WTB - Para ordanence mod 85 ammo

[Burt14096]

Im looking for 1 or 2 catridges so i can 3d print some.. any help locating them would be awesome.. will pay a finders fee!!

[DocsMachine]

Before you get carried away, Burt, keep in mind there's much more to the POM85 than just the case.

The tricky part is there's a two-piece steel unit at the rim end that holds the actual primer. This is crucial to the operation of the cartridge, and these parts cannot be made out of plastic. For that matter, even when brand-new, the original molded Lexan shells often cracked on firing- I'd wager that any 3D printed case would have a very high failure rate.

There's also the issue with finding paint- .38 cal doesn't exist, though there have been rumors that .40 cal for those little pistols or .41 for blowguns, will fit.

This is not to discourage you- by all means give a fresh eye on the problem. Just keep in mind it's not as easy to solve as you might think.

Doc.

[Burt14096]

I have never seen the ammo up close and in person so i wasnt sure how it was made... but still would love to get my hands on a reloadable round.. i have the means to make so just finding one is the first step..

[4wdlimo]

I have 2 Mod85's and 3 boxes of ammo for sale
William kennedy
415 225 0863

[DocsMachine]

It's been a while since I've been into one of those- and I've slept since then - but simply put, there's two "cups" that nest around each other, with a large pistol primer inside. There may be a third piece which is the actual firing pin that detonates the primer.

The gun is open bolt, so what happens is, when you pull the trigger, the bolt flies forward, strips a round out of the magazine and chambers it. As the bolt slams home, the "firing pin" (which is about 1/4" in diameter) on the bolt face compresses those two cups, with the primer inside. Kind of like crushing a beer can.

The primer detonates, and the pressure pushes the two halves of the cup back apart, like a tiny piston. That impulse starts pushing the bolt back for the next shot, and once the cups separate, the gas vents out, pass through some baffles in the shell body, and blow the paintball forward out the front.

What usually happens is the cups come completely out of the case, and are ejected overboard with the cartridge- meaning if you're anywhere with grass, sand, moss or whatever, the cup pieces are usually lost entirely.

The original parts were punched/stamped. Today, unless you're willing to invest in that sort of tooling ($$$) they'll have to be machined.

Now, all that said, I have thought for years that the case could be redesigned. Come up with an aluminum shell, with a similar but different internal cup/piston arrangement, but with pieces that are positively retained- maybe with a snap ring, maybe with a 2-piece case that screws together.

The problem is simply one of cost. I'd bet I could make a functional cartridge like that, but if I do it by hand they'd be $40 each. Even a huge order- 100K+ parts- to a shop with high-speed, high efficiency machines, might only drop that to $2 to $4 per assembled round. That's roughly fifty to a hundred bucks a magazineful.

A magazineful that at full honk would last you less than one and a half seconds, and as there's no possible way to adjust the velocity, can't be used on any legit field.

Again, not saying 'don't try'. If I still had an M85 (used to have two, with clips, empty ammo and the rare reloading kit) and the time to play with it (ha!) I'd try putting a few together just for the schitzen giggles.

Doc.

[Swybs]

If someone still has one for sale, I’m interested

[WesBurton]

I have a Mod 85 and reload kit with a bunch of new and used cases, primers, even a bag of fairly dry pellets. Bought the stuff in the early 90s at a shop in Anchorage AK when these were available. Will find the reload kit with all the goodies - can spare a bunch of unfired cases for the cause of 3D printing! I have some boxes to look through but will be back....
I agree with all the comments - it's a dwindling supply of cartridges due to the design, but dang - firing off a magazine in the blink of an eye is worth it! At night, the lack of a spark arrestor is amazing!

Here's the cartridge design which may also help:

https://www.vintagerex.com/pics/gunpics/Para-Ordnance/Mod%2085/patents/m85_cartrage_patent.pdf