Tuning FX Dreamline Compact tac NEW PURCHASE

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stevencal64

Member
Jan 16, 2017
18
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NY, United States
Greetings everyone,

I just purchased a new Dreamline Com/tac in 22. from Utah Air guns which arrived last week. Before I ask my question let me start by saying I'm completely new to FX air guns. Ok, so my issue is this:

The gun came tuned from the store at 880 FFS firing Jumbo 15.89 in 22. Transfer port, Hammer spring both came set at max. The regulator is set to 125 BAR. My issue is my standard 170cc bottle depletes before I can even finish my 18 shot magazine. I see my regulator pressure start to drop at which point I stop shooting as per the instructions.

From what I've been reading I should be getting at least 30-35 shots per fill with this bottle so clearly something isn't right. And after only about 10 fills my bottle pressure gauge isn't reading correctly.

I wanted to know if my shot count sounds about right per fill. And if not can anyone suggest a reason this is happening. I haven't touched any of the settings as of yet and I'm sure if I turned them down it would improve my shot count. But that really isn't a fix or reason my bottle is depleting so fast.

Thank you,

Steve
 
Greetings everyone,

I just purchased a new Dreamline Com/tac in 22. from Utah Air guns which arrived last week. Before I ask my question let me start by saying I'm completely new to FX air guns. Ok, so my issue is this:

The gun came tuned from the store at 880 FFS firing Jumbo 15.89 in 22. Transfer port, Hammer spring both came set at max. The regulator is set to 125 BAR. My issue is my standard 170cc bottle depletes before I can even finish my 18 shot magazine. I see my regulator pressure start to drop at which point I stop shooting as per the instructions.

From what I've been reading I should be getting at least 30-35 shots per fill with this bottle so clearly something isn't right. And after only about 10 fills my bottle pressure gauge isn't reading correctly.

I wanted to know if my shot count sounds about right per fill. And if not can anyone suggest a reason this is happening. I haven't touched any of the settings as of yet and I'm sure if I turned them down it would improve my shot count. But that really isn't a fix or reason my bottle is depleting so fast.

Thank you,

Steve
Click to expand...


The transfer port should be set to 22/177. Your hammer should be reduced to approx halfway. This overpowered tune is for higher weight pellets.

The reg pressure is too high, you can try reducing it to 100 bar and go from there. Follow the AMP reg instruction so as not to damage the reg.
Easier would be to remove the bottle, let the air bleed out, turn in the reg to about 60-70, and then go up with your tune.
You'll get a lot more shots.

You can easily achieve 35 - 40 shots with Dream tac compact .22 at 830fps with a slight amount of tuning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkeB3wyLzw
 
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Thank you,I will certainly try your suggestions. I also forgot to mention that I'm shooting a rather light pellet as compared to what is shown in this video using Premiere 14.3 gr pellets.

Also, my version of the rifle is the latest one so my transfer port settings do not read in calibers but rather just High/Medium//Low. So I'm guessing with the pellet I'm using perhaps a bit lower than high setting would be good? And maybe some heavier pellets would do better in this rifle.



Thank you for your help, you too Dalla :)
 
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I find the higher port setting works best for me. (more velocity on any given tune) But you can always try both and see what results you get. I'd suggest turning the power down on the hammer as well and see if you even lose any velocity. That short barrel really should be tuned to shoot a bit slower. I'd say around 850fps is what I'd shoot for.
 
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You just need to start from scratch and tune the gun properly around the pellet and speed you want to shoot. If you don’t trust the gauges on the gun, your fill source gauge can be used as a reference when filling and refilling. Your reg gauge is really only a reference number even if it’s wrong. When you set up a gun properly to shoot let’s say a 14gr pellet at 880fps, with most guns you don’t have a reg gauge anyway. Your chronograph and your main gauge will tell you when to refill. It’s just a gut feeling but I think right now if you set your wheel to #4, you will get the shot count your looking for. Remember DL compacts are not the hot rods of the FX lineup.
 
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Now, this is the performance and shot count I was kind of expecting. I have to try retuning the gun a bit and purchase a chronometer to see where I'm at.

I'm no stranger to the hobby. But owning a rifle like this comes with a learning curve that I just wasn't prepared for. I just wanted to own an FX because of its renowned reputation for quality and engineering. I'm not regretting the purchase but FX seems to target a very specific type of air gunner which I really don't fall into. I just like to charge my rifle, take it outside and let her rip. My Maurader and Akela are just off the hook awesome for this task.



Ahhh....once I learn about the gun and how all the settings work in relation to one another I'll be fine. After I receive my chronographer I'll post an update. :)
 
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.22 compact has a 300mm barrel so max sweet spot speed is right at 760 fps regardless of pellet weight. You can get it to shoot faster but you are wasting a lot of air plus losing accuracy. Like many said start from scratch but reg pressure of 120 is a good starting point with TP on .22, just adjust HS till you get around 760fps. you should also hear the muzzle blast difference, as soon as you get to about 760 the gun is a lot quieter. Biggest mistake people make with the compact is try to make it shoot like it has longer barrel. 



You can get tiny bit more speed if you set your reg to 150 but you will need medium weight hammer from FX, you can get to right around 800fps sweet spot. BUT you will lose a little shot count due to high reg pressure. At 120 bars and shooting CPHP @760fps you might get as high as 4 mags out of that little 170cc bottle. 



If you tune your gun right the little dream-tac compact can be super accurate with the lowly CPHP:

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/cphp-goes-long-range/?referrer=1
 
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Thank you for the information. My FX pocket Chronograph just arrived along with my new 300cc bottle. The chronograph revealed that indeed this gun is shooting a bit hot. With my TP on high and HS on high at 120 BAR reg I'm getting an average of 960-970 FPS. I personally think that's amazing considering the reg is only on 120? I'm sure this is because I'm shooting the CPHP 14.3 pellets.

I lowered my TP to medium, clicked the HS down about 2-3 clicks and the gun now shoots in the 870-880 range. When I set the TP to low that drops the fps drastically to around 720-740 fps.

I will continue to experiment to see where I can strike a balance between fps..pellet weight..and shot count. One thing is certain, a chronograph seems a necessity when owning an FX rifle. Without it, the gun might not be tuned correctly and you would never know it.

I'm going to try the Jumbo 15.8 gr. pellets to see how they work.
 
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Just another data point, as I'm slowly starting to figure out the same rifle, though mine has the 300cc bottle. I had tried the CPHPs (from an old box), with the regulator at 150, HIGH on the transfer port wheel, MAX on the power wheel, and the spring maxed out, and got around 899fps. So, with your reg supposedly set at 120bar, it seems there's some serious extra mojo pushing your pellets.

I've since tuned it to fire the JSB 15.89s at 130-140 regulator, TP wheel on HIGH and power wheel at MAX, and got averages of 844fps (extreme spread 7), 841 (ES 12) and 838 (ES 6) across 3 magazines (OEM 18 rounds each). I had some additional shots on the 4th magazine, but somewhere around 10-13 it dropped off the regulator, so I didn't count that string.

I'm guessing I have it running too fast for this regulator setting, as the speeds were slowly falling across the 54 rounds. Next time I get the chance, I'll shoot some at lower power wheel settings as well as with the TP wheel on medium, and if that doesn't even the strings out, I'll back the hammer spring off a bit. I'll also try to remember to check out the velocity consistency and accuracy at around 760fps, as @qball suggests.
 
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@TN_Yankee: try to see the speed difference between TP on high and medium. The TP on high is size of 30 caliber which is MUCH larger than .22 bore size. The effect of that is you have a very large chamber to fill and doesn’t increase air flow speed at all. This means you are simply wasting air and depends on the tune you will actually lose speed by putting TP one high. 


Dreamline in .177 and .22 always comes with light hammer or 7 gram hammer. To be able to use reg pressure higher than 120 you need medium or 11 gram hammer for up to 150 bars or heavy or 13 gram hammer for 150-170 bars at the reg. 


Also listen to the muzzle report at 100-120 bar at the reg while shooting, when your speed drops to 760 or lower you should hear distinctive tune change at the muzzle, the gun should be a lot quieter. 
 
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The newer FX Dreamlines and Crowns no longer have a TP wheel labeled in Low.177/.22 and .25/.30. Instead the corresponding labels are Low, Medium, and High. As qball says above, using high with a .177 pellet is simply wasting air. I have found that the Low setting is simply too low/slow on every rifle I own. The Medium setting (formerly AKA .177/.22) is just right for .177 pellets. On the other hand, .22 rifles seem to wrk with either Medium or High, while all my .25 and .30 Crowns and Dreamlines (when I switch to those calibers) need or at least work best on the High setting.

All the suggestions above for how to start finding the right tune look good to me, so I won’t repeat them.

Chris
 
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Dreamline in .177 and .22 always comes with light hammer or 7 gram hammer. To be able to use reg pressure higher than 120 you need medium or 11 gram hammer for up to 150 bars or heavy or 13 gram hammer for 150-170 bars at the reg. 
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That is great information, thank you. I have no idea why this information isn't in the instruction booklet that I've seen thus far because it's very relavent.

Also, my reg preasure is set at 125 BAR not 120. My bad but not too much of a difference. But the lighter hammer spring that comes standard with the dreamline explains why my reg preasure was tuned at the store to 125 and no higher.

I'm still waiting on the JSB's 15.8 gram pellets and I'll post some pictures of my shot string. I just don't get how I can be shooting at 970 FFS with the REG set at 125 (14.34 gr pellets)? I hope the gun is functioning as it should because I would have no idea at this point if something were not right the the gun being I'm still learning about it.

Thanks again, and I'll be back soon with a shot string posted.

 
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you can get the gun to shoot higher speed with higher reg and light pellets but you are wasting a lot of air plus reduced accuracy. If you listen to your muzzle blast you should hear a lot of air rushing out, once you get blow sweet spot speed for the barrel or right around 760fps the muzzle report will reduce to something like a dull pop. Once you get that sweet spot tune you should get 3 mags per fill or more if you turn it down even further with the hammer spring. If you just got the gun then the new barrels all comes with dual transfer port, slug and pellet. I would stick with pellet TP and 760FPS to get max consistency and accuracy, with slug port you can get to 800fps with higher reg pretty easy and might still be ok. Just listen to the muzzle blast and as soon as it gets quiet that's your sweet spot, this is a TedHoldOver tuning trick and it really works. 

As far as the hammer goes unless you are shooting slugs you won't need to go above 120 bars and need to buy the medium hammer, granted having medium hammer does give you a bit more flexibility if you do want to shoot slugs. 



BTW the FX superior liners shoot the 14.3 CPHP like a laser, it's shockingly good. No need for fancy, unobtainium pellets from exotic places. 




 
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Guys, no reason to post a shot string. I tried the gun with the JSB's 15.83gr with the transfer port on medium and the HS 2 clicks down. With my new 300cc bottle I'm barely getting through 2 mags (34 shots) before it goes to regulator. Something just isn't right and I'm wasting tons of air someplace. The gun is shooting about 820fps on average with these adjustments. When I drop it below 800fps it results in only a few extra shots, nothing considerable.

After I take a shot I can hear air flowing through the gun for a second. Like this........bang....shhhhhh......bang..shhhhhh. Not sure if this is a normal operating sound as I don't hear anything like it on any of my other regulated PCP rifles.

Sorry for being a pain in the ass with all this drama. I'm just a bit shocked at how small the shot count is with this rifle, and even after dropping another 250.00 dollars for the larger bottle and another hundred something for the pocket chronograph.


 
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The shhh sound is your plenum filling and normal. Like I said before, you need to start from scratch. Your gun can be tuned perfectly with the transfer port wheel set on max. On a regulated gun 22 cal or larger, max porting is what you want. Then it’s up to you to find the max speed for every reg setting until you’re in the ballpark of where you want to be speed wise. But there are no shortcuts here by just simply spinning your hammer spring wheel. You have to get out your little hex wrench. Set the HS wheel on max and leave it there. Back the hex HS screw out and with your reg at whatever, start increasing the HS tension with the hex wrench until the speed flattens out. If it’s not fast enough, bump the reg up and use the hex wrench again to find max speed. That HS wheel is worthless if you don’t have the HS screw set so that max on the wheel is max speed for that reg setting. Then and only then can you click the wheel to 4,3 or 2 to find the knee of that reg setting and where your gun is most efficient. The transfer port wheel is just a cheater wheel for shooting lighter pellets on a whim without doing a full retune. If you turn the TP wheel down from max when shooting 15.9’s to medium to shoot 14.3’s, it won’t be a perfect tune but it will be convenient. But if you decide you want to switch permanently to 14.3’s, to get the most out of the gun, you will have to open the TP wheel to max and turn the reg down. Then go through the whole process again. Just remember, when you find the max speed at a given reg setting, your gun won’t be efficient there. You will use the HS wheel to reduce the speed 3-5% and that’s where your gun will make the most of its air supply. 
 
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