minimag curving balls

[trippleRipple]

Woot Woot!!

So for about two weeks now I have been sneaking around in the shadows on this forum trying to re-familiarize myself with the wonderful world of AGD. In college me and a bunch of my buddies played a ton of paintball. For what ever reason we stopped playing. Now some 8 years later I found myself looking to get back into it.

I used to have a 68 classic, loved that marker! I gave it away years ago to a cousin and it disappeared from there. I think his perants thought it too violent of a game or something.

I picked up a clean minimag on ebay, just came in yesterday! An I got a sweat deal on a Emag, will be here next week!! Looks Like I am making up for lost time, LOL.

I let about 250 rounds off yesterday to play around and get an idea of where I was at with the mini. First off balls curved off like a bad caddy shack movie (actually they were great movies but never mind).

-I have no idea what the velocity is set at, though the screw is backed out a lot further then I remember mine being backed out back in the day.

-The paint is old and lumpy. Its just some stuff I had lying around for about 6 months or so. It does not feed very well through my q-loader either. So sure need to try it with better paint.

-the mini came with two barrels; the original aluminum from AGD and the one with the spiral porting down the barrel. The paint seems to fly out of the aluminum one better. The black spiral barel I think claims it is a .619 bore. don't know what the ball diameter is.

-Using compressed air. 45/3000 nothing fancy, PMI I think. Don't know what the output pressure is. Should try to make an effort to find out.

-There was not a fomie installed on the bolt. I never remember ever having a fomie on my old marker. and for what ever reason I remember the ?piston? inside the bolt to have come further out the front. on this minimag it seems to be push back maybe 3/8th" or so.

There are a lot of possible culprits here I know. I expect to make it down to the paintball park this weekend. They will have fresh paint and a crono there so at least I will be able to eliminate those issues. Any input on how I should go about diagnosing this curve ball problem I would greatly appreciate it.

[TwilightG]

-The paint is old and lumpy. Its just some stuff I had lying around for about 6 months or so. It does not feed very well through my q-loader either. So sure need to try it with better paint.

You already answered the question The only other thing that would cause bad curving is barrel breaks or a dirty barrel

[xero28]

Get some new paint and you should solve most of the curving. "Old and lumpy" just doesn't fare well. Go to the "resources" at the top left of the page under the Automags.org sign and go to "Tom's Tech Tips". Read up on paint to barrel match. This is really the best way to shoot accurately. Velocity may have a bit to do with it too, shooting too fast can sometimes have a strange effect on the paint. Welcome back to game we love. I've been back a little over a year now after a 7 year absence. Utilize the knowledge that is Automags.org, I have learned so much from the great people here.

[Watcher]

-the mini came with two barrels; the original aluminum from AGD and the one with the spiral porting down the barrel. The paint seems to fly out of the aluminum one better. The black spiral barel I think claims it is a .619 bore. don't know what the ball diameter is.

-Using compressed air. 45/3000 nothing fancy, PMI I think. Don't know what the output pressure is. Should try to make an effort to find out.

-There was not a fomie installed on the bolt. I never remember ever having a fomie on my old marker. and for what ever reason I remember the ?piston? inside the bolt to have come further out the front. on this minimag it seems to be push back maybe 3/8th" or so.

Ball diameter is .68 inches +/- but usually +. So a paintball would not even fit in a .619 barrel. Perhaps you meant .689?
In that case it should be a decent barrel for most paint.

Standard compressed air tanks usually output 800-850psi. If it is a PMI tank it is probably 850.
As long as it isn't low pressure it will work fine.

Some of the bolts don't take fomies, but since the innards of the bolt are recessed it sounds like it does. You can find fomies at AGD's site, around here in the BST, or even on Ebay.


Old paint is the major source of any innaccuracy. Go get it chonoed, get some fresh paint, and let 'er rip

[Konigballer]

Does it have a Level7 or Level10 bolt? There are guys that have gone years without a foamy on their Level10 bolt head with no ill effect.

[Watcher]

Does it have a Level7 or Level10 bolt? There are guys that have gone years without a foamy on their Level10 bolt head with no ill effect.

Level 10 takes foamies?

[trippleRipple]

Serial number 1451, dont know how the production numbers went on these. Does anyone know of a year by serial number list?

Its definatly not a lvl10 so I am assuming its a lvl7. Is there such a thing as a pre lvl7?

It does take fomies, some were supplied with the marker. I dont have any glue so for the moment I have left them off. I never used them before, dont know if I will start.

As far as the barrel goes it did sound wrong as i wrote it. When I get home tonight I will re-check it.

I played with the velocity earlier. I cracked it up just for fun. After firing it a few times air started leaking from the rear of the valve. turned it back down and it stopped. Should I worry, can they be turned up too much?

[secretweaponevan]

Level 10 takes foamies?

Mine does.

I bought MM000818 new in Aug/Sep of '92, so probably right around then for yours.

[trippleRipple]

Mine does.

I bought MM000818 new in Aug/Sep of '92, so probably right around then for yours.

Thats impressive as hell! The marker is 16 years old or so and works like a champ! From a distance I could not tell how old it was but once I stated looking at it I figured it was older. pre star program, has the A.I.R. engraving on it, my classic did not have that, and a low serial number. chuckle.

I guess its possible that this baby did not get used a whole lot but still they are built tough. Thats what first drew me to mags back in the day. Simple and reliable. I had two buddies that were Cockers and I can remember they were constantly playing with all the little tubes and tweaking here and there with them. Me I would just show up and play. LOL

What year did AGD start making markers?

[secretweaponevan]

Thats impressive as hell! The marker is 16 years old or so and works like a champ! From a distance I could not tell how old it was but once I stated looking at it I figured it was older. pre star program, has the A.I.R. engraving on it, my classic did not have that, and a low serial number. chuckle.

I guess its possible that this baby did not get used a whole lot but still they are built tough. Thats what first drew me to mags back in the day. Simple and reliable. I had two buddies that were Cockers and I can remember they were constantly playing with all the little tubes and tweaking here and there with them. Me I would just show up and play. LOL

What year did AGD start making markers?

The automag was released around 1990 IIRC. They were still in the prototype phase before then.

One of the great things about mags is that they can run forever on o-rings, air and oil. No batteries to go dead, solenoids to blow or boards to fry. Just 4 active seals.

[Watcher]

I played with the velocity earlier. I cracked it up just for fun. After firing it a few times air started leaking from the rear of the valve. turned it back down and it stopped. Should I worry, can they be turned up too much?

There is a safety blowoff valve in the regulator that prevents the valve dump chamber from exceeding a certain pressure (ie velocity). So yes, it is not uncommon for the valve to "leak" if the velocity is too high.

Not sure about the classic valves, but in my RT there is a second blow-off in the valve itself rated to 3000psi, so if the tank reg fails and dumps the full pressure into the gun it can't damage the marker valve.

[trippleRipple]

Ball diameter is .68 inches +/- but usually +. So a paintball would not even fit in a .619 barrel. Perhaps you meant .689?
In that case it should be a decent barrel for most paint.

So its .6915 for what its worth.

[athomas]

0.6915 is a good size. Bigger is better in my books. It allows you to use any paint without fear of breakage, even if it is old or out of round. I use a 0.696" barrel for most everything.

[stoffa15]

barrel sz

0.6915 is a good size. Bigger is better in my books. It allows you to use any paint without fear of breakage, even if it is old or out of round. I use a 0.696" barrel for most everything.

I'm using a CP .689 barrel, best sz ever. messed around with a .693 then a .691 but we use air hogs.matching bore sz will be better on air.as for barrel break you put crap into your gun crap comes out, if you know what I mean. inspect your paint!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spider-TW]

I'm using a CP .689 barrel, best sz ever. messed around with a .693 then a .691 but we use air hogs.matching bore sz will be better on air.as for barrel break you put crap into your gun crap comes out, if you know what I mean. inspect your paint!!!!!!!!!!!!

And faster crap is worse than slower crap. If your velocity is turned up high, that will add to the acrobatics. I made that mistake again recently with a bad batch of paint, thinking I might as well have all the distance I can get.