I have a Dreamlite and want to upgrade. I was looking at the M4 but am moving away from it to a Crown. BUT, am I really upgrading in power and accuracy? I bench shoot only and my Dreamlite is super accurate to 50 plus yards. I want to shoot at 75 to 100 so want more power than the dreamlite offers. It looks to me as if the Crown is only minimally any more powerful than the Dreamlite. So the question is whether the Crown is a reasonable upgrade for my purposes? I am only interested in FX guns and do not want to customize one.
FX Is Fx Crown a worthwhile upgrade from a Dream Lite?
- Thread starter PennyPincher
- Start date
Yes, it is a very reasonable upgrade from the Dreamlite.
In .22, I prefer the Superior 700mm barrel(in the Saber Tactical chassis, if it's in your budget. If not now, you can buy it separate later for future upgrade) for strictly bench shooting. The latest version Crown(MK2) has a bit larger plenum that the older MK1 and will comfortably shoot JSB Monster RDs or Knockout MK2 slugs about 940 fps using the Superior 700mm barrel. Either of those gives consistently accurate and precise groups out at 50 and 100 yards. The JSB KO MK2 continue to group well out to 200 yards.
In .22, I prefer the Superior 700mm barrel(in the Saber Tactical chassis, if it's in your budget. If not now, you can buy it separate later for future upgrade) for strictly bench shooting. The latest version Crown(MK2) has a bit larger plenum that the older MK1 and will comfortably shoot JSB Monster RDs or Knockout MK2 slugs about 940 fps using the Superior 700mm barrel. Either of those gives consistently accurate and precise groups out at 50 and 100 yards. The JSB KO MK2 continue to group well out to 200 yards.
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I am not super familiar with the dream lite but the crown is by no means a powerhouse so it’s hard to say. I think the dynamic block is a significant improvement over the crown. Not sure I would personally spend the coin on a crown at this point. Especially when you get up into the price point of any type of wood stock. Just my opinion.
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I like the FX dreamline's for the grand kids because they are so lite. Each airgun has it's purpose. I would not get a crown either. Probably go with the M3 because you can do so much with it. It will shoot anything very well.
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No.,only more power if longer and heavier. A dreamline can do about the same power with a power plenum. That GRS stock dreamline un the classifieds is a deal at 1100 if you want prettier and a bit more power. You want a wildcat mk3 bottle, maverick or impact if wanting more power for less cost than new toys from FX.
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I currently own 3 FX rifles - including a Crown Mk2 and a Dreamline.
I only shoot pellets. I offer no advice regarding slug shooting.
FX rifles all use the same barrels (multi-part with rifling pressed into thin liner) and the same trigger (single lever Pac-Man with fake 2nd stage on ball detent). The FX rifles all shoot pellets extremely well and barrel system was designed/ optimized for JSB soft lead pellets.
With the new Impact M4, FX has added an additional lever to improve their trigger design).
Your objective, as I understand it, is an upgrade in power to enable benchrest shooting from 75 to 100 yards.
Here is my advice/opinion - from someone who mostly benchrest shoots and has participated in 100 yard competitions.
I have been able to achieve amazingly consistent accuracy with pellets out to 80 yards. Beyond 80, the wind becomes a huge factor.
Most 100 yard competition shooters opt for .30 caliber to “buck the wind”.
JSB/FX .30 cal pellets (150 count per tin) cost twice as much to shoot as .25 caliber (350 count 25.4g and 300 count 34g)
I don’t own an FX Impact (especially the two regulator models) because I work on and maintain my own rifles and I don’t believe that a rifle requires that level of complexity (and points of failure - o-rings) to shoot pellets accurately.
I find the Dreamline to be the smoothest cocking/operating of all FX rifles I’ve tried/owned. The Crown has a much longer pellet probe and is just grittier cocking - despite me polishing it up.
I like bottle rifles for bench shooting because of the high shot count.
So, where does this lead…
I’d recommend you get an FX Power Pup in .25 cal shooting the 34g pellets as your entry into 75-100 benchrest. Why:
You are only interested in FX.
PowerPup is simpler rifle that makes huge power for pellets with its 80cc plenum (bigger than M3 plenum). It has a single regulator and modest (for FX) o-ring count.
Power Pup is a bottle gun - nice shot count for benchrest.
Power Pup is a variant of FX’s Dreamline platform.
Power Pup trigger does not use ball on spring fake 2nd stage (for some reason FX didn’t use it on PP) - and I’ve actually got it breaking consistently as a two-stage at 4 ounces.
.25 cal 34g (and 25.4g) has given me great results at 75-100 - at half the cost of .30 cal pellets. The .25 caliber is also more air efficient than .30 caliber.
Power Pup is very lightweight and much nicer form factor (short bullpup) than regular Dreamline and Crown - which get super long with 600-700mm barrels with moderators.
Power Pup is more modest cost. Dreamline barrel kits are less costly than other FX rifles. So you can repurpose your Power Pup to a smaller caliber - perhaps for your grandkids - if you decide to “upgrade” again in the future.
I am currently using a 600mm .22 barrel on my Power Pup and its super nice length. The Power Pup comes in 500mm and 700mm. I’d get the 500mm and decide if you need longer. Mine came with 500mm .25 barrel and it shoots great with that setup - and gets a good shot count. Longer barrels will improve your shot count by being more efficient with air required to achieve target velocity.
Caliber swaps are super easy on Dreamline platform.
The more recent FX rifles (Dynamic block) seem to be designed with slug shooting in mind. I’ve heard from multiple friends that owned them that they can be a bit of a challenge to tune down for pellets. I only offer this 2nd hand as I’ve not owned a dynamic block FX myself.
I hope my experience helps you decision process .
-Ed
I only shoot pellets. I offer no advice regarding slug shooting.
FX rifles all use the same barrels (multi-part with rifling pressed into thin liner) and the same trigger (single lever Pac-Man with fake 2nd stage on ball detent). The FX rifles all shoot pellets extremely well and barrel system was designed/ optimized for JSB soft lead pellets.
With the new Impact M4, FX has added an additional lever to improve their trigger design).
Your objective, as I understand it, is an upgrade in power to enable benchrest shooting from 75 to 100 yards.
Here is my advice/opinion - from someone who mostly benchrest shoots and has participated in 100 yard competitions.
I have been able to achieve amazingly consistent accuracy with pellets out to 80 yards. Beyond 80, the wind becomes a huge factor.
Most 100 yard competition shooters opt for .30 caliber to “buck the wind”.
JSB/FX .30 cal pellets (150 count per tin) cost twice as much to shoot as .25 caliber (350 count 25.4g and 300 count 34g)
I don’t own an FX Impact (especially the two regulator models) because I work on and maintain my own rifles and I don’t believe that a rifle requires that level of complexity (and points of failure - o-rings) to shoot pellets accurately.
I find the Dreamline to be the smoothest cocking/operating of all FX rifles I’ve tried/owned. The Crown has a much longer pellet probe and is just grittier cocking - despite me polishing it up.
I like bottle rifles for bench shooting because of the high shot count.
So, where does this lead…
I’d recommend you get an FX Power Pup in .25 cal shooting the 34g pellets as your entry into 75-100 benchrest. Why:
You are only interested in FX.
PowerPup is simpler rifle that makes huge power for pellets with its 80cc plenum (bigger than M3 plenum). It has a single regulator and modest (for FX) o-ring count.
Power Pup is a bottle gun - nice shot count for benchrest.
Power Pup is a variant of FX’s Dreamline platform.
Power Pup trigger does not use ball on spring fake 2nd stage (for some reason FX didn’t use it on PP) - and I’ve actually got it breaking consistently as a two-stage at 4 ounces.
.25 cal 34g (and 25.4g) has given me great results at 75-100 - at half the cost of .30 cal pellets. The .25 caliber is also more air efficient than .30 caliber.
Power Pup is very lightweight and much nicer form factor (short bullpup) than regular Dreamline and Crown - which get super long with 600-700mm barrels with moderators.
Power Pup is more modest cost. Dreamline barrel kits are less costly than other FX rifles. So you can repurpose your Power Pup to a smaller caliber - perhaps for your grandkids - if you decide to “upgrade” again in the future.
I am currently using a 600mm .22 barrel on my Power Pup and its super nice length. The Power Pup comes in 500mm and 700mm. I’d get the 500mm and decide if you need longer. Mine came with 500mm .25 barrel and it shoots great with that setup - and gets a good shot count. Longer barrels will improve your shot count by being more efficient with air required to achieve target velocity.
Caliber swaps are super easy on Dreamline platform.
The more recent FX rifles (Dynamic block) seem to be designed with slug shooting in mind. I’ve heard from multiple friends that owned them that they can be a bit of a challenge to tune down for pellets. I only offer this 2nd hand as I’ve not owned a dynamic block FX myself.
I hope my experience helps you decision process .
-Ed
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being a hunter only, i prefer my crown compact mk2 over any dreamline product.
i've had them and used them and also sold them. they were good guns but when it comes to
consistent accuracy, the crown has a much better barrel to block connection which contributes
to its better performance while being a lite weight hunter.... my opinion.
i've had them and used them and also sold them. they were good guns but when it comes to
consistent accuracy, the crown has a much better barrel to block connection which contributes
to its better performance while being a lite weight hunter.... my opinion.
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You will have MORE than enough power with the Crown and a 600 or 700mm barrel. Here is some actual data(I only had time to shoot 1 target this morning before it started raining) for your(and others')consideration:
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It finally stopped raining, so I shot a few more targets, another one with slugs and 2 more with pellets. The Dreamlines I've had in the past could compete with the Crown at 50 yds, but never approached these kinds of results at 100 and beyond:
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Thank you EPG and Ghostranger169 and others. EPG hit on why I am not going with a Impact, in mentioning the number of O rings. I read that it has 68 o rings in a M4. I this week saw two recent U tube videos by Matt Dobber, at least I thiink is the correct last name. He has many videos and seems to know what he is talking about. He is a FX guy amd a big advocate for the M4, BUT, in the last two videos I saw he cautions that the number of O rings in the M4 will result in more maint. and down time. It appears that if they leak actually finding the leak is sometimes very difficult. Ghostranger169, thank you for the targets. They are very informative for me. I am leaning more and more toward the Crown, but, not quite there yet.
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FX needs to do a redesign on the Crown. Needs plenum options. I’ll buy one if they ever do that.
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Redesign, why? It shoots well enough as it is. FX will only increase its complexity just to satisfy the power hungry folks that will only get a few more FPS out of it.
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Larger plenum options will not only allow more power (with slugs) but also allow shooting lower weight projectiles (pellets) at a lower regulator setting which will allow access to more of your tank fill. (more shots per fill).
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I have a Dream Tac and a Mk2 Crown, both in .25. With the Dream Tac, it only has the power to push 25.4g JSBs to 895fps. With the Mk2 Crown, I'm pushing the limit with 33.95 JSB heavies at 890-895fps. The Crown is a great bench rifle at 50 yards, but it doesn't have the power to push heavier slugs for 75-100 yards.
Wanting more power capability, I just picked up a 700mm .25 Panthera from Utah during their Labor Day sale.
Wanting more power capability, I just picked up a 700mm .25 Panthera from Utah during their Labor Day sale.
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