Iron City Classic

[oneinthebox]

Just went to the Iron City Classic with my old team All Americans 2 . Recent hip surgery did not allow me to play .
This is a all mechanical event. IT WAS OUTSTANDING AND WE NEED MORE.
1 Automag was used. Cockers everywhere. WTF? I let by old teammate use my mag that I used in 96 and 97 world cups. ( WON CHICAGO AND WORLD CUP)
The gun is a Smart Mag which was recently cleaned up and received a new Intelliframe from Tunaman. Many thanks to him. The gun was consistent and rocked.
I was shocked than I had the only Mag out. Hopefully next year will have a better showing of Airgun Design. Gosports has great footage of Joe Munoz Rocking the Mag. Red splash .
Again many thanks to Tunaman and Tim Montressor who put this outstanding event on .

Thanks
Harry AA2

[Xyxyll]

Glad to hear that there was at least one automag representing. I watched the live stream from gosports all weekend. It looked like a blast! I want to play that mound field.

[oneinthebox]

Glad to hear that there was at least one automag representing. I watched the live stream from gosports all weekend. It looked like a blast! I want to play that mound field.

Great fields. We reffed those mounds during the NPPL 90s and they were very exciting to reff and play. If the fields were wet they were brutal. Bring the cleats.
Fun fields.

[Walking Stick]

I live only 30 minutes away but unfortunately it was a drill weekend for me. Urban Assault (the owner Phil is a Mag fan by the way) is hosting a Mag vs Cocker event at the end of August which I'll happily be able to make. Hopefully next year works out better. It's nice to have a major PB event in the 'Burgh since the Zap IAO days.

[Nobody]

While classic valves are still viable in the mech games, they are still noticeably heavy even compared to full body cockers. Though a L10 does make things less an issue, most rules/governing bodies are weary of Xvalves because they don't know how to regulate them, they just have no clue about them and the simple fact is that, with more recent resurgence of cockers back into the marketplace, the lack of any presence on any other medium regulate mags as "old".

Mags where always a niche, because the gun rarely needed aftermarket parts to make better(and some actually made things worse). There where no shops doing custom guns(compared to cockers) so you can have a Boston Paintball twister vs a P&P supercocker vs BBT Westwood vs Belsales Evolution vs whatever. That lack of presence is a severe hinderence to the exposure of mags(back then and even today). Plus, mags had plateaued, where the Resurrection cockers have even improved things on the reliability of today's parts so the cockers just shoot and shoot.

Not faulting anyone but, without a mag standout(an entire team shooting mags and winning an event such as this) and most players see mags/AGD as that old company that is barely still around...

[oneinthebox]

I would only use this gun in a mechanical game today. I have in the past tried several Autocockers and personally found the guns finicky and not as reliable . That being said it boils down to personal preference. Mags shoot flat and Cockers tend to shoot in a arc. Personally the only Cocker I ever enjoyed shooting was the guns made by Keith Belsales. I do not care for any electrical gun or component from AGD. I feel this gun is best as a mechanical marker. I dont want to offend the Emag owners, but its what the individual plays best with. Playing in 90s NPPL our 10 man team crushed cocker teams multiple times including the UK Predators who played with Belsales Custom cockers. I think watching the mechanical action of the Cocker is a big draw to some . I have won 2 Cockers in years past. Right out of the box without extensive modification they performed poorly. The guns became very expensive after a custom build that varied drastically in quality. I do prefer the classic valve in a Automag. My Mag was built by the late 2E - Steve Barber who played with both Mags and Evo cockers. I feel if the correct barrel is used the gun is extremely accurate and consistent. Its a shame they did hit a plateau. The gun was a superior gun out of the box. Apples and oranges. Enjoy the fruit.

[Nobody]

I would only use this gun in a mechanical game today. I have in the past tried several Autocockers and personally found the guns finicky and not as reliable . That being said it boils down to personal preference. Mags shoot flat and Cockers tend to shoot in a arc. Personally the only Cocker I ever enjoyed shooting was the guns made by Keith Belsales. I do not care for any electrical gun or component from AGD. I feel this gun is best as a mechanical marker. I dont want to offend the Emag owners, but its what the individual plays best with. Playing in 90s NPPL our 10 man team crushed cocker teams multiple times including the UK Predators who played with Belsales Custom cockers. I think watching the mechanical action of the Cocker is a big draw to some . I have won 2 Cockers in years past. Right out of the box without extensive modification they performed poorly. The guns became very expensive after a custom build that varied drastically in quality. I do prefer the classic valve in a Automag. My Mag was built by the late 2E - Steve Barber who played with both Mags and Evo cockers. I feel if the correct barrel is used the gun is extremely accurate and consistent. Its a shame they did hit a plateau. The gun was a superior gun out of the box. Apples and oranges. Enjoy the fruit.

Wow, there is a blast from the past, 2E.

Too right are you with preference. The best advice to give anyone os to find a gun/system that works for you. Not one gun, one type(pump, mech, electro) is the best or better if it doesn't work with you. Now call me lucky or a gun whore, but i will either choose guns to play with based on the event(0re 2004 old gun, mech, pump, tourney, woods ball, walkon, rec) or what i feel like if i just bought, built or haven't used in a while. But, regardless of what the game is, i will always bring my classic-my anvil, it always works, a pump-you just never know, my Ripper Ressurection- cause it is just so fun to shoot and my Axe-cause you never know if you meed some extra fire power.

Now i have an emag, and take no offense. But an emag is really a gun of compromises, a combination of parts that work but if more thought and time where put into it, it could have been made into the gun that is what i consider, the "kissing cousin" of the mag, the Axe. That is smaller, better on paint, more efficient, and more widely acceptable to the masses.

Now, cockers out of the box, 20+ years ago were horrible(compared to today). Non threaded actuator rods, horrible regs, poor machining, suspect stock parts; all add up to a working but albeit a poor stock gun. But, this is the hidden magic of the cocker, the appeal of the platform. Cockers chase perfection without really getting to it. Take a stock cocker of any gen and then you start putting the parts catalog on it. You can change anything and everything to it, to be the gun of your dreams. Change one part and it can be huge. Get the right combo of parts, and it shoots laserbeams - pew pew pew! Mags, the aftermarket couldn't do anything with it. Slap in a L10 and the last detriment to a mag, chopping, is eliminated. Aftermarket couldn't compete, and because the mag has such high quality and high tolerances, you can't just use anything. No titanium sears, no "express valve" that is an "improvement" over stock. So, if the well is shallow, you can't get much out of it.

So, the cocker is or fan be a walking billboard of advertising for whomever. When you hear the cost of a custom cocker, you are paying, like a Harley Davidson, for the name, for the prestige. While you have an abused classic RT that looks like it was stored in a sewer for years, get bought cheap, a liberal application of oil put in and then find out that it was but 1 oring that is causing the leak and have it shoot(this RT is a true story). Is not flash, but quality.

Wow, this is getting long...

But, if i am using a mag, i will let anyone shoot it. They will comment on the weight, but then they shoot it and they look at it weird. They do not realize that the gun and/or parts are almost as old as them(some are more so) but they lool at their commitment to whatever gun and they can not buy into a mag right then & there. Partly cause of the costs, but partly because of the availability. Sure, we can all met up and through our parts boxes build a mag from 6 different people, each 1 part, and build a mag, but to hook the new players, its hard to do.

But i will say this. I don't care what you shoot, as long as you are still playing paintball. If you are playing the same rules as me, having an equally good time, that is the bottom line. I jever picked on kids with box store specials, because they are playing. Help them, cultivate them. Maybe they will find an old mag and thus begin the next generation of players. And maybe, just maybe, we all can breathe some life into the sport and see the mag still show off 20 year old tech against the factory fresh guns...

[Xyxyll]

Spotted one more mag! Minimag single trigger.

https://youtu.be/643SBv-5Faw?t=3m17s

[Flatliner333]

My old team The Flatliners played a couple of world cups in 95' , 96' using mostly Mags with a couple of Cockers in the mix. I know we went to Orlando,Chicago and Vegas around that time.

[Magzer]

Spotted one more mag! Minimag single trigger.

https://youtu.be/643SBv-5Faw?t=3m17s

Nice one