I replaced a standard 22 liner from a factory compact Wildcat barrel kit with a heavy liner. I had previously done this with a .30 and it was a breeze. However, when I pulled out the original .22 liner, it came out with several pieces of oring(s). The orings around the liner that contact the outer barrel tube were intact and it was clear that the oring pieces were of smaller diameter. Looking at the schematic, I noticed that the 22 (but not the 30) has orings supporting the liner in the jam nut and the piece between the TP and the main barrel tube. The pieces had come from the TP end and I had pulled the liner out with the jam nut attached. I then gently pulled off the jam nut and more pieces fell out from there.
Naturally, I ordered some new orings, lubed them up and attempted to install the new heavy liner. It took 4 attempts just to push in the liner to both the TP end piece and jam nut without breaking one. That was without trying to screw anything into the connecting tube, which surely would introduce more stress. Even when I got the 3 pieces together, I found that the liner could wiggle and change angle in the TP attachment or jam nut. As someone mentioned earlier, I ended up with little confidence in using those orings and instead wrapped the ends of the liner with Teflon tape to get a tight fit into both pieces. I did however use one oring at the end of the jam nut to act as a buffer when the nut is tightened to avoid compressing the liner. The resulting gun is doing very well with this hack. It also got a CF sleeve bonded to the liner.
This experience leaves me with a number of questions:
1. Why are FX using those orings in the 22 but not the 30 (no idea about the 25)? Maybe lack of space in the 30?, but, if the 30 works just fine without them, why are they in the 22?
2. How many 22 barrels come off the production line with those 1mm orings intact after twisting the parts together?
3. How do those 1mm orings hold up when slugs are shot at up to 75fpe.
4. Even when intact do those orings prevent the liner from moving off axis during a shot.
5. Whats the point of having a CF liner sleeve replacing orings around the liner if there are other orings allowing movement at the ends of the liner?
I guess overall, while these liners seem to be capable of shooting both pellets and slugs really well, there’s an awful lot of moving parts and different materials that need to jive. Which has the most orings - a 22 FX barrel kit or two whole Marauders?