Supercharged My FX500 Royale (Thanks Weatherby)

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jking

jking

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May 12, 2015
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Hobbs NM, United States
I bought my FX500 used about a year and half ago. It's an old enough model that it didn't have the power adjuster. I also sent it to AOA and had a regulator installed back in May I think. The gun shot great but I was limited on power in case I wanted to shoot the JSB Heavies. With the regulator set where it is as of now I was only able to achieve 790-800FPS out of the Heavies which was pretty loopy. It looks like the regulator is set somewhere around 150-160.

I got to visiting with AGN's member Weatherby, who by the way is a great guy and a wealth of knowledge on these FX's about the Royale's design and he brought it to my attention that possibly my 500 had the low power valve in it, which consist of a valve stem and seat. Another indication that my gun was possibly a "lower" power (not UK spec though) was that the fitting that screws into the bottom of the receiver that the stock bolt screws into was a M5 sized metric stud which in turn means that the air passage between the plenum space and the valve is about 4.2mm ID. The newer regulated guns come with a M6 fitting and the air passage that it screws into is a 5mm ID.

This is that fitting, I have replaced the original with this one and it is a M6 size. I also drilled the air passage out to 5mm as well while I was drilling and tapping the receiver.


Once done with that I pulled the LP valve seat which has an ID of 4.10mm and installed the high power seat which is 5.48mm!!

Once back together, without a doing anything to the regulator it will shoot the MKII's at 900-905 without the HS maxed out. This same HS setting had my 25.4's running at 1010fps !!!. Way too fast for the 25.4's I know. At least now I have the option of shooting the Heavies at a respectable speed or dialing it back down and remain shooting the 25.4's .
I'd also like to think Kevin at AOA for working with me on the parts.
Jimmy
 
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Good job Jimmy, your R500 is transformed into a beast:)
The power is right up there with my .25 converted Boss.

Because your R500 is the model without power adjuster, the remaining differences with the Boss action are:

1: Valve seat outer diameter is a bit bigger (inner diameter of the Boss valve seat is the same as the SHP valve of the Royale series, no power difference)
2: Stock mounting stud is M8 for the Boss, M6 for the recent Royales with power adjuster, M5 for the non-power adjuster versions. Plenum port is 6.8mm for the Boss, 5mm for the recent royales, 4.2mm for the older non-power adjuster versions.
3: Transfer port diameter is 6.8mm compared to 4.5mm for the newer Royales.
4: Barrel diameter at the action side of the Boss is made to a bigger diameter (13.8mm) to work with the 7.62mm pellets

Different FX Valves, regular, SHP and Boss (Boss valve stem also fits SHP seat):



Kind regards,

Gijs
 
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Have you ever weighed your Royale 500? 

I am am curious to know what makes FX guns so much lighter than other comparable sized rifles. In your pics, the breach block looks solid and chunky. I don't see anything thin or flimsy-looking on the rest of the guns either.

I know the stocks can make a huge difference but the specs show even the wood and laminate versions to be just as light, or very close. 

The 500 has a steel bottle which are known to be gravitationally challenged on other guns. It's heavier than the 400 but still lighter than other bottle guns. Do you have any insight on what the secret is?

Are smooth twist barrels thinner than LW or CZ? Or are the stated specs wrong?

Nice mod btw. I would have sent it away to get that done. You are brave!
 
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zebraHave you ever weighed your Royale 500? 

I am am curious to know what makes FX guns so much lighter than other comparable sized rifles. In your pics, the breach block looks solid and chunky. I don't see anything thin or flimsy-looking on the rest of the guns either.

I know the stocks can make a huge difference but the specs show even the wood and laminate versions to be just as light, or very close. 

The 500 has a steel bottle which are known to be gravitationally challenged on other guns. It's heavier than the 400 but still lighter than other bottle guns. Do you have any insight on what the secret is?

Are smooth twist barrels thinner than LW or CZ? Or are the stated specs wrong?

Nice mod btw. I would have sent it away to get that done. You are brave!
Click to expand...


Apologies if I am speaking for my turn, but Zebra, you kind of answered your own question, it is the barrel☺

On most other bottle guns, the barrel diameter is 15.5-16mm compared to 14mm for the ST.
I have done a lot of rebarreling jobs, and the difference in weight of the barrels is significant.
My Boss has a 16mm LW barrel and the FT alu. stock, and it is a heavy beast......
A synthetic stocked FX royale 500 with a CF bottle is VERY light and powerful, it seems as ideal it gets for a go-to hunting gun.
B.t.w. the buddy bottles are made of aluminum i.s.o. steel☺

Cheers, Gijs
 
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I think I have regulator issues, I used a fitting today that lets me read regulated pressure directly from the plenum. With a test gauge attached it appears the regulator is set around 190bar!. I think I changed the adjustments when I got the gun back for AOA after they installed the regulator and it was only capable of 860ish with 25.4's. I didn't have a way to check the regulator pressure at the time but was able to coax another 30-40fps out of it with the adjustments, right or wrong. It seemed to work fine with the smaller valve installed. With the larger valve and seat installed the gun is seeing that 190bar and explains why the gun is capable of the energy it's producing now.

Now it's cycling around 190bar between shots but the regulated pressure keeps creeping up when not fired. After setting for about 3 hours with 230 on the bottle I had 208 on the plenum. I kind of expect it to be equalized in the morning. Definitely explains why my first shot has been lower velocity and then returns at least to a normal flat string with the heavies.

Tomorrow I plan on pulling the regulator and adjusting it down to 140-150 and see what I get there. Hopefully the creep will go away as well, once it's in a more normal range. I guess high plenum pressure and creep could also be caused by the outer O-rings leaking as well. We will see.
Jimmy
 
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"weatherby"Good job Jimmy, your R500 is transformed into a beast:)
The power is right up there with my .25 converted Boss.

Because your R500 is the model without power adjuster, the remaining differences with the Boss action are:

1: Valve seat outer diameter is a bit bigger (inner diameter of the Boss valve seat is the same as the SHP valve of the Royale series, no power difference)
2: Stock mounting stud is M8 for the Boss, M6 for the recent Royales with power adjuster, M5 for the non-power adjuster versions. Plenum port is 6.8mm for the Boss, 5mm for the recent royales, 4.2mm for the older non-power adjuster versions.
3: Transfer port diameter is 6.8mm compared to 4.5mm for the newer Royales.
4: Barrel diameter at the action side of the Boss is made to a bigger diameter (13.8mm) to work with the 7.62mm pellets

Different FX Valves, regular, SHP and Boss (Boss valve stem also fits SHP seat):



Kind regards,

Gijs

Gijs, where are you able to see or measure the transfer port?
jk

Click to expand...
 
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you will see creep when reg seat has a light leak and reseals with higher pressure. I correct this by cutting a new seat surface on the delrine.

take a look at the delrine seat indent of the brass seat if too deep you must likely have to resurface the delrine to stop it from creeping.
high and low pressure outer reg oring if leaking will go out the vent hole and will not leak on the plenum side. 
 
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"PlanB"
"sniperlabyo"If you want more power bore out the ID to 5.85mm of the metal seat, beyond that your cutting to close with the oring groove. Got 25fps more by just doing that.
Click to expand...
Hey Earnest
are you talking about drilling the seat or do you mean take the seat out and drill behind where the seat goes?
Click to expand...
Drill the metal seat iD, must be on a lathe just enough to hold in place while being bored out. If you bent the seat on the chuck --- it will never seal----need a new one !
 
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"sniperlabyo"you will see creep when reg seat has a light leak and reseals with higher pressure. I correct this by cutting a new seat surface on the delrine.

take a look at the delrine seat indent of the brass seat if too deep you must likely have to resurface the delrine to stop it from creeping.
high and low pressure outer reg oring if leaking will go out the vent hole and will not leak on the plenum side. 

Hey Ernest, I wouldn't think the delrin seat would have much damage, the regulator is not all that old, about 8 months and not a whole lot of shooting. I'll check it out tomorrow and see how it looks. What about leaking O-rings inside the regulator? I'd thought about the weep hole leaking too if the outer rings were leaking but had forgot about it. duh.. What other methods to clean up the delrin surface?
JK
Click to expand...
 
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"weatherby"
"zebra"Have you ever weighed your Royale 500? 

I am am curious to know what makes FX guns so much lighter than other comparable sized rifles. In your pics, the breach block looks solid and chunky. I don't see anything thin or flimsy-looking on the rest of the guns either.

I know the stocks can make a huge difference but the specs show even the wood and laminate versions to be just as light, or very close. 

The 500 has a steel bottle which are known to be gravitationally challenged on other guns. It's heavier than the 400 but still lighter than other bottle guns. Do you have any insight on what the secret is?

Are smooth twist barrels thinner than LW or CZ? Or are the stated specs wrong?

Nice mod btw. I would have sent it away to get that done. You are brave!
Click to expand...


Apologies if I am speaking for my turn, but Zebra, you kind of answered your own question, it is the barrel☺

On most other bottle guns, the barrel diameter is 15.5-16mm compared to 14mm for the ST.
I have done a lot of rebarreling jobs, and the difference in weight of the barrels is significant.
My Boss has a 16mm LW barrel and the FT alu. stock, and it is a heavy beast......
A synthetic stocked FX royale 500 with a CF bottle is VERY light and powerful, it seems as ideal it gets for a go-to hunting gun.
B.t.w. the buddy bottles are made of aluminum i.s.o. steel☺

Cheers, Gijs
Click to expand...
It's going to be a hard one to compare without two blanks to weigh.

The standard LW barrel has a larger diameter but they also offer an option that is approx the same and one that is smaller. I assume it is more complicated than that with ST barrels because a majority of the bore is the same internal diameter as the grooves on a LW barrel - I.e. They don't have a chunk of metal removed for the full length rifling. They probably aren't made from the same alloy either.

It would be interesting to see if ST barrels are still lighter than the .5" diameter LW barrels. 

 
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