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SHOCKER SPORT INTRODUCTION & HISTORY
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Disclaimers and Warranties:
Warning: The Shocker Sport paintball marker is not a toy. Misuse or careless use may cause serious injury or death. The user and any person within range must wear eye protection designed for paintball use. Recommended at least 18 years old to purchase, 14 years old to use with adult supervision, or 10 years old to use on paintball fields meeting ASTM standard F1777-97. Read operation manual before proceeding (or read the contents of this website). Always use barrel plugs when not involved in actual play. When gassing and degassing the marker's system, never aim the gun at another person. Always point the barrel towards the ground. Never use over-filled CO2 bottles as this will "spike" the system, causing the hoses to burst.

Attention Shocker Sport S/F owners: the Shocker Sport S/F is a select-fire marker capable of firing fully-auto. This may not be legal in some countries, such as the United Kingdom. It is the responsibility of the marker's owner to check these laws before attempting to transport the marker into that country. Failure to do so may result in heavy fines and/or imprisonment and/or confiscation of said marker, which is not covered under your warranty.

Smart Parts warrants for one year to initial retail purchaser that the Shocker Sport paintball marker and regulator be free from defects in materials and workmanship. Disposable parts, including batteries, o-rings, seals, etc. are not warranted. The fill poppet and firing piston are warranted for six months. The solenoids and electronics on your Shocker Sport are unconditionally warranted for six months, plus an additional warranty of six months for electronic parts only (installation and labor are not included). This warranty does not cover surface damages (scratches and nicks), misuse, improper disassembly and/or reassembly, or attempts made to drill holes or remove metal from the external surfaces, which could result in degrading the performance and reducing safety factors. Do not use teflon tape on any part of this marker; the tape can break off and plug the solenoids (actually, if your Shocker's manifold has a filter in it, this won't happen). Instead, use Loctite 271. Do not make changes to the basic marker parts without written approval. The only authorized lubricant for the gun is DOW 33 lubricant. use of any other lubricant could result in voiding your warranty. Use only those on/off valves purchased from Smart Parts. Unauthorized on/off valves will void this warranty. This warranty is limited to repair or replacement of defective parts with the customer to pay shipping costs. This warranty is effective only if the customer returns the warranty registration card enclosed with the marker.

Introduction:
The Shocker Sport, although no longer in production now, is a seasoned and proved design which was ahead of its time when invented and has since never been duplicated. It's a fully-electropneumatic paintball marker, meaning there is no sear, hammer, or pin valve. This combined with its unique operation lets the Shocker be one of the quietest markers on the field. It's also closed bolt like an Autococker, which means the bolt is already closed and the ball is already seated when you fire. Specifically, the ball is fired then the bolt slides back to reload another round, and automatically closes a short time afterwards. However, unlike an Autococker, you cannot control how long the bolt remains open while playing. The loading time is electronically-controlled, and allows the marker to virtually never chop a ball unless improperly timed.

The Shocker Sport has since been discontinued as mentioned earlier, however they are easy to find in used condition. In December of 2002 Smart Parts dropped the price for a new-in-box Shocker 4x4 from $700 to $450 (and dropped the $100 for vertical or powerfeed to $50). This sale lasted until December 31, when sales of the Shocker Sport were officially discontinued, and the webpage changed to an ad for the 2003 model (later known as the Shocker SFT). Smart Parts then clearanced all their remaining Sports to retailers (mainly paintballgear.com) and were sold for $450 for a brief period of time, until the price was dropped to $425, then $400, then $375, and then one final drop to $350. At the time of this writing just about all retailers have completely run dry on 2002 models. Just about the easiest way of getting a 1998-2002 Shocker at this time is to head over to eBay and find one there. You don’t have many assurances as to the marker's reliability, however most problems can be fixed by a qualified tech. You might also with to check the buy/sell/trade listings on shockerowners.com or PBnation.com.

Many players enjoy using the original Shocker because of its unusually tight shot-to-shot accuracy and low recoil; personally I see these as the marker's greatest advantages. Other characteristics include...
· 14" or 16" All American barrel (depending on year).
· Max-Flo regulator, low-pressure operation.
· Hammer-less design; produces extremely quiet shots.
· Patented dump-chamber design; maximum ROF of 13-bps.
· Electronically-controled closed bolt action.
· Design employs no external moving parts.
· Available in right feed, powerfeed, ot vertical feed body (vertical body includes dual ball detents).
· Operates with any tank using an output above 400-psi.
· Stock efficiency in the range of 700-900 shots from a 68/4500 HPA tank.
· Simplistic design makes maintenance very easy to perform.
· Once many upgrades available, including [but not limited to] frames, triggers, foregrips, feed ports, and others.
· Marker operates at 150-200 psi.
· Capable of operating off CO2, compressed air, or Nitrogen. The marker will perform better than most others on the market while on CO2, due to the operation.

History:
The Shocker was the first electropneumatic paintball marker ever manufactured (second being the Angel V6, third being the Rainmaker) in 1995. This original Shocker was actually manufacturered by a company called pneuVentures, or pVI for short. These first-generation Shockers were therefore known as pVI Shockers. The marker was jointly designed by pneuVentures and Smart Parts, however it was mostly produced by pneuVentures. PneuVentures is no longer around, however at the time they were heavily involved with devices that relied on air and air pressure, hence their name. They made pneumatic devices for NASA and various branches of the military, for instance.

The original Shockers were manufacturered by pneuVentures and sold directly through Smart Parts. The guns were expensive for the time (costing $700 plus more for accessories) but they weren't extremely well performing due to the early design. They were caped at 9-bps, large and heavy, used unreliable electronics, and weren't the best on air efficiency. The marker continued until 1997 when Smart Parts began developing their own second-generation Shocker design, after which point SP withdrew from their merchandising contract with pVI. This second-gen Shocker became the Shocker Sport marker which is the center for this section of the site. The Shocker Sport was faster firing, slightly more efficient, smaller and lighter, and used more reliable parts. Prior to the Shocker Sport in 1998, Smart Parts produced only barrels and generic marker accessories; the Shocker Sport was the first marker for SP, which as since grown to be one of the largest paintball manufacturers on the market today.
PneuVentures also began developing their own second-gen Shocker design (known as the Warrior or Cyber9000) however the company went out of business shorly afterward so the marker never made it to production.

PneuVentures and Smart Parts jointly owned several patents over the Shocker and its regulator. After pneuVentures went out of business, Smart Parts purchased the remaining patents for these technologies and were then entitled to the full ownership of them. SP then took the oppurtunity to expand the Shocker patent to cover feasibly any electronic marker out there, grounds being the Shocker was the first to use this type of part on the market (which it was).

The Shocker Sport continued production until 2002, when it was discontinued in light of more fast and lightweight markers (Ion, Impulse, Shocker SFT, etc). Many parts of the marker were changed in these five years spanning 1998-2002, including the style of the body, electronics, regulator refinements, internal parts, and others. Nowadays, this second-generation Shocker Sport has been completely discontinued. Smart Parts currenty produces a marker known as the Shocker SFT however its design is completely different and doesn't share anything with the original Shocker markers (the Shocker SFT is only named Shocker for marketing purposes). The old Shocker Sports are obviously still around, and even pVI Shockers can be infrequently spotted on the field, in the hands of diehard Shocker fans for the past decade or so. Shocker Sports aren't the fastest and lightest markers on the field, so they're not prized as overly worthy markers by the large tournament scene.
In the end, over 24 thousand Shocker Sports were made.

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The above pictures are scans from the 2002 Smart Parts catalog (the blue marker is from an ad for paintball magazines). The last picture is an early 2000 model, with the old-style body.

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