Size Does Matter: The MicroMag RT Author: Mister.44 Client: Paintball Magazine Publish Date: August, 2000 NOTE: This is the original copy submitted and does not reflect any editorial changes. © 2000 Steve Novak
Photo Shoot Images Coming Soon!

Remember the first computers? Heck, even I don’t, but if you read your history books, computers that did something as simple as adding and subtracting used to take up whole rooms and required several technicians to operate it. Fortunately, through the miracles of modern science, the average home computer today has multiple times the computing power of all of NASA’s computers during the first moon launch.

Paintball has advanced along similar lines. The early guns were bulky, and while they were functional, they weren’t really stylish. But as technology advanced, and the demand for cosmetics increased, paintguns got faster, slimmer and shapelier.

One of the pioneers of paintguns with pizzazz is Pro-Team Products. Pro-Team produces a line of guns that feature stylish milling, upgraded features, and gorgeous graphic anodizing. Their flag ship guns have been the Micromag, f/x Autococker, and the f/x Micro-Cocker, with the Tippmann Model 98 f/x recently added. What is different between the guns made by Pro-Team and other custom gun shops? It is that all the work is standardized into various model configurations, and all the changes are authorized and licensed by the manufacture of the original gun. With a tight relationship with AGD, WGP, and Tippmann, Pro-Team is able to enhance the standard platform, giving it a performance edge and custom looking cosmetics.

Pro-Team is the proud father of its newest creation, the Micromag RT. The Micromag RT is similar to the original Micromag, but incorporates the ReTro Valve from AGD and a newly designed body. Like its predecessor, it incorporates several features that improve on the original design of the Automag. And in keeping with tradition, it features some of the most stunning looks in paintball.

Let’s take a closer look.

Features and Points of Interest

ReTro Valve
The Retro Valve from Air Gun Designs is what makes the Micromag RT different from the standard Micromag. This complete valve assembly transforms a standard Automag to an Automag with a Reactive Trigger. The reactive trigger will actually kick back with some force, leading to faster shooting in the right hands. Another benefit is enhanced performance from faster recharge times, resulting in the inability to "starve" the gun.

Body
In the immortal words of Fat Bastard from the second Austin Powers movie, it’s "damn sexy." Where do you start? The body is constructed of aluminum, unlike regular Automags and RTs, which are constructed of stainless steel. While you could arguably beat stainless steel with a brick longer and cause less harm than you would against aluminum, it is still solidly constructed. This change in materials results in a lighter gun.

The new aluminum body also sports stylish milling. It gives the gun a very unique, custom appearance. With the stock barrel it looks like a laser gun or something from the Matrix. To complement the milling is its graphic anodizing. Unlike the stainless steel of a regular Automag body, which can only be bead-blasted, chrome plated, or Teflon coated, the aluminum of the Micromag allows you to anodize it any color of the rainbow. Pro-Team presents the Micromag RT in an array of anodizing schemes, including Jungle Sunrise, Alien, Wild Tiger, and Cool Camo. To be fully appreciated, these patterns must truly be seen. Of course, if you are a person with simple needs, it also comes in Satin Black.

Powerfeed
Like the regular Automag, the Micromag RT has a powerfeed. This allows the gun to feed faster than a regular feed tube. It also serves as a nice safety feature that allows you to turn off the feed of paintballs to the gun. While this should never replace the barrel plug, it is very handy to make your gun even safer when not playing. Unlike the standard Automag powerfeed, the Micromag allows you to remove the powerfeed completely, via two screws, for any possible cleaning.

Grip Frame & Trigger
All Micromag RTs feature an aluminum .45 grip frame. The .45 grip has become the favorite grip with most paintball players. It comes with grooved grip plates, similar to the popular Houges, but will accept any standard .45 grip plates. This allows you to customize your gun further with wood, ivory, and other aftermarket grip plates.

The model we tested featured a .45 grip with a double trigger. Unlike many custom Automags with double triggers, this grip frame retains the trigger guard. This is yet another thoughtful safety feature. For many people, double triggers on guns with pivot triggers increase the rate of fire and make the pull lighter through more leverage and more strength from your hand. The pull and feel of the Micromag was nice and light and short. However, it isn’t the most comfortable grip for using just one finger. While you could do it, it didn’t feel as natural. You need to look at which you prefer and buy accordingly. Pro-Team offers the two-finger trigger as an upgrade, so the single trigger is standard.

Safety
The Micromag RT includes a mechanical safety, unlike some custom guns that remove the safety. It is nice to see this "minor" detail, but important safety feature being integrated.

Ball Detent
Pro-Team developed their own style of ball detent that they use on their guns. The new Micromag RT uses the new style that has it milled into the side of the gun, versus screwed on like earlier versions.

Fore Grip
The gas through fore grip is proprietary to the Micromag design, meaning standard Automag fore grips will not fit on it. The fore grip is comfortable to hold and features an input hole on the side of the grip towards the handgrip. This is for the fitting to feed air into the gun. It also features an inlet on the bottom of the grip, suitable for adding a micro-gauge to check the input pressure feeding into the gun.

It was the opinion of some people that the fore grip interrupted the elegant lines of the rest of the gun. While personal choice will vary, Pro-Team says that it is considering redesigning the fore grip in the future to get it an even sleeker look.

Bottomline
The bottomline is anodized to match the rest of the gun. While it is a nice touch in the display case, odds are this part will end up in your parts box. Simply put, the Micromag RT requires N2. Many N2 kits require a special cradle. The kits that do utilize standard CO2 threads are quite long and are often paired with dropfowards. That being said, it is also impossible for Pro-Team to anticipate the dozens of possible combinations of cradles and regs that may be used. Instead they opt to present a complete package, and have you modify it to suit your N2 reg.

Barrel
The standard 8" micro-honed stock barrel has anodizing to match the rest of the gun. Its styling completes the Micromag's "laser gun" look. If you want something fancier than a "stock" barrel, Pro-Team offers Armson Stealth Rifled Barrels with matching anodizing.

Barrel Threads
Unlike standard Automags, the Micromag uses threaded barrels. The cost to make threaded barrels is less than the proprietary design of standard Automag barrels, meaning cheaper aftermarket barrels. Many people will be pleased to learn that instead of using another proprietary thread type for its barrel, it uses Autococker barrels. Every barrel manufacture makes a barrel for the Autococker, so you will have a plethora to choose from.

Fittings
The fittings of the gun are a nice touch, featuring durable stainless steel braided hose, nickel plated elbows, and nickel plate/steel quick disconnect.

Field Testing

The Micromag RT tested was provided by Pro-Team Products. It was left in its stock configuration with a Revolution, gas through stock, and an 88 cui Crossfire on a remote system added. Several aftermarket barrels were used in testing. As stated in the accuracy section below, aftermarket barrels out performed the stock one. In testing we wanted to see what the gun could do, and not have the stock barrel count against its true abilities.

Impressions
Meeting the Micromag RT for the first time is like meeting your prom date, you are taken aback by its beauty. Heads were definitely turned at the clubhouse as people wondered what kind of gun it was. Several had seen the original Micromag and were impressed with the styling of the new RT version.

In picking up the gun you notice its weight, or lack there of. While Automags are not generally considered heavy, the Micromag is even lighter. The decision was made to run remote to truly enjoy the light load. Unfortunately, adding a full hopper did add some weight to it, but it still handled very well.

Chronographing
Of course the first thing you do when you get your gun all gassed up is chronograph it. It adjusts via an allen wrench on the back of the gun. There is a trick with chronographing the RT guns. When you shoot slowly, or one shot at a time, it is actually shooting at a slower velocity than when you rapid fire. Taken straight from the mouth of AGD, they instruct you to do this when chronographing: "To record your highest rapid fire velocity: Fire a paintball and hold the trigger back. Then release the trigger completely and fire the next paintball as quickly as possible, once again holding the trigger back. Repeat as necessary. This procedure will simulate rapid fire, thus recording your highest possible rapid-fire velocity. PLEASE NOTE: The AUTOMAG RT is sensitive to differences in trigger release, so always attempt to be consistent with your trigger finger!" Using this procedure, the Micromag RT was very consistent, staying within a 5 fps range!

Accuracy
Accuracy is on of the foremost things on the paintballer's mind when buying a gun. However, the thing that effects accuracy the most is the barrel. Even if a gun came with a 22" Thunder-Rod XL, someone will toss it in his gear bag and get a new barrel that he feels performs better. Gun manufactures know this and often spend less time and money on stock barrels than manufactures of aftermarket barrels.

In the range testing, several barrels were used along with the stock barrel. While the stock barrel actually performed pretty well, several aftermarket barrels increased its accuracy even further. It shot groups as tight as other guns on hand at the range, including other Automags and Autocockers. When shooting to try make a good group you often shoot slowly. It was found helpful to follow the same procedure that you do when chronographing if you are shooting slowly. With out a doubt, with the proper paint and barrel match, you should be most satisfied with the accuracy.

Performance in the Field
From the chrono range, we went to the fields to begin play for the day. The lead tester is normally an Autococker user and was a tad worried about having problems with the rate of fire and getting used to the trigger. He ended up blowing through 600 rounds the first game. The light trigger, with the added leverage of the two-finger trigger, and the reactive trigger bounce back all lead to a gun that loves to throw paint. Quick three shot bursts and twenty round strings flew by with ease. The lead tester did end up breaking some paint, but all of it was caused by user error. If you are unfamiliar with Automag triggers, it may take some time to get used to the Micromag RT. Experienced Automag users should have no problems.

Accuracy seemed on par with other Automags used. One thing that should be noted is that the first shot will be lower than the rest during a string. If you plan to take slow shots, you should hold the trigger in and quickly shoot like when you chronograph. This will result in a constant velocity and more consistent accuracy shot per shot.

It was also noticed that the efficiency of the gun was not as good as the Autococker the lead tester was used to. While it was not horrible, it was noticeably less. At no time did the gun run out of air, but it was getting low after a couple of games.

All around the performance of the gun was very pleasing. It is nice to see the gun is not only cosmetically appealing, but actually performs.

Improvements
In testing the gun, no real design flaws were evident. But, there were a few things where improvements could be made. The first is the safety. After using it for about three cases, it no longer worked. In the "safe" position the gun would still fire. Pro-Team said that, "As the gun breaks in and loosens up a bit, this can occasionally happen. We correct it by backing off the sear actuating rod. It's kind of tough though, because everyone seems to want a short trigger pull, which means the rod has to be adjusted out as far as possible, but not so far out that it defeats the safety as it wears in. We feel that the safety is important. This problem can also occur when someone changes out their stock grip frame on an Automag for an aftermarket grip." Pro-Team said that its design is currently being revised to be even more reliable.

As mentioned before, some felt the fore grip interrupted the sleek lines of the gun. Pro-Team is constantly trying to improve their guns and said that a revision was in the works.

To get real, real nit picky, if you look closely you can find a few areas that were not polished as highly as the rest of the gun. This leads to a dull spot in the anodizing. Both spots that we found were in areas that were out of the way and not overly noticeable. Pro-Team said that the polishing is currently done at the anodizer. They are in the process of securing their own machines and personal to do all of their polishing in house. This should improve quality control.

And finally, there is the fact that your cradle or drop forward that you will put on your gun will not match the wonderful anodizing of the gun. While the task of anticipating what cradle styles players will want is too great, it might be profitable to offer cradles for commonly used N2 regs that are have anodizing to match the rest of the gun.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a custom gun with performance, good looks, and at the same time reassurance that the parent manufacturer approves all modifications – look no further than Pro-Team. Their new Micromag RT is a wonderful example of great performance and stunning cosmetic looks in one package. It may not be for everyone. If you don’t like Automags, you may not like the Micromag RT. But for the rest of us, Pro-Team delivers a solid package for both rec and tournament play.

Sidebar: A Different view

Aside from testing at a rec field, the Micromag RT was also tested by George "Bear" Beck of team "I Have No Idea" at Skyball 2000 in February. George is a regular Automag user and was eager to see the new Micromag RT. He used it throughout the tournament, with the only additions being a Revolution, a 68 cui. Microreg, and a 10" Chrome Snake Bit barrel from BOA (Barrels of America).

George was very impressed with the high rate of fire. "It held it’s own with Angels, Cockers, Shockers, Bushmaster 2000’s and other high-end paintball guns." He mentioned that he liked the feel of the two-finger trigger and the over all light pull. George also liked the lightness of the gun, finding it "compact and well balanced". The size of the gun helps make him play tighter against the bunkers, which is very important in speedball.

Finally, even though some paint was broken on the rec field, George "…shot over a case of paint through it with no ball breaks, even with fanning the trigger." Obviously, this shows that the problems on the rec field were most likely operator error.

Over all, George was very impressed with the construction, performance, and looks of the gun. When we finally wrestled it away from his hands, he was figuring out how he could sell his current Automag and upgrade to the new Micromag RT.
Special thanks to: Pro-Team (http://www.proteamproducts.com/) for answering some of our questions. Krazy Kris Paintball in Manhattan, KS for assistance in testing. And to Barrels of America (BOA), for supplying a barrel for testing at Skyball.