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03 Shocker « Thread Started on Dec 16, 2004, 4:24pm »
Shocker 03
Smaller, lighter, faster - dare we say it - smarter. The Shocker 03 finally goes under the knife for some very special investigative surgery from the P8ntballer.com crash team
Tested by Olly Bell
Things have been a bit quiet on the Smart Parts front for some time, with the company content to rest upon its laurels with the Impulse and a dozen or so custom variations taking care of out-and out paint chucking, and the old Shocker lurking at the back shooting straight and talking about diet and exercise. The good news is that the brains at SP have finally taken time off from their rigorous schedule of bikini waxing spokesmodels and wheeling big barrow-loads of cash around to Casa Dynasty and released the new Shocker 2003; smaller, lighter, faster and more sexy than those that came before.
The old Shocker had a comparatively slower rate of fire than most, looked like a small apartment and drank gas to the point that 1.9l bottles of CO2 were only just big enough. Despite these factors, the gun built and maintains to this day a devoted following of fans due to its uncanny accuracy and closed-bolt operation. The new Shocker aims to improve upon the bad points of the old, whilst incorporating the latest marker technology and being bling enough for today’s fashion victims. Tall order? Read on….
Upon opening the box, I was seized by the feeling that SP must have left a few bits out. The new gun is tiny, built upon a single tube design and weighing 1lb 4oz without barrel, air and hopper. A low-rise feed neck comes as standard, a wise choice as most players will run this gun with a force-feed loader, but a threaded feed port enables easy changes. This is one gun that front players are going to love, as even with air and a Halo it is as small and light as any gun out there. The test gun was fitted with the new Shocker vert reg hosed to a very nifty SP drop line with a dovetail fitting and ¼ turn on-off, but the new Max Flow is available as an option and many players will doubtless run the gun that way with a gas-thru foregrip.
The box also contained an AA two-piece 0.689” barrel and condom, so add a screw in tank or Co2 bottle and fast hopper and you’re ready to go. The cosmetics are very today, with a smooth solid red anodizing with no milling or polishing marks. The body is milled to remove excess without being ribbed for her pleasure or overly fussy, and grooves at two and 10 o’clock are great for sighting with the gun cocked to either side. Sharp edges around the front of the body and the bottom of the reg will likely be the first places to show wear and tear. SP haven’t left a lot of extra metal so airsmiths are going to have to work hard to make custom cut bodies look different unless they build new ones from scratch. The gun comes with a comprehensive manual, so I forced myself to put the marker down and find out what had changed.
OUT WITH THE OLD The 2003 Shocker shares only the name and the ability to run on CO2 with the previous gun, being a much smaller, eye-equipped, single solenoid open-bolt gun powered by a standard 9-volt battery. Smart Parts have tried to have their cake and eat it by describing the bolt mechanism as “Seals Forward Technology” (SFT) and state that this allows the gun to “be an open bolt marker, while still having the breach seal a split second before the ball is fired, like a closed bolt”. Hmmm. I thought that most open bolt guns sealed the breech before discharging the gas to propel the ball, and at the most this was a matter of correct timing. Shooting the gun without a hopper shows some blowback, so I don’t see how this differs from guns using similar one-tube dump valve systems. No doubt those polite young chaps on the Internet will correct me if I’m wrong.
The breech accepts old Shocker barrels, useful for those few players switching from the original gun to the new, but despite room for Cocker threads, (which are swift becoming the standard, let’s be honest) no such luck. I guess SP will sell a lot of Freak backs. Twin nylon ball ADB’s are threaded into the breach at three and six o’clock with the right holding the cover for the vision eye - a very neat unit that is barely visible.
The main user interface is a small recessed button at the top rear of the grip frame, which cleverly incorporates a blue LED that combines with audible cues to provide limited feedback as to the gun’s status. A two-second press gives a chirp and the gun is on, with the LED flashing in a double-tap sequence to show the gun as live. Another press activates the vision eye and the LED begins flashing rapidly, ready to rock and roll. Sounds like my cue to gas the beastie up and give it plenty.
OFF-ROAD 4x4 Off to the local field we go, with fresh batteries in the Halo and a screw-in 4500 system for air - no CO2 fills so the test will be air only, which is how most players will run the gun anyway. I also took open and closed bolt guns fitted with 0.689 freaks to check the quality of the test paint (Victory from WDP), which shot straight and trouble-free through both.
First things first, this gun rips. All those two-finger diddlers out there will be able to reach ROF’s to match the top guns and the gun is accurate at slower speeds, although subjective accuracy seemed to drop towards the higher rates. The trigger is adjustable with external Allen screws for pre-travel, switch actuation and post-travel but care must be taken not to over-adjust the actuation screw as this can damage the trigger switch. The return force is supplied by magnets in the trigger and frame repelling each other, and is not field adjustable, more of which later. I found the trigger blade too thin and the edges a little sharp, but custom versions will no doubt abound soon enough and trigger feel is very subjective anyway.
Switching to a slower hopper saw the eye perform as advertised, matching the feed rate nicely, although with no adjustability black or striped paint can be a problem. I saw a few ball breaks, all in the barrel and possibly paint-related, and like most guns accuracy went sharply downhill until I mopped the barrel. The gun is reasonably quiet and feels very smooth with no real movement even firing flat-out. The small size makes tight play a joy, and the gun is very fast to bring to bear in a hurry.
Consistency was impressive over the chrono, with a max variation of ~8fps but most shots staying within 2-3 fps of an average 296. Thirty- and 50-shot strings showed no shootdown or increased variation - impressive. Velocity is adjusted using a combination of input pressure and dwell settings, which must be balanced for best performance.
GUZZLER The only real fly in the ointment is gas consumption. I was getting a max of 550 shots from a full 3000psi 1.1l fill, with the gun making vulgar noises once bottle pressure dropped under 500psi, giving a projected figure of 900 shots max from a 4500. No problem for front players, but this won’t be a back player’s gun until the custom bolts and other goodies hit the streets.
So how are such wonders achieved? Packing so much performance into such an ickle package usually involves some compromises and the new Shocker is no exception. The grip frame is very compact compared to some guns, and this involves cramming a lot of components into a small space, so ease of access and adjustment have to suffer in consequence. Dwell and ROF are both adjusted using buttons under the grips, with the only feedback being audible chirps as you change settings, although over-adjusting the dwell leads to a warning tone.
Adjusting the trigger return force involves removing the grips, battery, circuit board and the two roll pins which hold the trigger switch in place, not something to do on a muddy table. Indeed, SP recommend a visit to the shop if at all uncertain. Basically, make sure the trigger comes from the shop as you like it and be resigned to a tricky job changing it yourself.
The necessary steps are all described in full in the manual, but only in text - no pictures for the dumb folk like me. Given that this gun is fairly quirky as far as stripping etc. goes, and that the manual recommends frequent stripping and lubrication, the lack of nice clear pictures is something that should be addressed ASAP. With regards to stripping, this is fairly straightforward; remove the end cap/bolt guide with an Allen key and then use it to push the white delrin bolt and bolt sleeve out of the back of the gun. Shocker owners will have to get used to carrying a wooden sthingy in their toolkit as this is then used to push the firing chamber out of the back of the gun, being careful not to damage the o-rings that secure it on the cut-outs on either side of the body. This will allow you access to all areas that will need day-to-day lubrication and to replace active O-rings.
TeamGraffiti.com THE GODFATHER Contract Killings Finest member is offline
You better know better!
Joined: Jan 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 4,016 Location: Hanging your Flag.....
Re: 03 Shocker « Reply #1 on Dec 16, 2004, 4:24pm »
The simple design makes stripping the grip frame easy, but be careful of the very delicate looking wiring harnesses that connect the eye and solenoid. SP tell me that many Shocker problems are traced to users trapping the wiring between the on/off button and delicate switch and this can kill the gun until the switch is replaced. Again, pictures of the correct procedure would have been nice. The solenoid is user serviceable but I wouldn’t like to try this in the field as it involves teeny tiny screws and big clumsy fingers.
To sum up, this gun performs very competitively within its price range and offers front players a fast and accurate marker in a very compact package. Ham-fisted tinkerers will find themselves spending a lot of time being laughed at in the shop, but those players that let the techs take the strain or take the time to learn the gun’s foibles will find this gun easy to use and a joy to shoot. Once the efficiency issues are addressed Smart Parts will offer a gun that performs way above its asking price. MSRP: $750 (basic); $895 (with Vision eye); $1250 (with eye and Max-Flo)
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