HELP: FX Wildcat MK1 has lost its accuracy

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gamecock1987

gamecock1987

Member
Mar 14, 2019
10
0
Georgia
Relative newbie here so please be patient with my story. I bought an FX Wildcat Mk1 .25 cal from a member here and mounted a Sightmark Wraith digital scope on the upgraded Picatinny scope rail. For several months I was successful ear-holing squirrels, chipmunks, and flying squirrels in my backyards at distances as far as 30 yards. My typical shot from a bedroom window is 15 yards with me sitting in a chair with the bipod resting on the window sill. 

1572030407_12816593195db347c738faf5.89984611_IMG_0177.jpg
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One day while attempting to sit my rig back on the carpet it tipped over on the carpet (not on the hardwood pictured). I had rested one of the legs of the bipod on the carpet but the other leg wasn't down all the way and the rig tipped over. I didn't think this was any more stress than field carry bumps. The next time I used it, the reticle in the scope appeared to have dropped in the sight picture. Sightmark was great and and sent me another. When I went to zero the new scope, the shot lands 18 inches below the target at 15 yards and is too far off to zero for this optic. I assumed it was defective and had Sightmark send me another. Today it also shoots 18-24 inches low. I now don't believe the problem is the scope since I am on my third scope. The scope rail looks fine, nothing bent, the two screws tight. It shoots the same with the moderator on or off the barrel. Gun is holding pressure fine. It shoots low whether I shoot JSB King Heavy 33.95's or regular 25.39 JSB Kings. The carpet tip over may be unrelated but did occur around the time everything went haywire. What is wrong with my once deadly accurate Wildcat?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Couple things to check. Could the scope rail be loose, or have moved? Doesn't look stock to me, or at least not like the ones I've had. A little further down, could the center support structure have moved? To me, neither would explain that much vertical drop at that short distance but worth checking.

Shroud, moderator adapter, moderator all tight?

Do you have, or have access to, a chony? 

Just tossing stuff out 
 
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If you already replace the scope 3 times then cant be the scope. Shoot over a chrony and see if you get constant speed. If you get constant speed then must be a bent barrel when you dropped it. Doesnt have to be bent to the naked eye, the smallest bent in the barrel will lead to change in poi down range.
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I agree that it cant be the scope. I don't have a chrony but could reach out to one of the local club members that shoots competitively and have him clock the shots. Could the barrel have bent from such a light tip over of less than 12 inches on carpet? The scope touched down on the carpet so I suspected the scope initially.

Couple things to check. Could the scope rail be loose, or have moved? Doesn't look stock to me, or at least not like the ones I've had. A little further down, could the center support structure have moved? To me, neither would explain that much vertical drop at that short distance but worth checking.

Shroud, moderator adapter, moderator all tight?

Do you have, or have access to, a chony? 

Just tossing stuff out
Click to expand...

The scope rail is not stock. It is similar to this one from Utah airguns. Allows me to store three mags:



Scope rail click here
 
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Which side of the rifle did it fall on? If it fell on the right side, was the cocking latch open at the same time of the fall? Make sure and reply to this question.

Another possibility- If the two barrel hold down screws were loose to begin with, the fall could’ve disrupted the barrel. Those two screws are under the cheek rest. One large one that uses a 4mm and the smaller one uses a 3mm allen.

Lastly, and I’m asking this cause I don’t know the severity of the fall- open up that moderator and check to make sure nothing got disrupted inside.

when you get it all fixed, contact Pappy Yosh here by PM and get one of his barrel shroud clamps from him, made for the wildcat. It’ll minimize any future barrel disruptions.
 
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One more- take the stock off, and sight done from the rear of the block down your scope rail. If the fall caused a misalignment with the air tubes center you’ll be off in accuracy. It’s possible that the four screws on the bottom, underneath the air tube, that are on the air tubes clamps were loose, and a fall could cause a twist from everything being centered with each other. 
 
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Which side of the rifle did it fall on? If it fell on the right side, was the cocking latch open at the same time of the fall? Make sure and reply to this question.

Another possibility- If the two barrel hold down screws were loose to begin with, the fall could’ve disrupted the barrel. Those two screws are under the cheek rest. One large one that uses a 4mm and the smaller one uses a 3mm allen.

Lastly, and I’m asking this cause I don’t know the severity of the fall- open up that moderator and check to make sure nothing got disrupted inside.

when you get it all fixed, contact Pappy Yosh here by PM and get one of his barrel shroud clamps from him, made for the wildcat. It’ll minimize any future barrel disruptions.
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It tipped on its left side, opposite the cocking lever.

I shot it with the moderator off and it still shoots "too low to zero the scope" so I thought that would eliminate the moderator as a culprit. Not sure I can disassemble the moderator but will try. 

As far as the severity of the fall, imagine pushing it over while resting on its bipod on carpet. I wouldn't make a habit of tipping it, for sure, but surprised that damaged the gun. However the scope weighs three pounds so a 12 inch tip over on carpet may have torqued something out of place?

I will attempt to examine the hold down screws. Not sure if I will be able to recognize something amiss.

One more- take the stock off, and sight done from the rear of the block down your scope rail. If the fall caused a misalignment with the air tubes center you’ll be off in accuracy. It’s possible that the four screws on the bottom, underneath the air tube, that are on the air tubes clamps were loose, and a fall could cause a twist from everything being centered with each other.
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If I am uncomfortable doing this or cannot recognize and out of alignment situation, who can service the rifle for me? The squirrels are waiting. Thank you for your advice so far. This is an excellent community.
 
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Is it possible to put a shim under rearscope mount? Can't tell from the picture but doesn't look like you have standard ring mount system. Could the shroud have rotated during the fall? Do shroud & air reservoir contact each other? Just throwing stuff out there for thought.
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The Wraith uses a QD mount that attaches to the bottom of the scope body with two screws
 
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I can't imagine that soft of a "tip over" causing accuracy issues such as this. I have a wildcat also and use it primarily for hunting so it has been knocked around here and there with no issues at all. It has bumped trees and been shaken many miles in a soft case as I fly around on bumpy dirt roads in Kansas. I will certainly be watching this post in the hopes you figure it out. Good Luck, I hope it's something simple.
 
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I can't imagine that soft of a "tip over" causing accuracy issues such as this. I have a wildcat also and use it primarily for hunting so it has been knocked around here and there with no issues at all. It has bumped trees and been shaken many miles in a soft case as I fly around on bumpy dirt roads in Kansas. I will certainly be watching this post in the hopes you figure it out. Good Luck, I hope it's something simple.
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I agree. I would never abuse it and really try to be gentle with it. It lives in my spare bedroom that has a view of the backyard. I could understand if it fell from a standing position or out the second story window. A three pound scope can cause magnified torque but still.
 
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A couple of thoughts.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a scope issue. If you have a known good scope on another rifle, try it as a control sample. I have had a rash of failed components and replacements in auto and other hobbies. It's not common but it does happen.

The groups are low but are they still small? Shoot some groups. If the group size has grown it could indicate any of a number of issues. If the group is still as small as before then this issue is one of alignment between the reticle and the barrel. Many may not believe it but a bent barrel rarely affects accuracy, just placement.

These were VERY competitive pistols.

1572047690_20080070505db38b4a370f69.14441572_FWB Pistol with bent barrel.jpg

 
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Bob, I know about his scope rail, as I have one. By the way, GameCaulk(I purposely adjusted your forum name, lol) that scope rail is made by the one and only Jefferson State Air rifles. Consider yourself an elite with that scope rail, because rumor is, the batch they made up, once they’re gone, they’re gone. I hope to be wrong in this, and that JSAR is just tied up their machines with the making of the Raptor.

Anyway, sorry to divert- that scope rail is built very stout. If you’ve gone thru different scopes, then recheck the scope rail to gun screws. There are two of them, one at each end of the scope rail. The way it mounts is the rail is slid in, then the screws tightened. I like to tighten those up to 32 inch lbs myself. Check those for sure, and your scope mounts to rail connection. 18-22 inch lbs. give or take.

What I said earlier about taking your stock off- two screws is all, 3mm allen and you’ll see them around the trigger and at the rear. Take those off, and carefully remove the action from the stock. Lay your gun down on a towel, right side up. Look directly at the air pressure tube, under the barrel. You will see two sets of clamps as part of the gun that clamp around that air tube, and each clamp has two 3mm Allen bolts. If those were loose in any way, a fall could have twisted the barrel out of center or in-line with the air tube. By design it will never be off by a lot, but enough to cause shots to left or right, and down. 

Put your 3mm allen on the bolts, tighten, and you should hear a pop. If you tighten and it won’t pop, don’t force it. You will know if it’s good and tight. But before doing that, hold up the rifle, upside down, and point it at a white wall, and sight down from the rear of the block. There is a round pillar that you’ll see that the rod connected to your trigger passes thru. That pillar is also where the stock screws back onto when you replace the stock. Anyway, that pillar is fixed dead center on the block of the gun. Sight down that thing and see if the flanges of those air tube clamps are in line and centered with that pillar. If not, then there’s your problem.



lay the gun back down, and lightly loosen those four bolts. Taking care not to slide the clamps forward or backwards on the air tube(you’ll really have problems then). As a precaution, scribe a pencil mark against one of those clamps and onto the air tube as a reference mark so when you do tighten up those bolts the air tube clamps stay put where they were originally. If you don’t have a sharp point mechanical pencil to mark up a nice and tight reference mark, put a piece of masking tape against the clamp onto the air tube, that’ll give you the same reference point. It’s not hard, YOU CAN DOOOO EEEETTT!!

if it happens to be that all that I’ve explained, that means the previous owner had that gun disassembled and did not retighten up those four bolts. What I’m saying is, that little fall onto the carpet should it happen again will never cause that to shift if those bolts are properly tightened.

by the way, when tightening those four bolts, do one to somewhat tight, go to the othe clamp, do one somewhat tight, go back to the other clamp and the second bolt and do that somewhat tight, etc, etc. sort of like tightening up your cars lug nuts. Little bit there, little bit here, till all are solid tight.
 
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My some dropped a Hatsan like this. Same thing happened.

It was a bent moderator, clipping.
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I removed the moderator and test fired it. Its still within 2" of the group with the moderator. I may try to borrow a scope from a neighbor and repeat.



Thanks for the help bigragu. I really appreciate it.

My username is my college mascot:

Cockfighting

I removed the stock. It was stubborn coming off, it appears to have a caulk or glue from the factory. I removed the screws, tugged on it and it went "crack" and came off. Could this be a factory seal meaning it has not been removed before?



I sighted down the pillar and through the clamps and all appears in alignment. The bolts were tight.

If I am at a dead end, whom do you recommend to have my gun checked and re calibrated? Another scope rail is $130 and it wont be a JSAR. Don't want to buy that unless I am sure that is the problem. I know shipping and service will be expensive but the gun isn't much use to me as it is.

Thanks again all.
 
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