Post by Claymore MGC AUTOMAG
This was my first automag and my third modelgun. The MGC is no longer made and it took a few months of waiting from putting one on order to it arriving. The one that turned up was a 4th generation model which is the HW version and has a silver body and black bolt.
OUT OF THE BOX
I really had been anticipating the arrival of this model as the automag is one of my all time favourite guns and taking it out of the box was not disappointing.
This obviously a brand new gun and had never been fired, being HW ABS meant the weight was not bad obviously far lighter than a real automag but heavy enough to feel sturdy in the hand. The MGC is not accurate in its size the dimensions have been shrunk slightly but it still semms a large gun despite this, also it sits in the hand far better and feels more comfortable than the marushin automag, now wether that is due to the slight reduction in size or the weight of the gun i dont know but it definitely feels better to hold than the marushin.
The finish is good but the silver plating on the grip does get scrubbed off the front and back of the grip leaving the black ABS showing. This does not however detract from the loks of the model.
LOADING AND FIRING
The rounds are of the cp type and are loaded in the normal way for this type of round. The automag takes 7 .44 cal rounds 6 in the mag and 1 in the breach, i only ever load 6 in the mag though, (doubt i will have to deal with life threating situations with the automag somehow, especially in my spare room).
The trigger pull on this model is very heavy, too heavy in fact and you really have to squeeze the trigger hard to release the hammer and unfortunately there does not seem to be any way to adjust the trigger pressure.
The gun fires well and as with all these modelguns each one has a distinctive sound and the automag is no exception. not loud but it has a good crack to it. The bolt-extractor is blown back with force and the rounds are ejected well (considering their size and weight) and can get thrown a good 6ft.
Being ABS of course means it has an open barrel (an advantage over the marushin) and you get a good amount of smoke coming out of it.
The gun is fun to shoot (once you get over the heavy trigger) and you find that you want to put a lot of rounds through it.
PROBLEMS
OK, now after saying it was fun to fire and wanting to put several mags through it here is the problem.
First, the gun can go full auto which is great fun but not good for the gun, it does not happen all the time but when it does it fires usually a 3 round burst. This could be down to the length of cartridge and that as the round feeds onto the barrel pin enough force is generated due to the extra length the piston travels to set the cap off, or maybe the barrel pin is not located properly but then i would expect constant problems. Suprisingly i have had this problem with my metal marushins, now being metal it is not such a problem and as i said full auto automag is fun, but?
The first time my automag went full auto is the first ime i encountered what would become a familiar problem. The ABS around the pin that holds the extractor claw in was blown off, you can see from the above picture the area i mean. Now the ABS around the pin is very thin and looks weak whislt all other parts look strong enough for the job, of course once this is broke that's it you cannot really fire the gun anymore. I did try and after 2 mags the front of the bolt disintefrated. So that was that i needed another bolt, fortunately my supplier was able to source one for me.
FITTING THE NEW BOLT
This is another area that lets down the MGC. The marushin is very simple to break down for cleaning and maintenance the MGC however is a nightmare. The barrel pin is OK and easily talken out for general cleaning but after that there are 2 pins in the rear sight that need to be removed, then a long screw bolt that goes through the bolt and into the front of the chamber needs to be screwed out, the bolt can then be removed. Then the grips have to be taken off, the slide lock pin needs to be removed and also the safety catch then the barrel and main body can be removed from the frame. The trigger assembly is connected to the barrel and main body and of course assembly is in reverse, as i said a nightmare and a pain.
OVERALL
Well i really want to say that this is a superb model because in many ways it is but the fact that the bolt is so weak and breaks so easily stops me from saying so.
I am now on my 4th bolt so far, all of hte others have broke in the same way and the gun has not gone full auto on every occasion when the bolt has broke, neither have many rounds been fired when the problem has occurred.
I am now to worried to fire it anymore as i have no doubts that the bolt will break again. I cannot believe that i am the only MGC automag owner with this problem (not after 4 bolts).
I am hoping that our Japanes experts may be able to help on this one they must of come across this problem at some time, so probelx if you can suggest anything that stops this problem or there is a better bolt i can get i would appreciate any advice.
It does seem strange to me that MGC would get through 4 generations of this model if the problem was so bad.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I really want to get this model sorted as it is excellnt in very other way and i really really like it. A metal bolt would be the ideal solution but i think the marushin bolt would be too big and having one made would i think be difficult.
The MGC mages a good display piece but i have 25 rounds for this gun just sitting there so not firing it is difficult and to tempting, but until i can find a way around the breakage problem then a display model it will stay and after all i do have my metal marushins.
Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:51 am
