1st time automag, what do I need to know?

[Tinman74]

Just purchased from eBay and I’m planning on using it June 25th.
1. How do these do with rec ball paint?
2. Can I use CO2 with a remote?
3. will a halo be too strong? I also have an eggy and a ricochet.
4. what are the must haves? I read something about premium urethane orings?

any help is appreciated. I’m hoping my 1st attempts with an automag will ba a good one!

[alpha_q_up]

They're good to go with rec ball, as for co2 with a remote line, I've never done it but I don't see why it would be a problem, depending on how well the detent is broken in will be the deciding factor on if a halo is too string, as for the must haves, a lv10 bolt is the best upgrade you can get for an automag, Lv7 bolts work fine though,as for orings, if you can pick up a parts kit for it you'll be set, but I'd say drop some oil in it and cycle it, as long as it's coming from someone who kept it stored in a moderate manner you should be fine

[Alexndl]

Revy work great with those
watch the video on youtube on how to troubleshoot them (by Tom Kaye himself)
If it leak and stop leaking when you pull the trigger, change the power tube oring by a urethane 90 duro oring #010
HPA is prefered but some use them on CO2 with big expansion chamber or remote but never tried it
I would change the macroline to a "standard" size one

[Secretweaponevan]

Don't expect to take it to the field, gas it up for the first time in who-knows-how-long, and to have a good time.

Watch this for a complete understanding of the automag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaCEpgeXr5c

Watch this part of the video to learn how to troubleshoot it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C_1nufgDmU

I've been using automags since '92. I have never had a good experience with one on CO2. It might be that I shoot too fast, or that it's too cold in my climate of NE Pennsylvania.
Using HPA (at least 800 PSI output) will solve all of the problems that CO2 will cause.

Depending on the shape and condition of the nubbin in your barrel, any forcefeed hopper (even an eggy) might be too much.

Do you know if it's level 10 or level 7? Level 7 will be easier to tune and use.

You'll want an automag rebuild kit with quality o-rings.
Automags run very well on HPA, air tool oil, and quality o-rings.

Feel free to ask questions and be prepared to provide pictures of the internals should you have problems and want help.

[Grendel]

Same here on the CO2. I did several different setups for CO2 and all were finicky at different times/conditions. All of those issues disappear with HPA.

[MrBarraclough]

HPA really removes one of the classic Achilles heels of the Automag. Little surprise, too, since they were actually designed for HPA (before HPA was even a thing, because Tom Kaye is the Nikola Tesla of paintball) and CO2 was more of a backward compatibility thing.

In terms of reliable performance on CO2, probably the best my mag ran on CO2 back in the day was when I used a remote line with a bigass ANS Phase II expansion chamber at the bottle end (between the tank and the hose). Of course, playing in 90F+ heat in coastal Alabama probably helped too.

[Tinman74]

Thanks guys. When it arrives I will air it up and get my list together. I have some reballs I can run through it once it arrives but obviously this won’t be a good indication of ball breaks

[Alexndl]

You can also use this adaptor to use standard cocker barrel (freak or smaller bore for modern paint)

https://docsshop.storenvy.com/collections/75558-all-products/products/344125-automag-barrel-adapter

[Pumpytrilly1]

This is worth it with todays smaller paint.

[Myrkul]

If you have especially small paint it's worth emailing doc for a dual detented adapter, I experienced a lot of rollouts and double feeds with a single detent.

[MrBarraclough]

Most definitely. With a Doc's adapter and a Rotor, my level 7 has quit chopping paint.

[superman]

This may give you a head start as well. See Attached. It still needs some grammer fixes but the bulk of the info is there.

[Euphie]

Just purchased from eBay and I’m planning on using it June 25th.
1. How do these do with rec ball paint?
2. Can I use CO2 with a remote?
3. will a halo be too strong? I also have an eggy and a ricochet.
4. what are the must haves? I read something about premium urethane orings?

any help is appreciated. I’m hoping my 1st attempts with an automag will ba a good one!

1. If you have a level 10 great, but if you have a level 7 bolt it will chop the super oblong flat spot paint, hopefully your field paint doesn't get that bad though

2. I used my mag on co2, and at first it sucked, but then I found a setup that really worked for it: I had a 24oz on my back, and then hooked that to the bottom of a 12oz aluminum tank that had an 1/8" NPT hole drilled through the bottom and was filled with ball bearings, and it also sat in my remote pouch and I took the air back out of it from the top, essentially I had just ghetto rigged an expansion chamber out of it, and then used a 42" hose to reach the Automag. I never managed to freeze it up with that setup.

3. This is really a question about your barrel rather than the automag. I almost always used a halo on my E-mag without issue, but that barrel used double wire detents, sometimes my Lapco bigshot will have issues with a Halo B, but it has a single plastic nubbin, however using a Reloader B2 board I almost never have trouble unless I disable the torque sensing setting, so this might be something that the V35 board specifically was doing. I use a VL eye force and Vlocity which are also force feed with no issues.

4. In my opinion the level 10 is the best possible upgrade, but if you are careful and use a fast hopper it isn't too much of an issue, so I don't know if it qualifies as must have, but I hear my level 10 vent several times in the course of a normal playing day, and I know that would probably have been a chop if I had a level 7. I also really like the carbon fiber frame that you have, but I honestly don't like them with a double trigger as the angle of the frame feels weird to me with a double trigger, though I admit you can probably maintain higher rates of fire with the double trigger as the trigger pull isn't super light on an automag.

Just buy your o-rings from AGD and you will be good, they aren't crazy expensive, but there is a bit of a worldwide urethane o-ring shortage, I think AGD also uses some teflon o-rings in the on/off too, so they use a few different types.

Some people will say to get cocker barrels, but honestly I love the twist-lock, I think it is a much better system as it is super quick and easy to remove and pull through a squeegee, but if you don't carry one onto the field you aren't really getting the benefit out of it anyway

[MrBarraclough]

Sweet jeebuz, that giantass homebrew expansion chamber setup you described. Sounds bonkers but very on-brand for you. Why fill the 12oz with ball bearings, was depleted uranium not available? Have you ever encountered a setup that you thought was too heavy?

Twistlocks are cool and it seems a shame not to use them, but the problem is that new ones haven't been made in so long that it is difficult to find any with bore sizes anywhere close to most paint today. I like to overbore as much as anyone, but too much overbore at the breech end means asking a lot of the nubbin. You can bend the wire nubbins in only so far before the bolt face starts to grab them and bend them backwards into the barrel. (Okay, my bad experience with that might have more to do with trying to build up the surface of the nubbin with plasti-dip.) But at any rate, I have found that the combo of a Rotor and a Doc's adapter with its rubber finger detent has pretty well eliminated chops on my level 7 mag.

[Euphie]

lol if you told me that depleted uranium had way better thermal conductivity I would have tried it! The real thing is I never had alot of money, but I wanted performance so something had to give, so it was usually weight and looks were the things I was willing to give up on to get fire rate and reliability. I eventually got a smart remote with the expansion chamber on it but it was like 3x the price of my homebrew expansion chamber and it didn't even work as well.

I can only speak to my own experiences; these days I only own two Automag twist lock barrels, the stainless steel Lapco Bigshot (at least I think it is a bigshot and not an autospirit) and a stainless steel Smart Parts Freak with the 5" inserts. The Freak has a wire nubbin and the Bigshot a plastic one, I can't say that I have really had issues with either aside from the above mentioned v35 Halo issues, but I have a Reloader B, Ricochet AK, VLocity, and VL Eyeforce of which none have yet given me issue. It is worth noting though that the paint I use is mostly Formula 13, GI field, and HK level 3. Since I have FPO I can't really say much about other types of paint, but those haven't given me issue yet.

I will say though that sometimes when I shoot fast on a slower hopper like my Ricochet AK, and I hear the level 10 chuff the ball rolls out the barrel before the trigger resets but I think that is just my level 10 being a bit rougher than I would like but, we tend to have lots of flat spots and oblong balls in our paint so when it is too sensitive it chuffs all the time on certain cases, but it isn't a thing that is easy to dial back and fourth at the field so I tend to set it for a bit more force than I would like

[MrBarraclough]

Just purchased from eBay and I’m planning on using it June 25th.
1. How do these do with rec ball paint?
2. Can I use CO2 with a remote?
3. will a halo be too strong? I also have an eggy and a ricochet.
4. what are the must haves? I read something about premium urethane orings?

1. Pretty well with rec paint. It's tourney paint they don't play well with. With super fragile paint, the high chamber pressure tends to blow it up in the barrel.
2. You can, but Mags really shine on HPA. They really, really hate liquid CO2. The best that mine ran on CO2 back in the 90s was when I was using a remote line that had an inline expansion chamber between the tank and the hose.
3. Depending on the paint size, the bore of your barrel at the breech end, and the state of your nubbin (detent), any force-fed hopper might turn your mag into a blender. But the combination of a force-fed hopper and a Doc's AC thread adapter, which uses rubber Spyder/Timmy style finger detents, has virtually eliminated chops in my old level 7 classic mag. If you really want to use twist locks, I would maybe look into having slots milled for finger detents. I use an original Rotor, and as long as the detents hold the constant pressure feeding mechanism is great for my mag.
4. All mag o-rings are urethane except for a couple of tiny PTFE (Teflon) ones in the on/off. As I recall, all of the urethane ones are 90 durometer, I believe. The one o-ring that you can reliably substitute with bunanitrile is the power tube tip o-ring because it doesn't seal anything; it's just there to keep the threaded tip from backing out. Mags like oil. Pneumatic tool oil works fine, but feel free to buy Gold Cup if you like.

That's a nice looking mag. Your mileage may vary with that cut grip frame and double finger trigger. I tried one just like that on mine, but the trigger didn't engage the rod consistently and gave it a weird feel. I ended up reverting back to my original frame and single finger trigger. As superman and rawbutter will tell you, the trigger/sear geometry in mags is a more complex and precise thing than its apparent simplicity would lead you to believe.

[DiamondDave]

I have a docs adapter. Mine has dual nubbins. I have yet to use it. I use the stock Minimag barrel on mine with a plastic detent. I have a level 10 bolt, intelliframe and run a halo. Didn’t have a chop last time out. I think a level 7 bolt with a force feed loader will give good results as well.

[Tinman74]

I ended using my fleet of Piranhas because they like Co2 and forgot I had this in the garage. The first time I put air to it from its eBay owner and zero leaks, it shot reballs off co2 in the basement. Should I be surprised or are these things that good? I got this mag 6 months ago and never touched it. I’m impressed

[MrBarraclough]

Yep, that good. Mine quite literally didn't see the light of day sitting in a gear bag for 20 years. New o-rings and reg seat and a few drops of oil (from the very same bottle that came with it in 1995) and it sprang back to life like 1999 was yesterday. Mags are essentially immortal.

[FredMnkyDad10]

Yeah similar, I have picked up automags that not been used/aired up in years. Some drops of oil, air up and shot fine.

One thing everyone forgot to mention, your wallet is going to be hurting even more. Mags breed, soon you will have more than you know what to with and extra parts.

[Brokeass_baller]

Yessir. That's AGD build quality, and that's why we still love them. I've had my Mag for about 20 years in more-or-less the same configuration, level 7 bolt, and the thing just always works.

[Tinman74]

I hope I use it enough to really learn them. I’m at least 10 years behind the latest and greatest in paintball. Automags always seemed interesting but nobody in my circle was using them.