I’ve been looking for a Worr Game Products Sniper 1 with a serial under 10 or 20 that lacks the R prefix for a while. Last week a Sniper 1 popped up on mcarterbrown that was completely covered in rattle can paint (no serial visible).
Here is the mcarterbrown link:
http://www.mcarterbrown.com/forums/ask-experts/258606-so-i-own-beat-up-sniper-1-2-a.html
A couple factors were unique about this sniper and could have been home modifications on a stock sniper 1 or could be indicators this was a very early body:
•Long Sight Rail
•Welded Feedneck (usually means under 300 or 250).
•Cuts on back block (likely not stock but who knows).
I offered 100 dollars (or 100 plus shipping, I don’t remember) and ended up purchasing it. I figured the sniper would be in horrible shape but might have some other unique features. If it wasn’t salvageable I could at least use the parts to rebuild one of my other bodies.
Once it arrived I immediately started scratching away the spray paint with my finger nail to reveal the serial number, in the same way a crackhead might frantically scratch a lotto ticket.
The top of the serial was visible without removing the vertical asa and looked like 77 or maybe 11 or a funky 22?
I removed the vertical asa and removed a little more paint and sure enough, serial 11 was visible. Unfortunately the anodizing has been stripped off the rest of the body but my lotto ticket paid still paid off BIG TIME, not in monetary value ( remember all the anodizing is stripped!) but for my research on paintball history this body is nearly priceless!
This body is trashed and will eventually be a fun rebuild but the serial number of 11 is extremely helpful to me because I also have Sniper serial R11 and now I can compare the serial stamps between the two and am now able to say the R line of serials has some difference from the consecutive serial numbers on Sniper 1s, Sniper 2s and Autocockers.
I’ll write more on the serial stamps in another article but in the meantime take a look at these two old posts comparing Sniper 1, Sniper 2 and Autococker serials:
https://paintballhistory.com/wgp-serial-numbers-part-1-r9-and-49507
https://paintballhistory.com/autococker-serial-history-r11-vs-250-vs-16401
The former owner, Joey, received this Sniper 1 from a friend who has since passed away.
Joey wrote me,
“Unfortunately, the person that gave me the gun died about 10 years ago so I don’t have any real details – I can try to ask my Dad next time I see him. He was a friend of both of my parents from Indiana and then they all migrated to Southern California in the 70s. His name was Ron Flusoff (sp) and he mostly collected real guns so i’m not sure how he ended up with this one but he did seem to have a lot of hobbies from what I recall.”
Aside from the stripped anodizing, the parts are mostly correct with the exception of the later style transitional Sniper 1 / Late Commando frame with Sniper 2 / Autococker panels. And the Vertical asa.
The Pump handle is drilled completely through (which is an indication of a very early Sniper 1.
The back RVA has a thumb dial which I’m not sure is stock or not? Most early Sniper 1 back blocks were drilled out and can fit a dial attached to the RVA but I’ve never seen one before with a dial? Another detail to ask Bud Orr about. The Back block has some random milling, not sure on the details of that.
The Thompson barrel looks to be around 12 inches. the sight rail is longer with three mounting holes instead of the standard two. The Vertical asa looks to be unusually thick and has an odd asa screw in it. Could it be a turned down square asa? Or just a random strange piece? This Sniper would have originally come with the Square asa but it’s obviously been upgraded so the desirable square asa was discarded.
I’ll post more details on the serial differences when I uncover them and I’ll likely also remove the rattle can paint and see what the rest of the finish looks like.
[…] Find more history on Sniper 1 number 11 here. […]