What about the bolt spring? Anything about the trigger?
Tough question. To me one of the main things I really love in them is that they are so modular, you can really go wild with the customization. On top of that they are pretty easy to maintain, shot feel is nice.
Only real downside is that they do use more air than modern guns or well tuned cocker, and that you can't shoot as deep into the bottle as with other guns. (though not really an issue on fields with air fills)
What about the bolt spring? Anything about the trigger?
Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts
I work for the company building the Paragon
Not sure what you're expecting to hear about the bolt spring? I don't think I've ever had any issues with them.
The trigger can be pretty much anything you want it to be from moderately heavy to almost electro light, from different rates of reactiveness (absurd to double/triple taps to just single shots) to no noticeable reactivity.
I personally set them up for single shots and light trigger.
We might want to note "Mag" and "RT" have some fundamentally different designs.
I bought my first mag way back when in 93 or 94? Whenever they came out with the Minimag. I have #2000-something. The RT is 'new' technology, and there are some dramatic differences. Sensing from the chamber is RT, where as a Mag is normal as described.
Adding a solenoidvalve and tripping a bespoke sear, adding Eyes and a LVL10, aluminum body/reg and an internal airline would do some dramatic parts to modernize it. Or just Airsear it, and really change up some bits.
Josh Coray
J4 Paintball
Lead Design
www.j4paintball.com
I honestly don't know the bit about the bolt spring either. Some of my favorite guns are FASORs.
I'm just trying to understand what the "essence" of an automag is to the automag community.
When I look at the bolt kit (especially an RT) it mostly looks like a demonstration in engineering around that spring. From the obvious points like the chamber shutoff and RT feature, to the less obvious points like the geometry of the main valve - which contributes to the inefficiency - it's all been put in there for the sake of that bolt spring. But it's also where a lot of the problems originate.
So to modernize it, improve efficiency, and make it unquestionably tournament legal, my first thought is to get rid of the bolt spring. That said if you take away the bolt spring I'm not sure it shoots like a mag anymore, a TechT'd Ion comes to mind.
if someone takes on modernizing the automag, they're going to have a difficult line to walk between modernizing the marker and turning it into something that's not a mag.
Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts
I work for the company building the Paragon
To modernize a mag, you would either have to change matierials in the valve or do a total redesign of the valve. It could be done but a total redesign is a daunting venture that is beyond my capabilities.
A mag to me is a single tube, compact gun, few pieces and modular. It is hard to define the essence of a thing. You could say that the Axe is the logical step, the cousin of what a Mag is. But that is me. When i first shot an Axe, it was so similar to a mag that going from one to the other is nothing.
And the Axe has a bolt spring.
So does the Etha.
Both modern markers.
Not sure why the bolt spring must go.....
endeavor to persevere.......
The bolt spring in the Axe and Etha just return the bolt. There are no outside forces, it's just working against the weight of the bolt and any small amount of friction from o-rings.
The bolt spring in the Mag is much beefier because it's partially balancing against the chamber pressure, in an attempt to reduce the pneumatic bias on the bolt so the sear can function more easily.
Axe:
vs.
Mag:
What this means in operation is that it doesn't take much for the air to compress the spring in the axe or Etha, air flowing through the bolt is enough to keep the bolt forward. In the mag, because the spring's so strong you need a constriction between the bolt and the powertube to keep the bolt forward during the exhaust event. A constriction like this takes a solid bite out of your efficiency.
Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts
I work for the company building the Paragon