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RamboPreacher's PMI Project |
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| By Brent Hoefling AKA RamboPreacher PoG#6- "A Player, Not A Pro" |
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Okay, firstly I didn't have enough foresight to think that I would be doing this, so I didn't actually get any picture of the gun before I actually started working on it. So the first picture is of it after I had disassembled it and started some "cleanup". The next thing I must stress is that I don't claim to be an airsmith nor a expert in paintball pneumatics. I do understand how they work, but I couldn't build one from scratch even if I did have the tools. This picture is the first one I actually took of the gun before I did too much work on it, it is in a state of disassemble:
As you can see, it looks like it is a PMI DF "stock from the factory" condition. Other than the picture doesn't really show how dirty it really was. To the right of the gun, you will see that I had a Sheridan Valve tool. Since I already had this particular item, I figured I could completely disassemble this gun and proceeded to do so. I soon realized that it had been taken apart and modified at least on more than one occasion in the past.
The first thing I noticed was that it had been painted black around where the DF is. I used some fine sandpaper to remove it and some very fine steel wool. I discovered that the DF was in fact a copper "T" fitting used in plumbing. After a very close inspection, I noticed inside of the DF that the original breach hole where the paintballs enter the barrel was cut down to allow the DF to sit at the angle it did.
The picture of the springs above are for comparison. The velocity/hammer adjust spring on the left was the original one and I replaced it with a brand new one. The middle spring is one I had in my parts kit as the gun as I bought it off ebay didn't have the safety spring and ball. I, of course promptly replaced them. The valve spring on the right was the new one I installed, the old one was in several pieces and I don't even know how this gun worked before. (I never actually gassed it up and tried it after I bought it, but the description on ebay said that it was working) After having it completely apart and starting to remove the paint and original finish, I found in my box of stuff that I had an original Piranha bolt and pump arm. I think they call it a "speed-demon" bolt. I was going to try to install it, replacing the original pump arm and bolt. After more elbow grease tot he body and thought about what I want to do with this gun, I decided I was going to leave the original bolt, at least for now.
There didn't seem to be any problem with the original bolt and I wanted to try to keep it in at least a semi-stock configuration for now. And it just didn't seem right to use the Piranha bolt on this old of a gun, even though it probably would work. The 12 gram adaptor allows you to screw this in the place of a 12 gram cartridge and end cap allowing the use of a constant air source.
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The keyboard, though not intentional in the picture, does give a size reference. It slides down the bottom tube and effectively replaces the 12 gram and end plug. I put an elbow fitting on the end and a hose to the bottom line ASA mount. I don't have a picture of what it looked like before, but it had a ASA duckbill screwed to the bottom of the grip frame.
I had an old Palmer bottom mount ASA (above) that works great on Sheridan grip frames. So I used it. I had to replace the grip frame because it was cracked because of the screwed in ASA and the obvious drilling it had undergone (I know it was an old Piranha grip frame, but in this case, it was exactly the same part as the original, unlike the bolt.)
Looking down the tubes from the back side, they appear to be in very good condition, and in fact except for the rusted and broken valve spring pieces, it was in great condition.
Speaking of the valve, I had an extra valve and hammer setup laying around in my box of stuff, so I used the new system. The cup seal, plunger valve and hammer on the left are the originals. the set on the right is what I used to replace them. As you can see the new set has no provision to pierce a 12 gramm, that is okay, since it is now setup to run on constant air. at a closer look you can see the the new hammer is cut and weighs less, than the original. the valve has larger air holes and the plunger is shaped and polished for performance. After re-assembly, and making sure that everything was well-oiled, I carefully gassed her up and low and behold - not a leak to be found. She even worked the first time. Though I am not finished with the cosmetics of the gun, I will probably be adding to this article as I find and do more work to her. For now here are some pictures of what she looks like:
Thanks,
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