MARSHALLTOWN SharpShooter 1 Hopper Gun, 2-gallon Hopper, Nylon, Seven Orifice Sizes, 45° Angle Adapter, Made in the USA, 693

Easier to use than you think. I was a little worried about what my first ever texture application would look like but it came out great. I textured a large 2.5 car garage which had some less than perfect mudding and taping (also done by me) and I applied a heavy orange peel texture. I did the walls and the ceiling. While I cannot speak to the quality of other finishes applied with this hopper gun, heavy orange peel was incredibly easy to apply. FYI, knock down is nothing more than orange peel you "knock down" with a trowel or knife after it is partially dry. I used the middle (out of 7) hole on the adjustable tip and approximately 60psi of air pressure. I fine tuned the air flow to about 3/4 at the ball valve attached to the gun. The result was medium coverage per pass. Two passes per area usually gave me the exact coverage I wanted. You will quickly learn the sound of the air flow coming out the tip of the gun and it will make it very easy to get the same air flow every time.The 45 degree elbow adapter included with this gun is a life saver and I cannot imagine doing a ceiling without it. Without it, the ceiling would have taken much longer and no doubt resulted in spilling joint compound on myself at least once. The adapter allows you to keep the hopper upright but with the gun pointed almost straight up (about 15 degrees if straight up is zero degrees). This also allows you to put more mud/joint compound in the hopper.I never used the lid that comes with the hopper since leaving it off allowed me to monitor the amount of mud left in the hopper. The gun is easy to use other than the trigger adjustment nut being a bit stiff to adjust. The whole thing cleans up very easy with a garden hose.Some pointers that I learned on the way:1. Do not buy any special topping compound. Use plain old joint compound.2. Water the joint compound down to the consistency of cake batter/thick paint. Wait a few minutes, then check consistency again and add water as needed.3. A 700 square foot garage with 12 foot ceiling took about 1 bucket and 1 box of joint compound (watered down). Only buy one bucket of compound and save three or four dollars by buying it in the box (premixed) after that and just dumping it in your now empty bucket.4. Accept the reality that you will be covered in tiny mud droplets when you are finished. Wear a hat and clothes you don't care much about.5. Joint compound washes completely out of clothing washed in hot water shortly after finishing.6. Do not expect the coverage of texture to look like paint. The texture will not look right until after paint and/or primer is applied.7. Cover absolutely everything you do not want mud on within about 20 feet.8. Air pressure, tip size, mud consistency, and distance from the surface being textured all factor into the finish you will achieve. Practice on a cardboard box or other flat vertical surface.9. This should be a no-brainer, but gravity will affect your texture application so start slowly on a ceiling until you know how the finish will look for a given distance from the ceiling.10. At the settings I mentioned above, you can shoot texture straight up onto a ceiling from about 3-4 feet away with good coverage.11. I textured bare wall board and then primed (PVA primer is cheap and worked well) and painted afterward and it looks great.12. The heavier you apply the texture, the more unevenness and poor mudding it will hide. I applied a heavy orange peel and once painted, you cannot detect any of the mudding and taping under it.13. You arms, mostly your shoulders, will be sore after a few hours of texturing.14. Keep the gun moving whenever the trigger is pulled. Direction doesn't matter (up/down, left/right, circles) but if you don't you will get a goopy mess.I would buy this sprayer again in a heartbeat and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who is considering dropping several hundred dollars to have a professional do the job. Walls will cost you about $1.00/ sq ft and ceilings will cost you about $1.35/ sq ft if a pro does this job. If you already own a compressor, your only expenses are drop cloths and joint compound. Even if you buy a compressor to run the gun, you will still come out well ahead of paying someone.I could not be happier with this sprayer. I have not been this satisfied with a tool's performance in a long time.

Worked great 👍

I purchased the Marshalltown 693 to shoot some knockdown texture on some upper kitchen boxes on my 70's kitchen remodel. I've used the Homax cans in the past, but they're almost $20 a shot and it takes quite a few cans to complete the job, so I thought I'd give this a shot. I've never shot knockdown texturing other than out of a can and in small areas (patches). I purchased this item after reading multiple reviews online for various , similar products. A couple of the main reasons for purchase: build quality, 45 degree angle adapter, no removable tips, air shutoff/adjustment valve, simplicity of use based on reviews, and easy cleaning.Ok, so I'll say first that this worked great and it was easy to put on a consistent pattern. I started by unpacking the box and reading the directions. The directions are very simple but there is helpful information in there, so I would recommend reading it. After reading the directions, I familiarized myself with the tool and decided to try the 3rd largest setting for knockdown (based on the directions recommendations). I then started mixing the Homax Wall and Ceiling Texture to a fairly thick but smooth pancake batter. I noted the thickness so that I could maintain consistency later (easier to match and get a consistent pattern).Once I filled the hopper (which gets heavy full; recommend using the handle), I then attached the tool to the air hose and set the output on my compressor to 25psi. I then found that opening the air valve wide open was easiest and controlling the trigger worked best. I got a more consistent pattern from only squeezing the trigger slightly (lighter pattern). You can set the depth of the trigger, but I didn't bother as I could eyeball it pretty easy. When I pulled the trigger all the way, the pattern was very thick and did not give a good, consistent pattern. I started by practicing on some plain, scrap drywall sheets to test the pattern I liked best (the one I just described).I then waited about 10 minutes and lightly knocked down the texture with a wide putty knife at about a 15 degree angle. Just a note: the lighter the texture you use, the faster it dries, so keep that in mind on a large room or wall and make sure you have enough time to let the mud set a little but not completely dry. I also wet the trowel/putty knife and removed any excess mud on the edges as I went.Once I started on the kitchen, I made sure to use a dropcloth and prepped the areas by putting plastic to protect any overshot (there will be some). I worked horizontally like a paint sprayer from top to bottom. Towards the top, where the boxes meet the ceiling, it was more difficult to shoot as I had to shoot at an angle. The hopper, being so tall, left little room near the ceiling and the hopper had to be fairly full or else there wasn't enough gravity feeding the mud into the air tool. I could have reset the hopper with the 45 degree angle attachment, but there was little area near the ceiling and I was able to manage without it (as long as the hopper was fairly full).Admittedly, the most time consuming part of doing this was the prep time in taping up plastic and then mixing the mud to the right consistency (and then cleaning up buckets and such). Shooting the mud and then cleaning the tool were a breeze. The tool easily disassembles so all parts can be cleaned well. I started by removing any extra mud from the hopper by pouring the excess mud into a plastic trash bag (tipped the hopper upside down and then scraped out the extra mud with a plastic putty knife). Once the excess was scraped out, I loosened the hose clamp and removed the hopper. I then tried to push out the remaining mud through the bottom with my hands and turned the air tool upside down to let any excess mud inside pour out.After all excess mud was removed, I was able to remove the top of the hopper and place the bottom of the hopper into the drain hole (perfect fit and keeps it standing up). I then ran hot water through the hopper and removed all traces of mud (it looked unused when I was done). I then removed the 2 screw on retaining nuts and texture size wheel and washed those with hot water. I then ran hot water through the air tool, pulling the trigger to allow the water to flow throw the end of the tool. The whole process took me maybe 10 minutes total. Way easier than paint guns I've used before.So, how does it look?The knockdown turned out great and looked much better than the cans I've used before. Just a reminder to prep the drywall well by sanding smooth prior to applying the texture. Imperfections can still show through if you don't.Additional comments:I did not notice any plastic flexing on the connection between the hopper or the air gun. The plastic is thick and well-made. Also, the front and rear bushings inside the tool gun looked pretty thick and seemed to be of high quality and should last a while.Additional tools used:Homax (or other brand) Wall and Ceiling TextureWide putty knife or something to knock down the textureBucket(s) to mix mud(Helpful) Mixing attachment for drill (I used a 1/2" corded drill for power and consistency)Painter's plasticFrog tape (sticks better to surfaces and comes off well)Drop clothHand sander (for knocking down any high spots or rough spots)

Bought this unit for some ceiling repair in my kitchen. Out of the box this looks like a well made product except perhaps for the Schedule 40-like pipe angle used to connect the hopper to the gun.I mixed my material and did some experimenting, but did not like the results - caused by using the wrong material. After searching on line I discovered that for popcorn texture you need a specific material (I used USG Sheetrock brand Ceiling Texture Spray QT Medium). I then mixed a batch of this material to thick oatmeal consistency and started spraying. The results were pretty good considering I am a rank amateur.Cleaning up the gun was easy using a garden hose.I wish there was better execution in the design of the spray nozzle adjustment. The two knurled thumb nuts were cumbersome to adjust when covered with texture material. Also, I wish the instructions gave some hint as to what type of materials should be used for popcorn, orange peel, and knockdown textures. For those two reasons I lowered the score to 4 of 5.Knowing that a pro would have charged me at least $500 for this repair work I feel so far very satisfied with the purchase.Just know that this is a VERY messy job. Be sure to put plastic everywhere!

I’ve textured my entire house with this when I remodeled. It’s very easy to use with adjustable tips. Sprays very well!