Montneel Designs started out in the early nineties making custom parts for the Tippmann 68 Special. Their next project was an innovative blow back semi auto paintball marker the Z1 that would work in all weather conditions. It achieved this by having a valve system that was designed to run on liquid Co2 (this is before HPA systems became available and eliminated the problem).

The Montneel Z1 was considered by many to be one of the best blow back semi autos of the early nineties and proved popular in colder climes.