Btas Fac .22 Fx Cyclone

[some bloke]

I just had a very quick play with my new toy, with the words “don’t be late for tea” ringing in my ears. What made matters worse was the subtle ‘you men and your toys are more important than everything else’ sideways glance that came with it. Well I was a virgin to FAC air – so it seemed a worthy cause. I've not yet chrono's it but the three reg'd power settings are about 12/18/26 ftlb according to the supplier:cool:

Anyway, I’d forgetfully left a target board hanging on a gate at a shooting permission 10 mile away, so decided to kill two stones with one pellet. I’d asked Ben Taylor to fit my scope for me, and zero it to 40 yards while Collin Jalland and I were there yesterday afternoon so we could try it on the way home – but rain stopped that little plan. :(

I initially placed the target at 30 paces, set the power adjuster to high and lay down between the thistles in a fairly sheltered area that was subject to a few gusts but it was the best I could do quickly. I rested the gun on a rolled up jacket and took a shot - 3” high (so Ben had probably set zero on a lower power). I emptied the remaining 7 pellets into a 10p group bar one, and moved 10 paces further away. Before I go on, I don’t claim to be a target shooter – nor have I any aspirations to do so. I had also noted that several of the .22 AA field pellet skirts were mildly distorted.

I aimed at the same point expecting the pellet to be lower – but it hit somewhere amongst the previous group. My target board has multiple crosses so I can move to a clean area on it a few times, and the next seven shots confirmed that it was still shooting to the same height, or near as, wind gust allowing. I progressively lowered the turret to the 40 pace zero and got another magazine into a 10p group – just.

Am I initially impressed with the performance? O-YES. And the Weihrauch can too.

I found it a bit of a challenge fitting the magazine. With my previous s410, and being right handed, it was easy to hold the bolt with my right hand, sort of aided by pinching the butt between my arm and ribcage, and slip the magazine in with my left hand. The magazine is fitted from the right side and I’m sure I’ll soon be able to do it in the dark, but it will need practice. It also needs a firm push to locate it. Theres not much wood below the aircan for a QD stud (well weight saving has to come from somewhere) And to that end a can-clamp/stud is becoming available soon for thoese who wish to use a bipod. It's doubtfull many would want to fit a sling due to its lightweight.

I rather suspect this will become my main rabbit gun, and may well change my .22 semi for a 17 HMR – but I’m not going to rush that decision.

EDIT: I'd be willing to accept a free bipod clamp if BT likes this first review:D

[bengarzy]

I just had a very quick play with my new toy, with the words “don’t be late for tea” ringing in my ears. What made matters worse was the subtle ‘you men and your toys are more important than everything else’ sideways glance that came with it. Well I was a virgin to FAC air – so it seemed a worthy cause. I've not yet chrono's it but the three reg'd power settings are about 12/18/26 ftlb according to the supplier:cool:

Anyway, I’d forgetfully left a target board hanging on a gate at a shooting permission 10 mile away, so decided to kill two stones with one pellet. I’d asked Ben Taylor to fit my scope for me, and zero it to 40 yards while Collin Jalland and I were there yesterday afternoon so we could try it on the way home – but rain stopped that little plan. :(

I initially placed the target at 30 paces, set the power adjuster to high and lay down between the thistles in a fairly sheltered area that was subject to a few gusts but it was the best I could do quickly. I rested the gun on a rolled up jacket and took a shot - 3” high (so Ben had probably set zero on a lower power). I emptied the remaining 7 pellets into a 10p group bar one, and moved 10 paces further away. Before I go on, I don’t claim to be a target shooter – nor have I any aspirations to do so. I had also noted that several of the .22 AA field pellet skirts were mildly distorted.

I aimed at the same point expecting the pellet to be lower – but it hit somewhere amongst the previous group. My target board has multiple crosses so I can move to a clean area on it a few times, and the next seven shots confirmed that it was still shooting to the same height, or near as, wind gust allowing. I progressively lowered the turret to the 40 pace zero and got another magazine into a 10p group – just.

Am I initially impressed with the performance? O-YES. And the Weihrauch can too.

I found it a bit of a challenge fitting the magazine. With my previous s410, and being right handed, it was easy to hold the bolt with my right hand, sort of aided by pinching the butt between my arm and ribcage, and slip the magazine in with my left hand. The magazine is fitted from the right side and I’m sure I’ll soon be able to do it in the dark, but it will need practice. It also needs a firm push to locate it. Theres not much wood below the aircan for a QD stud (well weight saving has to come from somewhere) And to that end a can-clamp/stud is becoming available soon for thoese who wish to use a bipod. It's doubtfull many would want to fit a sling due to its lightweight.

I rather suspect this will become my main rabbit gun, and may well change my .22 semi for a 17 HMR – but I’m not going to rush that decision.

EDIT: I'd be willing to accept a free bipod clamp if BT likes this first review:D
All FAC .22 are zoroed on Bis mags hence flatter on 16 grn AAs.
The FX clamp we will have to talk about as they are quite expensive (milled out of solid) call me when you have time as we are expecting more in soon.

Ben

PS thanks for the review.

[verminhunter]

Happy Shooting some bloke,they are wonderful rifles ,best of luck.:)

[verminhunter]

[QUOTE=bengarzy]All FAC .22 are zoroed on Bis mags hence flatter on 16 grn AAs.
Ben





What is "zoroed" Ben? Thats a new one.:D

[Russ6357]

The grouping looks like a Z obviously..

(My swash is now buckled)

:)

[some bloke]

Christened it last night - 3 shots 3 headshot bunnies cleanly dropped while lamping before I had to duck into a sheep shed and sit out the rain.:(

Predicability is the benefit of this rifle for me, Its by far the most repeatable gun I've ever had. I have a .22lr, but it's semi auto, and it moves a tad during the firing recycle, and sometimes the point of impact is obscured by smoke in lamplight. I have shot my brothers bolt action anscutz(sp) .22lr with better results, but I'm sure there is some minor difference in powder fill or burn quality between some rounds. With rimmie's I aim for the heart and lungs to account for the very slight possible small error, relying on the extra hitting power for the cull.

This is almost too clinical for want of a better description, and head shots are reliably acheived ;) The furtherest I have used it yet is 40 ish paces, but I would have no hesitation about extending that to fifty or so if it turns out that it is still predictable at that distance, and I have no doubt that it will be. :D

[darren m]

What ftlbs are you getting using the 16 grainers , if its set to bis mags originally

Darren .

[keviny]

My friend was thinking of buying one of these, how many full power shots do you get from each fill and what is the fill pressure ?
Cheers Kevin

[some bloke]

I've not yet combro'd it... too busy having fun to worry myself about technogeek particulars :p

Fill pressure is 230 bar and I'm told fifty something full power shots before it comes off the regulator. If you have never shot a regulated air rifle before - prepare to be astounded at it's predictability. :eek:

This was my first use of both a regulated gun - and an FAC one... so I'm double made up about it :D

[al]

sounds great. good review. how much is the fac cyclone as opposed to the 12ft/lb version...
al

[some bloke]

Don't know the price of a 12lb'r - but the FAC was £573. Weihrauch silencer £40. + vat of course.

Oh - If you visit take your air bottle with you for a free top up (we took both took one) :)

[putty1]

BTAS FX Cyclone FAC
SALES SERVICE:
Not many areas of trade could get away with treating their customers like this! :(
Initially told two weeks to delivery actually took 9 weeks despite being told it “will be shipped in the next few days” 3 times! I sold my Rapid cheap to clear a slot on my ticket which meant I was airgunless for 7 weeks - ouch.
When the gun arrived it came with a bill for £50 more than when the order was placed and it had no regulator pressure gauge! My RFD had to persuade me not to send it back there and then! He handed me several other FAC’s to play with instead, but none handles as well as the tiny Cyclone.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Very light and very quiet with a weirauch moderator. It has an uncluttered look and feel despite the sidelever cocking action. The stock is very slim (much like the X2 and Harrier) and it is a handsome piece of walnut with some rather nice machined stippling and the BTAS design under the forgrip. Generally the finish looks very good.
THE BUSUNESS END:
First fill to 235bar (5 over the reccomended for FAC) over a skan chrono using aa field weighed to15.85 grain (+/- 0.2gn)
851
851
849
851
849
845
851
849

852
851
849
851
849
851
847
851

851
849
851
851
847
851
843
849

852
849
849
851
845
851
851
851

845
851
852
851
849
847
851
847

845
843
840
833
835
829
824
823

823
817
809
795
793
788
764
751


Stunning consistency for 40 shots at 25ft/lb with another 8 that wont be far off the mark in the field.
Accuracy was an issue though. Ran a few wads through the barrel and got a whole pile of muck out of it. Much tighter groups now but only tested at 25yds.
Will try to test longer range in the field later on today – if the wind and rain let up for a bit.

So far, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this gun to anyone looking for a lightweight hunter that doesn’t have a gert big bottle sticking out the front, and with a high shot count in FAC but beware of extreme delivery delays and don’t be surprised when you are not informed about changes in spec and especially price.

Rup

[Rapidnick]

What ftlbs are you getting using the 16 grainers , if its set to bis mags originally

Darren .

I found using BisMags increased the power of my Rapid by about 2 ft lbs over AA Fields- without making any other changes.

[some bloke]

I have to agree with putty1 about claimed completion times but feel the wait till they got it just right was probably well invested.

And the stunning consistency. :)

I too noted the lack of a pressure guage - but when used with a regulator all it would show is that there is enough air in there rather than the amount of power behind the next shot - so accepted it as a trade off for reliability.

All in all - I am still absolutely delighted with this amazing piece of kit. Still not combro'd it though - and thanks to putty1, I probably won't now as there is no 12lb limit to be obsessive about:rolleyes:

Also refreshing to see true comments about guns and vendors rather than tame magazine review's that are just unbelievable

[al]

any ideas how shots you would get at 18 ft/lb setting.....?
al

[verminhunter]

any ideas how shots you would get at 18 ft/lb setting.....?
al







Get a chrono,fill up to the recom fill ,set at 18ftlb and fire,write down every shot from each mag and there you have it,this way you'll know exactly what YOUR rifle does at that said level spot on.No good asking cause each rifle will perform abit less or more then the other.Happy Shooting.:)

[some bloke]

any ideas how shots you would get at 18 ft/lb setting.....?
al

I've not tried it to be honest mate - but I seem to recall Ben telling me it would be about 60. ask him, he's bengarzy on this forum.

[some bloke]

I now see why the lack of a pressure guage was so shocking to putty1, but not me. I'd figured that since I have a guage on my diving bottle I could see the fill level so that was all I needed. My only other air rifle was a 12ftlb S410k, so never really "ran out" of air mid hunt. At 27 ftlb ish - I am using much more air per shot:eek:

I had a very nice 6 hour walk about from 9pm till 3 am this morning, and found myself hoping I don't get too low on air. There is after all a pressure guage on the one shown on BT's web page. Dont get me wrong - I still love the gun, but feel it should be there, as advertised on the non FAC ones.

The safety is another thing worth mentioning. For a right hander - a better location could not have been found, it is very easily reached with the thumb when the shot is lined up.

I asked Ben about the bipod stud bit... at £28 I'd need to see it before buying it.

Question for you FAC air hunters... Are you getting head shot ricochets? I had four this morning... two of them were runners I'm asamed to say.

EDIT: I now suspect they were straight through shots that zinged off the ground behind them.

[8mm Mauser]

I've got a 12FPE Cyclone and love it, it'll do a small thumbnail-sized group at 55yds with AA Field (bipod, indoors).

I asked Ben about the lack of guage and he said they weren't really good enough quality to bother with and, as someone else said, because it is regulated it would only show the pressure in the regulator :).

[putty1]

6 months on.......
Well I know I had a bit of a gripe about BT’s sales service. Well time heals most wounds and the rifle has proved to be well worth the hassle.
I have been using it regularly as a rabbit-hunting tool for 6 months and have found it to be perfect for my needs and an absolute joy to use.
I have drilled the stock to take a sling and bipod stud (dodgy as wood is very thin but I think it’ll be OK with care) so I can really take advantage of its stunning accuracy. I’m not going to go off on one about tiny groups at ridiculous ranges but I feel easily confident taking 75yard headshots when conditions allow :cool: .
Accuracy is stunning! That said, it is very pellet fussy, I have found nothing it likes other than AAfield which to be fair is the recommended pellet. It also needs regular cleaning; I use a length of 60Lb fishing line to pull a small wad of dry cotton fabric through it once every fortnight (50-75 shots) to clean the muck out.
The thing that has really surprised me is how little air this rifle uses. my last post shows that the FAC Cyclone will produce 40- maybe 50 shots at 26FtLb, but where the real economy lies is that it takes so little air to fill it up again. Put it this way I take an average of 10-15 shots every time I use the rifle and that is usually twice a week, I top the gun up to 230bar every other time I use it. Now I filled my 3 litre bottle when I first collected the rifle 6 months ago and its only this week reached the 230bar fill pressure! That includes all my ’new gun field testing’ (probably 2-300shots) and a couple of topups for my now neglected falcon.
I reckon that’sthe best part of a thousand FAC shots to one 3Litre bottle. Read it and weep all you Rapid owners :p . I used to get 5 maybe 6 full fills of a 400cc rapid bottle out of the same 3L pony bottle (=150shotstotal).
I have the Cyclone fitted with a Bushnell 6x24 on medium mounts which is perfect compliment to this rifle, its small and light yet able to rangefind reasonably accurately at ranges required. I have it zeroed at 45yds, which at 10xmag gives me 1Mildot over at 60yds, and 2mildot at 75yds with about 3/4inch hold under at 25ishyds. What could be simpler?
I also have a reasonably well set-up winmag rimfire but unless I specifically need the extra range I almost invariably reach for the yclone first
Verdict – In my humble opinion, this is the best field/hunting airgun that money can buy!
Rup

How are you getting on with yours Some Bloke?

[some bloke]

I hardly ever use it now Rup as most of the land I shoot on is wide open and cleared for powder burners. To be honest my main reason for acquiring it was that a landowner was going to let me shoot his 3000 acres that mostly border an "A" road with an air rifle - not rimfire due to it's tendancy to richochet. On the rare outings the Cyclone gets it's faultless - and as you point out seriously accurate when I take a rested and ranged shot. I was to get back to him when I got an FAC air rifle.

He's a centrefire shooter - or used to be, and had not heard anything about 17hmr.

Well I pulled the polymer tipped boatail out of a shell and placed it in his hand - then a .22 pellet in the other hand and pointed out the similar weights and described it as "like a baby centrefire that fragments very easily" which he agreed I could use.

On the morning we had arranged to sit down with his boundary maps he got an emergency callout that sadly cut things short - to 1000 acres-ish. I have just about cleared the rabbit population off the best of that land (most of it was near bare of rabbit) and will be contacting him again soon to detail the remaining 2000 acres - some of which is partly surrounded by village's, and hopefully more productive.

Those areas would probably get complaints about the 17hmr so I'm sure the Cyclone will be put to good use again soon.

Glad to see the lack of an air guage is not holding you back. 50 shots is more than most of us would use on a 3~4 hour hunt on foot.

ATB, Dave.

[putty1]

Dave
The FAC air scores so highly for me, as most of my shoots
are small paddocks, many of which cannot be cleared for live
firing stuff (given all the footpaths, roads, houses and livestock
around). I also find on most of my shoots, the quiet stealthy
airgun approach to be a far more subtle and effective pest control
technique.

The "lack of an air gauge" thing was a knee jerk issue for me because
I owned a Rapid (Mk1) in which I was never sure how much air
was in the bottle:mad: , OK I had a spare bottle, but you only
know when you are getting low on air when you start to get stray
shots:mad: . With only 20-25 FAC shots - if the bottle went on
right:mad: - no gauge really was an issue. I am so glad I got rid
of the wretched thing:D
The Cyclone on the other hand is completely predictable :) I carry
4 mags which is more than enough for a shoot and can refill two of
them if I’m caught short away from my air bottle;) . It don’t get no
simpler than that :cool: !

I bought a Rem597WinMag in the hope that I might get the opportunity
to tackle a (close range) fox or two as well as the bunnies. More
recently I have extended the slots on my ticket to HMR and centrefire,
so am thinking of chopping in WMR against a .17 to gain that extra
50 yards, I reckon I might use it in preference to the Cyclone on the
more open shoots, with all that extra range ;)

Good luck with your 2000 acres.
Rup

[badgeroy]

I've been thinking of getting one of these for a while as i've noticed at HFT shoots the sub 12s are very quiet with the Weihrauch ?, mod,is the FAC as quiet? and is there anybody in my area with an FAC Cyclone as i would be very interested in trying one.

[verminhunter]

I've been thinking of getting one of these for a while as i've noticed at HFT shoots the sub 12s are very quiet with the Weihrauch ?, mod,is the FAC as quiet? and is there anybody in my area with an FAC Cyclone as i would be very interested in trying one.









Yes It is very quiet in FAC mode,at 26ftlb with AA field this rifle is a very hard bit of kit to beat in terms of accuracy and quietness and very light to carry around all day in the field,one of the quietest rifles I've ever shot.

Ben Taylor does a fantastic job on them,the up-rate he does is superb and shot count is very good in fac mode with the reg,the thing I like with this rifle is that you can have 3 settings 12,18 and 26ftlb with just a flick of a switch,how good is that!.

Worth the money all day long.