Has any one swapped FX power wheels between Air Rifles?

[0akhonor]

My problem, and it's a good one to have is this- I have a Gladiator and a FX Verminator Extreme, both in .22
The Gladiator's power wheel allows me to shoot our club's reactive events- field target and silhouette, because on the middle- #2 - setting, it pushes a pellet right at 19 ft/lbs. We try to protect the targets by keeping everything under 20ft/lbs. It's very heavy for off hand events tho.

The Verminator shoots too hard, even on the lower setting. The power wheel only has two settings. It seems that I might be able to put the Gladiator's wheel in the Vermy, and if extremely fortunate, have a reasonable compromise between weight and power.
Of course, I could just misalign the barrel with the transfer port when needed. It's painful to deliberately make a rifle less efficient.
The hammer spring is difficult to get to. I've asked around for a way to get at it, and haven't learned yet. I've seen the parts schematics, but am cautious about diving into uncharted waters.

 

[0akhonor]

I'll answer my own question, in case anyone else hits this problem- NOPE.
The two power wheels are completely different sizes- the gladiator wheel is much thicker.
As always, there aren't easy ways to mod the preset velocity of the FX Verimantor Extremes....

 

[sharroff]

Have you thought about geting a spare wheel as a repair part then carefully remove material from that wheel till the tension changes to the point you are under 20?

 

[0akhonor]

Hi Sharroff - great idea.
The wheels now come pre-drilled, so the fix would be to add material to narrow the orifice. I'm leaning towards asking the American PCP maker, Travis, if he has a mod that can simplify access to the hammer adjuster. If I could just get into the adjuster conveniently, I can back off some of the velocity there.
Again, it's a good problem to have- too much power is never really too much, is it? The top velocity is intended for pushing the arrows, and push them, it does.
Here's another users experience working with Travis:
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=84435.0

 

[sharroff]

I'm in the same shape (wanting to reduce power for FT metal) on one of my guns. It would need to go back to AOA for custom programming on its low power setting. Can be done, but of course not cheap.

 

[0akhonor]

Amen, not cheap and maybe not a simple trick to reverse. I'm not sure what make of rifle you're thinking of slowing down, but I find that the smooth twist barrels on the FX have a "preferred speed". There is a 1/2" difference at 40 yards between the full velocity and mid velocity on my Gladiator, even allowing for the additional flight time and wind influence.
I know in jolly old England, they use sub 12 ft/lbs FX rifles and enjoy the accuracy, but my two FX's are sensitive to exit speed when it comes to making cloverleafs.
On your rifle, can you twist your barrel away from the transfer port to reduce velocity? The Verminator screws into a chamber that pushes air uniformly. I tried unscrewing the barrel 4 complete turns and still receive the same fps readout.
.

 

[sharroff]

The rifle I was referring to was a Daystate Airwolf MCT. It's currently shooting JSB 18's at 935fps (37 ft/lbs). I wouldn't try making barrel changes like that on that rifle (good idea though). It would take way too much mechanical changes to get the fpe down under 20.

Easy to reverse the programming - just pay AOA to put back the original program.