Bringing the first production Automag valve back to life

[John Dresser]

Progress. I need to either find a body in better shape or find a way to recondition this body so it looks newer.

[vintage]

you can bead blast the body

[John Dresser]

Yeah, I just want the original finish, so I wasn't sure exactly what to specify.

[luke]

Bead blast for sure! It will look brand new.

[Nobody]

Sell it to Bunny for a near mint. He is a sucker for that kindbof stuff

[going_home]

I doubt bunny would pay the price it would take to get that out of John's hands (If there even is a price).

[John Dresser]

Sell it to Bunny for a near mint. He is a sucker for that kindbof stuff

I would require at least 2 mints. But it's not for sale.

I doubt bunny would pay the price it would take to get that out of John's hands (If there even is a price).

Yeah, you nailed it. And even if it was for sale, I can't even imagine what the price would be.

What does the CF designation mean?

Any thoughts on what the original configuration would have looked like?

[Nobody]

What you show in your pics is pretty much what it had. Other than a pot metal frame, dumpy ASA off the back with a short SS braid line into the valve. Not much to the early mags.

Personally, i would update the gun as much as possible: ULE body, Intelliframe and the like. It would show more that a near 30 year old piece of paintball history can still keep up with more modern fair. That is if you aren't the museum look.

[John Dresser]

Funny enough, I did that with RT #0001. I modernized it as much as possible. But I kind of wish I'd found the parts to go the other way instead and turn it back to stock.

http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=3345817

[Bunny]

Sell it to Bunny for a near mint. He is a sucker for that kindbof stuff

Lol, I appreciate the consideration. It's awesome that both RT #1 and CF #1 are under the same roof. Luckily, I never went down the rabbit hole to collect all of the oldest serial numbers.... I do have CF00186 (My birth year) and RT00062 (My Football number) I think that you should keep everything as is. I'm not sure if I'm the minority, but I really think of these guns like a classic car. I like the original / patina look to it.

I always thought the CF meant Carbon Fiber btw... Can't wait to see what happens!

[John Dresser]

Lol, I appreciate the consideration. It's awesome that both RT #1 and CF #1 are under the same roof. Luckily, I never went down the rabbit hole to collect all of the oldest serial numbers.... I do have CF00186 (My birth year) and RT00062 (My Football number) I think that you should keep everything as is. I'm not sure if I'm the minority, but I really think of these guns like a classic car. I like the original / patina look to it.

I always thought the CF meant Carbon Fiber btw... Can't wait to see what happens!

There's nothing Carbon Fiber on the original, so I can't imagine that's what it stands for.

And as for the RT, I have plans to return it to stock. I just don't know what I'll do with this milled down, cut down vert feed version (presumably with a different valve in it).

[kevdupuis]

Actually I think CF stood for "Center Fire".

[John Dresser]

Interesting. Are all the pre-Classic (non Minimag) valves marked CF?

[Bunny]

Hmm... this is the reason why I always thought it was Carbon Fiber... I never really thought about it before.. lol

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?16017-Search-for-the-lowest-AGD-Serial-numbers

Current Standings:
EMag: EM00035 (i-luv-my-rt)
RTPro: RTP00170 (Me, but I sold it. I forget his AO name.)
ReTro: VV00463 (Mykroft)
RT: RT00069 (FeelTheRT's Friend)
Sydarm: SY00040 (RKL)
Minimag: MM00238 (Linkin)
Carbon Fiber: CF00186 (AGDJon)
Micromag RT: GFX10009 (a_malfunction)
Micromag: GFX000364 (e21bgl)
Smartmag: SM00413 (Automager)

I remember seeing your post on PBN... do you know any of the history of the gun? I tried to dig up as much information as I could. Is this post accurate at all?

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?153038-Anyone-have-a-lvl-5-mag&p=1623842#post1623842

I know a little about the real old Mag stuff,
my old team the SOB's helped field test the Automag before they were widely available.

We went down to the factory and assembled our own guns from the batch parts for the first run of 100 guns.

Automag serial #'s started at 100 but they were not built in order.

that is an original level 5 valve and rail, the body is newer and will not fit on that rail.
there is no place in the rail for the body nut to fit.

The very first Mags had a separate stainless breach with 3 small plastic nubbins pressed into it that slid into the body and the front grip screw threaded into it to hold the body to the rail.

that design didn't last for more than a few weeks before the breach was integrated into the barrel and all the guns out that Tom could get back then updated to the new design

- Jimbud

[going_home]

Tuna may have some new classic RT rails still.

I bought one a few months ago for an RT project I'm working on.