Here are three photos that Randy Kamiya, of Navarone, APG and the Skirmish the Store/Line SI, sent of one of the early items offered by Line SI and the Skirmish Store.
Randy writes, “Here’s something I keep on my desk. Might be the only one left. It’s in pretty good shape for something 25+ years old.”
This Brass Feedneck, offered by Line SI, was cut on the bottom to fit either a Sheridan brass barrel or a stock Nelspot 007 Steel body. Once the stock feed was removed, this feedneck would be soldered on.
Randy remembers back to his days working for Adventure Game Supplies, before starting at the Skirmish Store.
“I used to install [these feednecks] on Sheridans and Nel-Spots. I used to install them for Adventure Game Supplies before I met Ross [Alexander] and Henry [Gilbert]. I met Henry one day at Adventure Game Supplies when he stopped by and wanted to talk to the guy installing the direct feeds, which was me. Adventure Game Supplies would buy the direct feed pieces from Line SI, so it wasn’t a big deal that Henry stopped by.”
Randy continues:
“Apparently when Line SI installed the direct feeds, they had too many snap off. Henry wanted to know why it didn’t happen with AGS’s guns. I went over to Skirmish the Store and talked to the guys working on guns. It just so happened I knew all those guys from playing walk-on games, so I showed them how I soldered on the direct feeds. I actually ended up doing direct feeds for both stores.”
I asked Randy how his method differed from Skirmish’s solder technique. Randy wrote back:
“The way I got the direct feeds to stay on was in the prep. I would put texture on the surfaces with very coarse sandpaper. Sometimes I would use a file. Then instead of using silver solder, which is what most metal workers or jewelers would use, I used 50/50 solder a plumber would use to sweat copper pipes. Silver solder is too brittle. 50/50 is soft and would not snap off.”
Bud Orr has told me that one of the first items he manufacturered was a brass feedneck for Adventure Games Supplies. I asked Randy if he thought Bud might have made the feednecks for Line SI as well since AGS received their feednecks from Line SI.
Randy replied, “I don’t know who made the direct feed piece. Could have been Bud. Could have been Jerry Dobbins.”
But thinking about it, Randy was likely installing the feednecks in 1987-1988 and Bud would have probably started making them for AGS in likely 1988 so I would guess that either Line SI stopped producing the Brass Feeds and offered their Skirmish Body Kit instead causing Matt Brown and Dave Craig to contract Bud Orr to machine the feeds. Or Brown and Craig decided to just have the feeds made and not buy them from Skirmish / Line SI.
Thanks to Randy Kamiya for the Line SI Brass Feedneck images and for answering my one hundred thousand questions!