Upgrading an old AutoMag Classic 68?

[coewar]

Hi... I bought my AutoMag in the late 90's and later added a 14 inch J&J straight grooved heavy barrel and compressed air. I love it. Accurate! I'm not a really hyper trigger kind of player. Last time I played with the gun, however was around 2004. I just recently went to a game (and rented) and wanted to see if I can revive my gun. Store hooked it up to an air tank, and it had ZERO leaks. I heard that Air Gun Designs went out of business and looked at all the new fancy guns out now.. but I think this AutoMag will still serve me well.

I have an old AutoMag parts kit which I will probably use to replace all the rings and the spring, and I believe it's Level 7. I saw on the website Level 10 upgrade.. would I be able to buy (if I can find???) Level 10 bolt and parts kit and just use that? That would be freaking awesome.. definitely sad to see the outstanding longevity of the Mags pushed by AGD to come to an end.

Thanks.

[OPBN]

You are being fed misinformation most likely in an attempt to get you to buy a new marker. AGD is still in business.

[coewar]

That's good to hear! I was looking on websites and didn't see any indication they were out.

But back to my question... can AutoMag classic use a Level 10 upgrade? (And would you do that or just stick with level 7)

I live not far from an AutoMag dealer so soon will stop by there.

[OPBN]

Level 10 bolts will fit any AGD valve. You can buy direct from the AGD website or Tunamart here on AO.

[Pneumagger]

Yes, Level 7 Classic Valves can take a Level 10 bolt. Now, do you need a Level 10? On a classic valve, probably not.

History:
For a semiauto mech gun without RT or Autoresponse, shooting over about 9bps is/was uncommon. The Level 10 was introduced shortly after the RT valves were dubbed paint blenders as it's not too hard to exceed 10+ BPS with an RT valve if you know how to sweet spot them. Pre-2001, you pretty much only had agitated gravity hoppers good for short bursts of 8-10bps as tall as your feedstack allowed. Of course, I think sometime during 2000 shortly before the Level 10, you could get a warpfeed setup going and maybe run a consistent 15bps with bursts up to 20ish... for $250ish which was hardly economical for the average enthusiast. So the Level 10 was a great addition to RTs, Emags or other mags with trickery under the hood. The HALO was also introduced as well... so your only choices to consistently sling paint 10+ BPS without breaks was either an expensive loader or a Level 10.

So do you need the Level 10? Even if you upgraded a Classic Mag to an Intelliframe (or other quality double trigger frame) to increase your ROF, your still only looking at <10bps in the real world. With modern forcefeed loaders easily capable of 30 balls per second, I don't think you'll have chopping issues unless you run the loaders dry so they don't have a feedstack to push. Even an old used Halo B or Evolution will keep the paint flowing faster than a classic valve can shoot and will be cheaper than even a Level 10 kit. I would say unless you are shooting particularly brittle paint or your gun has issues clipping the next ball in the stack, just skip the LVL10 to save money; get a force-feed hopper and plastic barrel detents instead. You'll enjoy less troubleshooting and better efficiency from a Level 7 bolt too.

Not to say the Level 10 isn't nice, I have a few and they are simply awesome when well tuned. But I've always kept a Level 7 in my classic valve AM/MM guns.

[kfletch]

I love stories like these. It's good to hear about long time Mag owners coming back to the sport and not giving up on them.

[coewar]

I think I prefer head-ache free, so probably won't bother with Level 10 after reading some articles and watching reviews.
I wouldn't mind a hopper update as I just have the old conventional kind.

I think this story attests to the Mag being a remarkable gun!

I have a couple other friends from back in the day who also have their Auto/Mini Mags and am going to rile them up to play some this year.
Just need to make sure I can get parts and stuff.

Now, are any Mags produced any more? If Air Gun Design is still around, are they still making the guns?

[Tunaman]

I think I prefer head-ache free, so probably won't bother with Level 10 after reading some articles and watching reviews.
I wouldn't mind a hopper update as I just have the old conventional kind.

I think this story attests to the Mag being a remarkable gun!

I have a couple other friends from back in the day who also have their Auto/Mini Mags and am going to rile them up to play some this year.
Just need to make sure I can get parts and stuff.

Now, are any Mags produced any more? If Air Gun Design is still around, are they still making the guns?

Yes. They are still manufacturing the Tac One and the RT Ule Custom. There are lots of options too.

[athomas]

I think I prefer head-ache free, so probably won't bother with Level 10 after reading some articles and watching reviews.
I wouldn't mind a hopper update as I just have the old conventional kind.

Level 10 bolts aren't a hassle if setup properly from the start. They are really quite simple in their design and operation. Level 7 bolts are ultimately the easiest to maintain, but I prefer a level 10 bolt in all of my mags. I've never had any issues with any of mine.

If you happen to use small paint, which is alot of the paint these days, the next ball in the stack can sit farther down in the breach and get clipped by a level 7 bolt. This causes a crack that can lead to unexplained barrel breaks when firing. A level 10 bolt can help reduce that effect by reducing the starting force of the bolt and slowing it down.

[phy]

If you happen to use small paint, which is alot of the paint these days, the next ball in the stack can sit farther down in the breach and get clipped by a level 7 bolt. This causes a crack that can lead to unexplained barrel breaks when firing. A level 10 bolt can help reduce that effect by reducing the starting force of the bolt and slowing it down.

Quoted for truth. This drove me crazy for a while trying to figure out why I was getting some many barrel breaks with tiny paint and a .691 bored barrel. Mine seems to clip paint that's under .685 and is worse when using a loader that keeps tension on the stack (halo).

Andy

[going_home]

Yes. They are still manufacturing the Tac One and the RT Ule Custom. There are lots of options too.

Private message this guy for all your Automag needs.

[Spider-TW]

Loaders and HPA bottles are my favorite "updates" to automags. The new Ninja superlights are actually light and small for their capacity. The difference is enough that you may want to change your ASA/rail/drop arrangement.

Getting a good feedneck and loader combination makes a big difference too.

[Laku]

I think I prefer head-ache free, so probably won't bother with Level 10 after reading some articles and watching reviews.

Like Athomas said, it's really no hassle. In the end it's really pretty simple.

Private message this guy for all your Automag needs.

Seconded. Tuna is the man, when it comes to your automag needs.

[zulubravo44]

One of the favorite upgrades I made to my classic valve mag was getting an RT on/off with a .750 pin. As most people have indicated, Tunaman can hook you up with one of these ASAP. It makes the trigger pull lighter, crisper, and it significantly increased my rate of fire with an intelliframe (AGD's two finger grip frame). It's a factory AGD part, and it's a drop-in mod that requires no tooling or other modification to a classic valve. It's also less than 40 bucks (normally).

That, and a nice loader, will give you an edge most people won't believe. I have even had a ref accuse me of lying about the fact that my valve is from the late 90s, and the only part of my marker that takes batteries is my hopper. Also, the lvl 7 will give you the very classic mag sound which is different from the sound lvl 10 classic valves make.

You may want to make peace with one thing ahead of time: once you start tinkering/upgrading/building, it's almost impossible to stop. Refer to the Armory section of the forum for evidence.