Today I’ll be meeting and interviewing Stanley Russell, of South Bay Arms.
Stan’s paintball career spanned from the early 1980s to sometime in likely 1989 or 1990. Stan knew Earon Carter, of Carter Machine, since the 1970s and knew Tim McMurray, of Mac 1 Airguns, even longer.
In 1985 Stan and Earon Carter began their partnership as South Bay Arms when Tim McMurray thought up the idea of a delrin pump handle. South Bay Arms machined thousands of these pump handles for Mac 1 to go on Annihilator pumps starting in 1985 and worked for Tim until sometime in 1988. During this time Stan and Earon were based out of Hawthone, California.
Their Master Blaster reverse pump creation was born around the same time off Mark 1 Crosman pellet pistols that they were given by Tim McMurray. This project was named the Master Blaster and was followed in August of 1986 by the Long barreled Sheridan.
Earon on the Master Blaster the Elevator Gun in a video above.
Mac 1 marketed this long barrel sheridan as the Annihilator and it was one of the two first long barreled paint guns (along with the custom nelson based Frank Gun).
Tim McMurray on the Annihilator and Stan Russell:
Stan and Earon, as South Bay Arms, continued to build custom Sheridan rifles and pistols and sell them to Mac 1, as well as Steve “Gunner” Tetz, of the Headhunters, who rented guns and equipment at Sat Cong Village. Stan had an agreement with Gunner and because of this couldn’t sell his long barreled Sheridan’s to Bud Orr.
Bud has explained to me that his not being able to offer the Annihilator / Marauder out of his booth at Sat Cong Village was the primary reason that he built his early Snipers. He wanted a rental gun that could compete.
Stan and Earon also modified every paintgun imaginable and Stan built Jessica Sparks her first 12 gram quick change in either July of 1986 or 1987. A similar style of 12 gram quick change can be seen in Earon’s premiere of the Carter Comp in Action Pursuit Games of (I think) November 1987 and may also be the predecessor of the bucket changer / Rat Attack Changer, but was an integrated valve body bucket and not asa threaded.
Earon and Stan started building custom Nelson based pumps as well as Custom Silencers. Stan, Earon and Tim parted ways in 1988 and Tim had another machine shop continue his run of Annihilators, Stan continued building Marauders and Earon went on to build and customize many paintguns.
In 1988, Colin built his first bottomline asa with Stan and Colin and Stan made custom stocks in Stan’s shop until Colin moved to San Diego with Paintball Connection (1990?).
Colin Thompson on the first Bottomline:
Shown on the wall are the following classic paintguns from 1985 until about 1991.
Left column top to bottom:
1st Generation Annihilator Rifle ~1987
Master Blaster ~1985
Tidy Bowl (df PMI 1 with top rail) ~1988
Termite made for Captain of the Florida Bushmaster (Gary Harris?) 1988
Lapco Grey Ghost ~1991
Right Column
Carter Comp – 1988
Jay “The Buzzard” Jackson’s Annihilator / Marauder 1987
Pump Twist Dual (converted to direct feed) 1986/87
Marauder – 1988/89
More details on the 1st Generation Annihilators:
https://paintballhistory.com/remembering-jay-the-old-buzzard-jackson
Another photo of the Annihilator Rifle:
https://paintballhistory.com/1st-generation-annihilator-rifle
Video series on the Master Blaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBldX3waZeA&list=PLJC7papTosfWmOfX2w79XnXDwuv8yf7P4
