Snipers and tiny markers reminded me of something I thought about doing once, many years ago: a 2/3rds scale Sniper II.
I thought about it once when we got ahold of some old .50 cal paint meant for the old 3357 Spotmarkers. The Spottys were poor guns with unadjustably low velocity, so one of my first thoughts was back to a very early Paint Check Magazine article about Bud Orr and his then-new Sniper. A few of his early ones were available with a .50 cal barrel and bolt, as some players apparently thought the smaller ball had a better chance of making it through brush and cover than the larger ball.
And that made me think, why not just scale the whole gun down?
Just like the model builders, redraw all the plans at two-thirds scale (or if you wanted to be really pedantic, whatever the exact proportion/percentage it is that'd scale the gun in relation to the .50 ball as it would be to the .68 ball.)
A few things would have to be fudged, like O-ring clearances, but the majority of the gun could easily be scaled down and still be perfectly functional. You might have to use a tungsten hammer or heavy springs to keep the velocity up, but still.
'Course, that was one of the many things I've thought of over the years, and either promptly forgot again, or dropped intentionally as either unworkable or too far down the uselessness scale to allot any time to it.
I do recall thinking a few years later that making a 2/3rds scale Phantom would be even cooler, but by that point .50 ammo was virtually nonexistent. You could make one using the somewhat easier to find .43 cal stuff, I suppose, but again, that's something for the list I'm making of things that I'll only get to do if I eventually become simultaneously both extremely rich and functionally immortal.
