AGD using alluminum...

[rhetor22]

I bought my mag because it was composed of mainly stainless steel, which is a great material.

Why is alluminum such a big thing now? I realize that alluminum can easily sustain the pressures of the valve and what goes on in the body, but its just not as high quality as SS.

the Xmags are all alluminum! the bodies and the valves! What's the frame made out of??

I'm glad i still have my ss mag. Its nice and heavy, feels solid.

=/

[agdemagman69]

people nowadays have a fetish for light guns, so aluminum is very popular for bodies... (just look at how popular the extreme is already)

[thei3ug]

what does the type of metal have to do with the quality of the materials used?

Stainless is good for some applications, aluminum for others. Why deal with the weight when you don't have to?

[KamikazeChiKenz]

Aluminum/Steel

Aluminum and steel are both great. Stainless is heavy and feels solid but then again aluminum can feel solid as well. I personally like a lighter gun and have owned mags before and loved them, however I feel I would have hung on to them a little longer had they been made out of aluminum. By the way, I know AGD would not cut back on quality to save weight. Bottomline, aluminum is just as good a material for usage in paintball as steel IMHO.

[BlackVCG]

People want lighter guns.

People want pretty colors on their guns.

People for the most part don't care if their gun is made out of the best materials or not.

Stainless steel is a great material and it's made the Mag a gun that can shoot just as good as it did 10 years ago but people don't care about that. Aluminum allows the Mags to be anodized in every color anyone would want, it makes the guns lighter and it allows for more customization since it's easy to mill.

AGD has found to give people want they want and aluminum gives them what they want. The Xtreme won't be a 10 year gun like standard Mags. The valve field strip screw hole will wear out since the threads are now aluminum. The barrel threads will wear out for the same reason and so on.

The vast majority of paintballers are now looking at the Xtreme because it looks better, will come in all sorts of fades and colors, is lighter and uses a threaded barrel. They don't care about the long term reliability and the majority of paintballers don't own a gun over 1 year so that is why AGD is going to aluminum. Not to save money or make the gun easier to manufacture, but to give people what they want.

[LittMag]

Originally posted by BlackVCG

AGD has found to give people want they want and aluminum gives them what they want. The Xtreme won't be a 10 year gun like standard Mags. The valve field strip screw hole will wear out since the threads are now aluminum. The barrel threads will wear out for the same reason and so on.

Only 10 year guns? my mag is practically 10 years old and will probably work for another 10 years as long as I keep it maintained. Hell the marker had almost a 4 year break just sitting in a closet and it worked just fine after just 2 o-rings.

[WARPED1]

Simple,you can't anodize SS,but you can anno aluminum.

[Pand0ra]

Aluminium is also a lot faster to mill. Hence the productivity can be higher.

I bet Xtremes will stil work after 10 years.
They'll have more scratches than the SS ones, but that's all.

Autocockers were made in aluminium from the beginning. I've one close to the 10 years, and it still works.
You've just to take more care of it.

@++

[magman007]

hey, if the threads strip, you can always re tap em cant you?

[Vegeta]

Re-tapping threads would make hte hole bigger in diameter, meaing you would have to: get new screw for the bigger hole sinec aluminum was shaved off in the process. Drill new hole in body/rail etc for screw to fit in. And drill new hole up thru frame for hte screw to go thru.

[FreshmanBob]

I thought the reason was the new 7000 series aluminum which is much stronger and harder than previous alloys?

[magman007]

are they using 7000 series aluminum? i thought they were using old 6000 series stuff

[BlackVCG]

Okay first of all I wasn't saying that the Mag is a ten year gun and then it's junk beyond that. I'm just implying that the guns can easily go 10 years without any significant problems that involve replacing large components of the gun like the mainbody, rail, valve body, etc.

Yes, I believe the valve is a 7000 series aluminum but not sure about the mainbody.

You may very well get an Xtreme to last for 20 years without any problems. It depends on how you take care of it and how often you use it. The simple fact of the matter is AGD isn't going to be putting the same warranty they've had on the new stuff. Things are going to wear out more so than they did with SS components.

[magman007]

hmmm, the body is what id rather have made out of 7000 series aluminum! oh well

[rudy]

I have seen some really old micro mags never had a problem with the bodies or the threads in my expirence. So i dont think it will matter much. plus one if the reasons I bought a mag was cause I wanted a small light gun well its small and maybe a little lighter but It could probably blow the competition out of the water with all aluminum options and custom shops really trimming them down. also I think that they are always going to produce SS mags so it will just be up to the user to decide. the only think I worry about is the field strip screw for the valve I think that should have a stainless insert that can be replaced