As a fact my first thoughtful try to shoot FX Panthera to 100 yards distance was this weekend and the results were excellent - video is coming soon. I can surely say that the regulator pressure is at the same level as it was several days ago, the same as the first shot speed. I didn't have tests for the POI change, so can't tell you something about it.
NRL22 is nothing like N50/BR. Everything changes at 200y with a 2min clock. You want heavy ammo shooting fast and flat to be competitive with the other rimfire classes. Some of the reasons being:
Hi, everybody! Let me introduce myself: Nikolay Boldov from Russia. Moscow, won Extreme Benchrest and American Field Target in 2019 (AZ, Extreme Benchrest) and 50 Yard Benchrest, One Gun Challenge in 2022 (AZ, Extreme Benchrest).
A few days ago, I’ve got my FX Panthera in .22 caliber. I consider this gun as a long range benchrest (150 yards) competition heavy slug (.22 40gr) shooter for my purposes.
My experience of slug shooting starts from 2017 when I began my experiments with 40gr slugs in .22 caliber, so I have a bit of experience in this topic.
I will try to describe my experiments, results, observations on this airgun in no-hype style with undoubtable (as much as possible) video proves here .
Technical details on FX Panthera can be found here: https://fxairguns.com/rifles/the-panthera/
Part 1. First acquaintance with Panthera out of the box
I will not describe Panthera’s appearance and it's main features here (yet) as you can find it in other youtuber’s videos. I will share my tests and results here.
View attachment 322090
View attachment 322091
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View attachment 322093
Note: I’ve made a mistake saying that tungsten hummer is installed in my Panthera in my first post in social media about this gun. No tungsten hummers yet – just regular one, so this version is straight out of the box, no modification was made.
So, the very first thing I wanted to test is what speed and how many shots can this gun give me with it’s 300cc bottle and huge (156cc) plenum.
The result is 25 shots in 250-142 bar with 40gr slugs at the speed of 273 meters per second (896 fps). Average air consumption is 11,3 cubic centimeters of air per joule, that is a very good result as for me taking into account barrel length and projectile weight.
Here is the video prove and the table of calculations:
View attachment 322095
My first impression.
- I didn’t expect FX Panthera to be able to shoot those heavy slugs at that velocity (it should be rather accurate according to my experience) out of the box.
- I really didn’t think that it would be possible to make 25 rather consistent shots from 300cc bottle
- Really happy to have opportunity to shoot 40gr long (12,5mm / 0,5 inch) .22 slugs out of the box with usual magazine
- I didn’t think that it would be possible to shoot those speeds with usual tube-like probe. I had to use pin probe for that needs in all my previous airguns.
Part 2. Know your gun power abilities
The next step I’ve taken to get acquainted with my FX Panthera in a better way is knowing it’s power parameters. My thoughts were the following. Panthera has a huge power plenum of 156cc and it is not an easy task to take it all out during shooting (at least this comes out of my previous experience with this type of airguns). And my thoughts were that using MAX hammer spring tension is not a bad idea, because on high pressures I usually use, the hammer can barely harm the valve. So, there is nothing bad in setting the hammer to maximum power level (that is a bit above 4 micro wheel settings) and testing the gun on different regulator adjustments.
I’ve made my tests on 120 – 200 bar with the step of 10 bar and made 4 shots on each to get average velocity of that setting. I’m not sure if using regulator on the pressures above 170 bar is “legal” so don’t try to repeat.
Here is the chart of results that I’ve got (just to remind – 40gr .2185 slug)
Bar Hammer set Average velocity
FPSAverage velocity meters per second 120 MAX 827 252 130 MAX 860 262 140 MAX 892 272 150 MAX 909 277 160 MAX 938 286 170 MAX 958 292 180 MAX 975 297 190 MAX 995 303 200 MAX 1001 305
You’ve got to take into account that the slugs I use are of rather big diameter - .2185 and of unusual shape – they are more like .22lr ammo. Usually slugs like H&N of the same weight gives +25-30 fps speed on the same settings (from my experience with FX Impact M3).
My intuition tells me that one of the most interesting setups for me (besides the one show in part one of that blog) will be the following:
175 bar reg pressure,
2,85 microwheel hammer settings
970 fps (294 meters per second) with my 40gr .2185 slugs
So, I decided to test that setup from 250 bar in the bottle and got 16 good shots. Here is the prove:
If everything goes fine, I plan to go outside and shoot at my shooting range tomorrow to at least 100 yards distance.
Part 3. Be wise with your hummer strike power
Past weekend was not the best to make accuracy tests outdoors, so I decided to have some tests and tuning indoors – in my workshop.
Is that a wise decision to use maximum hammer hit strike on lower reg pressures like 150 bar? Absolutely not. It will not increase the velocity of the projectile, but will raise your air consumption per shot to unreasonably high values. Here is what I’ve got during my test with reg pressure of 150 bar and 40gr .2185” slugs. 3 shots per every power settings were made and average result was put into the table.
Reg pressure Micro
adjustmentFPS Meters per second 150 bar 1.25 584 178 150 bar 1.5 686 209 150 bar 1.75 793 242 150 bar 2 883 269 150 bar 2.25 915 279 150 bar 2.5 915 279 150 bar 2.75 922 281 150 bar 3 922 281 150 bar 3.25 918 280 150 bar 3.5 918 280 150 bar 3.75 918 280
So, as I got higher with micro wheel adjustment after 2.25 position, the sound of the shot became louder and the gun definitely vibrated much stronger every time. There is no need to go on higher hummer strike power – just the waste of air and destabilization of the projectile due to huge amount of useless air coming after it.
It is the simplest and obvious example of how it works. There is a curve of velocities going up, as we raise the hummer power from the lowest level, then you reach the maximum velocity and then stabilizing without any profits on velocity, but loss in air consumption. That is how it work with big plenums. Note: In case with low volume power plenum guns the curve will go down after the reached plateau of velocities if you will continue to increase hummer strike level.
I will not deny that there are some situations and reasons to go up to a bit higher hummer strike power after reaching the plateau, but it is the matter of very special purposes and should be done wisely with full knowledge of what you do and why.
Thank you Nikolay, for a nice test, for the work and time you put into it for the benefit of others.Hi, everybody! Let me introduce myself: Nikolay Boldov from Russia. Moscow, won Extreme Benchrest and American Field Target in 2019 (AZ, Extreme Benchrest) and 50 Yard Benchrest, One Gun Challenge in 2022 (AZ, Extreme Benchrest).
A few days ago, I’ve got my FX Panthera in .22 caliber. I consider this gun as a long range benchrest (150 yards) competition heavy slug (.22 40gr) shooter for my purposes.
My experience of slug shooting starts from 2017 when I began my experiments with 40gr slugs in .22 caliber, so I have a bit of experience in this topic.
I will try to describe my experiments, results, observations on this airgun in no-hype style with undoubtable (as much as possible) video proves here .
Technical details on FX Panthera can be found here: https://fxairguns.com/rifles/the-panthera/
Part 1. First acquaintance with Panthera out of the box
I will not describe Panthera’s appearance and it's main features here (yet) as you can find it in other youtuber’s videos. I will share my tests and results here.
View attachment 322090
View attachment 322091
View attachment 322092
View attachment 322093
Note: I’ve made a mistake saying that tungsten hummer is installed in my Panthera in my first post in social media about this gun. No tungsten hummers yet – just regular one, so this version is straight out of the box, no modification was made.
So, the very first thing I wanted to test is what speed and how many shots can this gun give me with it’s 300cc bottle and huge (156cc) plenum.
The result is 25 shots in 250-142 bar with 40gr slugs at the speed of 273 meters per second (896 fps). Average air consumption is 11,3 cubic centimeters of air per joule, that is a very good result as for me taking into account barrel length and projectile weight.
Here is the video prove and the table of calculations:
View attachment 322095
My first impression.
- I didn’t expect FX Panthera to be able to shoot those heavy slugs at that velocity (it should be rather accurate according to my experience) out of the box.
- I really didn’t think that it would be possible to make 25 rather consistent shots from 300cc bottle
- Really happy to have opportunity to shoot 40gr long (12,5mm / 0,5 inch) .22 slugs out of the box with usual magazine
- I didn’t think that it would be possible to shoot those speeds with usual tube-like probe. I had to use pin probe for that needs in all my previous airguns.
Part 2. Know your gun power abilities
The next step I’ve taken to get acquainted with my FX Panthera in a better way is knowing it’s power parameters. My thoughts were the following. Panthera has a huge power plenum of 156cc and it is not an easy task to take it all out during shooting (at least this comes out of my previous experience with this type of airguns). And my thoughts were that using MAX hammer spring tension is not a bad idea, because on high pressures I usually use, the hammer can barely harm the valve. So, there is nothing bad in setting the hammer to maximum power level (that is a bit above 4 micro wheel settings) and testing the gun on different regulator adjustments.
I’ve made my tests on 120 – 200 bar with the step of 10 bar and made 4 shots on each to get average velocity of that setting. I’m not sure if using regulator on the pressures above 170 bar is “legal” so don’t try to repeat.
Here is the chart of results that I’ve got (just to remind – 40gr .2185 slug)
Bar Hammer set Average velocity
FPSAverage velocity meters per second 120 MAX 827 252 130 MAX 860 262 140 MAX 892 272 150 MAX 909 277 160 MAX 938 286 170 MAX 958 292 180 MAX 975 297 190 MAX 995 303 200 MAX 1001 305
You’ve got to take into account that the slugs I use are of rather big diameter - .2185 and of unusual shape – they are more like .22lr ammo. Usually slugs like H&N of the same weight gives +25-30 fps speed on the same settings (from my experience with FX Impact M3).
My intuition tells me that one of the most interesting setups for me (besides the one show in part one of that blog) will be the following:
175 bar reg pressure,
2,85 microwheel hammer settings
970 fps (294 meters per second) with my 40gr .2185 slugs
So, I decided to test that setup from 250 bar in the bottle and got 16 good shots. Here is the prove:
If everything goes fine, I plan to go outside and shoot at my shooting range tomorrow to at least 100 yards distance.
Part 3. Be wise with your hummer strike power
Past weekend was not the best to make accuracy tests outdoors, so I decided to have some tests and tuning indoors – in my workshop.
Is that a wise decision to use maximum hammer hit strike on lower reg pressures like 150 bar? Absolutely not. It will not increase the velocity of the projectile, but will raise your air consumption per shot to unreasonably high values. Here is what I’ve got during my test with reg pressure of 150 bar and 40gr .2185” slugs. 3 shots per every power settings were made and average result was put into the table.
Reg pressure Micro
adjustmentFPS Meters per second 150 bar 1.25 584 178 150 bar 1.5 686 209 150 bar 1.75 793 242 150 bar 2 883 269 150 bar 2.25 915 279 150 bar 2.5 915 279 150 bar 2.75 922 281 150 bar 3 922 281 150 bar 3.25 918 280 150 bar 3.5 918 280 150 bar 3.75 918 280
So, as I got higher with micro wheel adjustment after 2.25 position, the sound of the shot became louder and the gun definitely vibrated much stronger every time. There is no need to go on higher hummer strike power – just the waste of air and destabilization of the projectile due to huge amount of useless air coming after it.
It is the simplest and obvious example of how it works. There is a curve of velocities going up, as we raise the hummer power from the lowest level, then you reach the maximum velocity and then stabilizing without any profits on velocity, but loss in air consumption. That is how it work with big plenums. Note: In case with low volume power plenum guns the curve will go down after the reached plateau of velocities if you will continue to increase hummer strike level.
I will not deny that there are some situations and reasons to go up to a bit higher hummer strike power after reaching the plateau, but it is the matter of very special purposes and should be done wisely with full knowledge of what you do and why.
Even the 700 does not look all that long in these pictures,......with a person in for prospective it looks great !
A little more perspective.....
Well, I really do not like Bullpups for hunting there is really no advantage for me so I much rather take a longer gun with ton more power and a low profile .....anyday.
Steve, one thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this comparison is that that rimfires are generally easier to shoot, for obvious reasons (not as much going on inside from the time the trigger is pulled until the bullet departs the barrel). You shoot both, and showed Saturday at XFT why Rimfire is still significantly superior to airguns in EFT and PRS type events.
Absolutely, I mainly walk and stalk pretty dense Bush/Jungle too,....I fell into the Pup thing early on ( way before FX even started making them ) Pups are super sexy but there's more disadvantages then advantages when you walking and stalking and shots opportunities happen at a wide range of distancies,....I take a rifle with a low scope to the bore and a low profile over a pup anyday, anyday.
I guess nowaday everyone feels like they are a special operator when walking around looking for squirrels 
Pups really are only an advantage if you are in combact in a room to room situation
But Steve, you only missed ONE of 48 with your Anschutz Saturday at XFT, and that was off hand!!! Great shooting~~~!!! The high airgun was 41/48.That might be part of it as well?!
22RF's are usually heavier than AG's which helps stability. Also with the 22RF the carbon left in the barrel acts as a lubricant AND with the better ammo whatever "EEL SNOT" lubricant they use on the bullet sure works well. That's a good combination!
Barring any problems with a 22RF gun and as long as the barrel has been fouled - it also seems the first round out of a RF is more consistently going where it should and especially with the really high quality RF's like Vudoo, RimX, etc.
Wouldn't it be cool to have tracer slugs in XFT or PRS so we could see where every shot lands to help solve what's going on down there on the way to the target and where the heck we missed??!!
Thanks Mike. It finally came together for me is all I can say???But Steve, you only missed ONE of 48 with your Anschutz Saturday at XFT, and that was off hand!!! Great shooting~~~!!! The high airgun was 41/48.
We shot the NRL-22X match the following day at Rio Salado, and it quickly became apparent that .22RF is WAY superior to even the best .22 Airgun sluggers... The Airgun division winner did shoot a .22 FX Pantera and was at about 46%. The winning rimfire was over 65%... So not even close.
PS., sorry Nicolay for hijacking your thread - again.
The only thing lacking on this beauty is Element Optics Theos, but I'm sure it's not a problem 
Isn't she beautiful? 1050cc for heavy slugs benchrest shooting
