Minimag Adventure

[Aslan]

I won't give the full story, it will take too long and most will click the "back" button before appreciating the ending...

I pieced together a Minimag...
I wanted an X-Valve but didn't have the cash so I got a retro valve instead.
I really wanted a ULE trigger so I had Brad Nestle drill the valve to accept it...
Got the valve back, wouldn't work, sent back to Brad...
Got gun back, sent to Brad again, still wouldn't work...Brad closes up shop...
Apealed for help, Tuna ansers the call and I send gun to him... :clap:
He works on it, sends it back to me, still doesn;t work, I send it back to him...
I get it back, it is leaking a little and won't work when I put the barrel on... :confused:
Tuna says he doesn't know what the problem is, suggests I send it to AGD... :(
I get it back, leaks less, but still won't fire when I add barrel...

Well, I do something I should have done 2 years ago when I was at step 1 of this problem...and yes, that's how long this has been going on, I've never been able to use the gun in 2 years...I switched to a different barrel...

And guess what, it was the barrel...(picture below)
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9244/1004897id6.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004897id6.jpg)For some reason, with this barrel (and it fits fine), the gun will not fire. The trigger either gets too stiff to pull or goes completely limp. It's the darndest thing. This isn't a homemade barrel or anything weird and I've used this barrel on my classic mag...worked just fine.

I have no idea why this is going on. But, on the bright side, after my gun has been to Texas twice, New Jersey twice, and once to Illinois and back, I may actually after 2 years be able to slap the Warp on it and give it a try! :clap: Of course, now I'll probably have a bad warp or something and I'll spend a year or so trying to fix that...I hope not... :rolleyes:

[Runamok]

I'm not in the class of the other guy's who've worked on your MM .But it sounds like an alignment problem. Could be that in the MM body the barrel is causing the valve / body/ rail to twist/ turn slightly stopping the sear from engaging the on/off or bolt correctly. I had a similar problem with a classic. the valve would not align the on/off with the hole in the body. My fix was to slightly enlarge the hole in the body which let the sear clear the body and rest against the on/off pin without rubbing the body.
Man! 2 years is a long time to be frustrated with a Mag.
Good luck with it

[Aslan]

The weird thing is, that barrel goes in kind've smooth. The barrel I replaced it with I have a helluva time getting in the gun...it just doesn't want to go all the way back and then doesn't want to turn.

The barrel in the picture appears to be an old stainless steel Boa...but don't quote me on that. It's heavy compared to most barrels which makes me think it's steel rather than alluminum. I'm not a fan of the barrel given that it's so heavy, but I do also like the weight because it sort of adds a little balance to the gun.

I should have known it was the barrel because I originally used it with an AGD RT barrel and it fired fine. It's just that right about the time I had the work done on the valve, I decided to switch to the Boa to give it a try...so changing two things at once I just automatically assumed it was the drilling or ULE since the barrel worked fine in my classic and the retro valve worked fine before the drilling and addition of the ULE trigger.

Hey, if it works and the boa sits in "barrel timeout" forever...that'll be fine by me. Now I just gotta wait for the northern weather to clear and it'll be time to debut her (again). I'm a little worried about the warp just because the balls seemed to occasionally get hung up in it last time I used it...but I'm still pretty excited. :dance:

[athomas]

The barrel could be a small bore barrel. Level 10 bolts can't use barrels with id's less than 0.685". This would be magnified if there were alignment issues. If the barrel was a loose fit, it is poosible that the twist lock assembly held the barrel off to one side more than the other.