bottom mag-fed automag

[bowcycle]

First off, I'm not assuming I'm the first one to do this, but I haven't found anyone else who has. That's why I'm posting this build thread.
Maybe one of you guys will even beat me to the finished product cause I couldn't get to my machinist today so it will be next week before I can get this thing knocked out.

So here's the build sketch:
a DYE DAM magwell sits really well on an RTP rail and has enough meat to be held on via the 6 holes already there.
I'm turning the magwell backward because that more naturally lines the mag feed with the breech.
I'm going to use a direct feed body for the first trial, but will do it with a centerfeed body if it works well.
Fabricate a PIM to put over the twistlock hole in the body and drill the rail for this new PIM. The front screw will now not only hold the body and rail together, but will hold the barrel in place.
This means you need to drill a small hole just in front of the breech on your barrel. It will not twist lock, but will be held in place by the pressure of the screw. With the o-rings on the barrel, it doesn't have to be screwed in super tight, just enough to keep the barrel from moving around.
Attach the rail to the body and drill the feed hole through both. On the center feed body, I'll just go straight down through the original feedneck.

drill the mounting holes in the magwell. Again, the original 6 holes in the rail will hold it, but I'm adding a bolt through the foregrip bracket to give it that extra strength.
the magwell needs a little material removed to allow free movement of the sear.
I'm going to use a cocker slider frame and fabricate a cocker actuating arm to screw into the sear receiver. I'll bend the arm around the frame so it lines up with the sear. This will give me direct actuation of the sear.
I'm going to mount the frame to the marker via the field-strip screw hole. This means that screw both holds the valve in place and holds the frame in place.
Since this leaves the butt end of the frame hanging off the back of the rail, I'm going to use some AL pipe, cut it to length to bump against the back of the valve, and screw the frame to the pipe. I have a sight rail I'm going to put over it to give some continuity to the rear of the marker.
With the AL pipe at the back, I should still be able to adjust the velocity without taking anything apart.

Here's a mock up done to make sure everything will fit. That is not the slider frame, or the body I'm going to use, but the rest is ready.



It really is amazing how well that magwell fits on there.

I should note that since the DYE mag is technically backwards on the marker, it will not be able to shoot first strike rounds. I have Luke's EP blocks and have looked at a ton of different setups, but this way is the easiest that I could find. I'll get it up as soon as I can.

If someone else wants to get a jump on this, I did order a second magwell from DYE. It was $50 + shipping. I could get it out tomorrow or Saturday.