brand new to paintball and automags

[Dave]

hi everyone, my name is David or Dave, and I am brand new to paintballing, I mean like I just got really interested in it in the past week! My friend plays for fun and kept telling me it would be great for me to do it, and now I think I'm hooked!
I have not even bought a gun or anything yet. I think I was attracted to automags before I even got into it cause I heard of them when I was looking up some paintball stuff online, so I think that an Automag would be right for me. I have been doing a lot of research, have learned a lot of things, and still have a lot of questions that maybe some of you more knowledgable paintballers will know. So far, this is kind of a brief summary of what I have found:

1. Different brands such as Angel, Autococker, Spyder, and Automag. I like the Automag.
2. Automags have other brands that make parts for them like DYE and Benchmark.
3. Automags will freeze up with CO2 unless using an expansion chamber.
4. Mags can be used with Revvys(Revolution?) the thing that stirs up the paintballs in the hopper.
5. Mags could chop balls if you don't pull trigger all the way through(only with standard feed?)
6. The standard bolt might pop paintballs so go with an ANS Venturi bolt
7. Nitro is good
8. In paintball games, a person found wiping the paintball marks off them will gain a reputation as a cheater.

If any of that stuff is wrong, please correct me. And also I have a ton of questions:

1. What is the difference between Standard Feed and Powerfeed?
2. What is a nubbin on a barrel? I heard if it is messed up it will pop painballs.
3. What some of the best barrels for Automags and do you have to buy a specific paint type to go with the barrel?
4. What is a two piece barrel and is it any better?
5. What is a retro valve and sear? Does it have anything to do with the rate of fire?
6. What is a remote or coiled remote? I kept hearing you need one of those.
7. What does anti-siphon with CO2 mean?
8. What exactly does the Expansion chamber do, and is there a best one for the automag?
9. What are the best kind of hoses? Braided?
10. What is a drop(the part on the bottom of the handle that attaches to the cartridge) meant for? To change the angle of the cartridge?
11. Who makes different color parts(specifically chrome) for the Automags? I looked at parts and found parts like the body and barrels hard to find in chrome or stainless.
12. Can you order chrome parts with your Automag, like a chrome body, or is that just a mod you do later?
13. What is an average price expected for a new 68 Automag powerfeed?
14. Do automags need certain valves or guages or is that just with nitro?

Please forgive me if any of this sounds really elementary. I want to know the most I can before I actually get the gun so I can use it properly. I think I am going to go with a standard 68 Automag powerfeed, get the feel of it and learn how to use it properly, then get mods for it in time. It would seem kinda superficial for a brand new player to just get a totally trick gun and know nothing about it. Besides, I would kinda like the idea of looking foward to getting mods for it.

If there is anything that I left out that is essential for me to know in general or for the Automag that I need to know to buy, use, or maintain an Automag, please let me know! Thanks for all your help, I know this is going to be a great group to be a part of.

-Dave

[skipdogg]

Hey Dave, Welcome to the wonderful sport of paintball. Hope you have a high paying job cause it'll cost you. That's a joke (sort of). Anyway welcome. the other members here will be very helpful in answering ALL of your questions. I would like to start, but i dont have enough time right now to plow through them. i guess my only word of advise to you from what you posted is..dont ever use ANS parts!! it's best to use AGD parts only for a mag. Aftermarket parts are crap and will just take your hard earned money away. Enjoy!

[Gambit1106]

First off welcome to paintball and to AO.
I'll try and help out here. None of your questions are bad questions most are very good questions.

1 Mags could chop balls if you don't pull trigger all the way through(only with standard feed?)
A: Its called short stroking your trigger. Yes it is correct that if you don't pull the trigger all the way back and let it travel att the way forward you can chop paint. Also it is not specific to standard feed.

2.What is a nubbin on a barrel? I heard if it is messed up it will pop painballs.
A: Nubbins are specific to Automags. They are what hold the paintball in your barrel so it does not roll out before you shoot. Yes, if its not adjusted correctly you can chop paintballs. Other manufactuers use ball detents which is similar and has the same purpose.

3.What some of the best barrels for Automags and do you have to buy a specific paint type to go with the barrel?
A: How to word this, everyone has a preference on barrels, but what matters is the bore size of the barrel, if you look in the resources section, under Tom's tech tips he goes into depth on this. Others may want to add to this.

Last one. Time to go home. At least the last part of my day was spent doing something usefull.
4.What is an average price expected for a new 68 Automag powerfeed?
A: Look in the classifieds on this page and also look on Paintballgear.com, they have just lowered their prices on 68's.

Hope this starts to help and I know that others will have more help and better answers than mine. Once again welcome.

Darren

[pntbawlrmz]

hey dave welcome, not only have you picked up a great sport to start playing, you came to the right spot to get your questions answered. i'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge, one tip though, take everyones advice with a grain of salt, some tips may be subjective, well here goes, i'll answer them according to their numbers. i may skip some if i don't have a good enough answer.
1. standard feed has the feeding tube from your hopper going directly into the chamber, power feed has it at an angle with an angled stop at one end of the powerfeed tube to direct the ball into the chamber, this is suggested if you ever upgrade to warp feed
2. the nubbin is a wire that i believe helps the balls flow into and line up right in the inside of the barrel, it also prevents balls from double feeding i believe. it should only stick into the barrel the width of a matchstick. any more and it will break balls, i've had this happen
3. as stated before, barrels all depend on the size of the paint. bigger paintballs bigger bore size, one barrel that deals with this problem is the freak barrel system by smart parts, it has different inserts to change the bore size of the barrel, but it does cost $200 so it is kinda expensive.
4. skip
5. i know about this but this is a semi important question so i will let some one else field this one, i dont want to miss inform you
6. a remote runs from your tank into your gun, so you can have the tank on your back for example. with co2 its nice because it gives it a little more time to expand into gas so that no liquid will get into your gun.
7. skip
8. it gives the co2 more time to expand, causing your gun to shoot more consistently, which is good :) the best kinds have more stages, i believe the highest is in the 5 or 6 stage range.
9. depends. macro line is good and cheaper, but it all is basically up to the owner of the gun,
10. it drops the tank lower and a bit forward (drop forward) it helps to balance your gun and get it more out of the way.
11. i can't really help you on that one, just keep looking in online stores and other places, i believe paintballgear.com just got some new colors in or something like that, maybe a sale.
12. skip
13. $240 to $300
14. i believe your referring to regulators, up to user, the thing is that mags intake like 650 to 800 psi and lower inside the gun, so if you do get a regulator you don't want to starve your gun of air.
i hope that helped, id like to answer more but i'm not going to talk about something i'm not quite sure of, good luck

[Sqweezer]

Hello and welcome. Heres some of the answers, or attempts to answer.. :D

5. What is a retro valve and sear? Does it have anything to do with the rate of fire?
Retro valves are a valve that AGD makes that gives you a "reactive" feel to it. You can buy an RT pro(comes with the retro valve) or you can buy a nomral 68 mag, then upgrade to a retro valve. I'm sure someone can expand on these later.

6. What is a remote or coiled remote? I kept hearing you need one of those.
A remote is exactly like the name, it runs your co2 or nitrogen from a pack or a belt as opposed to on the gun. You do not "need" this part. It takes some weight off the gun, but most people prefer to run the air tank on-gun, because remotes can get in the way, etc. etc. Oh yes, a coiled is strechy and a steel braided one is just that, steel braided.


8. What exactly does the Expansion chamber do, and is there a best one for the automag?
An expansion chamber helps rid of the liquid that enters the gun when using co2. Automags are notorious for not liking co2. Hopefully someone can expand on this if youd like to know more about it later.

9. What are the best kind of hoses? Braided?
This is ALL opinion. There are 3 main types.. Steel Braided, Macroline, and Microline. Steel Braided is the most reliable, it won't break or anything, but it is not too flexable when it comes to putting your hose where it wants to go. Macroline is a bit less reliable, but it usually doesn't bust or break.. it is a bit more flexable though. Microline is extremely flexable, but I hear so many people complaining about microlines breaking at the worst time. I personally use microline and have never had a problem with it.

11. Who makes different color parts(specifically chrome) for the Automags? I looked at parts and found parts like the body and barrels hard to find in chrome or stainless.
Search around the net, www.g3pb.com, www.firstcallpaintball.com, www.paintballgear.com. They carry various colors and styles of parts for the automag. That is just naming a couple stores, there are plenty.

12. Can you order chrome parts with your Automag, like a chrome body, or is that just a mod you do later?
You can polish it after you buy it. I don't know if AGD does them, they might. I know the RT comes chromed or polished.

14. Do automags need certain valves or guages or is that just with nitro?
No, you can take it out of the box, screw your tank in and start a' shootin, no gadgets needed. If you buy a nitrogen tank it will come with any regulators you need.

Answered as many as I could, but I have to go.

Hope this helps.

Edit :: While I was writing this, some answers were posted, I'm going to leave this here in expansion to anything the other person wrote.

[Tbone]

Don't forget!

automag=good
everything else=not as good

:D

Remember that and you'll be fine

[Dude]

Dave, where do you play in Norther Virginia?

[MagMan5446]

The bolt will not pop the balls. The stock bolt is the best. The ANS has no effect.

[Army]

Hello Dave, from another Dave!

The AutomaG will run just fine on Co2 as long as you expand the liquid into gas as soon and as much as possible. 'Mags were designed for Co2 since nitrogen was a very new concept for a propellent (late 1980's, early 1990's), and will romp along just fine as long as you try NOT to shoot over 3-5 balls a second. For rec gaming or woods play, this is plenty of paint in the air. An anti-syphon is a small tube inside your tank that is above the liquid and will mostly only let gas not liquid out. Aggressive play will sometimes negate this though, and you can't use it with a remote, only a near horizontal bottle.

A remote also acts as an expansion chamber, with a slinky style better yet. I use the ACI heavy duty remote with an ACI 4 stage expansion chamber and never freeze my gun at all.

The nubbin is a wire that has a small bend (the nubbin itself) extending into the barrel to catch and hold the ball, preventing it from rolling into the barrel. The wire is held to the barrel by two O-rings. A stepped barrel is one that has, from the chamber forward, one diameter for about 6-8"(the maximum distance any valve of any gun uses to get the ball to 300fps, any more and you will be wasting air). The barrel front is of a larger internal diameter and is usually where the venting begins. The venting allows the pressure wave to fall off gradually, resulting in a quieter release of air. BTW: there are only 2 truly "rifled" barrels on the market, with twist grooves inside to spin the ball (Armson and I think Progressive). All others that say they are rifled ported are just blowing wind(!)

No ANS internal part will do you any good, stay with stock AGD stuff. The Retro Valve taps off some of the incoming air from your tank and makes it push the trigger back out after you pull it. This results in a very fast rate of fire as your finger is "bounced". However it can ONLY be used with nitro since Co2 will flood the gun with liquid resulting in frozen o-rings.

I think we answered most if not all your questions, but ask away any others you may have. This is AGDs very own website, and it's number one in paintball!

Good luck, and welcome to AO! :cool:

[Dave]

I don't play myself yet, but a group of people in my area do. They have paintball "parties" where I guess they bring their paintball guns, fight like crazy, then once eveyone is done for the day, order pizza and spend the night at whosever house it is at. We are in Haymarket, VA, about 20 min from Manassas.

[Deadeye]

Howdy Dave and welcome to the worlds 'safest' addiction.;)

Okay, pntbawlrmz pretty much covered all there is to your questions, I'll just try to answer the ones he skipped.

Here goes,
4. What is a two piece barrel and is it any better?
A. A 2 pice barrel is made up of an Aluminium Tip and a Stainless Steel Base. Better? It all depends, IMHO, it works just as well as my standard 1 piece Dye, but gives me the option of varied lengths for different games. Barrel to Paint match is important if you want that excellent 'use'.

7. What does anti-siphon with CO2 mean?
A. Anti-Siphon means that with the use of CO2, it'll prevent the liguid CO2 from getting into your Mag, Mags hate that. It's basically a tube of sorts that is bent at an angle to allow only gas into the Mag, not liguid.

12. Can you order chrome parts with your Automag, like a chrome body, or is that just a mod you do later?
A. Chroming your Mag is a basic cosmectic mod. Do it now or do it later, thats up to you. IMHO, it doesn't really affect the performance of the Mag, but it might affect your performance...[Kewl, look at the cute guy with that awesome chrome lookin Mag..;)] Best bet, do it when your Mag is up and running sweet and when you have excess cash on hand. Try Smart Parts or Ledz of the Banzai bandits from Planet Paintball in the UK for colored mods.

Hope that helps.

[Arturus]

Hiya Dave! I'd contribute and try to help you with your questions, but I think the others already have. They're a lot more knowledgeable than I am. ;)

Welcome to the sport and I know how you're feeling at the moment. Just got into it myself, not too long ago. Enjoy!!

On a side note, I'm getting my memory refreshed and most likely learning just as much. :cool:

[FiTiRPiLiT]

you're definitely on the right track by asking questions and doing research. you'll find that the ONLY way to learn about this sport is to go out and play, watch people closely, and ask them if you have a question. most people are really nice and will gladly offer you assistance, just look at this forum!

btw, i wish i had these many questions my first week of paintballing!

[DRAGONSLAYER]

Welcome! I don't think I need to add more, but keep the questions coming so you know what to buy. Check the classifieied section, maybe there will be your next gun for sale.


;)

[HeerophantG]

"YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT STUFF"

PS. especially for Emag

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