FX PANTHERA 600 (.25 cal)

The UPS man delivered the new Benchrest gun today. Wife wasn’t supposed to be home, so after a lengthy time out, I’m aloud to play now!! Lol.

First I want to thank Tom from High Pressure Pneumatics with all the great service and assistance with this. He personally called me several times while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do offering advice. After being stationed away from home for so many years, I’m finally home for awhile and just starting in the PCP venture this year. While I have an FT rig to finish setting up, I also wanted to be able to begin competing in Benchrest. After researching all of the choices over the last few years, I thought I was going to end up with an Impact or Redwolf, but after FX released the Panthera, I knew this was the one I wanted to try. The precision rifle look is what got me. While it is designed for the PRS, I believe it will do just fine in the benchrest.

The next thing was to decide on the 500 or 600. I'm still learning about all this stuff myself, but this is how I looked at it between the 500 and 600. According to the FX website the:

500 has a plenum size of 62cc + 300cc bottle = 362cc of air @ 56 shots with a 25.39 gr pellet at 880 fps.
600 has a plenum size of 156cc + 300cc bottle = 456cc of air @ 60 shots with 26 gr hybrid slug at 900 fps

Now my plan is to shoot pellets with this in bench rest. From what I've read and listened to folks talk about slugs is that it takes more air to push them. If that is indeed the case and I can get 60 slug shots (+or-), I should be able to in theory get several more shots with pellets. Also, 600 has more combined air capacity over the 500, which again in theory should equal more shots. I could be way off in left field with my thinking of how this works, but that was my thought process.

I don't need a 100+ shot count, just high enough to hopefully get through a bench rest match plus sighters. If not, I'll top off with air. The main objective is as long as I can do my part, is to be able to have a gun that can hit a nat's a$$ every time at 50 and 100 yds.. LOL..

First impression is holy smokes this is an awesome rifle!! I’ve only ever seen one other FX gun in person. Video doesn’t do justice to the quality. My Red Wolf is the same level of quality as well and I’m sure there are others, but this is what I have to judge by. The 600 is the perfect length I was looking for. It’s hard to tell in videos just how big or small a rifle really is.

Also is a pic of the shot string Tom did just before sending it out. Remember I had the pellet liner installed, so from what I’ve read and seen, that fps is on the high side of where I probably need to be with a pellet. This is how it came, so we will start there and then work our tune down. This is all a new learning experience for me. You think you know from reading and watching, but in my experience, hands on is the best teaching method for me.

Unfortunately I don’t have a chronograph yet for tuning and testing. I’m also trying to decide on a scope for it. So far my top 3 choices are Kahles, Sightron S8, and Valdada. I have a Kahles 1050i FT that I may mount just to get a few shots off this weekend. I’m also looking at a bipod, and the GRS has my interest at the moment. I’ll post more as I get to start tuning and testing. Should be interesting setting the this up for primarily pellets.

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I absolutely LOVE your idea. Seems so simple, yet you're the first I've seen with pellet intentions from a Panthera. Some of the biggest airgun comps are pellet only......Your plan aligns 100% with my perspective of what an airgun is.

Please keep us updated on the Pellet Panthera.

(she'll get over it :D)
 
Looks like she can hardly contain herself with the joy of your purchase.
Yep. She was like that is your 5th gun since Apr. I suppose now your going to want to buy a $3000 scope as well. Can this be your last purchase for awhile, I said sure, as soon as I get the $3000 scope you know I need for it!! LOL
 
I absolutely LOVE your idea. Seems so simple, yet you're the first I've seen with pellet intentions from a Panthera. Some of the biggest airgun comps are pellet only......Your plan aligns 100% with my perspective of what an airgun is.

Please keep us updated on the Pellet Panthera.

(she'll get over it :D)
Thank you. Have enjoyed learning from you and several others on here over the last several years while I was overseas. It is an expensive idea for sure, lol, but it's cheaper than putting a $10k IMAC airplane in the air and hoping you get it down in one piece. I do plan to share everything I do and find with this, whether it is good, bad, or ugly. I'm sure I will have questions along the way and will need advice for tuning. Just have to get a chrony. Trying to hold out for the new FX one.

Keith
 
Yep. She was like that is your 5th gun since Apr. I suppose now your going to want to buy a $3000 scope as well. Can this be your last purchase for awhile, I said sure, as soon as I get the $3000 scope you know I need for it!! LOL
I'm shocked, most "significant others" are thrilled with our airgun addiction.;)
 
Was invited to go shooting this morning, so was pretty excited to get to see what gun was like. Unfortunately my air tank only had enough air to fill to 240 bar, so I didn’t even bother with trying a shot count, which was fine. I just really wanted to just shoot and get know the gun a little, get the reg working. Only my second time shooting a PCP.

I took my Sightron FT scope off another gun just to use today. Even with HIGH rings on, the 60mm bell was just touching ever so slightly on the shroud. I would recommend not going over a 56mm, which is my plan now. I set this up at the field, so the setup was not perfect by no means, but it was good enough to get some shots off. Didn’t clean the barrel either as I didn’t have that size pull through, so this was literally taken from the case and shot. I used the FX 33.95 grain only today. Total shots was 137. The regulator is set just over 120 bar as the pic shows and I initially left the hammer spring adjustment at 23.

First shots, holy couldn’t figure out where it was hitting, but where ever it was hitting, it was doing so like a cannon. It was hitting extremely hard, but the gun itself was pretty quiet. After about 3 magazines, 16 shots each, we had it dialed in for the most part. Was only shooting out to 40 yds, but there was quite a bit of wind today.

After a few more magazines of playing around, one of the guys brought out his FX chrony so we could see what the speed was. 970 fps!! Way too hot. I wanted to try and get it down in low to mid 880 range, so I turned the hammer adjustment down to 13 and started there. That put it in the 750ish range. From there I went up to 14, 15, etc. doing about 3 shots at each stop. From what I can tell, each full number equates to around 25fps. After going back up to 23 and seeing what the fps’s were I ended up at 17.5 on the hammer wheel which for 3 shots was 886, 886, and 884. I left it there. After several bad to decent groups just feeling the gun out and getting the speed where I hear folks say you want to be around, I loaded up one last 16 round magazine. Mind you, I was only shooting at 40yds, it was putting pellet on top of pellet. All 16 through one jagged hole. So much fun this gun is to shoot. Not a big deal to most I know at that yardage, but it was pretty awesome to me, since I have almost no time shooting these.

The 600 with the pellet liner is going to be a great benchrest gun. Just need to decide on a scope, and continue shooting and tuning. If anyone has any recommendations on where I should go with the reg to be able to get the hammer adjustment lower, but keep the speed up where it is, please let me know.

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Was invited to go shooting this morning, so was pretty excited to get to see what gun was like. Unfortunately my air tank only had enough air to fill to 240 bar, so I didn’t even bother with trying a shot count, which was fine. I just really wanted to just shoot and get know the gun a little, get the reg working. Only my second time shooting a PCP.

I took my Sightron FT scope off another gun just to use today. Even with HIGH rings on, the 60mm bell was just touching ever so slightly on the shroud. I would recommend not going over a 56mm, which is my plan now. I set this up at the field, so the setup was not perfect by no means, but it was good enough to get some shots off. Didn’t clean the barrel either as I didn’t have that size pull through, so this was literally taken from the case and shot. I used the FX 33.95 grain only today. Total shots was 137. The regulator is set just over 120 bar as the pic shows and I initially left the hammer spring adjustment at 23.

First shots, holy couldn’t figure out where it was hitting, but where ever it was hitting, it was doing so like a cannon. It was hitting extremely hard, but the gun itself was pretty quiet. After about 3 magazines, 16 shots each, we had it dialed in for the most part. Was only shooting out to 40 yds, but there was quite a bit of wind today.

After a few more magazines of playing around, one of the guys brought out his FX chrony so we could see what the speed was. 970 fps!! Way too hot. I wanted to try and get it down in low to mid 880 range, so I turned the hammer adjustment down to 13 and started there. That put it in the 750ish range. From there I went up to 14, 15, etc. doing about 3 shots at each stop. From what I can tell, each full number equates to around 25fps. After going back up to 23 and seeing what the fps’s were I ended up at 17.5 on the hammer wheel which for 3 shots was 886, 886, and 884. I left it there. After several bad to decent groups just feeling the gun out and getting the speed where I hear folks say you want to be around, I loaded up one last 16 round magazine. Mind you, I was only shooting at 40yds, it was putting pellet on top of pellet. All 16 through one jagged hole. So much fun this gun is to shoot. Not a big deal to most I know at that yardage, but it was pretty awesome to me, since I have almost no time shooting these.

The 600 with the pellet liner is going to be a great benchrest gun. Just need to decide on a scope, and continue shooting and tuning. If anyone has any recommendations on where I should go with the reg to be able to get the hammer adjustment lower, but keep the speed up where it is, please let me know.
I have the .25 Panther 600mm, it came with the Superior Heavy (and CF tube support). I removed that and installed a Superior (1:24) and shot the .25 Heavy Mk2 at about 905 fps. Reg pressure 100 bar, Micro at about 2, Macro at about 23. I just wanted to see how it was with pellets before I re-installed the Superior Heavy and tuned it for slugs. It was very accurate at 50 and 100 yards, not quite as accurate as my .25 Red Wolf HP that I shot at EBR, but very good, nonetheless. With the pellet tune I got 3 full 16shot mags (48 shots) from 250 to 110 bar with OEM bottle. If I were to make it into a bench gun (I'm not), I'd install a front bottle.
 
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I have the .25 Panther 600mm, it came with the Superior Heavy (and CF tube support). I removed that and installed a Superior (1:24) and shot the .25 Heavy Mk2 at about 905 fps. Reg pressure 100 bar, Micro at about 2, Macro at about 23. I just wanted to see how it was with pellets before I re-installed the Superior Heavy and tuned it for slugs. It was very accurate at 50 and 100 yards, not quite as accurate as my .25 Red Wolf HP that I shot at EBR, but very good, nonetheless. With the pellet tune I got 3 full 16shot mags (48 shots) from 250 to 110 bar with OEM bottle. If I were to make it into a bench gun (I'm not), I'd install a front bottle.
That’s great to hear! I can’t wait to really get into it and see what kind of accuracy and efficiency I can get out of it. Not a bad shot count. Hopefully I can work 55-60 shots and I’ll be extremely happy. I’m going to make note of your tune to see if it replicates to my gun.

I have the Red Wolf in .177 in a PRS chassis I’m setting up for FT. Haven’t shot it yet as I’m getting some furniture built for it first. I’m thinking I would like to have it in .25 as well as an another bench rest option. Would you recommend the standard or HP option even though you have the HP? If I’m only shooting 850-890 with pellets, is the HP even needed?

Keith
 
That's an awesome setup! How do you like the Valdada Anvil bipod? I have several Atlas bipods, but I mat have to pick one of those up.
I haven’t got to shoot with it yet, but it is sure nice!! Weighs about 4 lb, but you talk about keeping the front end stable. As I set up the scope, the weight of it just made it so easy to hold perfectly still. It’s a little pricey, but so worth it as far as I can tell.

Keith