Firstly, we are into functionality, not looks. With that in mind, please
delve yourself further.
The Body:
The Black Magic has a uniquely milled body. There are no corners, all
the edges are rounded off. The body is milled on both sides for a cocking
arm. Only the crucial parts are left, there are very wide open holes
in the body, but the bolt and internals are not exposed. That is excellent.
There is a flame pattern of milling along the side, which adds a special
'Black Magic' pizzazz to the marker.
Although we are not particular for anodized and splashed markers, the
blue anodizing on this marker looks just right. We were terrified when
all the STOs started coming in all sorts of fade anodizing, but we are
happy to announce that this blue actually looks very good.
It has a vertical feed and a sight rail. Right underneath the sight
rail there is milling so you can see right through it. The rail, for
some odd reason, is right behind the vertical feed. Perhaps some day
they will make sights that hang off to the side. The vertical feed was
very tight. We had considerable trouble getting a VL Revolution into
the vertical feed, but we eventually got it in. Once we got it in, it
was easy to reinsert and remove. The vertical feed adapter does unscrew
and can be replaced. The air supply adapter is angled forward and provided
an excellent foregrip when the regulator was attached..
The Barrel:
We have newfound respect for the 10.75 inch J&J barrel that came
with the Black Magic. The barrel is a two piece J&J stainless steel
back and aluminum front. The front is anodized to match the blue of
the marker. We don't like two-piece barrels, but the J&J worked
very well. We will probably end up changing the barrel, but we trust
Bud Orr, and hence did not second guess his decision in our testing
process. In the shooting segment you will learn how this barrel worked.
One difficulty we had was with the removal of the barrel. When trying
to remove it, the front blue end detached from the back. The stainless
steel back portion was very difficult to take off since the end of it
did not pass the front pneumatics. You almost had to get a set of pliers
to grab it and remove it. That really irks!
The Beavertail:
It was very lightweight and chrome plated. It looks very nice, but as
long as it works, we don't care much for looks. We never attached it
to the marker for testing.
Grip:
The grip is a Shocktech .45 standard grip. It is chrome plated and feels
very solid. We really prefer the metal grip frames as opposed to carbon
fiber. We feel that the trigger plate slides better through a chrome
plated frame. Besides, it would really be a tragedy if the frame broke
off somehow. The frame is wrapped in wrap around Hogue rubber grips.
We really like the way the grips fit in your hand.
The Trigger:
Perhaps this is the mechanism that concerns the majority of paintball
players. The trigger and grip is the most crucial part of any paintball
marker. It is the connection that turns a human being into a paintball
player. Without a proper fit or feel, there wouldn't be anything to
write about.
With that in mind, the trigger was very smooth, like a hot knife through
butter. But this shouldn't be a surprise, triggers are supposed to be
like that. The Black Magic trigger is no different. The length of the
trigger pull came out to be about 3.0 to 3.5mm, not the shortest ever,
but very acceptable. I am sure after some tinkering it can be shortened.
The entire trigger plate is chrome plated and polished very nicely.
It is a non-sloted trigger plate that we really enjoy. Some people feel
that this makes the marker unreliable over the long run, but we have
many autocockers that use the non-sloted trigger plate and have found
them to be very reliable over the years. We have never had to readjust
any of them.
The trigger pull felt very light and 'metally', whatever that means.
There wasn't any slack in the trigger it fits very well into the frame.
The trigger shoe is black plastic and feels soft to the touch. But no
complaints on overall performance. We were able to cycle the gun at
rates higher than 5-6 paintball per second.
The rumors about the Black Magic having some type of pivot trigger
are not true. At least not for now. The one sent to us had a standard
slide trigger.
Ball detent:
The ball detent was the standard ball bearing type ball detent. We like
these very much. They get the job done and don't let any air escape.
Pneumatics:
All pneumatics are chrome plated and internally polished. One thing
we found to be exceptional is that as soon as the marker is gassed up
you don't hear any sounds. No clicks, no hisses, no jumps, nothing.
Very well put together. Also we were able to run the marker with an
input pressure of 220-230psi. Which is very amazing indeed. More on
that in the 'How it shoots' article. We were even able to drop it down
to 180 psi.
The 3-way:
The 3-way valve is a standard STO Belsales Angry 3-way which has a very
short pull, but not the shortest on the market. It is internally polished
and given a nice chrome plated finish. The 3-way worked very well. No
leaks, no hissing, no strange sounds. The 3-way is very reliable and
helps keep the marker working over time. We have another marker with
the STO 3-way that we have had for years and are very happy with it.
We tried to get the 3-way to leak or hiss by pressing on the timing
rod and trying to force it, but it did not leak. The 3-way has less
parts and O-ring than most aftermarket ones, which should prove to be
very reliable in the long run. Read the upgrades section to see what
happened when we changed the 3-way.
Timing Rod:
The rod was threaded and made of aluminum and worked well. Aluminum
is lighter than stainless steel, which helps keep the weight down on
the entire marker. Not much to really say about the timing rod.
Regulator:
The regulator for the recocking mechanism was the standard STO regulator,
the Sledgehammer. However, it was not the regular Sledgehammer, it seems
to be a shorter version of the Sledgehammer. The regulator was also
chrome plated and worked wonderfully. Although it is not readily adjustable,
it adjusted very well to our tinkering with the input pressure. We turned
the pressure way down and the marker still recocked.
RAM:
The ram is also chrome plated. It is a standard STO ram and is unbelievable.
The ram cycles the marker without even a hint of hesitation. We tried
to cycle the marker as fast as we could (dry fire) to test the cycling
capabilities, and we had absolute perfection. The performance was fast,
smooth, and raised our adrenaline levels to heights never experienced
previously. Sweetness!
Cocking rod:
A standard bent aluminum rod. Again, we emphasize aluminum because it
helps keep the weight down. What else can we say?
Banjo screw:
The front end is held in place by a high flow banjo bolt. It is aluminum
and has very large holes for better flow. The chamber s obviously larger
than the pre-2000 autocockers, which helps add to the lower overall
operating pressure of the marker. Like I mentioned earlier, we had it
down to 180 psi.
Bolt:
The bolt at first glance looks very odd. We hadn't seen anything like
it before. It has a very wide open area around where the air flows in,
rather than the standard hole. It was just all open. It is all chrome
plated and has a ball detent type mechanism in the back to hold it in
place. It is a quick disconnect type system. Very nice indeed. The side
is milled where the ball detent would hit the bolt. The face is venturi
style and does not have a center hole. We only have one question, do
the venturi holes limit the enormous flow coming from the completely
open back end of the bolt? a very good question. We plan to test this
by changing the bolt to a completely open bolt. See our upgrades section
for details.
Inline regulator:
The stainless steel inline regulator works very well. In fact, you really
need it for the marker to work. The angled air supply adapter makes
it impossible for a CO2 bottle to attach and just work. Don't try it.
The regulator doubles as an excellent foregrip and as Mike Gomez of
Michigan Paintball said, "This is exactly the perfect grip. Perfect
angle too!" I am sure that is exactly what Bud Orr and the geniuses
at Worr Game Products want to hear.
That's all for the juicy details. Find out how the marker shoots!
Shooting>>
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