Editing Nel-Spot 007 (section)

== History ==

=== Origins ===

The Nel-Spot 007 originated from the Nelson Paint Company's development of encapsulated paint projectiles for industrial marking.

These projectiles allowed forestry workers to mark trees from a distance and enabled agricultural workers to identify livestock without applying paint by hand.

During the 1960s, Nelson worked with [[Crosman]] to develop an early CO₂-powered paint-marking pistol known as the '''Crosman 707'''.

The Crosman design preceded the Nel-Spot 007 but did not achieve sustained commercial success.

Nelson subsequently approached Daisy Manufacturing Company, which developed a replacement marker marketed as the Nel-Spot 007.[1][4]

The marker was introduced around 1972 and manufactured for Nelson, with the Nelson Paint Company name appearing on the equipment.

Its original intended uses were industrial and agricultural rather than recreational.[1]

=== Development of paintball ===

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, a group including [[Charles Gaines]], [[Hayes Noel]] and [[Bob Gurnsey]] began developing a competitive outdoor game based on tracking, concealment and survival skills.

The Nel-Spot 007 provided a means of marking opponents during the proposed game.

On 27 June 1981, 12 participants gathered in Henniker, New Hampshire, for the first recorded organised paintball game.

Each participant used a Nel-Spot 007.

The game involved collecting flags positioned around a wooded playing area while avoiding elimination by opponents.

The winner was Ritchie White, a forester, who completed the objective without firing a shot.[2][5]

The event became the starting point for the organised recreational activity subsequently known as paintball.

=== National Survival Game ===

Following the first game, Bob Gurnsey established [[National Survival Game]] (NSG), which developed the activity into a commercial recreational business.

The Nel-Spot 007 was used in early National Survival Game equipment packages and at affiliated playing fields.

These packages combined markers, paintballs, protective equipment and rules for organised games.

As commercial paintball expanded during the early 1980s, the Nel-Spot 007 became one of the first widely used recreational paintball markers.[2][5]

=== Later use ===

The Nel-Spot 007 remained in recreational use after the introduction of newer pump-action markers.

Players and aftermarket manufacturers developed modifications intended to improve loading, CO₂ efficiency, maintenance and handling.

These included replacement bolts, constant-air conversions, alternative feed systems and quick-change CO₂ adaptors.

The marker also remained associated with [[stock-class paintball]], in which players use limited ammunition and compact gas sources.[1][3]