AutoMag ReTro Valve Rebuild
I had a bit of free time over the weekend and decided to finish rebuilding this AutoMag. This one has been an ongoing project of mine and until recently has refused to work properly. Now I’m no expert on AutoMags and even less so on the later models fitted with the ReTro Valve and the Level 10 bolt. I just muddle through and hopefully sort it out in the end.
The ReTro valve was an interesting upgrade by Airgun Designs back in the day. This new regulator and on / off valve combination gave the marker a quicker recharge time between shots and a reactive trigger. The reactive trigger was a real innovation. When you find the pressure sweat spot on the trigger the reactive trigger walks your finger back and forth and fires the marker. It’s a bit like a mechanical version of ramping.
The other major development by Airgun Designs was the Level 10 bolt. This provided a much softer impact on a paintball when firing. As a bonus the level 10 bolt can be retro fitted to almost any AutoMag.
Now this particular AutoMag had a combination of issues that interacted with each other and took me some time to sort out. The first issue I had was the failure of the seals on the regulator pin. They cracked and just crumbled into small pieces after a bit of testing (the one shown in the photo is the failed reg. pin). I guess twenty odd years is just too much for a seal.
Once I had that out of the way I had air leaking down the barrel. So after a quick read of the Level 10 bolt instructions I changed the power tube o-ring and checked the shimming. Another problem down.
Next I found that the trigger was very slow to return after firing but not consistently so. I tried lightly lubing the on / off valve and the bolt assembly but to no avail. So I pulled the on / off valve apart again and checked the lower pin o-ring (the black one). It was hard as a rock and even with synthetic lube it didn’t want to move on the pin. Once I’d replaced that o-ring we were in business.
Now I can hardly wait to try it out.