Anyone interested in a magfed body?

[renie]

I've been playing with a few ideas one being a magfed mag body,
Was drawing it up to accept dye dam mags
What's your thoughts?

[going_home]

AR - 223/556 magazines.





:rolleyes:





But seriously, if you are going to do this make sure you choose a magazine that :

1) works as it's supposed to

2) is readily available

3) doesn't break the bank




;)

[Nobody]

Got to agree with Allen. Those 3 points are the most important. I see mag-fed as a niche of limited paint. Plus, Dye dam mags are huge, compared to either Tiberius or TPX mags.

[Cummins1290]

On the other side, if you go dye dam mags, you can play around with the box rotor??

[Nobody]

On the other side, if you go dye dam mags, you can play around with the box rotor??

The box-rotor has a squared off lid that actually makes loading difficult and more importantly, how is that any different than a warp or a warpless setup? Spend $75-ish on a warpless or $300+(or whatever the cost is) on a box-rotor... Your call

[Cummins1290]

Good point. Was just an idea.

[vintage]

I have always wanted a side feed mag fed body

[BigEvil]

The Dye box Rotor is awful and is prone to jamming. How about using TPX mags? They are much cheaper and readily available

$.02

[barkingspider]

I love this idea! I favor the tpx magazine. I have various magazines for other platforms and lean toward simplicity and reliability. Only grip about tpx magazine is don't take them apart, they are a pain to put back together.

[bowcycle]

I started a bottom-fed build with DAM mags. I got it to work, now have to work on making it look pretty, but it's on a back shelf for now.
I agree with what everyone else has said: go with TIPX mags.

there are printed magwells available for the TIPX and that's a great starting point;
the mags are relatively inexpensive and come in multiple sizes so you can make it fit your style (not everyone wants a zeta mag sticking out the bottom of their marker);
the mags are reliable and it doesn't look like tippmann is going anywhere;
the mags don't take up near as much real estate on the marker as DAM mags do so you might get away with not relocating the trigger (if going with a bottom-fed design)

[JKR]

I have always wanted a side feed mag fed body

I'll second that!

Some skill with milling equipment combined with design work and a little capital and that Tac One body could become the next Sten Gun look alike!

[Merce]

I'll second that!

Some skill with milling equipment combined with design work and a little capital and that Tac One body could become the next Sten Gun look alike!

Was just about to say how awesome a sten mag would be

[renie]

Dye mags seem to be more readily available (uk) and are half the price a twin pack is £20 where as tpx are £40
Not sure what the prices are like stateside

[Nobody]

That is interesting that the price point is so different, across the pond. I would look at your market and where you would sell them more. But, if it is feasible, do a trial with both. See which one would be more easily adapted and go with that.

[vintage]

Was just about to say how awesome a sten mag would be

or a Sterling

[river031403]

I'm interested for sure

[renie]

got a mag coming to me this week ill measure it up and see what works :)

[Spider-TW]

Are you going into the bottom or the side?

Bottom paint entry seems to need a new frame.

[renie]

cross that bridge once I come to it :) need to draw up the magwell 1st then see what positioning is like

[knownothingmags]

make it top mount. lol

[going_home]

make it top mount. lol

Um.

No.

Left mag or right mag.


;)

[knownothingmags]

Um.

No.

Left mag or right mag.


;)
top mount gravity feed.

[going_home]

top mount gravity feed.

That's called a hopper.


;)

[bowcycle]

cross that bridge once I come to it :) need to draw up the magwell 1st then see what positioning is like

on my bottom fed using DAM mags, I turned the magwell backwards to get the mags as far to the back as possible. This made frame fabrication a necessity. However, if you're willing to have the front of the mag line up with the front of the rail, it might work without all the extra work.

92394

[mpsd]

I'm interested.

[knownothingmags]

That's called a hopper.


;)

oh yeah that's right.

[vintage]

the tipx zeta mag would make for a more sten looking set up for a side feed but they are $25.00 a piece whereas the DAM mags are that price for 2.

[knownothingmags]

you can have a magazine that is in a more forward position, so that you don't have to modify the frame.
the part that needs to be remade is the BOLT it needs to be longer.
for this you just move the feed port and threading for the barrel and detents forward effectively making the body longer.

how do I know this?
I helped a Hawaiian Machinist pretty well known in paintball, to do extensive testing while I was back in California.
this is very doable since I have held that working marker in my hands and fired it.

he also made the body setup look almost exactly like and AR-15. this was of course all done on a manual mill, except for of course the inside body boring was done on his manual lathe(s) not sure which one. of his two.

he did not use DAM mags he used another mag that worked very well. not sure the name sorry.

[GoatBoy]

Making a new bolt is kind of where things die though. No magazine system is going to make me give up my LX bolt.

The price difference between DAM and Zeta mags doesn't seem to be a significant differentiator. I've seen you guys dump more money on more frivolous stuff.

Main differences:

1. Geometry; profiles are slightly different, and some are better for certain situations, it just varies.
2. DAM mags are more "protected".
3. Zeta mags solve the "3rd hand reload" problem. You can reload a live mag, on gun, while still having a gun that is up and ready. Trickier to do with a DAM since the second half is covered up in the mag well.

Speaking from personal experience, a sten-style gun isn't really that fun. It is the simplest and most compatible configuration though.

I think you would get the most mileage out of a sane side-feed mag body. Leave the specific magwell off as a separate piece, that way you can switch between DAM or TIPX or even a rotary FSR loader. You can also warp/q-loader it or put a spring feed on it. Remember: less is more. You make a fancy machined 1-piece body with the mag well built in, then that is *all* that body will ever be good for (and perhaps not even that).

Easiest route would essentially be a stainless body, cut a through-hole feed port straight through it so you get both left and right feed orientations in the same body, and two weld nuts on top for accessories.

I know it would never fly though.

[knownothingmags]

Making a new bolt is kind of where things die though. No magazine system is going to make me give up my LX bolt.

The price difference between DAM and Zeta mags doesn't seem to be a significant differentiator. I've seen you guys dump more money on more frivolous stuff.

Main differences:

1. Geometry; profiles are slightly different, and some are better for certain situations, it just varies.
2. DAM mags are more "protected".
3. Zeta mags solve the "3rd hand reload" problem. You can reload a live mag, on gun, while still having a gun that is up and ready. Trickier to do with a DAM since the second half is covered up in the mag well.

Speaking from personal experience, a sten-style gun isn't really that fun. It is the simplest and most compatible configuration though.

I think you would get the most mileage out of a sane side-feed mag body. Leave the specific magwell off as a separate piece, that way you can switch between DAM or TIPX or even a rotary FSR loader. You can also warp/q-loader it or put a spring feed on it. Remember: less is more. You make a fancy machined 1-piece body with the mag well built in, then that is *all* that body will ever be good for (and perhaps not even that).

Easiest route would essentially be a stainless body, cut a through-hole feed port straight through it so you get both left and right feed orientations in the same body, and two weld nuts on top for accessories.

I know it would never fly though.

that's what we created was a longer lvl 10

[renie]

I will try to make this as straight forward as possible i wanted a bottom fed design but if it doesn't fit how I want it to I probably won't bother if I have to make a new frame that's no issue but it all had to look good as well :)
Got man flu at the moment so don't expect anything too quick :(

[bowcycle]

Just so you see how I did it:
I tried to go with the simplest method possible using the least technical equipment possible. I do have a machinist friend who is able to help me out, but I wanted to use him as little as possible.

92405

I used a center-feed body with twistlock so I could drill straight down through the body and rail using my drill press. This made sure that everything would be aligned for feeding purposes.

this process destroyed the PIM, so I welded a new one in place over the twist-lock hole and drilled the rail out accordingly.

I now use a Doc's adapter for the breech and use one screw to hold the body and rail together and keep the Doc's adapter in place facing down. The length of that screw is critical.

[bowcycle]

The last problem to overcome was getting the balls to feed properly. The mag is pushing past 1/2" of rail that it's not intended for. Also, the force of the mag pushing into an empty chamber would crack the first ball every time. I finally learned to preload at least 1 ball into the chamber to keep from having a gooey mess down the barrel on the first shot.

After that, the ball stack has to be pretty precise.

92406

Others may have more creative solutions, but mine was simply to glue a thick rubber pad on top of the pushers in each mag. The mags now only hold 9 balls each, but it works.

Best of luck with your designing.

[renie]

Thanks for the input bowcycle
I don't think there is going to be enough room for what I was thinking of I've started to draw up some models ill have a little play with them but I can see it as a no go tbh

[bowcycle]

I'm stationed overseas until June, but plan to do a little revision work on this mag when I get back.

I'm going to try turning the magwell around so I have more room for the frame. If there's room, I'll drill and tap new holes for the frame and go back to that idea of putting a trigger shoe on the sear and direct-activating it. It's been so long, I can't remember what all I tried when I was building it the first time.