Mag Blender, HELP HELP

[slushee]

Okay, here is the story .. it's longa and could maby be boring. But at 2am, i have nothing to do but rant about my once magnificent automag.

I currently have an Automag with an RTPro valve inside of it set up by non other then Jon Comprado himself at the 2001 supertour. I at that time got cert. so I know i'm not a complete idiot. Well, I went out once jsut after it was set by jon and everything seemed okay. Then I took a small break from paintball to pursue other things.

I blew the dust of my automag and tossed about 400 bux in parts on her. As it sits now, she has a chrome powerfeed tube, dye trigger frame (2 finger), SSAA barrel (which is actually 5-10 years old .. original eheh), rtpro valve, lvl 10, using a viewloader 2000 w shredder and compressed air.

Okay, first mistake, I went out and bought some questionable looking zap paint from walmart here in canada. It had some funny colours to it but hey, i've got my 'trusty' lvl 10. Second, i decided to play the first few game w/o turning on my VL2000 electro loader.

Well .. first problem was the bolt was sticking. A quick change of the carrier fixed that. Next, everything seemed okay but occasionally it would blow a ball. I was absolutly astounded ... I must admit that it was winter (yes, here in canada there is still snow) and the paint may be even more brittle then normal. But still, the LVL 10?!?!?

Anyhow, i cleaned her up and decided to play by the rules. Good pressure in the tank, turned on the VL2000, oiled her up, checked to make sure lvl 10 was fine by placing ball 1/2 in breach and pulling trigger, clean barrel. Everything was set.

First few shots, fine .. no problems .. rapid fire ... POP! ... another ball blew. So basically, long story shortened, under rapid fire, my marker will blow a ball. I'm sad .. what happened to that lvl 10 protection?!

Now .. next time i go out, i will try a different barrel knowing that mine is pretty old .. but .. as it sits now I am very upset and think I may just sell it as it sits and finally go buy that cocker.....

SAVE ME ..

[athomas]

Is the gun actually chopping, or is the ball busting inside the barrel.

Are you usign plastic nubbins or the metal ones. Maybe the nubbins are slicing the fragile balls.

I had zap paint that was busting in the barrel as it was shot. It wasn't chopping though.

[Jonesie]

Sounds like you have barrel breaks as opposed to chopping issues. The 1/2 ball test proves that.

Check the paint to barrel match with that old AA and the ZAP paint. That could very well be the issue. Most barrel breaks are caused my mismatched paint and barrel. If the paint's too big (or the barrel too small) then this could easily be the cause.

Also, check your barrel for any forgien objects, scratches, etc that might cause a ball to break.

Next, what kind of nubbins are you using? IF you don't have the plastic ones (which I bet you don't in a 5-year-old barrel) try those. If you DO have them, you may need to file down the bump on the backside of the nubbin. They could be sticking into the barrel to far, not giving enough, and cause the ball to bust.


Try that and get back to us. :)

Good Luck ~ Dave

[Dayspring]

Check your powerfeed tube. If there's paint in there, you're chopping.

If it's oozing out of the barrel porting, it's barrel breaks. Level 10 can't do anything about that. That's crappy paint and low temps that do it.

[slushee]

I do have plastic nubbins in the SSAA and i plan on filing them down (the outside bump) tonight when i get home. I don't believe the lvl 10 was chopping them ... so I will try a different barrel as well this sunday (OD j&j ceramic) .. i'll get back to you all after i go out and test it then.

I dunno .. I was pretty sad when all that happened. It's just that this barrel has never really let me down before .. and i know i didn't bend/bump it.

Oh, and the paint was a bit too SMALL for the barrel, so there really was no issues there.


Thanks for all your help ..

[slushee]

Well .. for all those who would like an end to this epic adventure ...

I sawed off some of the meat on the nubbins .. on both barrels ... and purchased some sort of off brand paint (gonna stay away from zap for awhile).

200 rounds .. tested the lvl 10, will not chop.
Fired a few balls through the j&j ceramic, no explosions.
Fired a few balls through the SSAA, no explosions.
Tried firing as fast as possible with both of the barrels, no explosions.

So, 200 rounds later, fanning the trigger (and definatly hearing some misfires/short strokes), no balls were broken.

AO saves the day, the dark clouds recede back into the skyline, and the world becomes a better place to live....

Thanks to you all. I can only assume that it was 1) bad paint and 2) cold weather or even 3) barrel nubbins. Thanks again.

On a side note, the VL elbows s*** .. i ended up loosing that little plastic adapter .. sure do hope they can send me one ... eheh

[Jonesie]

I'm very glad to hear that all is well again!

I think the tech forum is going to be my new hang-out. I like helping people with their mags. I'm learning sooooo much too! :)

Later ~ Dave

[backtrack2pb]

How many of you actually let other people work on your mag?

[Jonesie]

Depends on who it is. I'd let most of the more experienced AO'ers work on my Mag. I was willing ot let Rocco (hardr0ck68) tweak my LX at Mardi Gras, but he never got a chance. I'd let Phil (covadsucks), Jeff (Load SM5), or Tunaman work on my Mag.

It really just depends on who we're talking about.

Later ~ Dave

[Dayspring]

Not even me?

Originally posted by Jonesie
Depends on who it is. I'd let most of the more experienced AO'ers work on my Mag. I was willing ot let Rocco (hardr0ck68) tweak my LX at Mardi Gras, but he never got a chance. I'd let Phil (covadsucks), Jeff (Load SM5), or Tunaman work on my Mag.

It really just depends on who we're talking about.

Later ~ Dave

[Jonesie]

Originally posted by Dayspring
Not even me?

Well, I've seen those guys in action with a Mag. We'll talk after AONJ.

Later ~ Dave

[Lopy-slopy]

Don't be mad at your gun. If you buy cheap paint, it will be cheap quality. LVL 10 can't help if the ball is a peice of %^&^%. Zap is not a bad company. Their higher end stuff is pretty good. Like cronic,which was the only paint sold at Sky ball.