I like it. It is heavy though, probably looking at closer to 10 plus pounds with a decent scope. Should be no issues if you're stationary.
Introducing the New FX Panthera: A Dedicated, Purpose-Built Air Rifle Made to Win Precision Rifle Competitions.
- Thread starter FX-USA
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I saw RIck / shooter 1721 got one to play with,,,,,, really a man in his age should not run around climb obstacles to shoot, we should leave that to the young folks.
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One thing that confuses me about the Panther. The hype is that it was made specifically to compete against .22 Rimfire by shooting 40 grain slugs (same as .22 LR) at 1050 fps approx. so that ballistic performance and BC are equivalent.
Yet here we are with many new reviews and all the paid reviewers are shooting 34 grain slugs at just over 1000 fps instead of the 40 grain. Obviously the ballistic performance is good, but we’re still not comparing apples to apples with the 40 grainers.
Is this because with 40s the gun gets way less shots from the 300cc bottle, or is it much smoother and better shooting without stressing the gun so much shooting the 34s?
Inquiring minds want to know?
Dubber had said in one of his RMAC videos that his Impact with 800mm barrel shooting 40 grainers at 1050 fps, he was getting 18 shots from a 580cc bottle… I wonder how many shots the Panther gets shooting 40s at 1050 fps from the stock 300cc bottle at 250 bar? I understand the new valve system is more efficient, but how much more? A 300 bar bottle might be an option, but as anyone that shoots a lot knows, you don’t get many 300 bar fills from a full SCBA tank.
Yet here we are with many new reviews and all the paid reviewers are shooting 34 grain slugs at just over 1000 fps instead of the 40 grain. Obviously the ballistic performance is good, but we’re still not comparing apples to apples with the 40 grainers.
Is this because with 40s the gun gets way less shots from the 300cc bottle, or is it much smoother and better shooting without stressing the gun so much shooting the 34s?
Inquiring minds want to know?
Dubber had said in one of his RMAC videos that his Impact with 800mm barrel shooting 40 grainers at 1050 fps, he was getting 18 shots from a 580cc bottle… I wonder how many shots the Panther gets shooting 40s at 1050 fps from the stock 300cc bottle at 250 bar? I understand the new valve system is more efficient, but how much more? A 300 bar bottle might be an option, but as anyone that shoots a lot knows, you don’t get many 300 bar fills from a full SCBA tank.
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@Centercut
I can’t find length for 40 grain slugs and I assume they are a little longer than the 38 grain NSA which is already a tiny bit too long for the factory 1:16 twist rate. The 38 grain nsa and 40 grain Javlin would need the 1:14 twist rate but FX isn’t shipping that in 700mm liner, plus other factors such as shot count and how violent recoil might be other reasons why they are shooting 34 grain. The BC difference between 34 and 40 grain is about 10% so the juice might not be worth the squeezing by pushing the gun to absolute limit. Only time will tell but I’m sticking to 35 grain NSA myself for now.
I can’t find length for 40 grain slugs and I assume they are a little longer than the 38 grain NSA which is already a tiny bit too long for the factory 1:16 twist rate. The 38 grain nsa and 40 grain Javlin would need the 1:14 twist rate but FX isn’t shipping that in 700mm liner, plus other factors such as shot count and how violent recoil might be other reasons why they are shooting 34 grain. The BC difference between 34 and 40 grain is about 10% so the juice might not be worth the squeezing by pushing the gun to absolute limit. Only time will tell but I’m sticking to 35 grain NSA myself for now.
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Gotcha. I’m sticking with .25 cal NSA 43.5 grain at 950 fps through Slug A liner in my Impact X.
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I had the same thoughts upon the Panthera announcement a couple weeks ago. You arent allowed to ask those questions, as I got piled on by the fan boys lol. But from the few promo videos we can see right now, it looks like the 22 cal version will get about 10-15 rounds out of the teeny tiny bottle. And that will push a 34 grainer at about 1030fps. Even if the Panthera could do a 40 grainer at 1080fps, that is still a far cry from a 22lr when it comes to performance at comps. The BC is still about 60% what a 22lr 40 grainer is. There is a velocity advantage though with the Panthera, as most match 22lr is in the 30fps ES range. FX has left me scratching my head with the bottle choice. It seems they could have used some of the buttpad space for a bigger bottle and gone with a 300Bar fill. Maybe a ~400cc 300Bar vs a 300cc 250Bar? Im sure their new regulator can handle a little extra pressure.
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According to javelin info the BC for 40 grain is 0.137 and 34 grain is 0.117.
Thanks! Both of them definitely need 1:14 twist rate.
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The thing I noticed though is that with the bigger bore you can push a heavier weight as fast as the .22 40gr. When I was playing around with the 30 cal, it fired the 44 grain jsb at 1100 fps.
Allen
Where did you get a twist rate from length? Thanks.
Allen
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Another thing I noticed from a video yesterday...
youtube.com
With 255 bar fill it goes down to 195 bar after 10 shots with a reg pressure of 175 180? I never was able to get that close with bottle presure and reg pressure and still have it shoot good. I think that was a 40 gr tune with 34 gr slugs.
Allen
✂️ 255 bar fill down to 195
21 seconds · Clipped by AFIS · Original video "FX PANTHERA 700mm .22 RAW ACCURACY TEST WITH ZAN SLUGS" by Pursuit of Accuracy
youtube.com With 255 bar fill it goes down to 195 bar after 10 shots with a reg pressure of 175 180? I never was able to get that close with bottle presure and reg pressure and still have it shoot good. I think that was a 40 gr tune with 34 gr slugs.
Allen
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Yes. Significantly more than 10% difference. But my point is all the hoopla emphasizes 40 grain at 1050 so .22 LR performance. Yet the vast majority of paid video show 34 grain which are NOT .22 LR ballistics or BC. And inquiring minds would like to know why?
Also, above one post says the 40 grain slugs are only 60% of the .22LR BC. I’d disagree with that. The .22 LR BC is. between 0.135 and 0.155 depending g on which ammo you shoot. So IF you shot 40 grain slugs at 1050 fps you WOULD be at .22 LR performance and be comparing apples to apples. The .22 LR is still easier to shoot but the 40 grain slug air rifle will have a much better ES.
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online Twist rate calculators, I use this one:
Twist Rate Stability Calculator
Our newly updated Twist Rate Stability Calculator not only tells you what your SG is, but it also lets you know if you are reaching your optimized BC.
bergerbullets.com Surface area formulas of area of an circle(base/bore of the slug) is
A = π x r squared
A for .22 slug is 0.15, A for 0.25 slug is 0.2 square inch. Force is measured in pound per square inch. With reg pressure/tune being 100% identical at 2000 PSI:
35 grain .25 slug will receive 400 pounds of pressure/force
35 grain .22 slug will receive 300 pounds of pressure/force
So with all other variables being equal, the same mass slug in .25 should fly 30% faster than .22 slug.
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Great question and my guess is the 1:16 twist is not enough and/or it doesn’t have the tungsten hammer to push the 40 grain slugs at 1050fps. Just my speculation.
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This is my issue with this rifle also.
A 14in min length of pull is not good for most people. I’m 6’2” and it’s too much for me for positional shooting.
I was really looking at getting one of these but nope.
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Well it supose to have a different valve setup so dunno if the hammer is heavy enough from factory but if it is made to compete it should be able to push the same weight slug out of a stock panthera, right?
Allen
Allen
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For the 700mm version the tungsten hammer should be standard and very likely will but we will see. But for a gun specially made to shoot the 40 grain slugs (700mm) the 1:16 twist rate according to the spec is rather disappointing. Hope they have the 1:14 liner in 700mm one of these days soon but it should be standard the day it ships.
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