Bud was making Sniper 1 - machined bodies - in his garage

http://www.mcarterbrown.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=230

Reference : From November of 1989 APG issue

If it's over #2100 then they will have the sniper II body.

They used up the Sniper 1 stock (so the #2100 - 2500 is more or less a sniper 1 1/2, after that they were true sniper II's.

Joelrf600r: "a 1.5 is the nickname for the transition guns that didn't have all the sniper2 features, but had the extruded sniper2 body. They essentially have the extruded body, but still have the sniper1 style bolt/block combo. some of them have the sniper1 pump, others have the sniper2 pump. i don't know what the number range is for them."

2524 looks like a 1.5

In the article if refers to the switch in the summer of '89.
"WGP made the switch from a machined to an extruded receiver. Snipers with serial numbers over 2000 have the extruded bodies, as do all the new Sniper II's." Also states that breech chamber size was reduced after serial #400 to prevent double feeds. The pictures in the article show serial number 2555.

APG press release Nov 1989 -- pg58/59 -- pg61 -- pg62 -- pg64

I know 2530 is a sniper II --
PAINTCHECK Mar 1990 press release -- pg23
I know 2841 is a sniper II (Firepro84's)

1984 - Sheridan adds a pump handle to their PG.

Inspired by the Sheridan Valve Train, Bud Orr begins works on building a more rubust body to add a removable barrel to.

1987 - Sniper 1 introduced - hand made by Bud in his garage.

Note the 4 ribbed pump grip and Sheridan frame.

Many came w/ square ASA's and many came w/ the more standard round ASA's
On square block asa's: PBJedi : "Square block Snipers where early guns that used a different style pin valve. I have #274 with a square block, The highest # I've seen was #311. Many went back to Worr game and got the asa replaced to use the pin valves that had become standard by that time."

Sniper 1s we also available in 62 caliber

ForePro's #50
Vintage Rex's #165 Thompson
Painthappy's 62 #120 -- ssn -- pic2

pic from vintage rex

1988 - Sniper I - shown w/ thompson stock, ribbed barrel

pic from vintage rex

pic Thompson Style (May 1988)

pic 'California Style' Bud Orr WGP Sniper Gun (July 1988)

Summer 1989 - Sniper II is introduced -- The two main issues for the new design were the redesigned valve that decreased dwell increasing 12 gram efficiency from 15 good shots to 25 shots to help compete w/ Nelson based markers being used at the time - and a "quick strip bolt" that made for quicker field cleaning. ( Apparently tournament players complained about the number of turns needed to unscrew the barrels to clean.)

Another major change was Bud shifting to extruded aluminum bodies.

APG press release Nov 1989 -- pg58/59 -- pg61 -- pg62 -- pg64

PAINTCHECK Mar 1990 press release ---- pg22 -- pg23

The ribbed barrel was an upgrade feature for the Sniper II's (not standard)

Note sight rail, and bolt comes through rear block

the pump grip handles came both in both 4 rib and 9 rib versions.

APG August 1991 ad

The Sniper II, is easily recognized by its full-length integrated sight rail and quick release bolt hole in back block.

Old ad w/ all models shown
Great Close up of California Style

Re: Intellectual Property Holdings, Your File No. 012964

Dear Sir:
My name is Glenn Palmer; owner/operator of Palmers Pursuit Shop, which was established in 1987 but has remained a relatively small, service based, operation that also manufactures many products relevant to the situation at hand. Specifically, the auto-cocking, pneumatic system that your client, Worr Games Products, would like for us to believe they have intellectual rights to. In short, I am the one that invented, developed and produced the auto-cocking system, mechanisms and some of the individual components that were adapted for use on/in the Paintball gun now known as the Autococker ™. As such, the true owner of some “valuable intellectual properties”.

After my review of a letter from you to Action Markers, I was thoroughly dismayed by the nefarious nature of its content. While I certainly understand one’s desire to protect their property in this industry, I cannot overlook the fact that your client has long been intentionally and knowingly copying my products and developments, as well as those of several others in and outside of the Paintball industry, thus causing “excessive customer confusion” that can no longer “continue unabated”. Given the present set of circumstances, I find threats of expensive litigation in the Federal Courts, to be utterly reprehensible so I must openly refute all unreasonable claims of “proprietary technologies” and “intellectual property” made by anyone representing or affiliated with the Worr Games Products organization, made for the purpose of creating hardships for others in the business of Paintball. Unfortunately, K2 bought into the same misrepresentations that the folks at WGP have been promoting for about 14 years now, which has in fact brought significant financial loss to me and others.

From my layman’s point of view, it seems that you need to reevaluate your position in regards to the assets that were gained in the acquisition of Worr Games Products Inc. . It may just be that K2 and their new affiliates are actually infringing on MY intellectual properties and might consider this as a demand to cease and desists doing so.

Should you or any of your clients wish to discuss this in greater depth, I can be reached at my place of business between the hours 2:00 and 6:00 PM, Pacific time, most weekdays. See letterhead for contact information. I look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,
Glenn E. Palmer
*************************************

Glenn : They never did respond to me. I'm pretty sure that the last thing they want is for what I know - and can prove- to become a matter of fact in the public record.

Glenn: Actually, this all started many years before K2 had any interest in Paintball. Mr Orr has been marketing a false image all along and K2 fell for it too, just as you have. He has been quite adept at taking credit for the efforts of so many others while completely avoiding responsibility for any bad things that are seen. The corporate lawyers are just the muscle behind the cover up.

Hurricane Press Release -- PaintCheck 6/1990
pg26 pg27

Hurricane Press Release -- APG 12/1990
pg47 pg49 pg94 pg95

from Glenn Palmer on the Camille :
"I began putting "Camille" together in early August 1988 and it became a working model in Sept. '88.. However, I didn't get a couple of bugs worked out of the automation system, namely the switch (4-way valve) and timing setup until late October. I dubbed it a Hurricane because most would simply seek out the best cover available when it was bearing down on them...In all honesty here, I got the idea for my automation system from David Craig who was Mat Brown's partner in what was then Adventure Game Supplies, now TASO. He had a really strange looking prototype of an automated Sheridan at a tournament in New York ...I wanted a semi for myself because an old football injury in my shoulder was causing me considerable discomfort from pumping a gun several hundred times a day, especially in tournament play...." full text here

Glenn: in 1996 in this online chat here
[21:50] *Typhoon* U bet, they paid attention... Bud applied the system that i developed to the Sniper an viola... Autococker

Wolf13 adds :
"WGP/K2 sent cease and desist letters all the companies using non wg body's including CCM and Action Markers a couple of years ago, killing the CCM semiauto's (AM was already struggling and closed shortly after). This letter prompted Glen Palmer to write his famous open letter to K2 in response for round 312 of the WGP/Palmer dispute in which he once again stated his claim to developing the first functional autococking direct feed marker and the K2 had been misinformed that WGP had any rights to the system. K2 never responded. "

Glenn says: "Proving my point beyond any reasonable doubt will be no problem at all and Bud knows it. Yes, two prime pieces of evidence have been stolen but I could easily replicate them if need be and there is a lot more where those came from anyway. Even just dated magazine references would meet the burden of "a perponderance" of the evidence. ... K2 has not yet responded and I kind of doubt they will. I don't think they want what I know and can proove, to become a matter of fact in the public record; and there is little that would give me greater satisfaction.
No, I didn't patent the automation system or any of the component designs but I did try to make sure that no one else could patent any of it legitimately either...and that's all I have to say about that"

Quote:GP@PPS in the PBNation WGP forum : I showed Bud how to make it work for the Sniper in April of 1990 (after he had been trying to "steal" the idea for over a year). He made a copy of the Tornado in June of 1990 but didn't get the "auto-cocker" going until the end of '90 or very early in '91. As far as I know, the Ironmen were the first team to get them because they already knew how to use the system; from using my guns to start on their winning ways.

RE: CO2 Mail, *** magazine, May 2001; For the record.

Hello Jeff,
Just to keep this from being a novel, I'll get right to the point. In short, your letter to *** was completely out of line, since you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
It appears that your father is not being completely honest with you and that is quite unfortunate. Steve Novak's statement in the referenced article is quite accurate and your rebuttal is based entirely on misinformation propagated by your father and associates to preserve a false image. While I certainly didn't invent pneumatic automation in general, I am certainly the one that figured out how to put it to use effectively in/on a paintball gun. Bud didn't even get a chance to actually see how it worked for over a year after I had my semi auto going and in use. The fellow that he was getting his info from here in Nor Cal, the one you describe as an "engineer", was a local field operator here in Sacramento that was looking at the guns that I had in operation here. The only engineering that he did was in reverse and then got Bud involved in trying to do the conversion. That turkey (Jamel) even had the audacity to call me and tell me what they (him and Bud) were doing. They were going to "put you out of business" by offering the conversion at half the price that I did. That was at least good for a laugh as I told him to go for it. Keep in mind that this was well over a year since I built my gun and shortly after building a couple others. So you see, everything that Bud was doing with pneumatic automation was a direct result of my development work. I even explained the process to him personally and showed him exactly how the system could be adapted to the Sniper at an Easter seals benefit game in Northern Calif., exactly 11 years ago this week. (April 1990)
You also ***-u-me that Matt Brown (AGS) was into the process of developing a semi before I was; which is a big mistake. Matt's partner at the time, Dave Craig showed the prototype of what they were working on at a tournament in New York in June of 1988 and I was already well into the process. Enough so that I offered to help them finish their design in exchange for some sources on components. I was not at all interested in production of such equipment at the time, but was determined to have a semi for myself so as not to aggravate an old shoulder injury farther. Another important fact is that their attempt at making a semi with pneumatic automation never really made it to market. After I got mine running and called Dave with the info that they would need to finish theirs, including a regulator design that would fit inside the gun, AGS had decided to not market the gun because it was too complicated. In my deal with Dave Craig, I agreed to not build more of them for a period of time and in that I am a man of my word, I upheld that agreement even though AGS had chosen not to market the equipment. I was quite happy to have the only functional, gravity fed semi on the field. By the way, the first semi autos utilized the same system that we use now. You mentioned a "sentinel" valve as being used on the AGS version. Wrong again. The valve that they were trying to get to work was a standard Clippard pneumatics 4-way valve, model FV-4. Quite similar to the 4-way valves used today, except that it is spring return operation. That's the main reason the gun wouldn't fire effectively; there was no means to time the gun to set the cycles of operation effectively. In my design, I modified the 4-way valve that I got from AGS to remove the spring return and latter chose to use a Humphrey valve model 4PPX on my rifle conversions and later in pistol setups as well. The Humphrey 4PPX valve is still used to this day on the semi auto rifles that we build and is the design that bud copied exactly in the 4-way valves that were made for the 'cocker until the 2000 model. He copied exactly, the internal workings of the Humphrey valve to the point that parts from either are completely interchangeable. The only difference between the valves was the positions of the hose barbs. As you know, a couple of my older guns have been stolen recently during trips to southern cal. but I still have a couple around that predate anything built by WGP by quite some time. Some of those even have sliding triggers
That provided easier access to control the 4-way over a pivoting trigger. Coincidentally, I have to wonder why the AutoCocker bears such a close resemblance in the layout and even the internals of some of the components.

Now, you folks can play all the games that you want with image and reputation but you best get your facts straight before you start trying to make yourselves look better at my expense. I will no longer let it slide as I have in years past. In fact, I know a way that we can settle this once and for all. How about we both (Bud and I) set for a polygraph (lie detector) exam. He can tell his story and I'll tell mine and we can let everyone see who is telling the truth? Come on Bud, let's get it on and get this over with.

Sincerely,

Glenn Palmer
Owner: Palmer's Pursuit Shop
Developer of the automation system used in the WGP Autococker.

cc: to every one that I know of.

Glenn's other comments: (speaking about a RamboPreacher's Nasty Typhoon PD#1 "It is actually the first of it's kind as the only other two or three doubles that were built before it as semis, would be considered as prototypes. The only other one shown in out records that was built before that one is mine, which I named Domination and it was actually converted from a pump gun and was the gun that was used to show Bud Orr how he could adapt the system to his guns. I consider domination to be the prototype for the Autococker as it is laid out much the same as a cocker is now. Including the sliding trigger. Interesting tidbit: When I showed that gun to Bud (the weekend before Easter, 1990) one of the questions that he asked was why I had used a sliding trigger. My response was; "because I hadn't yet figured out how to get the system tied into a pivoting trigger properly."

from warpig: "Budd Orr started with his Sniper I and added a Palmer Persuit type automated cocking system to make the Sniper II AutoCocker."

from warpig: "In the mid 1980s, Bud Orr at Worr Games Products started making the WGP Sniper paintgun, machining an aluminum body and pump mechanism to house PGP valving as a high end paintgun. In the early 1990s, the WGP Sniper evolved into the Autococker when the front pump assembly was replaced by a pneumatics package that did the job of cocking the paintgun."

1991 Autococker introduced

Press release from Dec 1991 Paintcheck -- pg25/26 -- pg29 -- article mentioned cocker on market for less than a year (meaning released in 1991)

pic from vintage rex

larger pic from Vintage Rex
more pics w/ pneumatics

1993

• Minicocker offered

1996

• Ball detent standard from Cooper-T
• anonym: "Everything Pre-97 was a "glossy" black anodizing."
• anonym: "Bud upgraded the old skinny LPR to his new "self-regulating Sledgehammer" LPR (the one that was replaced in 2K).
  

1997

• Cut backblock standard on all models
• lightened bolt standard on all models
• beavertail standard.
• Optional carbon fiber gripframe.
• Ram, 3-way polished from factory.
• "Gills" in pneumatics shroud.
• anonym: "In 1997, they came out with that "flat black industrial hardcoat" finish that lasted until the color options in 2001"
• anonym: "Sometime in early '97, the trigger plates changed (as well as the internal dimensions of the frames) to what is considered the standard on trigger plates. Prior to 2K, only STO models came with the non-slotted plates. On 2K models, the standard was the rounded (non-slotted) nickel plated STO trigger plate."

1998 -

• Top Timing hole added
• Screw IVG introduced (previously was a smooth fitting held in by beavertail screw.
• WGP inline regulator standard.
• Front of sight rail sloped
• rear of sight rail rounded.
• bottom edge of body rounded - excluding asa
• Nelson spring-compatible hammer.
• Enlarged valve chamber.

1999 -

• 1999 Threaded timing rod standard.
• Short brass ram introduced.
• Polished, nickel-plated trigger plates.
• Angled "gills" in pneumatics shroud.
• anonym: "You have the ram upgrade mentioned, but the LPR and x-way were upgraded as well. The x-way did away with the c-clips and endcaps and they went w/ a one-piece body w/ a shorter throw, and the old 3-piece Sledgehammer regulator was swapped out for the "sto-style" regulator with the adjustment access through the fitting hole (instead of removing the rear part of the regulator body). All of the "upgraded" pneumatics were standard up until here recently."

2000 -

• Valve chamber enlarged.
• Front block screw enlarged.
• Body was milled down and rounded further including pump rod slots on both sides of the body, and the asa mount.
• Jewel on body introduced.
• bolt length and body configuration standardized
• ANONYM: "On 2K models, the standard was the rounded (non-slotted) nickel plated STO trigger plate."

2001 -

• Plastic shroud introduced.
• the logo on the jewel is a bit less orange and more yellow
• the back block is had rounded edges on the read to shave off a gram or two.
• The grip frame composite plastic and is nice and fattened up to help prevent breakage.

2002

• Vertical feed available on base model.(previously available around 1998 on the STO model and mid 90's WGP bodies sold through exclusive distribution by Bob Long and aftermarket bodies)
• Hinge trigger standard on all models also quick pull pin.
• QFT : "2k2 came in both side feed and vert feed. I owned a 2k2 side feed. The vert feed cost extra. Same with color anno jobs; they were optional in the last half of 2002, but not every gun had them. "

2003 -

• QFT : "2003 was the first year they standardized vertical feed. It's also the first year they really started milling the guns AND coloring them."
• 2003 smooth stylish milling standard improved open face bolt(still aluminum) No more right or left feeds. Vertical feed only
  

2004

• new milling and brass on pneumatics now plated with nickel.
• modification to the stock inline regulator making it more comfortable and easier to disasemble for maintanance or adjustment.
• also new small externally adjustable lpr standard.
• comes with asa and steel braid.
• Shroud no longer included.
• Better barrel that does not have lug for the front of the shound and has porting.