THE SMG-60/68


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This pic provided by Doc Nickel.
Here we see the Tippmann SMG-60/68. This gun was first created in 1986, on sort of challenge to Dennis Tippmann. People told him he couldn't create a fully automatic paintgun, but he proved them wrong. The SMG also holds the distinction of being one of the first semi auto paintguns, along with Camille, the Palmer's Hurricane. The SMG was a novel gun, being fed by small plastic clips held in a metal magazine. There were two magazine sizes, 15 rds and 20rds, and the clips all held 5 balls. The SMG was originally chambered in .62 cal, but the turned out to be a flop so starting in late 1988, Tippmann began converting any and all SMGs to .68 cal. Another interesting fact about this gun is that it can only run on liquid. Which means when it is fired, great clouds of misty white vapor shoot out of every orifice on the gun, totally giving away your postion! Now to add a little bit more to this is a post by Tyger to R.S.P. about the SMG:

"And around 1991 or so they fell off the face of the earth. Why? Well, people argued back and forth about the .62 balls hurting more. You were allowed to shoot them at 325 FPS, you see. And the energy argument, the shell argument... it never ended. There was also the ROF of the SMG-60. 20 shots in 2 seconds. In the days of pump guns this was an obscene rate of fire.
But there were catches to these powers. The .62 ball wouldn't fly as far, wouldn't alays break on target, and it's clip was empty in 2 seconds. So there was a balance to the perks. Great coverage, crap range. Smaller ball, thicker shell to bounce more.
I wish the .68 SMG caught on more. Standard ball size, no more worries about finding .62 cal balls. No more chrono headaches.
At the Monster Game this year, the shirtless wonders had a number of SMGs in use. Not really to worry about overshooting, you only had 20 balls in the clip. They just inserted themselves into a big group of the enemy, spray away, and 20 balls later, they get lit up.


So to sum up, if you are interested in aquiring one (used only, my god, Tippmann stopped making them years ago!) them here are the pros and cons:

Pros:
Cool appearance
Full-auto (SMG-60 only!)
Unusual

Cons:
Only runs on liquid CO2 (this means siphon bottles kids...)
Louder than hell
Full auto only with SMG-60 (SMG-68 is semi-auto only)
.62 cal paint with SMG-60 (available at I&I but pricey...)
Barrel is non-removable
Clips are hard to find
Can only hold 15 rds at once, 20 at max with extended mag (this means no 200+ rd games!)
Tippmann stopped doing .62 to .68 conversions
Parts incredibly hard to find
This gun is definetely a collectors item only, and not really suited to your average player. However, if you are insane, and don't burn that much paint in a game, this maybe a cool marker for you.


: Good shot of what you used to get in the kit...
This pic provided by Doc Nickel.


: A great shot of different SMG's done up different. Note how much the marker resembles the old Sten sub-machine gun!





These wonderful photos were provided to me by Quake of STING fame. These are pics of his old SMG-68 with a clip-catcher bag attached. Notice it also has the rare 20 round magazine attached which could hold 4 clips. Sadly, Quake just traded this wonderful gun for a ICD Thundercat! (SOB...) Anyhow, something interesting I learned about the SMG-68 is that when Tippmann converted the SMG-60 to .68 cal they only did it in semi-auto mode! So apparently if you go the conversion you lost the FA! I suspect this is because soon after the SMG came out, there was an uproar over the FA capability, and and Tippmann felt obliged to change this.


Here are two more excellent pictures of the SMG. BTW, I'm enjoying mine very much. Thank you 6-pac!





: Finally a close-up of the breech...
This pic provided by Doc Nickel. Make sure to check out Doc's home page at:Doc's Block
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