Why are SL68ii's so fun?

[lizardking132]

It was originally my girlfriends dad's, but it just sat in there house forever and she recently found it. And since I've gotten her into the sport, I decided to fix it up for her, she loves it. The only problem I can see is velocity, it's shooting around 240-220 with the stock barrel, Wich is fine, but could be way better. I know someone on here said that deadlywind can custom make a thread for them, I'm kinda thinking of going that route but if anyone has ideas I'm open to hearing them

[BenoitOWN]

Deadly winds barrel is an expensive endeavor and you gotta send it in to have the bolt turned down. Expect to have a huge loss on the barrel value of you decide to sell.

If you find a machine shop that can simply remove the thread from a .685 barrel you could run that without that bolt needing modification and far less expensive.

[lizardking132]

I didn't know they needed to machine the bolt, yeah that's probably ruled out. I did see on the PPS site they used to make barrels for these, I might try that, but just taking the threads off a old barrel seems like a good idea if I can find one and someone to do it

[Hobbes]

I used a stock Phantom barrel with good results on an SL-68. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility to use hand tools to get a barrel to fit.

[Chappy]

What psi is it getting? 40 to 60fps seems like a lot to get our of a tighter bore.
Most high pressure tanks put out between 800 and 850, but that can be a big difference in this application

[lizardking132]

I honestly don't know, all I have is a old 3k ninja tank, it's outputting somewhere near 800 psi I think, I've been meaning to pick up another one. Also when I was testing it I only had like, 1000 psi in the tank but I don't think that would make a big difference

[BenoitOWN]

They can output 760psi too out the box, my 3k reg’ed one is set at that.

[William the Third]

J&J still (well, as of a couple of years ago) make barrels for SL-68's, no mods needed.

[lizardking132]

I found some.on there website but don't see the bore size, it's better then nothing tho

[glaman5266]

Have you tried running co2? Sometimes the pressure expansion will produce higher velocities. These things were pretty much designed for co2.
Otherwise, maybe try a stiffer spring? Spring might be weak/shot. Perhaps take the factory one to a local hardware store & see what they have that's close & a little stiffer?
Or find someone to do a valve job? I'd do that as a last resort though.

[SignOfZeta]

They weren’t designed pretty much for CO2, they were designed with no regard for any other gas. HPA tanks didn’t exist at all in 1995 or whenever it was. HPA and CO2 are often not a direct swap. He probably needs springs or a tank that will make slightly more pressure than 800psi.

[lew]

Horseshit, ZoS, and you should know better: pressure is pressure. Get the right pressure with either gas and be done with it. HPA was very much a thing in '95. My Pro Lite gets 300 fps on CO2 or HPA. It couldn't care less what was making that pressure.

[lizardking132]

I know the main spring is proprietary, but the hammer spring is nelson based, so it's more then do able. Also haven't tried co2 yet

[Chuck E Ducky]

Just shim the tank reg pressure up or purchase a SHP ninja reg you will get velocity no problem. They were designed to operate at CO2 pressure (850-900 tank reg pressure outputs) and the barrel bore was designed for larger paint of yesteryear. A better fitting barrel for today’s tiny paint would do wonders for an SL68II. I modified a friends for single shot First strikes and he was running a Custom Deadly winds barrel on it and it shot real good. Like way better then I ever expected. It pointed nice and was a tack driver. The key is getting a good barrel to fit it. Deadly Winds can make you one. Especially If it’s got sentimental value I say get a DW barrel on that bad boy and put it back on the field.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I think it’s got space before the insert starts if I recall correctly. It works well however he had it done. I will get more info and pictures for you and post them up.

[lizardking132]

Thanks! Whatever happens expect to see the gun at OSG

[Chuck E Ducky]

Well it’s not mine, I just modified it for him I chopped the feed neck filled it opened up the side to drop First strike rounds into it then painted it all in so it looked cool. I left the dove tail on the top so he could attach optics on it if he wanted. But it actually didn’t need em. It came out cool I’m going to get him to send me pictures of it. I might have some pictures of it on my old phone somewhere.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Ok so the bolt dose need modification Colin takes about .001 off the bolt, makes a longer pump arm and then prints a sleeve to take the slop out of the pump handle.

Colin@deadlywind.com Has modified modified a bunch of these. Shoot him an email he will get you all hooked up and that thing shooting great. It’s not as expensive as you would think and it really makes them shoot nice.

[Axel]

I would personally use CO2, if you can still get fills in your area. This gun wasn't meant for HPA, which isn't to say that it won't work, but it was designed for a higher pressure and this is gonna be your "lowest hanging fruit" solution in terms of cost and effectiveness. $25 bucks for a JT 9oz at Walmart and I do think you'll have a nice light playable setup without much fuss
As for why cheap fun guns are so great, I think it's just the realization that you don't need to drop $1300 on the latest Dye or PE to have a solid, playable gun and have fun with it. Plus the variety. Everybody needs a couple for the gearbag

[lizardking132]

Oh I've been thinking of swapping it to stock class or at least 12 grams for a little while, it honestly seems like it would pull it's weight like that perfectly fine

[ChoSanJuan]

While I own an old skool SL-68 II, and agree that they are fun... I just recently did a 1v1 with PGPs a couple of weeks ago. It was silly cheap fun! On top of that, we did it on a hyperball field. 230fps bunkering was smiles for miles! I highly suggest!

[Chappy]

Click Clack Bloop!

[The Inflicted]

I fixed up a bunch of SL-68 IIs for a local field by shimming their mainsprings. If I remember correctly I was making the shims by using my dremel to cut little rings off of a 1/2" brass tube (I THINK it was 1/2" but I'm not positive) , so that I'd have different sizes for tuning. Once properly shimmed and given nail polish detents in their barrels (you paint the detent stripes a little ways into the barrel to give the bolt O-ring room to protrude) they had no trouble shooting modern paint at 280fps reliably.

[Tippster]

I've read on old forums about guys swapping to a lighter upgraded "cocker" spring in order to increase velocity when using HPA. Anyone go this route?

[The Inflicted]

I've read on old forums about guys swapping to a lighter upgraded "cocker" spring in order to increase velocity when using HPA. Anyone go this route?

For the valvespring? Didn't try it.
My first thought was to use a stronger mainspring but as others pointed out it's an odd size- anything you use in there has to be exactly the right diameter to fit between the hammer and bolt- I've got a ton of cocker and Nelson springs in my parts bin and nothing I have fit right except the springs that came in the guns- that's why I went with shimming them rather than replacing them.

I can't recall whether the valvespring was also an odd size.

[Tinybear]

SL68II are so fun because there compact light and bullet prof reliable. Just used mine for fist time in a couple years now and had a blast.

And as for the velocity mine has No issue shooting 280fps on HPA with the .680 palmers barrel.

Now mine is also the rereleased model not sure if that has anything to do with it or if it’s just down to the much tighter bore barrel.

[BenoitOWN]

Both for the re-release but even then they are getting ‘old’(2009?) but compare 25+years old that will bring a toll on springs.

[lizardking132]

I'm not exactly sure what release mine is, it does have auto trigger tho, I remember hearing only the releases have that