What happened to J4 paintball?

[Richter power]

J4 torque

[Rage aka LWard]

They are still around. Mainly seems to be focusing on things other than the Torque at the moment. Covid really derailed the company's direction. Then the main guy had a lot of work related things outside of J4 to do, big time intensive projects. Then there were personal matters that needed to be dealt with. Go check out of their Facebook page and read through what's been going on with them for the last 3-4 years.

[Jonnydread]

I just picked up a few of their "PAT" barrels. I like J4

[Chuck E Ducky]

There barrel kits rock! Can’t beat them for the money!

[cfos00]

They released some markers---but they had major issues. Those major issues really did not help them in terms of staying power. I know people who have one, and it had big problems. The efficiency was absolute garbage, and I believe the big thing was the board. Those were done out of house, and did them no favors.

[flyweightnate]

I have a Torque with a Sci-fi and it's great, but I haven't checked efficiency - which I hear was due to a loose bolt fit and a soft ram spring.

I think the plan was to use barrel sales to keep a foot in the door and cash coming in until they can re-release the Torque, with a mech switch on the way, too.

It's my only battery gun at the moment, and I have literally zero complaints with it, but I hear that's unusual. The previous owner did all the fixes I guess. I hope they get their ducks in a row and take another stab at it, soon. Shot quality is great, according to everyone I've handed it off to. But, bringing a product to market is a huge endeavor, and each part you outsource is another chance to have an unexpected problem.

[flyweightnate]

Correct. Like a giant matrix bolt tail replacing a Timmy ram, running through the valve body.

There are some good section views floating around. The concept is incredibly straightforward; someone just had to think it up.

[flyweightnate]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRtXwJLk9o

This shows a digital "teardown" animation.

[The Hobbit]

Yeah I was a little disappointed when I learned about these. I was in the mental process of designing this exact thing 18ish months ago. Trying to achieve a dream of bringing something novel to the paintball industry. Oh well still cool these exist, maybe one day I’ll get that novel design and follow it through.

[Jordan]

I've wanted a Torque since the day the prototype was posted on the Tinker's Guild. Hopefully they get released again and I have the money for it. 🙂

[Jonnydread]

Didn’t they rerelease the torque with a bunch of fixes and updates?

[moving_target]

he did updates and fixes, not a true rerelease though, I've got one that's got 90% of the fixes I think. Still hoping for the mech version

[Chuck E Ducky]

So did they ever release a mech version of the torque? Any info on that is it a single trigger mech? (Like Tournament compliant)

[moving_target]

So did they ever release a mech version of the torque? Any info on that is it a single trigger mech? (Like Tournament compliant)

J4's basically a one man show at the moment, and he's got a lot of stuff always on his plate, that said. He's done at least two prototypes, currently working on a third, I try to keep up with it on facebook when he posts, which is about once a month.

[maggot]

The mech version would have been a game changer at the time.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I feel like if they could produce a fast single trigger mech marker in that profile it would be a big hit.

Looks like they posted something 6 days ago and the single trigger mech is still in the works. I guess I should follow this more. It seems like a really cool concept I hope it works as good as there barrels. Because I love their barrel kit.

I didn’t know Doc was involved with the prototype. Are the people behind J4 MCB members? I would love to hear more about the mech version. It’s a nice looking marker.

I want to shoot one.

Anyone have one?

[Chuck E Ducky]

Cool. We will have to meet up some time. I want to shoot it. Those sci-fi boards sound cool. You need to download an app or something to tune them?

[flyweightnate]

Yeah, the Sci-Fi is a third party board that uses an app and Bluetooth to adjust. It makes it easy to pick 10bps true semi, then go to the chrono to show off and switch to unlimited FA, then switch back.

I think there are hall effect sensors for the ram/spool, which simplifies things like picking a dwell, and the little spring on the spool closes the valve when reservoir pressure drops below a certain amount, making it hard to have your dwell "too high" from an efficiency standpoint. That was designed in to a prototype decades ago, but I think the LV core was the first full production design that had a similar pressure-sensing shutoff.

A lot of cool ideas in this one.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I would definitely give a mech version a try especially if it’s Tournament compliant. I’m going to keep an eye on this one.

[zinger565]

As others have said, it's a one man show, but he does post semi-regular updates. I've got a Torque with all the "upgrades" and it's really fun to shoot. I'm patiently waiting for the mech frame, but in the mean time I do suggest their PAT barrel kit.

[fullofpaint]

IMO they kinda shot themselves in the foot with their constant posting about "fixes". Anytime I've seen a post from them come up in my feed for the past decade, it's some variation on; "got this updated part in, but it's xx thickness wrong. Had enough to fix two, waiting on a new batch to fix everyone else's".