The Autococker is a closed-bolt semiautomatic paintball marker that is particularly notable for its popularity and customizability. Proponents will also add that its design makes the marker inherently more accurate than other markers, although there appears to be no validity behind that claim.
History
The Autococker began life in late 1986 when Bud Orr created the orginal Sniper pump marker(operated in a way similar to pump-action rifles, it has to be pumped after each shot to load the next). In 1987, Orr founded WGP (Worr Game Products) to sell the products he was developing, and by 1988 he had taken on the business full-time. Semiautomatic markers were being created by the early 90s. To match that, in 1990 Orr added a pneumatic system onto the pump markers he had developed to make a semiautomatic. The pneumatics automatically re-cocked the marker after a shot was fired, hence the name Autococker.
Operation
The Autococker is a closed bolt, two part system that can be broken down for easier understanding.
- Firing System - The actual release of the gas is fairly simple to understand, especially with a understanding of other markers. At rest, the bolt is stting forward, closing the chamber, thus the marker is a closed bolt system. When the trigger is pulled, the sear drops releasing the hammer which is driven forward by a spring into the valve. At this point, the valve releases a burst of gas which goes upward into the bolt which directs it behind the paintball, propelling it out the barrel.
- Re-Cocking System - Having sent the paintball on it's merry way, the problem that now exists is twofold. First, the hammer needs to be brought back again recompressing the spring, and second, another paintball needs to be loaded. In the original pump marker, this was all done in one action via the pump. The pump handle was brought back pushing back the back block which was attached to the bolt and the hammer. This opened the chamber and allowed a new paintball to enter, and it also brought the hammer back. When the pump was brought forward, the chamber closed and the paintball was fully loaded, thus returning the marker to its original state, ready for firing again. The pneumatic system basically performs the same function, by strapping three components onto the front of the marker. First is the LPR (Low Pressure Regulator) which functions to bring down the pressure for the pneumatic system to use (the pneumatics typically operate at < 100 PSI, versus a typically operation pressure of 400 PSI for the rest of the marker). The second component is the 4-way valve (this is typically mistaken for a 3-way valve because it has 3 visible ports, however this is technically incorrect), and that directs the pressure between the front and back of the final component, the ram. The ram is the actual pumping component.
