FX Another M3 .22 slugger post

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Sqwirl57

Sqwirl57

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Apr 13, 2020
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Ok so long story short I'm sitting on an M3 I picked up second hand. My plan is to use it to convert some powder guys at the club during the monthly rimfire matches. These matches are basically bench style knock down silhouettes at 50, 100, 150, and 200m. Most, if not everyone there, is shooting subsonic 22lr so I would love to join in with some air powered 22 slugs. I guess my question is this... What do I need to do this? Where do I start? Long slug liner, a butt load of random slug sizes, and countless hours of testing?

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Where to start?
For what your use is I would shoot a slug 30+ gr. I would see if the gun will develop enough power minus any hocus-pocus upgrades.
I would definitely get a slug liner.
Are you familiar with tuning and reasonably adept at it? If not this would be a great learning project.
I have posted several times about M3’s and aftermarket goodies. I am not a fan. I know many are and I respect their opinions. My experience has been that the M3 and Maverick both develop enough power for most any application the perspective caliber is suited for bone stock. You start changing this and that, tweaking the power with after market goodies and you are opening a can of worms with no bottom, or as they say here, the rabbit hole.
That gun as it sits, properly tuned is fully capable of doing what you want to do with it.
 
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Chukar60 said:
Where to start?
For what your use is I would shoot a slug 30+ gr. I would see if the gun will develop enough power minus any hocus-pocus upgrades.
I would definitely get a slug liner.
Are you familiar with tuning and reasonably adept at it? If not this would be a great learning project.
I have posted several times about M3’s and aftermarket goodies. I am not a fan. I know many are and I respect their opinions. My experience has been that the M3 and Maverick both develop enough power for most any application the perspective caliber is suited for bone stock. You start changing this and that, tweaking the power with after market goodies and you are opening a can of worms with no bottom, or as they say here, the rabbit hole.
That gun as it sits, properly tuned is fully capable of doing what you want to do with it.
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All I can say is good luck getting the right slug liner. FX has a very bad habit of NOT changing the numbers on their barrels. I believe their latest is 1:18 or 1:17 if memory serves. Corrections welcome.
 
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I think regardless of what tips you get from what supposedly works from fellow M3 owners, you still have hours of testing ahead of you. Especially since you mentioned 150 and 200m. You have to consider some things you are overlooking because the internet makes it all seem so easy when you see it from a distance. Once you get dialed in with a setting and a slug at 100, things can get interesting. We all know how quickly we can fall apart from 50 to 100m. It gets way worse from 100-200m. You’re gonna have to learn exactly what your gun and projectile does way out there. And that’s even before we introduce wind. If you want to try to convert powder burner guys, I sure don’t, you won’t do it showing up and looking like little Timmy and his mega dollar pea shooter.

Your gun is a 600mm and that’s what my longest distance gun is but it’s a .25. My .22 M3 slugger is the only M3 I have left that has a FX barrel on it. But it’s a 500mm. I would probably start with what Solo1 suggested and possibly have some 30gr on hand for testing. Do not be in a rush, take notes and thoroughly test everything. You don’t want to waste time having to go back and test because you left a leaf unturned. Hopefully someone will chime in with a couple more slugs and diameters. Then it’s up to you..
 
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Yeah I know this isn't going to be quick, painless, or even remotely cheap. From what I'm seeing I'm already going to be basically the cost of a brand new CZ rimfire (at minimum) into what is already essentially a $2k gun. Why anyone would do this is beyond me but my curiosity is piqued and my common sense has gone with the wind.

After doing some research last night I am wondering if 25 or 30 cal may be better options. Would I want the Tungsten hammerweight or the slug power kit?
 
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Vetmx said:
If you want to try to convert powder burner guys, I sure don’t
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I'm trying to get some air powered matches going at the club, including FT and bench. The best way to get them on board is to show them that the pea shooters are quite a bit of fun and certainly more capable of more than what they think they are. The way I see it I'm already middle of the pack with a <$300 Savage 22lr. I'd like to that even a modestly well tuned M3 can do better than that but I very well could be wrong.
 
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I recently adapted and tuned my Wildcat compact to shoot high BC Altaros slugs:

FX - Wildcat compact 22 and Altaros slugs👍

Another winter tinker that could be a long winded story but I’ll cut to the chase. It concerns my FX Wildcat, which has served duty in many configurations from 177 to 30 in compact (500mm) and sniper (700mm) form. It started out as a Mk3 tubed version and was converted to a BT through the...
www.airgunnation.com www.airgunnation.com

The accuracy at longer distances is proving to be excellent with the newest 1:16 heavy liner. I’m sure that you could do the same with the M3. With a 600mm barrel, you should be able to push it to shoot the 0.21BC Altaros 40grain ATP kings. The only downsides are that the slugs are more expensive and they are non-hollow point, but that doesn’t matter for silos.
 
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Bigragu said:
Sqwirl57- curious if and when you do get the members of your club on board, what is the air source? Club compressor and a few tanks?
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That is a problem/factor for another day as of right now. There is a scuba shop 20 minutes from the club though which is pretty convenient. Ideally, if it catches on, a club compressor would be great
 
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Sqwirl57 said:
Yeah I know this isn't going to be quick, painless, or even remotely cheap. From what I'm seeing I'm already going to be basically the cost of a brand new CZ rimfire (at minimum) into what is already essentially a $2k gun. Why anyone would do this is beyond me but my curiosity is piqued and my common sense has gone with the wind.

After doing some research last night I am wondering if 25 or 30 cal may be better options. Would I want the Tungsten hammerweight or the slug power kit?
Click to expand...
Regarding your last sentence. Don’t buy any fluff for your gun until it tells you that you need it. I can promise you, as long as you stay 600mm, you don’t need either of the two things you listed. As far as caliber goes, stay with .22. It’s the friendliest most cooperative caliber I’ve experienced with all the Impacts I’ve owned.
 
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Vetmx said:
Regarding your last sentence. Don’t buy any fluff for your gun until it tells you that you need it. I can promise you, as long as you stay 600mm, you don’t need either of the two things you listed. As far as caliber goes, stay with .22. It’s the friendliest most cooperative caliber I’ve experienced with all the Impacts I’ve owned.
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Ok thats kind of what I was hoping to hear. You don't see a reason to go with the 700 or even 800mm barrels for efficiency reasons?
 
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Sqwirl57 said:
Ok thats kind of what I was hoping to hear. You don't see a reason to go with the 700 or even 800mm barrels for efficiency reasons?
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I have avoided 700 and 800mm barrels and it has nothing to do with efficiency. I’ve avoided the potential headaches associated with them because my 500-600mm barrels can easily shoot what grain slug my guns like. If I wanted to go 40gr+ with my .25, I would have to go 700mm. I do what I recommended you do in post #11, I listen to my gun. Then I start spending more money. The .22 M3 guys that shoot heavier stuff probably know when you need to add 100mm. Some just go 700mm because of how it widens all the tuning parameters so getting a true Impact nut that has tested everything to chime in might take a while. So all I can tell you is if you aren’t getting a slug that shows promise up to the speeds you’d like to test and you’re at 150b, then you should probably invest in a 700mm. But your gun should shoot a 30gr and under faster than it needs to go easily.
 
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Vetmx said:
I have avoided 700 and 800mm barrels and it has nothing to do with efficiency. I’ve avoided the potential headaches associated with them because my 500-600mm barrels can easily shoot what grain slug my guns like. If I wanted to go 40gr+ with my .25, I would have to go 700mm. I do what I recommended you do in post #11, I listen to my gun. Then I start spending more money. The .22 M3 guys that shoot heavier stuff probably know when you need to add 100mm. Some just go 700mm because of how it widens all the tuning parameters so getting a true Impact nut that has tested everything to chime in might take a while. So all I can tell you is if you aren’t getting a slug that shows promise up to the speeds you’d like to test and you’re at 150b, then you should probably invest in a 700mm. But your gun should shoot a 30gr and under faster than it needs to go easily.
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I ordered the 600mm heavy liner, that carbon fiber sleeve, and a bunch of slugs to test and will go from there. I did order the slug power kit as well but I'll test the slugs without it first to see what happens. I was HOPING to use heavier slugs like the 40gr Alteros (Holy **** those things are pricey) so I'm going to see how they do and go from there. Utah Airguns really only advertises a 10% increase in muzzle energy going from a 600mm to a 700mm barrel so I figured I'd save the $350 over buying the longer kit at first
 
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Sqwirl57 said:
I ordered the 600mm heavy liner, that carbon fiber sleeve, and a bunch of slugs to test and will go from there. I did order the slug power kit as well but I'll test the slugs without it first to see what happens. I was HOPING to use heavier slugs like the 40gr Alteros (Holy **** those things are pricey) so I'm going to see how they do and go from there. Utah Airguns really only advertises a 10% increase in muzzle energy going from a 600mm to a 700mm barrel so I figured I'd save the $350 over buying the longer kit at first
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The Altaros boat tails work really well with the pellet probe, ensuring perfect axial loading.
 
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What is it about the slug power kit that makes it so irresistible to guys? It’s just a little bag of junk. Whoever thought of putting a flimsy probe that you really can’t adjust your seating depth because of your magazine, a weak spring that lets your valve rod blow through it’s stroke and slam the adjuster piston and a couple washers is a genius. The money made off that bag has to be pretty incredible.
 
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Vetmx said:
What is it about the slug power kit that makes it so irresistible to guys? It’s just a little bag of junk. Whoever thought of putting a flimsy probe that you really can’t adjust your seating depth because of your magazine, a weak spring that lets your valve rod blow through it’s stroke and slam the adjuster piston and a couple washers is a genius. The money made off that bag has to be pretty incredible.
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I was just assuming the heavier hammer would work better at overcoming a higher reg pressure. I'm going to shoot it without it first and see what it does and then install it and see if there is any difference. Either way it is cheap in the grand scheme of things
 
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