In 1991 Rennick Miller opened a small shop he called Bad Boyz Toyz in his garage using the business license from the family lumber yard to help out fellow players who were having trouble getting gear. It proved so popular he moved to an actual storefront in 1992 and even opened a second store that year. In 1993 he opened his third store and a 4th and the field Badlandz in 1996.
By the time Rennick started to make paintball a business, he had already been playing tournament ball for a number of years with close friend Gary Noblett, and this would serve to launch BBT into history. In 1991, Rennick agreed to merge his team “Scream” with one of the strongest teams of the 80’s, the “Lords of Discipline” after LoD was banned from Lively Productions events (at the time the major tournament promoter) after an on field brawl with another team. This new team was named Aftershock and it would feature such Names as Rennick, Noblett, and “Spud” Jackson. In 1993, Danny Love and Mike Bruno joined up. Not only did this create the team to beat on the NPPL 10man Pro circuit, it also gave BBT one of the top cocker techs in the world at the time.
With the combination of a popular Chicago land store front, one of the top cocker techs and one of the best known teams; BBT quickly became one of the most recognized names for top of the line autocockers with their Stage 1,2 and 3 series. Many considered the Belsales Evolution the only worthy competitor to the Stage 3. While Belsales used the stock parts and tuned and matched them, BBT took a completely different approach by developing new technology such as the RAT valve.
In 1996 BBT upped the ante with the release “Westwood” series created by its namesake, Dan Westwood. At $1700 it redefined the top end of autocockers (and their price tags). Besides the craftsmanship, tuning and parts work; a huge portion of the cost came from the radical milling, the first true production CNC milling on a custom cocker line.
In 1999, The era of the Westwood ended, and marked the leaving of Noblett and Jackson of Aftershock as chronicled in the movie PUSH. BBT kept the Name Bad Boyz Toyz for its storefronts, but the name Shocktech was used for the product lines. The Westwood was replaced by the SFL (Super F’ing Lite) , which was much more modestly priced and relied on new technology to achieve a similar performance to the Westwood. With the help of Mark Davis of PMS/Nitroduck, BBT also began to produce budget lines for Chris Cole, 32* and PMI as well as their own hookup series.
By 2005 BBT announced its termination of its last autococker lines, including the SFL derivatives to focus on the newer guns.