mags

Well Mags are VERY diverse markers and can go from a basic dead simple marker to high performance electro's.

AGD (the company that makes the Automag) has been around nearly as long as paint ball itself.  The Automag no matter WHAT variation has always been known for incredible reliability and ABSOLUTE quality.

Basically a mag is a build your own marker.  Pretty mutch ANY mag can be built into anything you want almost ALL their parts are interchangeable since day one.  They are BLOW FORWARD markers and CAN be the FASTEST mechanical markers available.

I'll try to give you a run down of some of the basics offerings in time line order.

The Guns

-Automag Classic: The original Automag.  It comes standard with a single trigger frame a Classic Valve (more on that later), Level 7 Bolt,  Stainless Steel body with a twist lock barrel. (Still offered NEW from AGD but now called a Pro Classic)  

-MiniMag:  Basically a fancy looking Classic mag.  Has a vertical adapter for gas through forgrips  and a different body but still twist lock barrels.  (Still offered NEW from AGD)

-PTP Micromag: (Not shure were this one fits in the time line):  This was a spin off marker made by PTP using AGD's Venerable Classic Valve.  It was a mono body marker (the rail was part of the body unlike mags).  It also used Cocker threaded barrels rather than AGDs twist locks.  (Not offered anymore and have not been for some time kinda rare but you see em every once in a while)

-RT Mag: This is an odd ball gun and one of the few that can not interchange all parts.  It again had a different body and also a different rail (what everything mounts too).  It had internal air passages rather than external air lines like most mags. It also had a different Valve called an RT valve witch was faster cycling than the Classic valve  and gave a sort of response trigger effect to the trigger  when run with a higher preshure tanks.  This valve also could only be run on HPA as Co2 would just freeze the valve due to its much faster re-charge rate.  This gun still ran a stainless steel body and twist lock barrels.  (No longer made and not as common but still plenty out there)

-E MAG:  Bassicaly a classic mag with a valve similar to the RT with a sear tripper electronic frame on it and a battery pack fore grip.  BUT this gun holds the unique option of being able to be used as a Mechanical marker or an electro with the flick of a switch.  Still a stainless steel body and twist lock barrels. Again this one cant be run on Co2.  (No Longer made but they still selling new ones from left over stock but no longer with the old bodies).

-RT PRO: Bassically an E-mag minus the electronics and almost entirely now made of aluminum.  This made the markers ultra light and and with the internals in the valve basically identical to the E mag only light it was also the FASTEST mech out their (this valve was called the X-VALVE).  Also they had Vertical feed with angle threaded feed necks and the more mainstream cocker threaded barrels. No Co2 (Still Made and sold by AGD now called the ULE custom).

-X Mag:  I know very little about these but their kinda a Ultra performance E-Mag. Has a aluminum body/rail/Valve, Anti Chop eyes, and faster electronics than the E Mag.  It has cocker threaded barrels and i am not sure on the feed neck. They too can also be run as a mech or electro. NO Co2 (Very limited made hard to find EXTREAMLY EXPENSIVE).

-Tac One:  Bassicly just a RT PRO with a more woodsball style body with rails and such for sights.  The rest is identical to the RT-Pro.
(also Still made and sold by AGD)


The Valves

Classic Valve/MiniMag Valve: Simple Stainless steel valve, moderate recharge rate and with  the fastest fingers capable of around 15-16bps.  It is the ONLY Mag valve that can be run on Co2 but still it works so much better with HPA. 

RT/E-mag Valve:  Much faster recharge than a classic.  Can be cycled past the 20bps mark.  This one still made from Stainless steel identical internally to the current X-Valve.

Rt-pro/X-Valve:  The most modern valve all the performance of previous valves in a MUCH lighter package.  Also came STOCK with the new BOLT (The level 10).


The Bolts

Level 5:  The first bolt that went into production.  Don't really see many of these but their still out their.  I honestly dont really know its difference from the next valve

Level 7:  The long time standard bolt for all mags (except rt/pro and tac one).  Works just fine and requires little to no adjustments but can be picky on paint.  Earned a completely unfair rep as a paint blender due to player short stroking the guns (not completely pulling the trigger)

level 10:  The current best out there.  its the cream of the crop it WILL NOT chop paint and is their for very open to many different kinds of paint.  But this one takes a bit of tuning to get set up right but once set its done and wont need adjusting.


Various other upgrades

Z Frame:  Similar to the Y frame with an even sharper angle.  Some say its the best option but regardless its no longer sold.

Intelliframe:  AGD's  45* double trigger frame (can be had with a blade or two finger trigger).  Very high quality grip frame stock with dye sticky grips.  Also is made to fit electronics to have an old school 12v revy  hopper turn every cycle of the trigger.

Y Frame: A unique to the automag grip frame wit a more speedbal comfy positioning.  Ergonomics are great for the tight speed ball stance.

ULT: A different on/off valve (what the trigger actuates) to make the trigger pull very light/sensitive.   Only works on the X-valve or Emag/rt valve.  Requires a bit of tunning to get right  but works great once done.

Warp Feed:  Another AGD first.  The warp feed  is a device used to feed paint from a hopper  up through a hose into the gun.  Doing this gets your hopper off the top and can thus be mounted in a much less exposed area of the marker.  Some love it some hate it but if you one of the prior their still being made your in luck.



There is a lot more that can be had or known but that should cover the basics and at least give ya some info into what i personally think is to this day the BEST markers MADE. 

I personally shoot a:
MiniMag with a X-Valve with LEVEL ten bolt.  It has a ult upgrade and an intellieframe grip with and old dye foregrip.  Its a tad heavy but super fast (for a mech) and is perfectly balanced.  Its just as accurate as anything sle with a good barrel and is a good looker that brings many questions on todays fields.

Its kinda a monster gun taking my favorite parts of all the mags and bolting together into MY MAG.

MAgs? MAGS???? Mags are for ***s!!!!!



Sorry, never could stand mags. I love the engineering behind them, but all in all, there's a reason 'cockers were the high-end of choice amongst tournament players of the late 90's

how much did your setup cost minus the hopper, and the drop? so most mags have that angled feed neck?

p_p_b_h wrote:  so most mags have that angled feed neck?

One of the basic - and interchangeable - parts of an Automag is the body.  BearClar has a "powerfeed" body.  There are bodies feeding left and right like that, there are vertical bodies, and there are bodies that feed sideways in from the left or right.

Bodies come in different styles and colors, and in different barrel threads and feedneck styles.

And if you really want to be cool, they are relatively simple to have custom made at any number of custom milling shops.

BearClaw wrote: Um Mags AND Cockers were the high ends of the 90's. They were both in wide spread use.

Give me any top 10 7-man pro NPPL team that used mags as their primaries from 97-'01. What's that? You can't name one? That's because not one single team used them. Only recently has any kind of tech brought mags up to speed in the terms of bps. Don't get me wrong, my first post was more of a jest, but if you're going to start dropping opinions... weeeellll...

Second off a tuned X-Valve with the ult will out run ANY mech cocker. And the E-Mag is just way cooler than any electros and still can be used as a mech marker

after 15bps, what's the point? And the E-mag is nothing more than a sear-tripper, the only reason you can switch to manual on it is that the mag uses an on/off assembly rather than a knock-open valve. Nothing spectacular there. Almost any other sear-tripper can be set up the same way, the reason they aren't? Cost. The e-mag was way overpriced and quite frankly, the first of the series gave their owners no end of issues. Only later did they become more reliable.

Third off the Mag is a much smaller package and a lot more reliable.

I'd love to see your reliability statistics. I had more mags in the shop at any given time due to the fact that anything past the early base valve (lvl 5 era) would leak like a sieve the moment liquid hit it.

Sounds like a lot of opinion and no fact. Don't get me wrong, I never said mags weren't good markers, but if you look at the time when Kaye's business was at the top, they were still dominated by 'cocker and other sales. The reason the A/C market has dropped is due to the sheer proliferation of the marker in the market today. Proof alone that far more A/Cs hit the market than mags in all those years.

Edited by tallen702 - 04 December 2007 at 8:07pm

dont worry tallen, no one can ever bash a cocker who has an iq greater than 75, and by his 1st post, you can tell he isnt. i know cockers are great, its just i wanted something smaller and didnt really like the mini. so are the minimag is the same as a rt mag? do they both have a reactive trigger affect? would a basic minimaggreater than or less than an rt.  if i can id be looking at getting either one(have found them and within price range) or a setup like a minimag with a level 10 bolt, ult trigger and inteliframe, and a warpfeed and just vertical feedneck.  i understand some of the parts i want need tunning, how much knowledge of mags do you need to do this, or would a shop know how?

Bear Claw, the laugh-ie faces were to denote that it wasn't a super serious post way up there at the beginning of my first statement.

Anywho, the LVL 7 bolt is far better than the lvl 5 as those damned "foamies" were the biggest pain in the butt ever. The worst was when you'd have one finally break off of the bolt and then jam it forward. Something in the valve changed shortly after the introduction of the lvl-7 bolt though. I know technically the valve is the same, but the ones included in lvl 5 mags handled liquid a lot better than the on/off in a later-model lvl 7 did. I mean, if you look at the old rental mags, those thing could take a beating almost as much as a tippmann, but the later ones didn't hold up so well. Go figure. Like I said, mags are great markers, especially with all the newer tech out there like the pneu-frames and ULE tech that's gone into them.

e-mag

DeTrevni wrote: Used to have an E-Mag. Traded it for a Raced Free Flow, which has managed to get me an Osiris. Osiris > any Mag.

Even a rare X-Mag?

MeanMan wrote: DeTrevni wrote: Used to have an E-Mag. Traded it for a Raced Free Flow, which has managed to get me an Osiris. Osiris > any Mag. Even a rare X-Mag?

By a long shot. Up'd electronics, fancy milling and eyes doesn't compete withe the fricken GENIUS inginuity behind the design of the Osiris. Unfortunately, it came to late, and was cast into shadow.

Edited by DeTrevni - 07 December 2007 at 1:27pm