Newby Mag Questions

[tizon]

I used to play paintball a lot as a kid back in the 90's and always wanted an automag. I just couldn't afford one...as a middle school kid...I ended up getting out of the sport. Now I am 34 and I am getting back into the sport and I can afford to buy the gun I always wanted...the MINIMAG! So, I picked up a minimag from the facebook B/S/T group and for the past couple of weekends I have been playing with the mag and having a ton of fun. My first game with it I got 3 guys! That was 2 weeks ago... I am loving it! I get so many people who have to ask me about the mag...and I say "Back in my day"...hahah i'm getting old! I went out to my local paintball store Pro Edge here in Houston and got a Ninja 68/4500 and a proto primo hopper, gold cup lube, squeegee, barrel plug... Yesterday, I went out with the mag again and had a blast, but I'm having some issues. I'm chopping paint like crazy...I chopped at least 6 or 7. and I was squeegee'n almost every game...and I noticed that if I pull back the trigger ever so slowly I can get the gun to release air, but not fire. I figured out that I need to make a solid trigger pull to avoid this. And by the end of the day I was firing slowly to try and avoid leaking air and chopping paint. Even so, I was still chopping paint ... I have smart parts barrel with wire detent

I noticed that my first shot comes out super hot and then it drops off a bunch...
At the beginning of the day I was cronoing around 270-280 then at the end of the day I was noticing that I was having a lot of my shots fall short and hit the ground...I cronoed again and I was at 240's...

So what could I do to have more consistency?
I have been doing a ton of research and have watched the videos several times. and here is what I'm thinking...
it probably has to do with the gun coming from someone that hadn't used it in several years and it needs to be gone through with a o-ring rebuild kit

Another question, are the on/off valves interchangeable? or upgradeable?

Anyways, I'm having a blast with the mag...and it feels great to get some kills against the guys with the space guns.
after playing all day yesterday I'm wore out...
I really appreciate this site and any support I can get, thanks!

[Gabehcoud]

I definitely rebuild the valve replace every oring. Even if they look ok just replace em, might as well. Also to help with the chopping you could get a level 10 bolt kit. Set it up right and no more chopping, or vastly reduced occurrences of chopping

[bowcycle]

Sorry to take so long to get you some responses. We're normally a bit faster of a community than this.

As Gabe said, definitely do a rebuild. If you buy the kit from AGD, it will also include a plastic detent for the barrel.
I've shredded paint on the wire detents. Don't know if that's part of your issue, but it's possible.
Also, if you know somebody that has an old revy hopper, give that a try. Most of the hoppers out there today push the paint too hard for these old single-detent, large-bore barrels. It could be that your hopper is overpowering your detent and you're chopping in the breech.

I would also get an RT on/off. I use them in all my classic valves. It has a "crisper" trigger pull and helps lessen the difference between a mag trigger pull and other mechs. But you still need to be very consistent with a quick pull all the way through and a full release.
If you don't do a full pull and release on a cocker, you double feed; on a mag, you'll chop.
You should be able to fire as fast as you physically can without issue, you just have to pull and release the right way.

[tizon]

Sorry to take so long to get you some responses. We're normally a bit faster of a community than this.

As Gabe said, definitely do a rebuild. If you buy the kit from AGD, it will also include a plastic detent for the barrel.
I've shredded paint on the wire detents. Don't know if that's part of your issue, but it's possible.
Also, if you know somebody that has an old revy hopper, give that a try. Most of the hoppers out there today push the paint too hard for these old single-detent, large-bore barrels. It could be that your hopper is overpowering your detent and you're chopping in the breech.

I would also get an RT on/off. I use them in all my classic valves. It has a "crisper" trigger pull and helps lessen the difference between a mag trigger pull and other mechs. But you still need to be very consistent with a quick pull all the way through and a full release.
If you don't do a full pull and release on a cocker, you double feed; on a mag, you'll chop.
You should be able to fire as fast as you physically can without issue, you just have to pull and release the right way.

Thanks for the replies y'all. I got the kit and rt on/off ordered up from AGD today...thanks... I'll keep ya posted

[vintage]

make sure you have the parabolic power feed plug.

[tizon]

Yep it has the parabolic plug...
I have fallen down the slippery slope of automag buying. Now I have 2...I scooped up another one an Automag Classic and it came with a parts kit. The new gun was in worse shape than the pics showed...it was like the gun was never taken apart and cleaned...tons of caked up crusty paint. Anyways, I used the spare parts kit to rebuild the minimag and the trigger is much more crispy now. I am still waiting on the RT on/off to come in...
I wish I would have found out about the AO sooner and tunamart. I could have gotten a freshly rebuilt mag to start off with... but the flip side is that now i feel more confident knowing how to totally rebuild what I've got. and I'm thinking about getting the X valve from tunamart now too!
Going again to play tomorrow, rainy forecast, cheers everyone!