Smart Parts was a paintball manufacturing company in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which filed for liquidation on July 28, 2010. As of August 22, 2010 Smart Parts' assets and intellectual property were acquired by Kee Action Sports.
Products Smart Parts was a producer of paintball markers and accessories. Their first product was the Smart Parts aluminium one-piece barrel made for the Tippmann 68 Special and the PMI-3 semi automatic markers. This barrel had a standard bore with a spiral drilled venting system in the end of the barrel. The design supposedly improved accuracy by decreasing turbulence as the paintball exited the barrel, and also decreased noise produced by the gun upon firing. The later All-American Barrel was a two-piece barrel system using spiral porting and a front bore diameter of 68 caliber. In the early to mid-1990s Smart Parts' products ranged from barrels and clothing to a few generic accessories along with some marker specific ones (such as parts for the AirGun Designs Automag series).
Barrel system Smart Parts produced The Freak paintball marker barrel system that can accommodate almost any size bore diameter paintball. The Freak kit comes standard with eight barrel inserts of different sizes: .679, .682, .684, .687, .689, .691, .693, and .695. In addition to the inserts, the kit includes the Freak case and the Freak back piece. The front barrel piece is sold separately in various lengths to accommodate all barrel sizes.
Markers
pneuVentures Shocker & Shocker Sport In 1990, Smart Parts produced their first in-house marker. Called the Boss, the Smart Parts pump marker featured a spiral ported barrel and a 'shoebox' style body (which would be mirrored in their first electronic gun design); The Boss was targeted at high-end woodsball tournament players but was not well-received, being considered to be too heavy and too large (when compared to offerings such as the Carter Comp or LAPCO Grey Ghost). The Boss was withdrawn from the market and Smart Parts concentrated on producing customized versions of other manufacturer's markers until 1996 when Smart Parts began selling their first electronic marker, the Shocker. This marker was manufactured by a company called pneuVentures, but sold exclusively through Smart Parts. This original Shocker was a dual-solenoid, closed bolt, hammerless marker that was large, heavy, inefficient, and could fire a maximum speed of nine shots per second. A couple thousand of these were sold over the course of its lifetime. Other companies that had been working on their own electronic markers also released them about the same time (WDP Angel – 1996, Brass Eagle Rainmaker – 1997).
The pneuVentures Shocker was sold until 1997 when Smart Parts redesigned it and started producing it themselves. This redesigned marker, which became known as the Shocker Sport, was released in 1998. It included a number of major revisions to the original design, including a more lightweight profile, improved electronics and grounding, a faster cycling set of internals, and better solenoids. The Shocker Sport was sold from 1998 to 2002, and the design of its external look changed a few times during that period. A few companies even released their own customized versions, mainly the Planet Eclipse Shocker (which was manufactured by Smart Parts for the company Planet Eclipse, which at the time did not make any markers of their own). Another customized Shocker was the SL Shocker from HyperSportWorks.
Shocker Sports were the first factory marker to feature an enhanced firing mode, which later became known as "ramping". This firing mode was called Turbo mode by Smart Parts, and involved a firing program whereby the user would pull the trigger around five times per second, and the marker's actual firing speed would increase to over nine shots per second. This type of firing mode was largely unheard-of in the industry at the time, so people were conflicted about its use. Turbo mode became illegal to use in tournaments and on some open-play recreational games due to the obvious advantage it gave the user. After the turn of the century, ramping modes have become more and more popular, and many markers come with them as stock from the factory. As a result, the use of ramping modes has become more mainstream, and is allowed in some recreational games and some tournaments. However, this varies from game to game and tournament circuit to circuit, so it is still disallowed by many fields.
Impulse
The Impulse was released in the year 2000 and was the sister design to SP's other marker available at the time, the Shocker Sport. Over the course of its lifetime the Impulse became one of the most popular markers available, and was notable for following many trends for parts, style, and features in the paintball industry on the turn of the century.
Impulses had a similar appearance to the Shocker Sport, however they were internally quite different; Impulses were based on the common "stacked-tube" hammer/valve layout (two bore design, bolt on top with the hammer on bottom). In contrast to the Shocker Sport, Impulses were capable of faster fire rates, were more lightweight, were cheaper, and also experienced greater tank efficiency. As a result, the gaining popularity of this product over the Shocker was foreseeable. Impulses were one of many stacked-tube electronic markers developed around the same time by opposing companies. Markers such as this were considered to be the top-end by many players (typically those involved with tournaments), and as a result the cost for upgraded versions was quite high ($1000+).
In 2001, Smart Parts released a variety of upgrades and enhancements to the Impulse line, including the Vision eye system, upgraded bolts, improved valves and internals, and other smaller upgrade components. The Vision electronic eye system was particularly popular since few other markers were available with such a part from the factory (this has since changed, and the feature is a near-requirement from manufacturers). In 2002, the electronics were redesigned to the "Cricket" version, which involved a more reliable circuit board that also used more developed programming.
The other growing trend that Impulses followed were the addition of stylish milling patterns and designs, suited for different retailers and sponsored teams. This has become a popular trend for the more expensive markers of today. There were over 30 customized body styles and parts available known as "Private Labels" before the marker was discontinued. Contingent to this was the growing number of parts and accessories available for the Impulse line as well, from various manufacturers and developers, which allowed nearly every part of the marker to be swapped for an "aftermarket" version. The serial number of the marker is located on the right-hand side towards the back.
List of Private Label Impulses:
Python Impulse SIC Impulse Atomix Impulse Atomix TRIBAL Impulse Ca$h Money Impulse Ton Ton Impulse Meteor Impulse Adrenalin Impulse RAT Impulse Predator Impulse Freak Factory Impulse Nasty Impulse Game Face Impulse Demonic Impulse Strange Vision Impulse Toxic Impulse AVI Impulse 32º Impulse Shocktech SFL Impulse Hotrod Impulse Eclipse Impulse Mouse Impulse Tiger Impulse Fireball Mountain Gothic Impulse Fireball Mountain Factory Impulse Fireball Mountain Razzor Impulse Evil Impulse Dark Impulse Neurotic Sports Edition Impulse VooDoo Impulse Hyperpulse Blizzard Impulse
In 2009 Smart Parts released another Impulse, a high-end marker that used the ram driven operation of the Ego and Intimidator. It incorporated several features used by Smart Parts' highest-end marker, the DLX Luxe, such as an internal gas system.
Shocker SFT & Shocker NXT The year 2003 brought several new markers and products from Smart Parts, due to a reshuffling of design engineers. The most notable new product from this time period was the Shocker 03 marker (whose name soon after became Shocker SFT). The Shocker SFT was a redesigned marker that used a single solenoid open bolt, cock valve operation capable of high firing speeds, small body size, but an average efficiency without a Smart Parts High Efficiency Bolt. Although this marker was given the name "Shocker", it actually shares virtually no design aspects with its namesake the older Shocker Sport. However, Smart Parts decided to call it the next-generation "Shocker" for marketing purposes, since the older Shockers were already discontinued.
Ever since having been released in July 2003, the Shocker SFT has remained the premier Smart Parts marker, representing top-of-the-line performance and reliability. Shockers have been chosen by the majority of Smart Parts' sponsored teams since their release. The Shocker's popularity also brought along many upgrades and customized versions, available from various manufacturers and developers, similar to its older brother the Impulse. Base-model Shockers currently retail around $700, with the more customized "private label" version around $1000 or more (depending on the model).
In late 2006 (sometimes described as 2007 for simplicity) the Shocker SFT was redesigned into the newer "Shocker NXT" version, which is the same internal marker as the SFT, except it uses upgraded parts from the factory, and has a few enhancements to the frame, in-line regulator, and other parts of the marker to increase performance and reliability. The cosmetics were also changed to reflect the new internals. Some Shocker SFT parts are no longer compatible with the newer Shocker NXT model. This includes barrel threads, as the NXT uses the same threads as the Ion and Impulse. There are several other parts that may not be compatible, including the trigger, and vertical ASA.
Private Label Shockers Include: (SFT) Octane Nasty Tremor Strange Vision Shocktech Toxic Dynasty 06 Dynasty Ton Ton Dark Hybrid Freeflow Russian Legion OWL Sharks Miami effect
Nerve
The other new-to-2003 Smart Parts marker was called the Nerve. It has since been discontinued. Nerves are a next-generation Impulse design, featuring a smaller and lighter profile, improved internals, upgraded and streamlined components from the factory, and a sleeker external look. It shares many parts that are interchangeable with the shocker, however it uses a different platform for operation. When Nerves were first released (several months late due to manufacturing and development issues), it was designed to be Smart Parts flagship "no upgrades needed" marker. It came packed with Smart Parts best accessories. The high-end features resulted in the MSRP costing $1200 for the base model, or $1500 for the upgraded package with HPA tank included. The reasoning for this was based on the previous customized Impulse markers, which retailed for $1000+, however the Nerve's high price tag did not fare as well with the public. This was partially because public trends were already shifting away from the stacked-tube hammer/valve markers which the Nerve was based from, and toward more advanced designs such as the Shocker, Dye Matrix line, and others (this trend proceeded through 2004). To combat this, Nerve price was dropped a few months later to $1000, then again to $850. At this point Nerves were finally gaining popularity as originally expected, however one final blow was dealt to the Nerve which would put it away – the release of the Ion (below). In late 2005 SP produced an additional large batch of Nerve parts, however after this the line was halted and the marker was unofficially discontinued in light of other products.
Ion/Ion XE
In March 2005, Smart Parts released their most popular marker, the Ion. The development, production, and eventual release of this product were completely unanticipated due to being conducted in relative secrecy by Smart Parts. As a result, when the Ion became available it was an immediate hit in both sales, demand, and expectations.