Simple “Tried and True” VM-68 Upgrades

By Jeremy “Pokey” Davis

When I decided to start upgrading my VM-68 from stock condition, I was unsure exactly what I needed to purchase or create to accomplish my goals, which were farther shooting, better accuracy, and external velocity adjustment.  Unlike all that may read this article, I had to rely on information on products that came from the businesses that sell them.  My purpose in writing this article is not to endorse any certain product, but to inform all VM-68 owners wishing to upgrade their markers of the upgrades that worked for me, and how they are used.

The Pro-Shot Kit

The first upgrade that I purchased was the Pro-Teams Pro-Shot spring kit.  This kit replaces the existing main spring with an Automag spring, which is positioned behind the hammer in the lower cavity of the gun.  Also, the big rear hex bolt, the hammer bumper (the white plastic thing behind the hammer body), and both rear body plugs are discarded.  In place of the big rear plug, a velocity adjuster/plug is installed.  This upgrade increases the achievable velocity, decreases recoil, and allows for velocity adjustment at the rear of the gun using a hex key, without disassembling the gun (the big reason why I bought this).  The company claims that this kit improves cold-weather performance, however, I can neither acknowledge nor refute this assertion.

I was extremely satisfied with this kit.  It did what I wanted it to: give me an external velocity adjustment.  There are a couple negatives that I must note however.  The first is the fact that when the gun is uncocked, the new spring rattles around in the receiver.  This does not affect the gun’s performance, but is not “pretty”.  It may cause someone to say, ”Dude, your gun’s broke”, when it’s really just normal!  The other thing I was not so crazy about was that the gun now required more force to cock it.  It’s not intolerable, but takes some getting used to.  I thought I did something wrong at first!  I have heard stories from other users of this upgrade that say their velocity adjusting screw gets harder to turn due to the spring pressure applied to it.  Nevertheless, I have not experienced any problems of my own concerning this.

All in all, I give this upgrade Poke’s seal of approval.  It works, and I am glad to have purchased it.

Starfire Venturi Bolt

The second upgrade that I installed on my VM was a replacement bolt.  The stock bolt is very reliable, as long as the O-rings remain in working condition.  However, the stock bolt’s orifice tends to want to blow a hole through the paintballs instead of cushion them with air.  The replacement bolt that I chose was a Starfire bolt that I purchased from 888-Paintball (I mention this because there are a few companies that manufacture them and they may differ in design).  This bolt is in reality a spool valve (similar to what is found in a car’s automatic transmission valve body) with two valleys, three lands, and a massive star-shaped orifice, with a concave face.  This bolt does not allow for an internal velocity adjustment, thus allowing full airflow from the marker’s main valve to the paintball in the breech.  Because of its concave face, it minimizes contact with the paintball and allows for better cushioning. 

This upgrade gets many thumbs up from me.  Because of this simple upgrade, my gun rarely breaks paint, and seems to improve velocity considerably. 

Smart Parts Barrel

The third upgrade that was important to achieving my goals was a replacement barrel.  The stock VM barrel did not give me any problems.  However, its shortcomings are in its accuracy.  Plain and simple, the stock barrel is for close range only.  After about 30 yards, you just don’t know where the paint will fly.  When shopping for a barrel, I just went with the best name and longest length I could afford with external rifling, or porting.  I chose the 16” All-American barrel by Smart Parts.  It came in black anodization, and was very plain. 

This upgrade gave me no problems after I set it up correctly.  The new Smart Parts barrels for VM-68’s don’t seem to be made for VM-68’s.  Mine came loose many times during the first shots on my gun and broke paint constantly.  I remedied this problem by applying a small amount of blue (not the red) Threadlocker to its threads.  Since doing this, I have experienced minimal paint breakage, and extreme accuracy at long ranges.  These barrels are not pleasant to clean when you experience a breakage due to the external rifling, and a slight decrease in velocity, but these are small prices to pay for the accuracy that can be achieved.  I would recommend this barrel to anyone serious about improving the accuracy of his or her VM.

Pro-Teams Power Feed

As a bit of a rebuttal to all the negative reviews on VM-68 power feeds, I use the Pro-Teams power feed on my VM with no problems whatsoever.  However, I believe my success with this product is due to the lack of O-rings on my Starfire bolt.  A power feed only works properly if blowback gasses are release into the feed port from the breech.  The stock bolt on a VM has O-rings that practically eliminate the escape of blowback gases into the feed port.  Since my Starfire bolt is O-ringless, ample blowback is delivered to the feed port allowing the proper operation of the power feed.