Automags - Endangered Species

[Badmovies.org]

Played paintball this last weekend and something really struck me: the only Airgun Designs' marker out there, out of perhaps 70 people, was mine. Of course there were rental guns (Tippmans), and kids had plenty of Spyders (and clones of such). There were several Angels, Impulses, and Autocockers, but my trusty Automag was the only one of its kind.

Now, it is true that I have been itching to get an Emag. However, the lure of that marker is much the same as what made me put up my VM-68 EXC for the Automag: it is reliable and a fine piece of work. If the electronics give up the ghost I can flip to mechanical and still make trouble for the other team.

Two of the Angels went down during the day, the Nova had a problem, I saw the person using the Cocker had to put it up, and an Impulse went down. Out of the high-performance guns, I would say 25% had issues (that I saw). Not once in four years or so has my Automag gone down. Why in the world does it seem like players are forsaking the markers? Not sexy enough? (I hear this a lot.)

Probably a rhetorical question on these boards, but it made me wonder.

[magking1971]

It is because people flock to flashy shiney stuff like mad and don't care if it is reliable or not, "I'ts broke but it sure looks good!" sigh..

[toymyster]

Living in Southern California, "Cocker Country", I'm used to being the only E-Mag on the field!!! The rarity of 'mags is not because of reliability issues, it's the company philosophy, AGD is an engineering driven company, they let the product speak for itself!! Most others are marketing driven companies, they have loud music, flashy displays and hot models make their product look good to the average buyer!!! Theirs' is shinier than ours', that's what I've noticed!!!

[Smoken]

toymyster

...though your warped e-mag seemed to draw quite a bit of attention at jungle island last saturday . Especially with the 6in. equation on there!

[temps]

I beleive that most paintball players are impulse buyers, they don't check out the item first, they look at the gun rack, see a nice shiny one and say that looks nice i'll get that one!

[halB]

you wouldnt believe how many people get cockers because "so many pro teams use them, therefore they must be good" if agd would sponsor some really good teams, they would probably see a huge increase in sales

[Smokee_2_7]

First off, Welcome to AO.
Ive shot automags for about the past 6 yeasrs, and have made many of the same observations as you.


Secondly,
To an extent, You are right. Actually, a year ago I'd say you were right. For the past several years, Automags have been carried on throughout the paintball world by a relativly small group of dedicated users. The main reason for this was probably a combination of the fact that (in many peoples opinions) the gun did/ does not look AS good as may others on the market(all a mater of personal opinion.) Secondly, Regardless of how many dedicated mag users swore that they never had a problem chopping paint, the markers had a reputation for being rough on paint.

This, combined with the fact that AGD did not have 'our' paintball industry as it's main priority (many military-type contracts, ect.) resulted in not alot of new, original development in their product line. Overall, the image of the atuomag was beginning to be viewed as an out-of date (although FANTASTIC at its time) paintball gun.

In the past year, AGD has begun to re-claim its position in the paintball industry. New products- - - primairly the lvl 10 upgrade that eliminates ALL breach chops on ANY automag that it is installed on-- - - have actually resulted in MANY 'hardcore' players brining their old 'mags out of the gearbags. These 'favorite' guns of the past had been put away for serious tournamnernt play in lieu of other arkers that were simply ligher, and eaiser on today's extremely brittle-shelled tournmant paintballs.

The lvl 10 combined with the retrovalve has my NON ELECTRONIC retromags shooting faster than SEVERAL people at my field who use electronic markers. (and NO chops, by the way. Not too shabby for a completely mechanical marker in an age of paintball history where many of the beginning level, $150 guns are electronic.

Additionaly, the E-mag was re-incarnated in a totally new form. The X-mag did away with the stainless steel tube design that was a trademark of (almost) all AGD markers and replaced it with a MUCH lighter, aluminum body. The twist lok barrel design- - - done away with in favor of less expensive autococker threaded barrels. Who needs a 'quick removal' barrel if they never chop paint? An anti-chop eye was added to the design also, giving a redundant, almost fail-safe system of chop prevention.

Now, Agd has a top-of the line marker that weighs LESS than most of the other high end markers. AND, colors and fades, as well as custom editions are available- - - catering to what most people want in a expensive- high end paint gun. The INCREDIBLE relibility of an automag, with the the eloectronic/ magnetic trigger of the emag, with the looks and customization ability of an angel or a top-end autococker. not to mention that the the X-mag and E-mag are the only electronic markers that are able to continue working even if the battery/ electronics fail.

When i first started to work at the field where i am currently employed, there were about 2 regular automag users, and one emag user.

Now, there are over a dozen. THis is all in the past 10 months.


I would not say that the automag is an endangered species, but rather that the automag -- with its new updates and forms is making an incredible comeback in todays paintball world.

just my 2 cents,

Carl

[Ov3rmind]

I usually see a Mag or two every time I go to my feild (occasionally not though). I actually see more of them than Timmys and Imps (The Timmy and Imp craze hasn't caught on full force in Utah yet). The most popular electronic gun here is still the good ol' LCD Angel, and Cockers are everywhere you look.

[MinimagRockin']

The last time I played I only saw one other mag (maybe none can't remember), but strangely enough I only saw one or two autocockers as well.

[Marek]

Played a tourney (my teams first one, woo hoo) and only saw 1 other mag (outside of our team of mag owners) the whole day. A lot of ppl there were really impressed with our guns (never had a problem all day) especially freakin ppl out about having warp. The question "How do u shoot on ur left side?" came up, but overall, it was nice that they were admiring our guns. Ive heard the same ole dribble from store owners and ppl about mags, but its all good. Im happy with what i got and i hope they r with what they choose to play with. As long as ur happy with ur mag, its all good.

[Pand0ra]

I see a lot of automags here in Belgium. I saw 4 or 5 of them at the last tourney, ranging from the Automag classic to my Emag C&C.
I see also more and more poeple who wants to play again with their old RT (once they're upgraded to the Lx of course). Actually I bought two weeks ago an old RT with a Zgrip, just for the fun to play with it .

@++

[minion450]

The mags are definatly makeing a comeback. I used to see alot of them then they died out and now they are coming back full force. Even I just ordered myself an RT Pro. although i liked the way the body of the old rt looked with the vents in front but thats just me. with the e-mag i started seeing the comeback but now with more people hearing about the level 10 its like a rush.

[Vendetta]

[Termite]

Your going to see a lot of changes!

When I started tourney ball with the Iron Legion in Reston, VA. There were mags everywhere. Then the Angel came out and the rest is history. I love mags but could not get the trigger pull right. I am willing to be A LOT of money that with the new LvL 10 and the Super Light weight x-mags you will be seeing a lot more of them. I'm going to start using my Classic RT agian as soon as I get the LvL 10 in it. It has been in my closet for a long time.

Termite

[digitard]

In the local fields here when I go (normally sundays) there's about 35 people ... 20 of those 35 own some type of gun normally consisting of Spyders and Cockers with the occasional Tipman 98 and Angel in the mix ...... I'm normally the only mag.

Everyone who knows about paintball guns there normally says the same thing "I have wanted a mag for a while, but I got this when I started playing and I've just invested a ton into it" ... my normal reply is "I bought my mag 5yrs ago, just started upgrading it and never had one problem"



Most players who know about guns after playing for a while all say they love mags and would like one, but they have invested so much into cocker upgrades and maintnance, etc, to finally get them at a good place that they cant part with them ...

2 weeks ago I was talking to a group of kids who had just started playing about 2 months ago and were going to buy guns cause they loved it ... they were very respectable kids (they treated equiptment right, respected veteran players info, etc) ... so I loant them my mag each for a round (3 kids) and after playing they all decided they didn't want a cocker anymore they wanted a mag ... they originally said they didn't know much about them and the body design didn't appeal to them, but after seeing that its very easy to change that into something "flashy" and playing with it they want to get mags .... that made me smile.

Hopefully with the new generation of mags and growing popularity again the mag will regain its hold on the areas .... if not, then I know I'm still part of a great group of gun owners and the rest will just have to pitty when their cocker breaks and I'm layering them with paint still.

Sincerely,
Dave K