Prototype guns that never came out

[RPP]

I've always wished the Zealot made it to production.

[Ecapnation]

I saw prints and cad trust me you don't want that

[Magmoormaster]

zdspb has an animation. It looks very similar to shockers.

[flyweightnate]

The original Phantom Revolution - the battery-powered, revolving breech semiautomatic - comes to mind.

[Calvin]

OK, I'm confused. I just googled the Phantom Revolution and got led to this youtube vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUc1Pv5_oKY
This is not the design I remember. IIRC, APG had color ads by CCI in the mid 90s for a revolving bolt semi in a Phantomesque chassis called the Phantom Revolution. To my mid 20s brain, this sounded like the perfect paintball feed system to prevent chopping of balls. I would read the ads again every month, and I'm pretty sure I called CCI to inquire at one point about it. The video referenced above appears to be a pump actuated pneumatically. Why would CCI release a completely different design with the same name? Was it simply that the revolving bolt idea was a complete flop and they were masking that failure by releasing this pneumatic pump and then claiming that was what they meant to do all along? Was it all a drug fueled mid-90s fever dream???

[The Inflicted]

I think everyone would agree that Mike's decision to reuse the "Revolution" name of the aborted electronic prototype was confusing, if not frustrating. Whether Mike decided to do so to save on having to pay for another trademark registration, because the eventual gun was an evolution from his work on the electronic gun, or he just liked the name "Revolution" is anyone's guess. https://www.vintagerex.com/cgi-bin/i...ent%20Concepts

[Calvin]

So, I'm not as crazy as I suspected. That's comforting.

[DocsMachine]

The issue on the Revolution- the original one- was the system was comparatively slow. I don't recall how slow, but I was given the impression it'd only do 4-6 BPS, and Mike figured for the rather astronomical cost it'd take to tool up and produce it, sales wouldn't justify it.

It's also worth noting that he asked the internet if they'd be interested in what became the actual Revolution, and we all answered with a resounding "YES!"

So he made 200 of them... and nobody bought one.

Literally. He eventually gave away a few, and as I understand it, the last- the bulk of the run- was fire-saled out. A few were legit purchases, but not many, and nowhere near enough to justify the sunk costs.

Doc.

[The Inflicted]

The issue on the Revolution- the original one- was the system was comparatively slow. I don't recall how slow, but I was given the impression it'd only do 4-6 BPS, and Mike figured for the rather astronomical cost it'd take to tool up and produce it, sales wouldn't justify it.

It's also worth noting that he asked the internet if they'd be interested in what became the actual Revolution, and we all answered with a resounding "YES!"

So he made 200 of them... and nobody bought one.

Literally. He eventually gave away a few, and as I understand it, the last- the bulk of the run- was fire-saled out. A few were legit purchases, but not many, and nowhere near enough to justify the sunk costs.

Doc.

Does anyone on here have one of those?

[DocsMachine]

No, I meant the "pump" version. There's only the one prototype electric Revolution, far as I know.

I've got one of the pumps around here somewhere, I think I took it in on trade? Not sure I've even gassed it up yet.

Doc.

[RuleOfSines]

Its overall a downgrade from the original, best as a curiosity

[Chuck E Ducky]

Revolution the pump is not a bad shooter I have one. Setting them up took a bit more effort but they did work.

[Myrkul]

Here is one that could have been super cool.

"Destructive Customs" ICD Freestyle Pro. I can find almost nothing about it except this old PBN thread and this picture.



I HAVE toyed with the idea of calling Jared at AKA and asking if there were ever any actually any made, and if so what would be needed to finish them, but I need to finish a lot of other projects first before I start asking those kinds of questions.

[Magageddon]

The Destroyer, looked like a drum fed tommy gun, only 2 were made, but it had a big enough enough impact to make it on the waffens elite team shirts.

[RuleOfSines]

Here's a few that were essentially prototypes, single or low two digit production I think.


AM4 Diadem
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/ma...rs/am4-diadem/



Alien Revelation
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/manufacturers/alien/revelation/


AV1 Falcon
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/manufacturers/avratech/falcon/


H8TR
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/manufacturers/valhalla-air/h8tr/


The Phoenix we wanted
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/manufacturers/metadyne/phoenix-prototype/

[Magmoormaster]

I miss that Falcon

[uv_halo]

Going thru my old pictures and I thought I'd post up some pics of some prototypes that never came out. Some of them are pretty wild.


Revolve

Man, while that Revolve gun is visually and maybe even mechanically interesting, I can't imagine that making it past player testing for its intended audience- speedball. A paintball gun without a sight / or sight raile that actively prevents you from sighting along the body/barrel....

[Magmoormaster]

I mean, if you're trying to sight down the barrel or body of the gun, you're playing speedball wrong....

[uv_halo]

I mean, if you're trying to sight down the barrel or body of the gun, you're playing speedball wrong....

I'm not disagreeing with you but, I've had plenty of speedballers tell me that they don't need sights or sight rails because they can use the body and/or the barrel to line up their shots. Honestly, I think most just point in a general direction and just walk the rope onto the target. But, for those that play games that would benefit from aiming before shooting (i.e. pump or stock class), a sight would make more sense than trying to use the barrel or body, in terms of repeatability at least.

[uv_halo]

Here's a few that were essentially prototypes, single or low two digit production I think.


AM4 Diadem
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/ma...rs/am4-diadem/



H8TR
https://www.peculiarpaintball.com/manufacturers/valhalla-air/h8tr/

That Diadem looks stuck between two worlds- speedball and tactical. An AR-15 stock on a vert feed gun? Weird. Even the MTAC had an offset feed.

That H8TR looks incredibly similar to the Vector. What's the story with that gun? I remember seeing a lot of references to it on the old forum.

[Magmoormaster]

I'm not disagreeing with you but, I've had plenty of speedballers tell me that they don't need sights or sight rails because they can use the body and/or the barrel to line up their shots. Honestly, I think most just point in a general direction and just walk the rope onto the target. But, for those that play games that would benefit from aiming before shooting (i.e. pump or stock class), a sight would make more sense than trying to use the barrel or body, in terms of repeatability at least.

I think you're right; people will say that's what they do but I'd bet most don't. I certainly don't; I'm familiar enough with how my guns shoot/point that I'll be very close to on target just by instinct pointing. I'll then adjust based on range or wind or whatever.

[maggot]

J2's mechanical gun. The prototype shot phenomenally and the timing for it's release would have been perfect (prior to all the current mech guns). Instead they changed priorities and made that dumb electronic gun.

[flyweightnate]

That Diadem looks stuck between two worlds- speedball and tactical. An AR-15 stock on a vert feed gun? Weird. Even the MTAC had an offset feed.

That H8TR looks incredibly similar to the Vector. What's the story with that gun? I remember seeing a lot of references to it on the old forum.

Having owned a few Diadems, that's the first one I saw kitted out in their AM-4 hardware. Should be easy enough to swap the bottom of a Diadem onto an AM-4, but they actually drilled it for eyes!

I can't back this up, but a few hundred speedball Diadems probably lived in the wild at some point, just based on the variation I've seen across "generations" and the relatively mature state of the last few I had. Rare... but well past prototype.

Of course, that doesn't mean they weren't building the plane as they flew. Lots of variation in the upper half, many of the eye holes were still raw, the cosmetic machining was an evolving process, etc.

All said, they shot great, but it's hard to compete against established companies on borrowed time in Dad's machine shop (or at least that's the rumor I heard).

[uv_halo]

Thanks! Maybe the AM-4 didn't sell too well, given the awkwardness. I think the MTAC suffered a similar fate in that not many folks bought one (I think mostly BL collectors).

[Ecapnation]

The Mtac suffered from coming out too late. While aesthetically amazing looking it used a hopper and it hit market just as mag fed became a thing.

Fun fact about them too...

Bob basically prototyped the marq victory by cutting chunks off the Mtac