I had just sold my 3rd cocker that I have built from scratch, and I looked at
a Shocker 4X4. I said what the hell, and I bought it. I have broken down
this gun in several sections, each rated with a scale from 1-5, 5 being best,
1 being bad.
Air efficiency/compatibility
This gun has MUCH better efficiency with co2 that nitrogen/compressed air.
The only problem is that the gas that tihs gun was basically made for, also
can put this gun to shame. You see, the max flow regulator on the shocker is
a great reg and all, too bad that it REALLY doesn't like liquid. Figures.
What else would you expect from Gimmicks 'r us OOPS I mean Smart Parts? Well
anyway, even on co2 this gun isn't really great on efficiency.
Efficiency: N2/HPA-2
CO2-3
Trigger
The trigger is great. Only drawback is that it doesn't come with a trigger
shoe, but those are widely available and cheap, so that won't be a factor
when I rate the trigger. Anyway, the trigger is very short and light. It is
a lot like a mouse click, although that it doesn't have the same tension,
meaning that it doesnt spring back really. Also, the trigger has quite a bit
of lateral, or left-right, looseness, or play. Also, it has a bit a of
slack, not much though. It would be great if it all could be eliminated, I'm
sure that their are a few airsmiths out there who could do it. Also, another
limiting factor of the trigger, is that the factory safety raises the trigger
slightly,and taking it off without an external on/off switch would be
insanity, considering how short and light the trigger is.
Overall though, the trigger is really great.
Trigger: 4
Consistency, Range, and Accuracy
Consistency was amazing when I wasn;t running liquid through the regulator.
the gauge read about 175, and stayed there. +/- 3 FPS on a nice warm day.
Pretty good. Range was great, although range really doesn't differ from gun
to gun. Maybe +/-15 feet max, bottom line is that 300 FPS is 300 FPS,
meaning the same velocity, same range. BUT, say, 800 PSI (mag) DOES NOT
equal 180 PSI (shocker). Lower PSI DOES mean farther range, but VERY
slightly. Anyway, my cocker ran about 300, my shocker runs aobut 175, no
range difference. As for accuracy, the 16" AA barrel included with the
shocker is a great barrel. Enough said, on with the rating.
Consistency: 5
Range: N/A (All guns fire the same range if they can shoot 300 FPS, unless
you wanna count the 10-15 feet due to different PSI)
Accuracy: 4
Maintenance/Service
This is where the gun sounds not-too-hot. Well, I'm not going to spend an
hour explaining how important it is to set the switches right, etc. etc. etc.
What I will say that there is VERY LITTLE an average player can do to fix a
shocker. Basically, 90% of the shocker involves using a micrometer for some
parts to get the gun working right (setting the correct length, measurements
can get at precise as 5000ths of an inch!!!), others involve MILLISECONDS
(Timing, or setting the switches). Basically, 99% of the things that need to
be done on a shocker, HAS to be done by Smart Parts (coincidence? I think
not.), or a qualified airsmith.
Service/Maintenance: 1 >=(
Overall: Although by now my bias against Smart Parts has probably shown (15
bucks for a tourney cap that should have come with the gun? Eliminating the
rechargable battery to a non rechargable battery? WTF?), I like this gun. I
like it, but, I don't like smart parts. I strongly believe, if a different
company had made this gun, not Gimmicks 'R Us, OOPS I mean Smart Parts (I did
it again), the overall score would be higher (I think that this excellent gun
could be better), the thing that brought it down was the whole service part.
