Maverick problem

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Chukar60

Member
Mar 15, 2022
1,442
2,153
Idaho, United States
I had left my Maverick 22 Sniper sit for a spell while I played with my new Compact 25. I was asked to test some 30 gr, 22 slugs from a local producer. While trying to tune the gun lost a lot of power somehow.
I had it tuned to 160/128 and the IHS @ 5.55 mm with a hammer weight of 11.8 grams ( 11 with spacer) and was shooting NSA 27.5’s @ 960.
Now all I can get out of the gun is 830 fps with the 27.5 slugs. I have gone back to my original tune and get in the low 820’s. I have increased the tune to 165/140 and 6mm on the IHS and can get 830 by messing with the IHS.
i am stumped on what could be wrong. I double checked that the slug port on the barrel was being used, swapped gauges with my other Maverick. Both are the same brand digital gauge and they read the same pressures.
I am tapped out on my knowledge and skills. I have considered a full disassembly but am not sure I have the skills to go through that process.
Does anyone have a thought as to where the problem may be?
The next step is to send it to Utah Air Guns for repair.
 
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Is your gun "puffing" air. Test by laying a tissue over the mag/barrel area and fire. See if the tissue moves. Two possibilities: breech seal needs replaced or your reloading rod has slipped, and your probe has backed out. The first one is easy to fix. Pull barrel and replace o-ring. Second is not. Watch E Rowe's reassembly video. The trick is to get the rod lined up where it needs to be (it has usually backed out) and get those 2 tiny set screws back in place, and the REAL chore is getting them to stay put and not slip.
 
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Chukar60 said:
I had left my Maverick 22 Sniper sit for a spell while I played with my new Compact 25. I was asked to test some 30 gr, 22 slugs from a local producer. While trying to tune the gun lost a lot of power somehow.
I had it tuned to 160/128 and the IHS @ 5.55 mm with a hammer weight of 11.8 grams ( 11 with spacer) and was shooting NSA 27.5’s @ 960.
Now all I can get out of the gun is 830 fps with the 27.5 slugs. I have gone back to my original tune and get in the low 820’s. I have increased the tune to 165/140 and 6mm on the IHS and can get 830 by messing with the IHS.
i am stumped on what could be wrong. I double checked that the slug port on the barrel was being used, swapped gauges with my other Maverick. Both are the same brand digital gauge and they read the same pressures.
I am tapped out on my knowledge and skills. I have considered a full disassembly but am not sure I have the skills to go through that process.
Does anyone have a thought as to where the problem may be?
The next step is to send it to Utah Air Guns for repair.
Click to expand...
Hi Chukar60,

Please feel free to contact our technician department if you need any further help before you ship off for repairs at your dealer. Our technicians might be able to find a solution or diagnose an issue and give you the feedback you need to take the next steps. (Save you some time ;))

Regards
FX Airguns USA

Contact
Monday - Thursday 9 AM - 4 PM EST
Fridays 9 AM - 3 PM EST
Phone: +1 866 639 0772
[email protected]​
 
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Spoke with the good people at FX USA this morning. As always very helpful.
After explaining what was going on, they offered several different things that could be wrong.
One was a piece of lead got shaved off into the air port and was restricting air flow, the valve pin may have gotten buggered on the end or the valve seal was damaged.
All three require that I tear into the gun further than I have before. After talking with Ben @ FX I am comfortable with taking it apart and finding the issue. He explained if I had a modicum of mechanical skills it would not be bad at all. Actually my skills are slightly above average and the most important thing he said was if you get it apart and cannot go further contact us and we will help you out.
Tonight I will be doing a disassembly of the Maverick. Hoping to find a chunk of lead in the works. would really like to get this thing running again and back to testing those slugs.

Thanks to those who posted For your input.
 
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Took the gun all the way down this evening. It was much simpler than I had imagined. I got it back together first try. Everything functioned and power was right where it was before I took it apart so I know I got it right.
FX has two Master Class videos on YouTube with Earnest Rowe on disassembly and reassembly. They were very helpful and I would suggest the first couple times you do this have them keyed up for reference.
I checked all the things FX advised and found nothing that I could detect. No piece of lead or other debris in the gun, I could see no damage to the valve pin seal or seat. The end of the pin looked OK to me but I think a couple thousandths of an inch deformation would seriously affect how much air was released. Puff test showed no leak and the probe is aligned just as the video shows along with the lever adjustment being correct.
There is a small round port just forward of the regulator gauge where you can see the end of the valve pin and if you watch you can see the hammer striking when you pull the trigger. It appears the strike is very light which leads me to think the spring has lost tension or the pin is too short But I cannot tell for sure.
I had considered getting another valve pin and hammer spring but I am just grabbing at straws at this point and just want the gun back shooting so it is time for this one to go back to FX.
 
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Ladwict, I did check that and it was tight when I disassembled the gun and again when I reassembled it.
Spoke with FX USA Monday and after a good conversation got an RMA from them and shipped it to them today.
I asked that whatever the issue is I want to know and if it was something that I caused I really wanted to know and just what I did to cause it.
I cannot think of anything that I may have done but am not above admitting that I don’t know as much as I need to about these guns and could have inadvertently done something wrong.
Hope to get the gun back in 4-5 weeks.
If anyone is interested I will post what I learned when it comes home.
 
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I had an issue with my Maverick after about 500 round. The cocking lever attachment that moves the probe in and out along a steel rod on the left side of the gun got loose. This caused the probe not to seat completely, which caused my reduced velocity.

cocking lever.jpg


the position of this screw is quite picky. If you move it up along the rod too much, the valve pin will seat then back out as you continue to close the cocking lever. I ended up placing it exactly where it needs to be by aligning it up with marks on the rod from the factory, and then I used loctite to keep them from backing out again.
 
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Chukar60 said:
FX service has officially turned me into the dreaded “Fan Boy”.
The service has been worth 1/2 the price of the gun because I am new to this and the support (service and advice) is invaluable.
As soon as they can tell me what went wrong or what I did to it, I will share the results.
Click to expand...
Hi,
Can you share what was needed to be done to fix your Maverick by FX USA?
 
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xyon said:
Hi,
Can you share what was needed to be done to fix your Maverick by FX USA?
Click to expand...
That Maverick was my first air gun and that incident was at the early stage of my learning curve working on them.
The issue was exactly what N2 Shooter had shown in his post above. The linkage between the cocking lever and the operating rod.
For some reason I just could not get it through my fat head that when it came loose and I reset it that I had done it wrong. Just knew it was some serious mechanical issue.
That adjustment or the placement of the linkage is critical to the operation of the Maverick and I assume the Wildcat. There are a couple videos I have seen on YT that tell how to make the adjustment and get it right.
The fix is once you have it where it is supposed to be, remove one grub screw and use a small amount of blue Locktite on it. Then do the second one.
That Maverick Sniper went down the road because I assumed a flaw in the design and what I concluded was a weak system. I no longer believe that to be true. I have a Maverick 25 Compact that I refuse to part company with. I administered the fix to the linkage and it has never given me a problem since and the gun has operated flawlessly since the day I bought it.
I don’t believe the design is flawed but I do think FX would be well served to put some thread locking compound on those two grub screws. This is a known issue and fairly common with the Maverick. It is NOT a reason to avoid the Maverick.
I would suggest anyone who has a Maverick or is buying one to Locktite the two grub screws in the linkage before it comes loose. You will save yourself a lot of frustration that is easily avoided.
 
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