HELP! Serious bolt-stick problem on x-mag

[om3n]

Hi guys, I have a couple threads now about my x -mag, but now I'm having a serious issue with it. I played with it for a day with basically no problems a couple weeks ago, then I got it anodized, and now i'm testing it.


Well I finally got all the electrical problems sorted out, and while i was shooting the gun to test it today, I was experiencing quite a bit of bolt stick. I thought it was just because I was shooting re-balls and they were getting jammed, but when I pulled the valve out of the gun, I noticed the bolt was all scratched up around it's outermost ring! I then looked at the inside of the body, and at the top of the body there is an area where the anno is worn off the top.

Side note- I hadn't yet loc-tite'd the body ring in place, and it had somehow unscrewed itself towards the breach quite a bit.


WHAT IS GOING ON?? What causes bolt stick/body wear?? Have I permanently damaged the body?

[BigEvil]

I just replied to your thread on PBN.

[om3n]

video that was posted on PBN explaining problems better :

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Hopefully Tuna can help me out

[Tunaman]

First of all, that bolt is shot and I suspect that the sear is also shot. I will need to see the rest of the marker to determine what is wrong. Send it here and I'll check it out. Also, I notice you have the long spring in there. Most guns will be unreliable with the long spring so install the short gold spring. The wear in the body is of no concern at this point.

[om3n]

First of all, that bolt is shot and I suspect that the sear is also shot. I will need to see the rest of the marker to determine what is wrong. Send it here and I'll check it out. Also, I notice you have the long spring in there. Most guns will be unreliable with the long spring so install the short gold spring. The wear in the body is of no concern at this point.

I pm'd you Tuna, and just for other people following this thread:

I believe the bolt is sticking because the sear plunger arm is too short and the dwell was too low, causing the sear to come up as the bolt was returning, making the bolt slam the top of the body and causing it to catch/scratch. I'm going to have to for sure replace:

-bolt
-brass powertube tip
-possibly sear

This gun is just sucking up all my money right now... I might have to sell my tac-1

[Ando]

Ya dude, ck your sear. Looks like it's been beating the tar out of your bolt. Either it's chipped or you don't have something set right.

Edit: I have that same ware on my tac 1 and another marker. I think it's due to the spring not the bolt but it's not affecting performance in the markers.

[om3n]

Ya dude, ck your sear. Looks like it's been beating the tar out of your bolt. Either it's chipped or you don't have something set right.

Edit: I have that same ware on my tac 1 and another marker. I think it's due to the spring not the bolt but it's not affecting performance in the markers.

really? what springs are you using? And which wear do you have- the bolt, body, or sear?

[om3n]

Alright guys, here is the deal.

I need to play paintball one week from Saturday, so that gives me a week and 2 days to fix this gun. I was going to send it to Tuna, but he seems to be a busy man and understandably he wouldn't really even be able to LOOK at my gun until after next week. So I want to try to fix it myself, but I want to do it right. I'm going to need as much help as I can get.


1. What is the ideal plunger rod length for an x-mag? Is it different than that for an e-mag? BigEvil was the last one to mess with my rods, and they were set fine for my tac body. Only after I got my new x-mag body have I had problems.

2. What is the ideal dwell for an x-mag? Is it different than that for an e-mag?

3. Please tell me if you think I need to replace my bolt. I want as many opinions on this as I can get- Tuna, from the video, said he definitely thinks it needs to be replaced- what do you guys think? If it needs replacing, I will do it no questions asked. I do NOT want to ruin anything.










4. What do you think of my sear? It seems to still be usable- it only has a couple scratches on top. Can I just sand them down?












5. What about the body. Here are the scratches, hopefully these pictures will help (these are the best i could take)

[MANN]

download the xmod manual. it has all the specs for your sear in it. I can look it up for you, but it would not be until tomorrow night. I never liked the silver spring either. I always cut it down a bit. I never liked the gold spring tho because it was still too hard on paint.

[Ando]

BigEvil was the last one to mess with my rods

Too easy

There's no difference between a X-Mag and a regular E-Mag. Dimensions are the same for both.

Your sear is in excellent shape and nothing wrong with it. So either the plunger is off or your bolt could have been perilously beaten up in the last marker you had it in.

Plunger length should be 3.005in. You'll need a micrometer to ck it. You can lengthen it if it's not shooting properly (not firing, skipping shots, causing the valve to short stroke etc...) but you shouldn't go anymore then 3.020in

DWELL should be set to around 15. That's something you need to play with but 15 is recommended and a good starting point.

Your bolt looked pretty beat up so I'm thinking it happened in another marker due to the condition (unless you shot a few 100 rounds out of the X already) I've reconditioned a few bolts before and 80% worked without a hitch. Hopefully yours does the same. Only thing I can say is clean up the edges and try shooting it again. If your sear isn't catch it, toss it in the trash.

The wear in the body is "normal" I guess. I have 2 E-mags with the same wear pattern. My best "guess" (talking out my *** here) is it's due to a weak spring expanding and rubbing the walls of the body when it compresses. The reason the spring is made out of square stock wire is to keep it uniformed and to keep it from expanding/bulging out when the bolt comes forward. I haven't seen any performance issues with mine but I still replaced my springs for GP. I can't tell if it's still doing it so it's still a hunch.

[om3n]

Ok awesome thanks for the replies so far guys :)

Well I checked the length of the plunger, and it was .3015". I turned it down to .3006".
Next I sanded down the bolt a bit more, and it seems to be fine now. I also noticed that my Dwell was actually at 13... probably not the greatest. What should the fix be at?
One more thing to note- I did fire a couple hundred shots through the x, and that wear is more than normal I just hope I didn't permanently wreck it/lower it's fire-rate, etc.

This is something that i will be buying for sure, a new powertube tip. Look at the wear on mine:







As far as I can tell, the power tube is still straight. what is the best way to check that?

And lastly, should I lubricate the plunger? I've been handling it alot, and i was wondering if I should put some sort of oil/grease on it.

[Ando]

I've never seen a tip wear like that

Where's the wear in correlation to the valve? On the top or bottom? If it's on the bottom side, that could be causing the bolt to cock upwards and rub the body.

I wouldn't shoot it anymore till you get the tip replaced. That might be the whole problem. Hopefully someone's seen this before and can shed some light on the situation.

[om3n]

I've never seen a tip wear like that

Where's the wear in correlation to the valve? On the top or bottom? If it's on the bottom side, that could be causing the bolt to cock upwards and rub the body.

I wouldn't shoot it anymore till you get the tip replaced. That might be the whole problem. Hopefully someone's seen this before and can shed some light on the situation.

The wear is mostly on the top. It's sort of in a half moon shape, with the majority of the wear on the top and the least on the bottom. This is still just a side effect of the sear problem though I'm guessing.

Tomorrow hopefully I can buy a powertube tip off tuna, and maybe a bolt if some people convince me it's necessary

[BigEvil]

I've never seen a tip wear like that

Xmod....20bps... yeah, they do that.

[fishmishin]

You also need to replace the blue bumper with a clear one. The blue bumper is meant for valves w/o lvlX, and is stiffer than the clear bumpers. That could have caused some of the powertube tip wear, ? athomas. I know that a worn bumper will cause the powertube tip to break off at the top of the threads, I have seen it on a couple of guns already.