Retro Gun Review - AGD Longbow

[Cdn_Cuda]

Playing with the intelli-frame was fine, but way to easy to run out the 20 balls. A single trigger frame will be nice and suite the marker a lot better. I just used one finger on the trigger.

Reloading was interesting. My mag holder hold two mags, but had no way to mount it to anything, so I hit the field with only a single mag. So once I was out I have to duck down, pull the mag and reload. I rigged up a 50 round hopper with a 10 round tube to feed the mag fairly easily and quickly. It worked well and was much better than trying to load out of a standard 50 rounder. So when I was out I would just drop behind shelter, reload and pop up again.

You definitely need to play a certain style of game with it. Being limited to 20 shots make you pick your shots a lot more, even than open class pump. I didn’t do a great job at counting shots, but generally had a good idea when I was going to run out. I mainly stayed back, played a support role and helped players move up.

[Cdn_Cuda]

The day has finally come and I actually used the Longbow in a game! I took the scope off and riser rail, just sighting my shots. Was shooting a bit low, 260s, and but was good enough for the walk-on crowd.

Twice in the staging area the mag popped off/fell out and spit balls everywhere. Guess I didn’t push the mag in hard enough to clip? Not sure what was going on. Did not have the problem in game, and I pulled off several awkward reloads.

Having not spent much time using an spring feed, it was important to remember to unlatch the spring so it actually feeds. Once I remember that, things went better.

The shot is the typical X-valved Automag. It shoulders really nice with the stock and wasn’t too heavy, even with the Ninja 68/4500. I mounted the ASA on the frame and the tank fit perfectly to the stock. Whoever modified it did a great job. Had to take the tank cover off to fit, that’s how tight it is. For a big long gun, (I’m used to a cocker) it was much nicer to use than anticipated.

[Cdn_Cuda]

In a perfect world I’d throw a Nummech single finger mag frame on it. A single trigger would definitely suit this setup.

[Euphie]

I would absolutely run one of these with a Q-loader, but I would put the carbon fiber grip frame on there, it just looks wrong to have an intelliframe, I also hold the very unpopular opinion of not really liking the intelliframe too much, I thought it would feel like my E-mag but without the little hump in the back it felt way worse to me than the E-mag. I bet it would look cool with a Ricochet which always felt very tactical looking to me

[Cdn_Cuda]

I’ve ordered in a maintenance kit for the Xvalve so I can put the bolt foam tip back in. I also ordered a feedneck adaptor to be able to run this more as a standard mag. It’s just too tempting not to throw a hopper on this and embrace the speed of the Mag.

The feedneck is a Nummech adaptor that allows you to run an Empire feedneck. My hope is that the mag adaptor will fit over the adaptor so I only need to take the feedneck off when converting it back to a Longbow setup. Then I can loctite it in the feedneck and not worry about damaging the body’s threads.

Udate: Feedneck was unavailable. Staying as a Longbow.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Thankfully my local fields seem fine with any type of markers. Never had issues with Tippmann response triggers either.

[LhopitalRules]

I wanted one of these so badly when I was a kid. I need to go to my parent's and check my old closet for my Recon magazines.

[Spider!]

Nice.

Looking back on that particular era, I was fortunate that my son got me out of a 10 year paintball retirement in 2005. We had a lot of nice hardware available at the time and spent the next 10 years playing with a lot of nice used markers.

Some fields today won't let you play with that longbow because it could shoot all 18 balls in one second. 🙄

[Cdn_Cuda]

If anyone has any special requests or questions let me know! I rarely play so it could be a while before I update the review.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Finally, the stock itself. It’s got an air line that runs from the valve to a remote line fitting in the stock and a sold rubber pad on the stock with the SpecOps logo.



And that covers all the physical aspects of the Longbow. I’m not going to review a Tac-One itself as there are way more qualified MCBers to talk about Mags. I’ll touch on it’s performs as a whole whenever I get this to the field.

[Cdn_Cuda]

And finally, there is a nub/insert that goes into the feedneck to prevent the balls breaking on the feedneck threads:

[Cdn_Cuda]

There are two small spacing plates that go between the rail
mounts and the Longbow shroud to help keep things nice and tight (or way too tight in this case).

[Cdn_Cuda]

After much effort involving WD40 and a hair dryer, I’ve managed to remove the shroud. Thankfully no screws were stripped in the process.



Now you can see the base Tac-One Mag in all its glory and just a little bit of the X-valve showing.

[Bow]

I wanted one growing up so bad. Spec ops did an amazing job with their old ads with their ghillie suit clad warrior out in the desert.

Snagged one and threw a CF frame on it. Still haven't even aired it up since I bought it, but I love the thing to death. I threw one of those goofy 15 inch ebay machine gun shrouds on mine. Looks really mean.

[Cdn_Cuda]

The mag itself is very simple. And just used a piece of metal with a spring to keep the balls in the mag. When you insert the mag into the body it “opens” the metal piece and balls are pushed forward by the spring.

Mag inserted into the mag adaptor: the brass button is the mag release.


Mag removed to show the “latch”:


And a shot of the mag adaptor and how it feeds into the body: