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Remember the Ronin Blog

RTR Gargoyle Q&A
5/15/2010

Q. What is the Gargoyle?
A. The Gargoyle is a Nelson based pump action marker with features
unique to that marker such as the removable feed block and two piece
valve body.

Q. What does the removable feed block do?
A. The feed block allows for quick access to the markers internals.
Once removed the player can remove the markers bolt, main spring, and
hammer.

Q. What holds the feed block on?
A. The Gargoyles feed tube is designed to hold 13 paintballs and also
when screwed in will hold the feed block snugly in place.

Q. Why is there a slot in the Gargoyles feed gate?
A. The traditional sock holder is used in the Gargoyles feed gate.
Normally a sturdy piece that rarely need replacement, it sometimes
does wear our or gets lost. The slot in the feed gate is to provide
temporary ball retention using a rubber band or thin oring. Simply
wrap the band aroud the milled groove and let the band slip into the
slot and accross the inside of the gate.

Q. What barrel does the Gargoyle use?
A. The current Gargoyle will come with the stock CCI Phantom barrel.

Q. Can other barrels be used with the Gargoyle?
A. Yes. The Gargoyle body is made with Auto Cocker threads. To use
Cocker threaded barrels the player will need to remove the provided
barrel adapter and change the two barrel bushings inside the pump body
to compensate for the difference in OD between the CCI barrel and
Cocker barrels.

Q. How do the pump bushings work?
A. The Teflon bushings are threaded into either side of the pump body.
Small variations in after market barrels will need to be taken into
consideration when using them. The bushing can be thumb tightened or
the multi tool can be bought in order to make there removal and
replacement easier and a little more snug.

Q. Will different sized barrel bushing be available in addition to the
two currently available?
A. Currently there are no plans for this.

Q. How does the two piece valve work?
A. The valve body is made so the player can gain access to the valve
spring without taking the marker or airline apart. (Always degas the
marker before removing the end cap)
To gain access to the spring simply unscrew the back cap, drop out the
spring guide, and then the spring should fall right out.

Q. Why does the Gargoyle have a removable feed block and two piece
valve body?
A. Play time is limited as is. Players spend way to much time fiddling
with a marker to get it to chrono or cleaning it after a ball break or
being hit on the marker. The features limit the amount of time a
player needs to maintain the Gargoyle in good condition. Players who
own the Gargoyle and have used the features on the field know just how
valuable they are.

Q. Does the Gargoyle have any ball retention capability?
A. The Gargoyle comes with the cocker to Phantom threaded barrel
adapter. This adapter has three depressions that provide resistance to
the paintball and eliminates roll outs with most if not all paintballs.

Q. What kind of trigger does the Gargoyle have?
A. The Gargoyle has an adjustable sliding trigger that is fitted for
each Gargoyle by hand. Contact on the sear is made by a Teflon nub
that rises from the center of the trigger and provides a smooth crisp
trigger pull. Great care is taken to insure the trigger is as smooth as it can be.
The time it takes to complete a single Gargoyle seems endless with details like this

but when each is finished it is well worth the time and the money.

Q. Can I put Gargoyle parts on my Phantom?
A. Yes. The valve, the pump, the body with feed tube, or complete
lower trigger group can be fitted to a Phantom.

Q. I put a Gargoyle lower on my Phantom and it is not working as
smooth as it should be.
A. With variations in the machining process between CCI and RTR there
are sometimes slight differences that may cause the sear to be out of
position. Work with it a little to see if you can adjust it to be
smooth. Some owners have ground there sears a tiny amount to make a
better match. If this becomes an issue you can send your entire marker
to me and I will make sure it works as smooth as it should and send it
back at no charge.

Q. What grip frames can be used with the Gargoyle.
A. Any grip that fits a Phantom will fit on a Gargoyle. And the
Gargoyle grip can be used with a Phantom as well.

Q. Can the Gargoyle be fitted with a stock?
A. Yes, the grip has five mounting holes for positioning a stock how
you like it.

Q. Does RTR make stocks?
A. Not at this time.

Q. Why is the Gargoyle so expensive? Isn't it just a Nelson clone?
A. The Gargoyle is more of a hybrid clone of the Nelson valve design.
Like the Carter Machine line or CCI markers, the Gargoyle shares how
it works in relation to the bolt, hammer, and air flow. However the
Gargoyle has extensive machining that cuts the body, body block, and
pump from solid block aluminum and is not made with the more common
traditional stacked tube design. The body has very time consuming
features and detail that are addressed and assembled by hand by one
person. Each body block once it's able to mate with a body is stuck
with it for the remainder of the process via a steel plug. Filing,
sanding, more sanding, and finally being hand polished (not on a
wheel) or bead blasted each body has countless hours of work before
they go to ano. And this is just those two parts. There is a lot of
work done for each Gargoyle and those that rock them get a quality
marker that they can show off and saves them a lot of hassle on and
off the field.

Q. Are there site rails available?
A. No. There is a prototype site rail in the process of being made
however it may be awhile before these become available.

Q. Are you planning on making a feed block that can use a vertical
hopper?
A. Not really. Although one is designed it just looks wrong for the
Gargoyle. It is not out of the question and I am always trying new
things so that may be something for the future.

Q. How many paintballs can the Gargoyle hold?
A. Current stock Gargoyles hold 13.

Q. Why does the Gargoyle cost so much more than a Phantom?
A. Phantoms are awesome markers. Light, extremely versatile, and
reliable. The Gargoyle is made a little different and in smaller
numbers which compound how much each costs. Below are some of the
things that are different. These examples are not intended to imply
that the Phantom is a bad cheaply made marker. These are simply to
show the difference in the machining process.

Q. Where can I buy a Gargoyle?

A. WWW.REMEMBERTHERONIN.COM

RTR Barrel Bags
7/16/2008

You get not one but TWO bags in one. Each bag performs as two!

If you shoot into the bag you need to clean your barrel first. Then instead of cleaning your barrel bag like normal, just use the other side or pocket of the same bag! Each bag consists of two seperate reinforced bags for quick return to the field.

The velcro flap keeps unwanted paint seperate from the other side while you use it and clean that mess later when playtime is over.

RTR Shirts
7/16/2008

Remember the Ronin
7/16/2008

Time passes us by so fast that people have little time to reflect on the small things in life. Through the years of paintball players have literally encountered thousands of others having a good time on a weekend with perfect strangers. Some never see each other again. Others remain friends for life. I have met many people through the game and kept bonds with some. On a sunny day while stationed in Hawaii a friend and I were waiting on the side of the road at a bus stop hoping to catch a ride to a local field that I had been to only once.

As I sat, I thought about how the field would play. I had not played on my first visit to the field and had never played outside the continental United States. The bus was running late and I was thinking about packing it up and heading back to base. I stood up to leave and a small car zoomed by me then pushed hard on its breaks. When I noticed the cars reverse lights illuminate I was unsure what I was about to encounter. The car was occupied with two people, a man and his girlfriend. The man leaned over as the car whined its way to me in reverse and stopped at my feet. If I could type what he said I would. But to this day I have no idea what he was saying. The only thing that I could make out was the word paintball. In Hawaii they speak what is called Pigeon English which if you are not used to can make communication very difficult.

What he was saying was asking if I was going to the paintball field. He had noticed the shirt that I was wearing which bore the name and logo of the field that I had bought on my first visit. Not totally sure of what he was saying exactly we were pretty sure that he was asking us if we wanted a ride to the field. We crammed inside the little car and off we went.

During that visit to the field I met numerous people. One such person was Mathias Luber. Little did know that he would become a life long friend and a person that I would come to admire in all things human. As I watched people play during the games of the day I was always most impressed with Mathias, code name "Gizmo". Every person he eliminated from a game would usually be met by him later to be asked if they were ok. He would offer words of encouragement and let the player know why or how he was able to place a paintball on him. He was such an ambassador to the game.

Gizmo seemed to master anything that came his way. He had a curious streak in him that would draw him to things that required skill. I dont think I ever witnessed him participate in anything were he did poorly. Almost everything he did he did at least better than others.

I soon became a member of Team Ronin Hawaii. The team had been one of many teams in the area that was enjoying victory in the local tournaments. Mostly a stock gun state, the local teams were really just starting to get into the semi world.

At one of those tournaments were found ourselves with one more game to go in the day. If we lost we would be placed fourth. If we won we would win the tournament. Just before the game one of our players named Lance was asked by another teams player about his marker. He asked if he could shoot it and Lance gave the marker to him. After a volley of paintballs the player walked back from the target range and gave the marker back. Then we walked onto the field ready to play for first place none the wiser of what had really just taken place. Although we could never prove it, the person that asked to shoot the marker is suspected of sabotage in order to keep us from taking that coveted first place title.

The game was on. I was eliminated quickly and so were many players on the team. A large center bunker held three of our players and a ridge line held one more. The other team was advancing on the three and the teams watching from the sidelines began to celebrate what looked like certain victory for the team opposing us. Mathias was on the high side of the bunker, Lance Kimura whos marker was shot at the range by the other player, was in the middle, and Dean Usagi was on the low side. Just when it looked like it could not get any worse, it did. In this situation the worst thing that our team could have heard was a team player yelling the word McDonalds. And there was Lance screaming "McDonalds"! This was the code word at the time for his marker being not only working badly but totally broken and not able to fix anytime soon.

-Actual images from the side lines-

What was happening is Lance from time to time would have dry fire problems. While yelling cheese burger he would shake his marker for awhile, look inside the hopper, shake it again, and it would begin to shoot. Finally though his marker seized up and would not work at all. He had no other option but to disassemble the marker right there under fire and check to see if he could figure out just what was wrong. Not the best time to do this when the other team is approaching fast.

He took the loader off and looked inside the feed neck. It was a stick! A small one inch stick had wedged between the body of the marker and its bolt making them bind together like glue. This was odd as he never reloaded his marker yet in the game. The dry fires earlier in the game had made his paint consumption low.

Mathias and Dean were holding the other team off eliminating some. Darrel, who was on the ridge was battling with another player and was being held up from helping the team at the bunker. Finally Lance was able to remedy his marker problem and reassemble it getting back into the game.

- Fixed and about to reload -

Just as he did Dean was eliminated. Players on the side lines were getting celebratory. Then Lance went down to the increasing fire into the bunker. Just then Darrel was victorious in eliminating his opponent and looked down the hill into the bunker battle far away. What he saw was quickly evolving into the total elimination of the team and forth place for the day. It was now three on two with one of the two being way out of position and unable to be a factor. It was time for the magic of Mathias to show itself. The other team decided to rush from all sides to eliminate Gizmo and run the flag. Darrel seeing this ran full steam down the hill doing the only thing he could do to help. Scream like a mad man and try to distract them during their charge.

They came one left, one center, and one right. Mathias, being the calmest player I have ever met, shifted from side to side. Left threat gone, shift. Right man gone, shift. Last man standing, eliminated! It was unbelievable. The teams that were caught on video celebrating only moments ago were now captured on that same video standing in disbelief at what had just happened. Mathias ran to their flag station and began to run it back for the win. Darrel quickly raced to him at the half way point to take a hand off. Mathias would not be able to run any further as he was cramping badly. Team Ronin would be top dog in the tournament.

During the charge!

Practices were hard back then. Drills were played out over and over. One of those drills would later become a key factor in this tournament. The drill? Six on ones. If you are able to take out four players when you are playing against six, how will you do when you are playing against only three???

So, the stick although it was a factor in the game was more of a confirmation to the team. Cheaters never win.

Mathias Luber was a friend for life. He passed away in the year 2002. He is greatly missed by all of Team Ronin and friends.

Remember the Ronin 1
10/23/2006

www.remembertheronin.com