The Pmi-3/Vm-68 family

09/13/07

This site is dedicated to the old warhorse of paintball the Vm68 / Pmi3

The Sheridan VM68 Family

The VM68 is a .68 caliber, true blow-back semi, firing from an open bolt. The VM68 is a 'Sheridan based' paintball gun. In many ways, the VM68 has the same basic internal structure as the PGP, PMI-x, KP-x, and Sheridan BB guns. Other famous guns that are derivatives of the Sheridan design are: BudOrr Sniper/Cocker, Promasters, F1/2s, Sterlings (a hybrid), and Spyders. The VM68 is well known for its extreme reliability, durability and upgradability. The term 'VM' is actually a family of guns rather than just one.

VM-68
The name means 'Virtual Machine.' The VM-68 is a slightly upgraded PMI-3, and represents the backbone of the Sheridan line of paintball guns. Despite being the 'base' gun of the VM-family, the VM-68 does come with a lot of nice features.

A stock VM-68 runs around $150-200 new and a used VM-68 runs $75-150. The VM-68, by far, has the largest number of aftermarket parts available. Every single individual part of a VM has at least 3 aftermarket equivalents. In fact, it is possible to built a custom VM out of nothing but aftermarket parts (like a Harley).

PMI-3
The name means "Pursuit Marketing Inc., version 3". Before '92, all Sheridan products were distributed by PMI. For the most part, the PMI3 is identical to the VM-68 except for some small internal differences that should be noted. First generation PMI-3s were NOT ambidextrous (the cocking knob could NOT be reversed). Plus, many early PMI-3s had a separate safety and cocking knob. Some PMI-3s had bolts which could be installed upside down. Most PMI-3s had the 'old' style cupseal. This cupseal was of weaker construction and was not friendly to liquid CO2. All 'old' cupseals can be upgraded to the 'new' kind, but the valve might have to be slightly modified. None of the PMI-3s had ambidextrous feed blocks (as well as some VM68s). The 'body' of a PMI-3 is identical to a VM-68, and thus can accept any aftermarket mod.

VM68 Magnum
The name 'Magnum' refers to the large 14.5"x1" barrel that the Magnum uses. The Magnum is internally identical to the VM-68, however, it does have some external differences:

1'OD Aluminum barrel
Back Bottle ASA (Front ASA retained for DUAL C/A)
Sight Rail
Ambidextrous Feed block
Field strip screws

VM68 EXC
The name 'EXC' means 'Expansion Chamber.' The VM68 -EXC is Sheridan's attempt to solve all of the VM-68's problems. The VM-EXC is internally identical to the VM-68, but it does come with some nice external features:

Expansion Chamber (500+ shots per 7oz)
Raised Sight Rail
Bottom Line
Field strip screws
Ambidextrous feed block

This site was last updated 09/15/03