Paintball

[Crossbow]

So, if any of you read the "picking up a PMI-1" thead, you know that I... um... picked up a PMI-1.

If I wanted to rebarrel it, which I do, would I have to send it to Palmers? I've seen a few pictures where users threaded their barrel tubes to accept aftermarket barrels. How do you get this done? And why have more people not done it?

A vert adapter... again, where do you get this done? Just Palmers?

And finally, what is the "best" bolt for these old guns? Do the Delrin bolts (speed demon, cooper T, etc) really do anything for them over stock?

Thanks!

Gabriel

[tymcneer]

Originally Posted by Crossbow

So, if any of you read the "picking up a PMI-1" thead, you know that I... um... picked up a PMI-1.

If I wanted to rebarrel it, which I do, would I have to send it to Palmers?

There are *a lot* of airsmiths here that can do the work. Chplnstone, Stuffy, BrettG, Spydrman (I think that's the way he spells it), InfamousSmiley, plus a bunch more I know I missed

Originally Posted by Crossbow

I've seen a few pictures where users threaded their barrel tubes to accept aftermarket barrels. How do you get this done? And why have more people not done it?

An airsmith like BigOldSkool, BrettG/Jake, me or anyone else that can create a threaded breech would need to be contacted about building the appropriate pieces.

The reason more people have not done it, I would guess, is cost and looks. It ain't exactly cheap.

Originally Posted by Crossbow

A vert adapter... again, where do you get this done? Just Palmers?

See above list of people.

Originally Posted by Crossbow

And finally, what is the "best" bolt for these old guns? Do the Delrin bolts (speed demon, cooper T, etc) really do anything for them over stock?

Depending on the ID of the barrel, some/all of these can or can NOT be used. All stock bolts will not fit in the .678 barrel I have. A new bolt must be made.

The only "advantage" to any bolt over another, in my opinion, is personal preference. The bolts, such as the Speed Demon, have the detents to lock the bolt forward, so you do not have to hold the pump handle. Some of the CooperT bolts were "undershot", and vented the gas below center to try and achieve back spin for longer range. (I have seen some work, and others not, so I believe the technology to be unreliable.)

Originally Posted by Crossbow

Thanks!

Gabriel

No problems.

Ty

[stolz]

ty pretty much hit everything, but i can say the speed deamon bolt is my fav. I ran with a pmi-1 for years, one of those with a speed-deamon bolt is a great setup. You can one-hand shoot on the run and not worry about the bolt kicking back and getting a low shot because of lost gas.

If your savy with tools, I suggest getting some brass tubing from Ty and doing the work yourself could be a fun project.

[Long Beard]

Let's not forget RTP. Rick can rebarrel and do vert air. He could do you a delrin bolt as well.

[melkson]

WALZ does some beautiful things to brass, unique, and affordable.

[chplnstone]

again, ty did a good job summing it all up... personally, i wouldn't bother rebarreling it, unless the stock one is damaged or you want something longer. i run stock sheridan bore brass on all my primaries, following the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' saying... vert adapter is simple, a piece of valve tube milled to fit and soldered in place of the ammo tube, but then it'd be open class. for bolts, i agree with stolz, speed bolts, either the original cooper-t or the sheridan knock-off, are better than sprung bb's. i use cooper-t underspin bolts in my primaries (again, as ty said, doesn't always work, depends on paint and marker). here's a quick pic for bolt identification:



1st: stock sprung bb long p-series bolt
2nd: long p-series 'speed demon' bolt
3rd: as above, but 'turned down' on lathe for smallbore brass
4th: k-series cooper-t 'underspin' bolt
5th: classic 'if it ain't red, it ain't right' cooper-t k-series bolt
6th: homebrew speed demon bolt for tightbore k-series

really, the first thing i'd do to make it more playable is add a fasstchanger...

[Crossbow]

Thanks to all for the comments. Chp, when I say "vert adapter" I am talking about a vertical air adapter, not vertical feed. Sorry for the confusion... so the fasstchanger thing would kind of be rolled up into that.

And thanks for the pictures detailing the differences between bolts! Very, very helpful!