Automag Bolt Issue

[RichM]

I was doing a bit of testing with my automag and found out that the bolt is sitting too far forward when the gun is gassed up, cutting off the feed of paintballs and/or causing chops due to partial feeds. It's a classic valve with what looks to be a stock AGD foamieless bolt? The bolt sits back properly when the gun is not gassed up (or when I hold the trigger in after firing it) and the spring is pushing the bolt flush with the bumper. As soon as it gets gas, the bolt is pushed out a few mm until it catches the sear, causing the edge of the bolt to protrude into the breech just enough to cause feeding issues. The sear does not appear to be worn. Do I have an out-of-spec bolt, or is there something else going on? Gun works great otherwise, cycles perfectly. I've tried two bodies, same issue with both. Any help/advise on this would be appreciated, I'm out of ideas.

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[superman]

AGD made a bunch of different styles. These were known to clip paint especially smaller paint.


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[RichM]

The reball is pretty small but even it can't drop fully into the breech most of the time. So the solution would be to find a shorter bolt, or take a bit off the end of this one?

[Toestr]

Would a different barrel change anything?

[RichM]

Doesn't seem to make a difference... problem is the same with a doc's barrel adapter or the standard mag barrels. The issue is the bold face sits too far forward regardless of what barrel is fitted.

[Toestr]

Is there any play in how far forward/back the body can sit in the rail?

[RichM]

Not that I can see, unfortunately.

[Grendel]

What does the sear look like. If it has been filed down too many times to keep catching the bolt then the bolt will sit further forward into the breach. Hard to tell is that a short nose or long nose level 7 bolt. I always preferred the long nose level 7 bolt and how it sits and locks up.

[RichM]

I had the same thought regarding the sear, but after a close inspection it looks almost new, there is no noticeable wear on the lip where it catches the bolt. I'm not sure what version of bolt that is, although I did notice that on some of the foamieless bolts the outer 'sleeve' does not come flush to the tip of the bolt, but mine does.

[jpdgas]

If a shorter bolt is the solution, I have an ANS Phase II that may work. It's just under 45mm total length. Someone with more knowledge may be able to confirm if it should work in your mag, but it worked great in my minimag until I swapped it out for the lvl10.

[RichM]

Thanks, I might take you up on that. I'll take a quick measurement tonight to double-check.

[Toestr]

IIRC ANS bolts are known for wearing out prematurely.

[superman]

And bolts chop too. The tip being point and small paint is the issue. You want a long nose bolt or soft tip bolt.

[MrBarraclough]

If the bolt face is too far forward only when gassed up, my inclination is to suspect the sear of being out of spec, unless the bolt flange is too thin. While the edge of the sear may not show obvious wear, the distance between the pivot hole and the mating surface of the sear may be too long. Could be a case of stacked tolerances between the sear and bolt, such that swapping one or the other might fix the issue.

[RichM]

I was thinking the same, stacked tolerances may definitely be involved. I'm noticing roughly 2mm or so of forward movement in the bolt until the sear catches, I don't know it that's normal in mags or if the sear should catch the bolt basically as it sits on the bumper. I might order a new sear from AGD just to rule it out.

[superman]

I am pretty sure it is just the type of bolt you have. I will snap some pics when i get home and you will see that they made different length bolts and in doing so some of the ones like this one do not like small paint. the best solution is going to a level 10 where it has the soft face and also a radiused top edge. as far as level 7 bolts, i try to avoid using ans or venturi bolts as they are all concave. The agd long nose bolts were better as they OD of the bolt was shorter and was less likely to clip the 2nd ball.

[RichM]

Sounds good, thx. A shorter bolt would definitely fix it, since the '1st ball' isn't able to drop completely, thus getting chopped or pinched as it gets stuck 2/3rd of the way into the breech. If a ball does make it in, the following ball has the same problem. The bigger the paint, the worse the problem.

[superman]

should be able to see the height differences here.
left is short nose, long nose, foamie, ans, ans

[MrBarraclough]

This thread is a nice reminder that I should dig my long nose out of the old storage tote and swap it back in. Currently I have one of those gold colored ANS venturi bolts that seemed like a brilliant idea when I was a teenager in the late 90s.

[jpdgas]

Am I the only one that never had an issue with my ANS bolt? It has the little foamie in it, or maybe I just used to shoot too slow...

[Brokeass_baller]

The ANS bolts are fine, until you hit a threshold. They aren't hardened (or at least not properly), so they wear out quickly compared to the stock AGD bolts.