The History of Fifty?

[DocsMachine]

A discussion on another board led me to wonder if anyone knows the... history? Timeline? of .50 cal paint.

I mean, as far as I know, the first and only .50 prior to the resurgence in the late oughts, was the Spotmarker. Were there any others? I recall reading that Bud offered early Snipers with .50 cal conversions, but I suspect few were made and fewer survive today.

What happened after that? I seem to recall you could get blowgun .50 balls...

So what was the timeline? Did they start making some specifically for the Spotmarker, switched to occasional runs of blowgun ammo in the years after, and then restarted full production when they started pushing it again in the late oughts?

Come to think of it, you could ask the same thing for .62. Was .62 made just for the SMG? Or were other guns made to take .62? Only one I know if was the... what, Brazilian Skorpion? Something like that?

I mean, I should know more of this, but really, the magazines (my main source of information back then) hardly said a word about either .50 or .62, and locally, I only saw one Spotmarker (which the owner couldn't get paint for) and only saw SMG's in pictures 'til I picked one up a few years ago.

Anyone have some info? I'd be curious to know.

Doc.

[Chemical-x.....ahain]

The AGA is the only thing I can think of not listed. but it was the receiver portion of the crossman .3357

[COB]

I could be wrong, and my wife will say I definitely am, but I believe the original Forestry and Farm markers were 62 cal oil based paint.

[Drcemento]

the Nel-spot 707 most definitely was made for 68 caliber paint and that pre-dates the 007

[Painthappy]

There were other guns that used and shot the .62 caliber paint, but not many. Obviously the AGA 62. Bud Orr made the .62 caliber sniper and it was stamped as such on the serial number. Line SI made a .62 caliber gun, though if I measure mine it seems closer to .60 so go figure... Sleeves were sold for certain guns in both .62 and .50, but those were not specific built guns, just adapters for PMI's / PGP or the such.

For .50, the only real gun I know of is the 3357. Bud did make a .50 caliber sniper, it was just a one-off. I believe that was just for some New Jersey court room or some thing like that. Don't quote me on any of that, but it was for a specific case when they wanted to ban paintball.

Of course Gurn-Z shot the .555

I remember playing as a early teenager when all three were out and used on the field at the same time. The SMG-60's were running and kept people down. Everyone else shot 68 caliber. The only .50 cal was being used as a back up gun and it was a 3357. I remember the old timer (he was probably younger than I am now) told me he liked it to shoot through brush as the ball was smaller and slightly harder to break and would get through the bush. I can speak for the validity of that statement, but that's exactly what he told me and believed at the time.

I don't believe there was ever a case for .50 caliber back in the day. Just the 3357 shot it really. The argument was over .62 and .68 for a bit, but that didn't last long either as well... you know... physics.

[DocsMachine]

The AGA was .62 caliber, the Spotmarker was .50.

And the 707, 007 and Splatmaster were all .68.

Which is my basic question: Did Crosman (or whoever made/commissioned the Spotmarker) also invest in having a run of .50 paint made? Did Tippmann, on developing the SMG, have to have .62 made for it? Or were those already available, and if so, for what or whom?

Heck, if Tippmann had .62 made, why that and not .68, which was even at the time already kind of the standard.

I realize this is the kind of thing that really only interests the odd enthusiast.

Doc.