Does anyone still use Liquid Co2?

[MrBarraclough]

Loving this thread. My first marker was a 68 Special (bought beat to death used in 1994) that still resides in a storage tote in my garage. I was wondering about whether it would be feasible to get that old bastard running again, given the lack of siphon tanks on the market. Might have to go tinker with the valves off some of my expired tanks to see if I can make it work.

But short of commissioning Dan Bacci to go unearth some parts from an ancient temple full of booby traps (or wherever the hell else he finds the things he does), how would I go about getting the proper seals to rebuild the valve?

[Myrkul]

PB Sports has parts and seal kits: https://www.pbsports.com/collections...-factory-parts

I just ordered a replacement gasline for mine off there (That is some WILD internal plumbing!) and it has shipped, so they are actually real and not just an outdated webpage.

Based on my conversations with Tippmann Sports, they actually lost the bidding for the NOS parts on the 68 Special, and never bothered pushing hard for the service on them anyway because they couldn't get in replacement cup seals even back in 2003. I'm very confident that either myself or someone on here will eventually be able to find a functioning substitute, but for now that's the the "Achilles heel". of the 68 Special.

[netsurferdude2]

BretG has been doing a mod to convert SMGs and 68 Specials to work on HPA. We've had some fun games of 20+ SMGs all running HP instead of liquid CO2.

[MrBarraclough]

Oh wow, thanks for the link. I never would have expected anyone to have those gas lines in stock, outside of baccipaintball.com

[Meleager7]

My new liquid co2 shooter is ready for testing, now I just need the season to catch up! ....and I need some sweet, delicious, liquid co2 !

i'm trying the cockers pneus hose mod as well to reduce some volume in the air line. I trimmed that hose in the pic to extend about a 1/4 " into the fitting a bit . I'm hoping the hose doesn't shift and somehow pinch up and cut off the air flow completely. I'll have to wait and see what happens I guess!

[Chappy]

SO this is a Z thing, not a liquid thing, but... Do you have orings on the screws holding the front breach? If you don't and you fully tighten the screw(s) you can get binding that will slow the bolt and cause chops and or binding. I always use thumbscrews, a washer, and two small orings to avoid this. If using the flush machine screws, I just use the two orings without the washer. YMMV, but if you have those issues that is a good place to start.
And on that note, is that foregrip a "thumbscrew" or did you ditch that and mount it like vert adapter? Shouldn't matter just curious.

[Meleager7]

SO this is a Z thing, not a liquid thing, but... Do you have orings on the screws holding the front breach? If you don't and you fully tighten the screw(s) you can get binding that will slow the bolt and cause chops and or binding. I always use thumbscrews, a washer, and two small orings to avoid this. If using the flush machine screws, I just use the two orings without the washer. YMMV, but if you have those issues that is a good place to start.
And on that note, is that foregrip a "thumbscrew" or did you ditch that and mount it like vert adapter? Shouldn't matter just curious.

I used a shorter flush head machine screw that should only intrude as far as the original thumb screw.

the foregrip is a Lapco A5 foregrip, that I then filed off the nub that would normally slot into an A5 body. It’s mounted with another short screw and washer combo from the bottom.

there is no binding form what I can tell, so far so good!

The foregrip is also far enough forward, I can still get at the velocity grub screw.

It feels pretty good, feels kind of like an automag with this setup

[ReconSWS]

What are the prices of co2 per oz for you guys!? Places be charging a lot now for tank fills I'd rather just play on 12g powerlets (unless those went up too I dono I'm running on a stockpile that is dwindling hopefully I didn't just piss away 300% gains on powerlets lol).. But with lumber, steel, gas, everything going up, CO2 is going to be crazy. Time to get an HPA tank.

[Myrkul]

I pay $5 per tank all day free refills for Co2.

[Myrkul]

Well....a lot of cleaning and finagling, and I now have a second liquid Co2 platform up and running!

Let the cup seals soak in Hoppies #9 for several hours. I'm speechless they are still working, all the rest of the seals had to be scraped out with a dental pick.

Replaced all the "O" rings with the below:

Front Bolt "O" Ring: #015 (9/16 ID 11/16 OD 1/16 Wall)
Front Bolt Linkage Arm Retainer: #011 (5/16 ID 7/16 OD 1/16 Wall)
Power Tube Face Seal: #116 (3/4 ID 15/16 OD 3/32 Wall)
Internal Valve Seal Front: #012 (3/8 ID 1/2 OD 1/16 Wall)
Internal Valve Seal Back: #012 (3/8 ID 1/2 OD 1/16 Wall)
External Valve Seal: #020 (7/8 ID 1" OD 1/16 Wall)
Hammer Face Seal: #020 (7/8 ID 1" OD 1/16 Wall)
Hammer Linkage Arm Retainer: #011 (5/16 ID 7/16 OD 1/16 Wall)

I used urethane where I could (so the #015 & #012 "O" Rings) and Buna for the rest.

[Myrkul]

Took the Pro-Lite out for some walk on play, and it did great! No breaks or chops, and I managed to get a couple eliminations with it.

One weird issue did come up though. If I didn't shoot for more then 5 minutes or so, I would need to re-pull the liquid into the valve just as if I had screwed a fresh tank on.

Did I make the siphon line too big? Is the liquid expanding into gas in the valve and pushing the liquid back down? Or is this normal for siphons???

Curious to hear your thoughts!

[Chappy]

It’s pretty normal, especially on warmer days.

[StrayBlackCat]

The great thing about siphon is that once it is properly Chronographed on siphon, that is the top velocity. Temperature has little effect. Any gas entering the line only reduces velocity. Standard CO2 feed can spike if the marker is tipped to allow liquid into the valve. HPA may do the same on old markers requiring 850 psi, not because of liquid, there is none. From a cool tank to a sun heated marker, the cool air will enter at 850 psi, as it warms in the marker, the pressure will increase unless the regulator itself vents the excess down line heated gas. This would continue since air is not a refrigerant gas and not quickly cool the valve on firing like CO2 does. CO2 is a refrigerant gas. Included is a picture of a 20oz Tippmann Siphon tank siphon line. The brass fittings are the same at both ends with the tip being covered with shrink tubing.

[jeramiej]

Bunch of mad scientists in here. Nice work! Only shooting CO2 here, except when I feel like using my PCP pump to fill a 6800. Not often.