AEA magazines keep breaking

[Phil.Probe]

I bought a AEA HP Carbine TD from Utah airguns about a 6 weeks ago. It's been through around 500 pellets and in that short time, two magazines have broken.

UA replaced the first one that broke, no questions asked, but just yesterday the second one broke.



What's the deal? I do love the gun, it's pretty darn accurate and the semi-auto makes it so much fun for action shooting at moving targets. It's only jammed twice so far.

I'll call UA in tomorrow and I'm sure they will sort me out, but if the mags keep breaking, then the gun is useless.

 

[Sicumj]

I bought a TD back in November. My two original mag springs broke within a month of purchase. Pellet shop replaced them and I have over 1500 rds on the new without an issue. I think the springs are brittle on some mags. At the time Bin told me they knew of a problem with the 30 cal mags but thought the rest OK. He also sent me new springs for the two failed mags.

With that said the magazines in this series are pretty fragile. I doubt you could drop one full on concrete and remain intact. The all plastic construction easily damages during jams. The clear plastic cover will not remain intact and ammo falls out when carried in your pocket. And they are noisy! Love the rifle though despite the mags.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Just from what I’ve read in the AGN forums this appears to be a prevalent and known problem with these guns. Hopefully if enough people email Darko at CARM inquiring or requesting AEA mags, he will create a more durable aftermarket magazine for these guns. 

 

[MrP]

I emailed CARM about this a month ago or so. 357 mags work but are noisy, loses pellets in your pocket, doesn’t fit snugly in the gun and gets pushed out of alignment when cocking.

 

[xsivone]

My two magazines broke as well and Utah just sent me two new design ones, that they say are stronger. I guess we'll see. 

 

[Phil.Probe]

Thanks guys. For the record my rifle is a .25 cal. Hopefully the replacement mag will be fine. I'm not sure if it was the original or replacement mag that broke. Non the less I will email CARM and express my interest. If this rifle proves to be reliable I'd love to have a bunch more mags.

 

[kkarmical]

I emailed CARM about this a month ago or so. 357 mags work but are noisy, loses pellets in your pocket, doesn’t fit snugly in the gun and gets pushed out of alignment when cocking.

I've emailed Darko about AEA & made several posts on his FB page when he posts about new magazines.

He'd rather make magazines for the 3 people that have WAR Flex rifles or .30 Mrod, than for the 100's of people that will replace the POS AEA magazines...I really don't see the logic in it imo..

 

[MrP]

I hope just a matter of time? AEA seems like something of a new player… certainly would make some sales. 


The two aea mags that came with my Max had a loose face and were assembled poorly - the set screws turned with the lucite piece and were always loosening and tightening. I got two from the pellet shop to replace the other two (which I lost somehow in the process of returning the gun for repair) and these look identical but are put together solidly and easier to use .

 

[FelixS]

Generation 1 mags have weak springs, so the rotation can be a bit delayed when cycling to the next shot. When it is delayed, the probe makes contact before the mag fully rotates, thus causing damage. Second generation mags have stronger springs, and no other noticeable difference between the two; my experience is with .22 and .30 cal HP SS mags.

One workaround is to add one wind to the spring, but the risk is that the spring may break.

You should also remove the shroud, dump the guts out, and do a cleaning. Balistol works great. Then lubricate with graphite dry film lubricant. Also lubricate the probe and associated moving parts. I clean mine regularly and it's working fine.

Hope that sheds some light.

 

[Phil.Probe]

Thanks for the info guys. I've been emailing with UA and they said the replacement mags they have were the same ones that shipped with the rifle.

I'm not sure if they are gen1 or gen2 or if there is even a gen2 for .25 cal.

 

[Wipeout65]

I had firstly, one of the factory CNC mags fail in my HP SS+ .22, the carousel was damaged beyond repair because of the usual double feeding, half rotating and failure to rotate issues, so as the rifle was only a month old I contacted the pellet shop and was told they would send me a 'couple' of the all plastic ones to replace it.
They sent me just one, a $25 item to replace a $45 item.
Now, 4 months into ownership, I have only one working mag (the 2nd original CNC one).
I had to convert the rifle to just a bolt action, just so I have control of the mag cycling.
Will never buy from the Pellet shop again.

 

[darylm]

I've emailed Darko about AEA & made several posts on his FB page when he posts about new magazines.

He'd rather make magazines for the 3 people that have WAR Flex rifles or .30 Mrod, than for the 100's of people that will replace the POS AEA magazines...I really don't see the logic in it imo..

Right?!………he made a mag for a Retay T20 but hasn’t thought to make AEA mags? (that he would sell hundreds of) I don’t get it either.

 

[Trucker3573]

Seems to be a prevalent thing with aea. Why right now I wouldn’t buy a semi auto from them. Just a side lever I could single load and immediately just sell the junk mags.

 

[MrP]

My magazines work fine once loaded they are just a pain because the clear part is always loosening and tightening, needing to be adjusted with an Allen wrench every time i reload. They don’t feel like a finished product. The rest of the gun does, mostly.

 

[Cmc]

I wish somebody would make some decent mags for the gun Darko makes mags for atremis he must not like AEA

 

[jimy-j]

for about 2 months trying to find aea hp magazines in .30 cal. Anybody knows the place?

 

[Firewalker]

I have a half dozen magazines in my mag drawer for my .22 carbine and 2 of them are first gen that have the weak springs.

I bought 3 more from the pellet shop and got a prototype from a member at GTA.

I caught on right away to the mag issues as well as the feed issues and just used one mag to dial the semi-auto action in.

Lessons Learned, as soon as you get a jam, inspect the magazine carefully, if it hit the divider inside the tray, you need to take it apart and straighten all that out before trying to load or use that magazine again or you just exacerbate the issue.
Get the function of the semi-auto worked out before you sacrifice all the magazines you have in your inventory to the feed monster!
Magazines are where items just like orange, don't get too terribly upset about it, work through the issues and make phone calls to all of the aea dealers to find replacement magazines.

 

[Xaekia]

I emailed CARM about this a month ago or so. 357 mags work but are noisy, loses pellets in your pocket, doesn’t fit snugly in the gun and gets pushed out of alignment when cocking.

Did they ever reply. I was hoping theyd start making mags for the .357 max and challenger pro. Im holding off picking up more aea guns till the mag issue is sorted.

 

[MrP]

They said they would consider it but that was the last I heard.

 

[darylm]

I once emailed Darko about AEA mags but he said he doesn’t make them because he can’t get ahold of the AEA guns in Croatia.