From: jfol@hydra.unm.edu (joshua l follicks-shields)
Subject: WGP Sniper II Autococker review 
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 22:35:58 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

   Well I went and did it, I got myself that Autococker I have been
waiting for. Last week I went out with a borrowed 68 special, unfortunately,
we forgot to bring a compatible ammo box. The resulting frustration
was the last straw to break this very patient camel's back.

   Disclaimer of possible conflict of interest: I own Paintball Underground,
so while I believe I am giving a fair and true representation, you may
wish to understand them in that context. No this is not an ad.

   While the PMI-III/VM-68 is probably the semi-auto buy, being very
competitive with even the best paintguns out there (with many claiming
it is the best) and being almost $100 less than any serious competition
(I do not consider the junk of Brass Eagle to be serious competition)
some players may desire a different style, or what they feel is higher
quality gun. In the next price group roughly speaking, one finds
the Tippman Pro-Am, F-1 Illustrator, and the WGP Autococker.

   The autococker or AC is a small submachinegun sized paintgun.
Mine came with a 3.5oz tank (fairly standard), a large neon pink barrel plug,
(which seems to be becoming standard on new paintguns) and a trigger
shoe, which was a nice beni.
   
   The only major problem is that the front handgrip is not secured
to the rest of the weapon. The handgrip serves as an access cover
to various internal workings of the gun. There is a very slite rattle
when you are bouncing around in the bush and the unsecured nature
 means there is always a danger that the front grip will fly off.
I have temporarily solved this problem by the judicious use of
rubber bands, and I have several other plans for the future
for more permanent solutions.

   I used a viewloader III w/camo sound cover and a special Bud Orr
16" barrel w/built in muzzle break. My accuracy was good, I'm not too
good at figuring ranges and comparing to other guns, but it
seemed quite competitive with other guns using expensive barrels.

   Reliability was excellent. The gun clocked in at 275fps without
adjustment. As I am a klutz, several times during the day I accidently
got in the way of the bolt, also I let several of my normally very
competent friends handle the gun, all of whom proceeded to make stupid
mistakes handling it. Despite this, the gun didn't break a ball
in the chamber or barrel all day, though once it spit out a
ball that broke after it left the barrel.

   Unlike a Tippman that comes out of the box ready to fire, this gun
requires a minor air flow adjustment, though with the help of my
team captain and technician we had this simple procedure done in a few minutes.

   While the blowback nature of the cocking mechanism does not
allow a shoulder braced fire position, I found the gun was easy
to pull up to a good aimed firing position, and the sight rail
which came with the gun made for good sighting. Also, the 3.5
oz tank is not good for more than approx 150-200 shots, though
the manual says the gun has a better than 95% gas efficiency.
Since I own the fill tank, and have a spare bottle (and a new bottle
only cost $30) this is not a big deal for me.

   Overall, while I would send the person looking for a full sized
gun, who didn't mind the extra weight, over to a Pro-Am, the AC
is very competitive w/ the F-1 and is a very good choice for those
looking for a smaller, lighter paintgun, I would imagine that the
AC would be pretty dangerous indoors, or confined situations. 

--
Old Jedi Master: Ahh Joshua, he's more machine now than man, twisted and evil.

                         New Imperial Forces Motto:
                       Outnumbered, But Not Outfought!