It looks like I’ll have an opportunity to put a few candidates on test. Chronograph, sit over the weekend and retest.
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FX Sayonara M3…
- Thread starter weevil
- Start date
But painful for your wallet.
Revere is much more affordable and will take exactly the same rats than the Evol. Not smaller nor less.
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I am super happy now with my Panthera Compact .25 !!!
I would like to be able to buy another one with two bottles in .30 Cal..... But if it shots first shot badly, it would be one of my must expensive mistakes.
The Wolverine HP non regulated in .30 Cal has proven to be extraordinary accurate, powerful and reliable for hunting. Each day I like it the better..... So that Panthera in .30 Cal will never be mine.
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I have read that the regs on the kraits have been fixed. That might be a good option, but so far my ghost has been good.
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110 bar on 2nd reg. Would have to look at the micro. Want to say like 3.5 ish for highest power.
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Got it. I’m at about 130 bar with the same 33.95 MK2 to push them at 900. Was just wondering.
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Mine was pretty well behaved at that pressure but at higher pressures it would fall off the wagon.
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The FX thing for me is complicated. I like my Pantheras but cant bring myself to get another. I’m just tired of the look and feel and it violates the non-balanced valve rule. The Krait, as Cranky mentions ticks many boxes but the saga with the regs was pretty nasty.
With a regular valve, the guns that are spoiled in this application are invariably spoiled by creep. The biggest puzzle for me, going on several years, is why can’t these guns be fitted with a push button that allows a small bleed from the plenum after they sit and creep. Your reg is set for 130, it’s creeped to 133 and you bleed off from the plenum to below reg pressure before you take the shot.
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If you are tuned for 130b and your reg creeps to 133 or even 135b, it should never cause you a problem if the gun is tuned right. But a plenum balancer is still an awesome idea. As far as you giving your M3 it’s walking papers goes, I completely understand. It’s a lot of gun with a lot of fickleness and complexities for a guy who just shoots or hunts at normal distances and speeds. With so many other guns that will easily fit that bill, I wonder if some guys buy them because they like getting pissed off at their gun so they can work on it and buy stuff for it. Good luck with your next decision. Personally, Ghost over Krait all day long.
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Fair dinkum. The 22 Krait (compact) is currently on trial along with a couple more. The trial involved tuning it to shoot Hades at ~905, down from a plateau of ~938 at 102bar on the gauge with the valve spring at 1/2 turn back from max tension. The first test was to check the speed of six shots at 130bar and then 290bar:
22-Dec-2023 10:26:06,909,FPS,29.2,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:26:30,909,FPS,29.2,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:26:47,910,FPS,29.3,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:27:05,909,FPS,29.2,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:27:22,905,FPS,28.9,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:27:35,905,FPS,28.9,FT Lbs,
(Down to 115bar, refilled to 290bar)
22-Dec-2023 10:35:02,909,FPS,29.2,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:35:26,907,FPS,29.1,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:35:54,909,FPS,29.2,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:36:07,905,FPS,28.9,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:36:18,902,FPS,28.8,FT Lbs,
22-Dec-2023 10:36:30,905,FPS,28.9,FT Lbs,
Ergos are great, hammer action was quiet and very gentle on the shot cycle, no mod was needed (aside from whatever the three stock pieces are) and accuracy was perfect but only tested at 35y. Will return today to see what it (and the others) do after sitting overnight at (in this one’s case) 265bar. So far, this one has the best stats and feel and is very compact but the trigger was too heavy (didn’t try to adjust). It’s also the ugliest of the ugly ducklings in this pond. With an additional $350 wood stock, it can turn into the prettiest. I will be going south in a few days and can visit AoA to see and hopefully test the Ghost. Please let me know if you had any concerns other than the reg with the Krait. I read that whole depressing thread. Did you find out what caused it to drop 100fps just before you traded it for the Red Ryder Matt Dubber edition?
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Have you read this one? https://www.airgunnation.com/thread...-reg-creep-quasi-scientific-analysis.1175929/
Basically, there is a design flaw in Impact which can be minimized but not fully eliminated.
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Yes, I tried the orings and it delayed the effect kicking in. If it hadn’t been so unpredictable, I could have worked around it but here we are. I even tried to sight it as a first shot special. I’m patient and not afraid to tinker but FX didn’t provide a lathe, a chunk of PEEK and a degree in machining with the gun. I guess I didn’t read the fine print.
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The Krait reg crept overnight to 104.7 according to the digigauge. Thats around 3 bar. The first five shots were exactly on the POI that it hit last night and were simultaneously chronied by the labradar. I don’t know how to get data from that but the shots were: 898,904,904,910,907.
It’s hard to beat some real world evaluation rather than YT hype, or a review from a ***** or sunk cost owner who decided it was shooting better after six pints of Guinness.
So far, these experiments have involved Hades pellets, which I’m not confident about at 80 yards. I will now try the 18s from JSB and JTS. My baby Katran really likes the JTS. Reg will go up to 110bar and I’ll settle for whatever plateau-3% speed it lands on. My guess is that this gun would be getting out of its comfort zone with the 25 grain pellets, which was no problem for the M3. Those are ideal for longer range, but I’d have to test those 18s in the Krait at the distance, which is tricky. I’m pretty sure that shooting the 18s at 890-900 will retain the nice shot cycle and lack of need for a mod. As it stands, the Krait is 24” and 7.5lb with scope. FWIW, the vet2 works perfectly but feels big and heavy (+3) and not quite as accurate in my paws. The last one I’ve been testing will remain nameless and would need, at least, a Huma reg and a good sized moderator.
It’s hard to beat some real world evaluation rather than YT hype, or a review from a ***** or sunk cost owner who decided it was shooting better after six pints of Guinness.
So far, these experiments have involved Hades pellets, which I’m not confident about at 80 yards. I will now try the 18s from JSB and JTS. My baby Katran really likes the JTS. Reg will go up to 110bar and I’ll settle for whatever plateau-3% speed it lands on. My guess is that this gun would be getting out of its comfort zone with the 25 grain pellets, which was no problem for the M3. Those are ideal for longer range, but I’d have to test those 18s in the Krait at the distance, which is tricky. I’m pretty sure that shooting the 18s at 890-900 will retain the nice shot cycle and lack of need for a mod. As it stands, the Krait is 24” and 7.5lb with scope. FWIW, the vet2 works perfectly but feels big and heavy (+3) and not quite as accurate in my paws. The last one I’ve been testing will remain nameless and would need, at least, a Huma reg and a good sized moderator.
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@weevil - I'm looking for another .22 to mount the PARD thermal I just acquired. The Krait Standard with the latest hardware (read regulator) looks to be a contender. Also a Tiapan Veteren II in 22 with a 550mm barrel is in contention. This will strictly be a sub 100 yard pesting gun, so no need for bigger barrels with higher power. I do like my Pantera Hunter Compact in .25 and maybe another in 22 would also work. I'll keep watching for your report!
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Your numbers are fantastic. I’m sure if I would have bought a .22, I would have kept it. But I have 5 other .22’s that do exactly what a Krait will do. I was so close to keeping my .25 L because there were so many features that I thought were great. The sudden loss of FPS that put the gun back a decade power wise was the icing on the cake. The guys at UA found its happy spot and it was below Snowpeak and Hatsan standards so I moved on. They questioned the velocity loss also and I don’t blame them. I explained that I have three FX Impacts. As you know, they spend most of their life shooting over a chronograph. Nothing else in my arsenal mysteriously lost velocity. It remained a head scratcher. Sometimes I wish I would get robbed and have to replace all my guns. That way I could start fresh with guns that don’t have either a ton of hours tuning, machining, or are just irreplaceable good eggs. A small Ghost in .22 would be my first purchase. If they weren’t in stock I would get a Krait again in .22 for pellet shooting. If they ever get the L in .25 to produce enough power to shoot a normal weight 25gr pellet at just a common speed of 880fps, I would consider one agiain. The gun just has no harmonics because of the hammer system. It’s a joy to shoot.
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Some Airmaks have a habit of beating the valve pin into the delrin poppet at higher pressures. I wondered if yours was one of those. I can’t tell from the schematic if that has been addressed with a new design on the Krait. They just released a v2 back plug for the Katran that is reinforced:
KATRAN BACK PLUG V2 | AirMaks arms
33 € (without VAT) Back plug V2 for all KATRAN rifles.Includes:- the new system for air release;- the new brass bushing for the valve unit moving;- the new valve unit. Back plug V2 for KATRAN, KATRAN B, KATRAN L (HP), KATRAN LB (HP), KATRAN X, KATRAN XBBack plug C V2 for KATRAN C, KATRAN CB...
www.airmaksarms.com Sorry to bring up Airmaks V-anything again!
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