FX FX Impact M4 - 300 Bar - Needs First Regulator ?

[adzmullen]

I've placed my order for a new .22 FX Impact M4 and knew from much research and reviews already that FX have removed the 1st regulator, apparently the new brass pin in the 2nd regulator can handle higher reg pressures and so there is no need for the 1st reg anymore, it all sounds good so far.

When I was looking through the FX manual online I couldn't find much information with regards to fitting a 300Bar bottle to the M4, the information was getting a little hazy with no direct answer.

So I contacted FX directly and asked them if I can just install a 300bar bottle straight onto the M4 would that work or is something else required.

FX replied with:
"To mount a bottle with 300bar you need to install a first regulator that is mounted on the Impact M3. It has art no 20540 Bottle connector Impact M3 cpl. Also manometer for the first regulator. You see this on the exploited view on the Impact M3 here in section D F10370-Impact-M3-230925.pdf (fxairguns.com)"

So clearly from FX's response the M4 is not designed or supposed to have a 300bar bottle & fill, as the now only "2nd regulator" must not be able to cope with that pressure despite its new design / brass pin.

This is really disappointing, its essentially a downgrade and you now have to spend more money and time to reinstall the first regulator & manometer etc, just to get a 300bar fill on it, but on the M3 you could just screw set the pressures and put on the bottle, job done.

Whats everyone's thoughts on this ?

 

[FLgunner]

Well, it really depends on what that extra 50BAR of air pressure gets you? I'm sure it's good for a few more shots, but what else, especially is you're going to have to regulate it down to at least 250 BAR with the first regulator? If you are going to buy a new tank anyway and are only looking for a higher shot counts, why not just go for a 580cc or 700cc 250BAR bottle? You didn't mention which model M4 you ordered, but if it's not the Compact, then a larger bottle should fit. I've never used a 300 BAR bottle, so I may be missing another advantage to the higher pressure.

 

[adzmullen]

Hi,

I’ve gone for the 700mm Sniper version, the reason is really as you’ve correctly guessed for increased shot count.

I see your point regarding just getting a larger 250bar bottle but that was sort of the plan anyway , I was just hoping for the best of both worlds.

A 300bar bottle roughly gets you 20% more shots, if you do the math that means a replamement:

580cc @ 300bar is the equivalent of a 696cc @ 250 bar.
700cc @ 300bar is the equivalent of a 840cc @ 250 bar.

This was kind of my logic, go for a 700cc 300 bar bottle and get roughly a 40% increase in shot count. 20% from the physical capacity side from 580cc to 700cc & an additional 20% from the pressure increase to 300 bar.

 

[Trucker3573]

I don’t see it as a downgrade at all. FX regulators are an utter pain in the arse to work on. I personally will never ever buy another fx gun with two regs. Good lord two of those stupid little PIA things to deal with. I really don’t fill my epoch or my Vulcan to 300 either that have 300 fills. I just figure it’s a little easier on the regs.

 

[jps2486]

So you have a large air tank filled to 4500 psi by either the dive shop or your own compressor(wait an hour for the tank to cool and you'll be lucky to have 4300 psi or 300 bar). After the first fill of your rifle to 300 bar, the succeeding fills are going to be less than 300 bar. This sounds like an exercise in futility. I've been feeding all my rifles to 250 bar and get enough shots per fill to satisfy anything I'm doing.

 

[FLgunner]

After reading this, I did look at the different bottles available and saw where the 300 BAR was only $10 more than the 250 BAR, so yea, I'd probably pay the extra $10 to get the 300 BAR bottle, but would probably still only fill it 250 BAR. I'd see the extra 50 BAR as a safety margin and as Trucker mentioned, save the regulator. I own 5 FX airguns, only 2 still have the original AMP regulator installed, the other 3 have a Huma Air regulator because the AMP regulator failed.

I reached out to Huma Air and they say their Impact M4 regulator will work with a 300 BAR Air Tank, so there's that option as well.

 

[adzmullen]

So you have a large air tank filled to 4500 psi by either the dive shop or your own compressor(wait an hour for the tank to cool and you'll be lucky to have 4300 psi or 300 bar). After the first fill of your rifle to 300 bar, the succeeding fills are going to be less than 300 bar. This sounds like an exercise in futility. I've been feeding all my rifles to 250 bar and get enough shots per fill to satisfy anything I'm doing.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, this is all very true, however what you're forgetting is the exact same thing happens on a 250bar fill, it gets hot, expands & fills to 250bar and the compressor shuts off, then after an hour when its returned to room temperature you'll find its probably down to 240bar possibly even lower. So its not a case of one suffers from that problem & the other doesn't both fill capacities suffer from the same losses, what we're talking about is the usable pressure thats left after the rifle has been left to rest, which is roughly 20% extra on a 300 fill.

I'll try it on a 250 bar 700cc cylinder and see how many I get but a 38-40grain slug travelling 1040 fps I don't think it will be much more than a mag if even that ?

Thanks for the response

 

[adzmullen]

After reading this, I did look at the different bottles available and saw where the 300 BAR was only $10 more than the 250 BAR, so yea, I'd probably pay the extra $10 to get the 300 BAR bottle, but would probably still only fill it 250 BAR. I'd see the extra 50 BAR as a safety margin and as Trucker mentioned, save the regulator. I own 5 FX airguns, only 2 still have the original AMP regulator installed, the other 3 have a Huma Air regulator because the AMP regulator failed.

I reached out to Huma Air and they say their Impact M4 regulator will work with a 300 BAR Air Tank, so there's that option as well.

Yeah that extra $10 makes total sense doesn't it, & on the M3 which has 2 regs already you could just screw it straight on even if you want to keep filling to 250 you've got a cushion of safety, or perhaps fill near half way say 270-275bar, then once the air has cooled back down to room temperature and the pressure has naturally dropped back to 250 anyway you've essentially got a "full fill" instead of the current 250bar fill you do, of which is really only 235-240ish after its cooled down.

Thanks for reaching out to HUMA I'll get in touch with them it does sound like these are better regs and a more viable option.

Would you recommend the HUMA regs over the original in an impact ?

Thanks

 

[FLgunner]

I have had great luck with the Huma Air regulators. When the AMP regulators fail, I just replace them with a Huma Air regulator and not look back! I'm sure I will eventually have them in all my FX airguns! Most of my airguns have a Huma Air regulator in them, either added because it wasn't regulated or as a replacement for a stock regulator that failed!