless folks have other ideas!! It's only value is nostalgia, but as I said, fits perfectly amongst the small collection of early WGP guns.

This concludes today's show and tell. Just found this to be interesting.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Great bit of history, thanks! Never seen one of the bolted on back blocks before. I ended up with an early 1994 (or so) slab side that I'm still tinkering with to get to proper FPS. It looks very similar to your Sniper 1 Autococker, right down to the pull pin in the bolt. Didn't think I liked the old slab sides until I got my hands on one and it changed my mind.

[Paintslinger16]

I also bought my first Autococker in 91/92 don’t remember the number, I sent it to BBT for Some “Love” pun intended. Sold it, bought it back years later and pretty sure I sold it on the old MCB boards.
My friend bought a serial number 800 a Thompson pump, and that was the first WGP gun I had seen late ‘88

[Ecapnation]

Mr..Carter..... Brace thine self!

The information that Bud told me about sniper 1 conversions to cocker was interesting.

- A good bunch of them were made for staff and sponsored teams to test the concept prior to releasing the cocker because they had older back inventory of sniper 1 bodies to hack on.

- A few were commercially converted when they offered that but they stopped offering that fairly quickly.

oh.... And hears mine fore good measure.

This was bought from a wgp tech at an event by a BBT employee prior to the auto cocker being public knowledge.

I left it as bought from the second owner granted it he's some modern parts. You can see the BBT feed vents and wire detent.wotk.

[Axel]

I am enjoying these retired-Carter posts 👍

[Painthappy]

I figure I have no excuses now. Just have to pull stuff out of bins, which is a pain in the butt by the way...

[Painthappy]

Ecapnation Oh, interesting. So that does throw a wrench into it. Without any evidence otherwise I'll probably still default to the conversion theory only due to the non-two piece cocking rod, but I suppose that could have been changed at any point if the two piece one broke.

I see yours has a two piece as my early Autococker does also. I did not know this information. This is why I love sharing stuff, you never know what you're going to learn.

[Ecapnation]

Mine was also someone's daily shooter up till I bought it. It has been tweaked a bit through the years.

As far as I know yours makes up 3 converted snipers I've seen..... Your's, Bacci's and mine.

[Morgenstern]

“It’s only value is nostalgia” I know YOU know what site you’re on but...do you know what site you’re on? :-)

[Impactfour]

Man that's so cool. Someday I wanna get a sniper born in 93 as I was also born that year. This is the type of info that makes MCB such a cool repository of knowledge.

[SETHZILLA!]

I bought my first Sniper 2 in '93, it's my favorite gun by far.

[DocsMachine]

My green cannon is #66XX, and I bought that, well-used and modified, in '92 or '93. I then bought my first milling machine in '94, and had it milled, modded and reannoed by '96.

And it hasn't seen the field since Alaska's first-and-only APL tournament in '98.

Doc.

[Shane-O]

Pics or it didnt happen.....

[maggot]

What a prime collection! Thanks for sharing.

[William the Third]

I've got cocker 6215, but I know really little of its history. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

[Psycho91]

Must fight urge to build old ass autococker...damn you MCB 😂

[Cdn_Cuda]

Give in to the dark (slab) side….

[OpusX]

Pre2k is most the best. Please do the needful and make for a build of cocker.

[William the Third]

Here is my 6215.

[Brokeass_baller]

What's that hole on the passenger side for? Hammer lug set screw?

[William the Third]

That is my assumption, but currently no screw is accessible through that hole right now. Maybe it had a different striker/hammer in it back in the day or something? Usually they were drilled on the drivers side.