Something you should all read about Automag weight

[tysonmachado]

I just posted this in another thread but it is something that many people should know. The reputation of the Automag as a heavy gun is really quite exaggerated and somewhat unfair. For a while I myself fell for the hype but with time, and better accessories. I have been noticing that my automag really isn't that heavy (when I first bought it used it came with a stainless steel barrel, stainless steel dropforward, and a stainless steel nitro tank; it really was heavy.) We should all try harder to find the truth about the equipment we use rather than falling for the misinformed rumors and the corporate hype. Anyway, here is my experiment to find just how much heavier the Automag is:

I have two things to bring to this argument:
-more paintball paintball stuff sitting in my basement than should be there
-an accurate kitchen scale

I have said many times that the Automag is not significantly heavier than other paintball guns. I even said this to the boyfriend of Tempestwolf earlier this evening. After reading through this thread I decided to perform a little experiment.
I took two guns:

AUTOMAG 68 powerfeed left with tournement legal thumb adjuster, stock composite grip frame, AGD rubber wraparound grips, brass air line elbow, and nickel plated male quick disconnect fitting. No barrel, no foregrip, no dropforward.

PIRANHA G3 VTL with stock composite grip frame, stock plastic grip panels, beavertail sightrail (so the rear cocking knob doesn't smack ya in the face), aluminum asa to 1/8 NPT adapter, and nickel plated male quick disconnect fitting. No barrel, no foregrip, no dropforward.

I weighed each of them on my kitchen scale:

The Automag weighs 2 pounds even.

The Piranha weighs 1 pound 15 ounces.

Since we all know that there are 16 ounces to the pound we can see that the Automag does weigh more by a whole whopping ounce!

At this point, those of you who are reading this and are quite clever are saying, " but when you remove the barrel of an Automag you also remove the breach, and that is added weight which your experiment does not account for!"
This is true. Fortunately, I just happen to have a 14 inch All American barrel with stainless steel back for the automag, and I also just happen to have a 14 All American barrel with stainless steel back for the Pirahna. Since stainless is about the heaviest material barrels are made from, the steel backs will best accentuate the difference in weight. If both of these barrels were aluminum the difference would be less. Putting each in turn upon the trusty kitchen scale we see:

The Automag barrel weighs 11 ounces.

The Piranha barrel weighs 10 ounces.

Now we have another whole ounce difference between them, added to the first ounce it is plain to see that when each gun is set up with the minimum amount of equipment to run on a remote line, and when each is using the same barrel with stainless steel threads, the Automag weighs 2 ounces more than the Piranha. To put that into pwerspective, a Viewloader hopper elbow with thumbscrews weighs just about two ounces.
So is two ounces really enough weight to slow you down? Is the Automag really such a monsterous beast of a gun? Or do we just hear rumors about how heavy the Automag is, then look at the stainless steel valve and body and think "it must be heavy...it IS heavy...how can someone carry ALL THAT WEIGHT?!?!"

[FordPrefect]

Nice work. But the thing is, WE know that the Automag isn't heavy. If you would post this at PB Nation or someplace, they will all argue with you.

[RT_Luver]

ya know.....why is it that people fall into such hype and crap...I say if u like the gun u like it and u can find some way around all the disadvatages. But I like ur reasoning.

[TheBigRaguPB4L]

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the rumor that the EMAG's are heavy? i held one once with stock barrel with no tank or hopper and it seemed like it weighed the same as my whole setup. emag's are heavy, but i don't think i've heard anyone say that regular mags are heavy.

[Thordic]

https://www.automags.org/forums/showt...threadid=21557

Read that post and you'll see why AutoMags seem heavy. It may not be the gun itself, but its all the crap we toss on it

People who own Spyders usually seem to have a small tank and a VL200.

[cphilip]

That is so true Thordic. Many feel my Emag and say "Wow" thats heavy...and it is. Its got a warp feed on it and they never held a marker with one on. But its the price you gotta pay if you want the advantages of Warp Feed.

[pip_999]

and i quote from the movie "snatch":

"Heavy? Heavy is good, if it doesnt work you cna alwasy hit him with it"

[Rueben_the_wanderer]

Some people might confuse bad weight distribution for heaviness.

[cphilip]

Well... to add to that, I most often get the coment "Heavy but it's so well balanced"

[TheTramp]

It isn't nessasaraly all hype. My Mag is VERY heavy. I guess it doesn't have to be but it is. SS barrel, drop, Warp, 12V, Al trigger frame, steel N2 tank. It all adds up. Of course I figure that if I can't carry around this weight for 15 minutes 10 or so times a day then I need to worry more about my arms then about my Mag.

[tysonmachado]

Personally, I prefer balanced to light. If it needed it, I'd tie a 2-pound lead block to the end of my barrel for perfect balance.
I agree that much of the weight rumor comes from accessories. If you want performance you have to be aware of the tradeoffs of all upgrades and buy the ones that suit your needs instead of just getting the latest and greatest fad.
And on the subject of upgrades, a lot of people seem to neglect that the Automag has an integrated regulator when they make comparisons. If you want a regulated system (ignoring the tank reg) you need to add a regulator to the Piranha (or other Spyder clone.) The Air America Vigilante weighs 7 ounces. Take that into consideration and the 2 ounce difference including stainless backed barrels becomes a 5 ounce difference in favor of the Automag. So assuming all other accsessories are identical the 'feather light' spyderclones equipped for similar performance actually weigh 5 ounces more than the 'heavy' Automag!

[CAPTINSANE]

if it is heavy...then grow some muscles

[buzzboy]

We also know that if you want you can make an automag just as light or lighter with all ule upgrades, composite trigger frame, no forgrip, CF barrel and standard ASA. Look at warpig. They had an RT pro "as light as electros". Here's the link http://www.warpig.com/paintball/tech...g/index2.shtml

[BigEvil]

Great post. Nothing like smacking the ignorant in their soft heads with hard facts

Yes, mags are a bit heavier than most guns.
Yes, mags get very heavy from all of the crap we add on to them.

Since I used to run around the woods at Skirmish hauling a dual tank Vm68 set up with a CAR15 stock... Im not going to complain about any gun being 'too heavy'

[zaqwert6]

People don't complain about the Automags weight anymore...the biggest complaint by most is the same as with this thread...it's old and outdated.

[m-a-r-k-7]

if it is heavy...then grow some muscles

wow, you upped a 3 year and 9 month old thread to say that.

Now that that's out of the way:

I will admit my minimag is a bit heavy as compared to my electros, but i've never noticed it in a game.

[master_alexander]

now, for me, weight isint a matter. but you have to admit:

non uled emag with stainless body
dye boomstick
warpfeed
halo
72/30 steel tank

that, is heavy. (would weigh it but i dont have the gun annymore)

[Arstron]

I weighted my mag awile back with my electronic dragun frame on it. It had a RPG exile body, sub zero feed neck, shadow rail, xvalve, 12" sp tear drop barrel, dead on paintball bullet drop, my electronic frame (alum.), vertical adapter, bicyle foregrip, with all the macroline and fittings. Everything but the tank and hopper and it weigted in at 2lbs and 14 or 15 ounces.

At the same time, im pretty sure I had my warped mag also, which was a beast considering I used a 72/3k steal tank. It was quite a diffrence when id switch between those guns.

edit: what is the "similar threads" option at the bottom of this thread, dont seem to be any any other thread.