FX Wildcat MKIII Compact .22 - Brand new leaking air...

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hgg2k

hgg2k

Member
Apr 29, 2021
157
80
Greece
Hi,

I have already posted another topic in which I was surprised to receive the FX Wildcat completely empty of air.

I've managed to set up the compressor and filled the air chamber to 230bar. 2 hours later it was showing 220bar
and after 24 hours it was down to 200bar. I put a balloon on the barrel, left it for an hour and I found the ballon
slightly inflated. It leaks air from the barrel at least! I thought that there might be a problem with the valve and
so I tried shooting the first magazine to see what happens. After that I refilled and this time the leak was much
slower but its still there! 5bar per day.

I find it completely unacceptable for a brand new and so expensive air rifle! No respect for FX. Hype...
Quality control is a joke in my opinion. Very disappointing.

Anyway, I tried another magazine to see if I find any discrepancy in the FPS and here are the results:

Results 16-05-2021.1621146592.jpg


The first two shots were way slower than the rest. I don't know why. First shot on the second magazine
low as well. Even without the first two shots the standard deviation is 28 which is horrendous. 
The HW97K is having this FX for breakfast...
The grouping was not that bad at 25 yards because I was using a cheap Gamo scope with no parallax adj.
I expect much better results when the new optics arrive. (The group is in the red oval, the rest were from
the second magazine when I tried to see if it will do the same again with the lower FPS.)

So what do you think? Does it need a break-in period or shall I send it back for repair anyway?

Thanks.


 
Not sure what you paid for it, Does not really matter its a new gun, Send it back and get it fixed or a new one, This is not acceptable from a new gun, I have never had any problems with any of my guns in 10 years, But I have never owned an FX gun. I do hope they get there quality control fixed the Impact is looking better to me.

Mike
 
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@airgunmike $1580...

@Pistonjohn Indeed there are a lot other cases. I guess when buying something new you should always search for problems first and then for reviews. Youtube is full of FX shills.

Despite the FX lame quality control and my disappointment, the wildcat has two very nice aspects. 
First it is extremely well balanced and second it must be the quietest .22 cal @ 890fps around. 
66db @ 1 meter without any kind of moderator. The target was way louder and it had a cloth inside as well.
 
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Were it me I would just shoot it for a bit to see if the leak completely stops as you said it is less now after a little bit of shooting. Give the gun a few hundred rounds to break in before you condemn it further. It may just surprise you.

Sometimes a gun may arrive tuned to perfection other times it is not quite there. It really does not look that far off to me. You have an adjustable reg and a hammer spring adjuster so tune it to the pellet you are using and at the atmospheric conditions you are now in which may be completely different than the conditions it was tuned for where it came from.

1st shot could be due the regulator or the tune of the gun. Try a little more hammer spring and see what happens.
 
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With pcp there will always be a leak no matter what. My $2000 impact didn't come leak. But after a month it started to leak. Change out a few o rings i think is the culprit and use silicone grease when installing the o ring back. Haven't leak for a year now. Leaks are due to damage o rings. Just find where it's coming from and change the o ring. Shipping it back will take months and shipping these airgun aint cheap. So why not fix it yourself? O rings from homedepot is a few cents vs $50-100 shipping. 
 
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@biohazardman I will try your suggestion and work it a bit more to see what happens.

@ImpactX I can replace the o-rings but if these is a case of a damaged grove or a damaged regulator or something
similar, it might be expensive to fix, when now I am covered by the warranty.

The most annoying thing other than the leak is that the dealer saw that the rifle was empty of air
and despite that he sent it to me without even telling me anything. I've emailed some big online
stores in Europe and they told me that when they ship PCPs they *always* check first for leaks
before shipping.
 
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If the balloon you put on the barrel was partly inflated then you know where the leak is. Shooting it may help if not it needs to go back unless you want to tear into the valve. I had a leak pop up on my impact after a teardown or two and found the leak was a loose gauge. Tightened it less than an eigth of a turn to stop the leak. Often it's the simple things.
 
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@biohazardman I will try your suggestion and work it a bit more to see what happens.

@ImpactX I can replace the o-rings but if these is a case of a damaged grove or a damaged regulator or something
similar, it might be expensive to fix, when now I am covered by the warranty.

The most annoying thing other than the leak is that the dealer saw that the rifle was empty of air
and despite that he sent it to me without even telling me anything. I've emailed some big online
stores in Europe and they told me that when they ship PCPs they *always* check first for leaks
before shipping.
Click to expand...

Stop thinking worst case scenario and follow the guidance.
 
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I am sure I can replace and fix any o-ring issues but I am not disassembling the rifle because in case the problem
is mechanical like an out of tolerance CNC job or a faulty regulator, then I will not be able to fix it and I might void the
warranty as well.

I will shoot a couple of hundred pellets and if the problem does not go away, I will have to return it back.
(to the dealer I do not trust anymore...) The thing I do not like and I am not sure if it will get better is the
two first shots that are 40fps slower. You can also see that the FPS curve is not horizontal but it is rising.
Maybe there is also an issue with the regulator. I will keep shooting lead :) and will get back to report my results.

Thanks.
 
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Not sure why a small leak like 5 bars a day someone assume the gun is damaged. Lmao. Like many have said, pcp are bound to leak. It is not the dealers fault. Maybe when they got it, it was holding air. During the time they sent it out it just started leaking. Who knows. My $2k impact was good one day, next morning was empty of air and I didn't freak out calling BS on the dealer and trying make them fix it, even though its still under warranty. I went on YouTube and watch videos on how to tear down my impact and I did the freaking job and I learn how my gun works, how to put it back together, which part goes where, which part does what. I learned so much about my impact just by tearing it down myself. As for the first couple shots to be slower that is normal. My $2k impact does it too. When you let the gun sit for a few hour or over night, the reg will creep some air into the plenum. So when the hammer hits the valve, there is more pressure behind it making it harder to fully open. Thats why u get the slower speed. Just dry fire 2 shots. If a 2k impact does it, why wouldn't a $1300 wild cat do it. Seem like you are making a small leak into something bigger than it really is.
 
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I would have to disagree. PCPs should have absolutely zero leaks. They should hold pressure for months if they are properly manufactured. The only leak allowed is from the barrel when you pull the trigger. Your impact is leaking all over the place and you confirmed my suspicion that FX manufacturing tolerances and QC are pretty bad. I was searching the net for similar issues and it turns out that FX air rifles leaking are very common.

Anyway I will try to find the problem and although this is my first FX air rifle it is also my last.
 
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