The Sydarm was created by Airgun Designs as a police training marker in the early 90's (92 I believe). Effectively, it was a 68 Automag classic with a tube up top split between the 8 round spring feed magazine and at the rear, a 12 gram co2 holder. The body is stainless steel and comes with a detachable slide lock barrel. Overall this makes for a hefty pistol.Initially, the marker was only sold to police or military, but around 2004, sales opened up to the public with production ending soon after. It was a very expensive marker for being a pistol, marketed at the $400-$500 price point to the public.
The Sydarm by modern standards is a ridiculously heavy marker while sharing the issue of paintball pistols being fairly large. Due to limited offerings to the public, it is a bit of a rare marker to find and the price point made it a hard sell in the face of other far more affordable paintball pistols or markers in general. While the Sydarm itself was effectively just a 68 Classic Automag and could take many of aftermarket upgrades available, few were ever marketed directly for the Sydarm itself.and while AGD did manufacture a constant air adapter, but the part has since been discontinued and is no longer available.
Today, the marker is a collectors piece that can certainly still be used on the field, and with Docs Machine offering adaptors to convert it to taking autococker barrels, one can have access to a large selection of barrels or barrel systems. Probably the largest draw-back a player will find is that the 12 gram will only last about 20 shots or so, and the threading on the co2 cap is fine threaded and takes a good number of turns to unscrew (no quick changes here). The 8 round capacity versus the standard 10 round is also mildly irritating. Recently there does seem to be some interest in the production of a constant air adapter by a airsmith, which if combined with a quick change, instead of a bottle, could fix the quick change issue if one wanted to keep running co2 cartridges (or run a bottle or remote), though this would increase the bulk of an already massive pistol. Another thing to note is that Automags tend to dislike liquid co2 and some players have reported issues with the markers especially if rapid firing while running 12 grams as it feeds directly above the valve. Mine with an aftermarket autococker barrel seemed accurate enough for the role the marker is playing. Overall if one is an Automag fan and is looking for a usable collector marker, the sidearm fits the bill and if kept in good condition, should keep its value as long as parts remain available. AGD, as of this writing, still offers a parts kit and a front cap for the spring feed. If one is expecting a modern performance out of a pistol though, other options might be best to look at.