FX Airgun Owners

[nimrod177]

Ladies and gentlemen i have a very genuine request and a simple set of guidelines for this post so here goes. Sportsman Gun Centre as many will know have taken over distribution of FX air rifles into the uk. I work for Sportsman and have been tasked with getting some feedback. I am really not wanting a debate on why, how or any other business about prices and previous service and really want it to stay on topic. I really want responses from current/recent OWNERS of the fx brand. Ie not i had one 10 years ago etc or a mate of a mate of someone he knew had one. I am Not after comparisons between daystate, hw, air arms, bsa etc. What i want to know is of owners experiences either good or bad with their purchasing, quality, warranty etc. Any niggling little things that can be sorted as we have a meeting with FX very shortly and need to discuss various items with them. I have to put together a presentation for discussion in the next couple of days. I am afraid at this point i can not discuss costings existing warranties or work being carried out with the previous suppliers as this would be unprofessional so please don't even go down that route. I can hopefully say that the issues of supply should be a thing of the past considering we have just written one very large cheque to fx to supply the amounts we have requested and on time. I am an FX owner myself and have another currently on order (dreamline bullpup with carbon bottle) I can reasonably say they have all been or are fantastic rifles and have never had a single issue with any of them including my Bobcat mkII which is stupidly accurate if a little heavy for my knackered shoulder at present. All feedback will be considered as long as it is polite and relevant to the above guidelines. Please don't pm me with questions about specific details as i will not be able to answer them at present due to obvious reasons. Your help on this would be very much appreciated and this does include queries or suggestions on ways to improve the uk spec guns. I have spent some considerable time with the mkII testing it and have had no issues and the accuracy is fantastic once i found the right pellet for that particular barrel and it was FX's own brand pellet if anyone wants to know. JSB's that run through my bobcat did not like it but H&N were a very close runner up in 4.53 ft's. Happy shooting and a Merry Christmas to all new or existing customers.

[scorpiont10]

The use of push fit pins in the action is pants - the Wildcat I have lets you virtually blow them out with a puff of air - the use of the same on the cocking arm is also piss poor practice - mine fell out twice and ruined one days shooting completely - so simple to fix so why do FX not bother?

[bucketboy]

I have recently bought a new fx impact in .177, while I really like it, it is far from perfect, I would suspect that fx have spent almost no time, cost or effort it making it the gun it could be at sub12fpe power levels.

I did a lot of research before I placed my order, the reports of problems didn’t put me off because it has always been my intention to take it to bits and see what, if anything, I could do to make it better. I have to say, it has exceeded my expectations, some parts of the design are genius , other are dim witted, it’s almost as though the gun was designed by two different people.

The xtx smooth twist liner has got to be some sort of Swedish joke, absolutely nothing on the inside of mine is smooth, as I pushed a pellet through it feels like the the pellet is going over a farrier rasp, amazingly though it is accurate. (I have now polished mine and it feels and shoots better)

The hammer, hammer spring, hammer spring guide all rattle inside the block drives me nuts. The spring inside the valve control knob jams up on the internal threads of the adjuster causing inconsistencies. The mag sticks. I have already lost a rubber bump bead in the cocking block.the adjustable butt pad is about 3mm too short, this allows it to move up too far leaving a sharp edge on the rear block that slices lumps of skin off my knuckle. The shroud does not run concentric to the shroud. The liner lock nut is a truly terrible and who thinks putting a liner under compression is a good idea? Lastly, other than being extremely cheap, why make the reg piston from plastic.

I have already modified several parts of my impact, it has transformed the way it shoots, feels and sounds, as I delve deeper into the workings I will no doubt find other things that I can improve on and make it shoot like a gun of this price should.

As I said, I really like mine but there is definite room for improvement.

The supplied gun case is nice

Bb

[Jesim1]

I've had an early Impact about 2 years ago - it was terrible, accuracy, reg settings, consistency were all poor. I sold it on telling the buyer it was not what I was expecting from a £1600+ gun, but as it was shooting "reasonable" at best. He took it due to the scarcity at the time and the price I sold it for. I then had dealing with a second early one about 3/4 months ago which I tried to sort out for a friend as I'd managed to improve mine. It too suffered almost exactly the same issues but was a bit more accurate and consistent than my original one. He sold it shortly after as again it was "reasonable", but no better than a gun costing half what he had paid and he was fed up with it as it had not only been to myself but also two other "tuners". (arguably they were not that good though!)

I also had one of the new FX Crowns with the new reg and smooth twist x barrel about 6 months ago. I had bought this second hand - the original owner only had it 3 months (bought it Feb'19) but wanted to sell it and get a Red Wolf, which he did. I already had a Red Wolf, but fancied the new Crown as it had been improved with the new reg and barrel - I sold it after a couple of months and bought a second Red Wolf which was nicer to shoot and more accurate - I still have both RWs but currently no FX. The Crown was ok, but just ok, if anything it felt a bit light, cheap, and did not give me any real satisfaction owning it.

I just bought an FX chrono - for the most part I think it's a good piece of kit, but should have written instructions with it, not on the app. I also think it should ship with decent batteries - the "industrial" Duracell's it ships with lasted about 6 hours in total, I then replaced them with "proper" Duracell's. There are many small improvements which should be made to the software for the app that would be cheap and instant to do - I did give the feedback to FX a couple of months ago when I'd had a chance to use it and they acknowledged it, but nothing has changed on the app, which for a £150 item is poor they didn't get it right first time or have updated it after other then sorting the bracket which was originally pants also.

Should also add - the way the magazine loads always means the one loaded first (backwards) does not fire accurately, it's very noticeable on the guns I've had.

[evert]

I really want responses from current/recent OWNERS of the fx brand. Ie not i had one 10 years ago etc or a mate of a mate of someone he knew had one. I am Not after comparisons between daystate, hw, air arms, bsa etc. What i want to know is of owners experiences either good or bad with their purchasing, quality, warranty etc.

I have owned a Typhoon, since somewhere around ca 2007.
It did not shoot well wit any pellets except heavyweights, until I noticed the out of center crown. After re-crowning the barrel, the gun now shoots most quality pellets quite good for an unregulated gun.

[DEGS]

Wildcat owner .177 … MK 1
Delighted with accuracy …JSB 4.52 / 4.53
Niggles are the scoring of the mag on rotation ….simple fix that improves the action of it ...but should not be necessary on a gun this price.
Other gripe is the 8 shot mag ….not enough IMO

I am not sure if the scoring is sorted on the MK2 ?

But 8 shot mag is still the same ….

Not much to moan about in comparison to other makes !
Std shroud is quieter than with the belitia mod on ….on mine

[SuffolkRifle]

Got vermy mk 1 (bought nos with S/T barrel fitted), Cyclone carbine (bought used when it was about a year old, imported through deben group), old L/W barrelled Typhoon (bought used), and a S/T Typhoon (bought new), all used for FT, only issue I've got, is that one of them is chewing up the seal on the fill probe - think it might be the new Typhoon. Other than this, no big problems.
Had these now for at least 4 years, somewhere around 50-60 pellets through them each week.
Was looking at a new mk 2 Wildcat, but not sure at the moment.

[nimrod177]

Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen keep the comments coming and please stay relevant.

[oneseven]

I currently own a Mk1 Verminator and Mk1 Wildcat.

I would echo the point above about push fit pins. Also the magazine size on the wildcat has been inconsistent, they don't all fit the same.

I'm planning on an FAC impact and would only lever buy a mk2 FX from now on.

[NeilMac]

I have an ACZ / Dreamline fitted with the STX barrel. I bought and reviewed from Sure Shot a few years ago and originally bought it as an experimental piece, my thoughts being that the STX barrel would indent the outside of the pellets less and this might mean it took less wind at longer ranges than a conventional barrel..... nope! Utterly wrong. But, it is a nice accurate lightweight rifle.

I have found it shoots most accurately with larger diameter pellets, the usual 4.48 to 4.50 type JSB and Air Arms pellets perform poorly, but JSB heavies and also H&N Barracuda FT work really well and I have used this combination to shoot some acceptable scores on outdoor 25m bench rest cards. It will also hold it's own on an HFT course but is possibly a little light for FT, but that could be easily sorted.

Two aspects worth comment. The cocking mechanism works well, but it needs and internal stop at the end of the cocking stroke as if pulled a little too far there is the most dreadful feeling of metal rubbing metal. There is no ill effect that I have found, but it feels terrible. Also, the factory single shot tray is utter rubbish, it has a long slot that drops the pellet around 10 mm into a slot that you cannot get your fingers to. At the end of the drop the pellet may be in the right place, or backwards, or pointing up, or down. A shake of the rifle may get the pellet in place, or you may have to pull the whole tray out and start again, it is a real faff to use and not something you want to be messing about with at a cold February winter league shoot. My solution was to buy a simple little tray from a guy on line who does a bit of 3D printing. Access to the breech is a little restricted but it works.

My last comment regarding the STX barrel is something I picked up from forums in America.... don't clean it and if you do clean it (which you shouldn't) DO NOT use a pull through. When I first got mine I was cleaning it on a regular basis as I do with all new / review rifles, I am old fashioned so I still use a rod and jag. After each clean it would take a good few shots to come back on zero but eventually it would, until the day I thought I would try out a pull through set up that a mate had given me to try. I genuinely thought I had somehow ruined the barrel, it took around 200 shots before the accuracy returned, it scared the sh*t out of me and so I have not cleaned it since, not in several thousand shots.

So, in brief; good well made accurate rifle that likes larger diameter pellets, lightweight and quiet, with a slightly flimsy feeling cocking lever and a dreadful single shot tray.

[wall90]

I have a mk1 verminator, I have had it from new and had it re sealed once after it started to loos air,ive owned it for over 10 years and love it, it is quiet small light and has a good shot count,the only down side is that you can fire an empty gun if you don't keep count of your shots,a very minor fault but can be annoying.very happy with it though.

[RussDouglasAGW]

Thanks for this opportunity @Nimrod177

I've owned a Wildcat mk.1 for several years and love it! I've just had it shortened and repaired / tuned by Air-Fective, which massively improved (after wear and tear over time) on consistency, plus fixed both the faulty safety catch (which had stopped working properly) and very-close-to-breaking trigger linkage action connection (this is apparently a regular failure point over time).
I was going to buy a shorter Wildcat mk.2 until I was assured by an RFD it's significantly louder than the mk.1, for some unknown reason. Can you tell me anything about the Wildcat mk.3, which I hear is to be released in the new Year?

I review guns independently for Airgun World, Shooting Sports and Gun Mart, and would very much like the chance to review the new Dreamline Bottle-Pup, as that's my current dream .22" FAC pest control rifle. Can you tell me when these will be available? I'm disabled so a lightweight /compact/portable rifle is an essential for me.
Good luck getting your shoulder fixed.

All the best, cheers. Russ
Airgun World magazine's disabled contributor / reviewer / pest controller
www.youtube.com/c/RussDouglas222 (independent video reviews online weekly)

[bufo]

I have owned 7 FX guns over the years. My mk1 verminator required seals a couple of times and broke part of the cocking mechanism, but it did have roughly 20,000 pellets through it in 3 years of ownership. I had a cutlass, mk2 verminator and a cyclone for a short while, all of which worked very well I currently have an FAC Crown, a streamline and a ranchero pistol, none of which have had any issues since I had the pistol properly adjusted for UK power levels. On the rare occasions I have had issues with the verminator ASI were very good and quick with warranty repairs and I hope that Sportsman will maintain that level of service. The issue that I have had has always been availability, particularly with new models.

[Lordgower]

I have a Webley Specter in .177 purchased from Webley some time ago but I believe that it is basically a FX. It has always been a perfect rifle but after about 10 years it had to be serviced. On its return it was as perfect as before. I cannot praise its quality and reliability and accuracy enough. I would not expect FX’s quality to have been reduced over the years.

[nimrod177]

Thanks for this opportunity @Nimrod177

I've owned a Wildcat mk.1 for several years and love it! I've just had it shortened and repaired / tuned by Air-Fective, which massively improved (after wear and tear over time) on consistency, plus fixed both the faulty safety catch (which had stopped working properly) and very-close-to-breaking trigger linkage action connection (this is apparently a regular failure point over time).
I was going to buy a shorter Wildcat mk.2 until I was assured by an RFD it's significantly louder than the mk.1, for some unknown reason. Can you tell me anything about the Wildcat mk.3, which I hear is to be released in the new Year?

I review guns independently for Airgun World, Shooting Sports and Gun Mart, and would very much like the chance to review the new Dreamline Bottle-Pup, as that's my current dream .22" FAC pest control rifle. Can you tell me when these will be available? I'm disabled so a lightweight /compact/portable rifle is an essential for me.
Good luck getting your shoulder fixed.

All the best, cheers. Russ
Airgun World magazine's disabled contributor / reviewer / pest controller
www.youtube.com/c/RussDouglas222 (independent video reviews online weekly)

We are due to take over at the beginning of february but as of yet we are unsure what will be available /shipped to us. At present we are in the dark about any mkIII wildcats as preliminary discussions are taking place with fx and i think it would be inadvisable to start speculations on what models will be available and when. I certainly know my boss is eager to get everything in place as quickly as humanly possible with fx. I am aware from past experience that there have been supply issues with guns and we are hoping this will change dramatically. Trust me you may be 2nd in line to get their hands on the dreamline bottle pup. I'm first as it has been on order since they announced the release for it Sorry. Joking apart it will be a case that as soon as they land in the warehouse they will be out on the shelves and up for sale to the general public. I have had a feel of the dreamline lite which i have at our Dorset store and have been very impressed with it's looks and weight. However it is not evry body's cup of tea in the style stakes which i understand. I do not go for looks i tend to lend myself to practicalities/accuracy when it comes to my rifles. The fact that i own a walther reign is testimony to that. Not pretty, plastic body but very user friendly.