FX I just gotta vent...

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FLgunner

FLgunner

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Mar 4, 2017
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Navarre, FL, United States
Last Thursday I purchased a 600mm .177 Barrel Kit for my Impact. I purchased from UA because they were the one vendor that showed it in stock. I called to see if they were running any specials for Mother's Day. I was told no. I asked about free shipping because I have read that others have gotten free shipping if they called in their order. Nope, that's usually only for orders over $1000! Well, FX barrel Kits are over priced and down't even come with a magazine, but thankfully, they aren't $1000! So, I hang up and place my order through their website so I can use PayPal 6 months 0 interest. Then Friday morning, I get an e-mail saying they have free shipping all weekend for Mother's Day! What the... Really, their staff didn't know they were offering free shipping the next day and could have told me? I could have easily waited a day if I had known.... Shipping was $19, so I tucked that away and will use another vendor next time.

I received the Barrel Kit on Monday. I installed it and tested it today. Nothing would group and pellets felt as if they were snagging as they were loading into the barrel. At this price point, you'd think you'd get a quality product! Not knowing what was causing this I pulled the barrel and checked the loading end. There was no bevel at all and the angle looked quite sharp. I took a cone shaped grinding wheel and gently grinder a small bevel by hand then polished it and the inside of the bore. I put it back together and cleaned it really well and now it's stacking pellets and they are loading like butter! You know, like they should have to begin with!

A couple weeks ago, I purchased a refurbished Hatsan Flash-R in .177. Yea, I had to fight to get the fill port off the air cylinder because the fill valve was leaking. And, I had to recrown and polish the barrel to get decent groups, but it's shooting small clover leafs at 50 yards now! I had to put some work into it, but it was a $195 refurb, not a brand new $325 FX barrel kit!

Fortunately, the .177 Impact barrel is working fine now, but I still feel at that price, I shouldn't have to rework the bore to get pellets to load smoothly! I feel fortunate to have been hanging around here long enough to actually know what to look for and how to fix it! Thanks Airgun Nation!
 
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I won't get into criticizing specific brands, but your experience is not unique. Of all the brands I have owned, RAW and Taipan have been consistently good out of the box. In some cases, marketing hype seems to overpower performance. Someone buys a well-known brand, it shoots as garbage, and the owner thinks, "I can't complain, this is one of the best." Is it?
 
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I'm right there with you! Stuff like this needs to be put out there. People need to feel a little uncomfortable with the bad press, or they will not do a thing about the problem, besides continuing with the bad behaviour.

As far as the barrel kit needing work, yeah, you'd think FX would have caught that on a visual check. Great to be savvy enough to fix it yourself. It's empowering for sure.

I'm surprised your Hatsan needed barrel work. I've bought two refurbs from them and both have been perfect. I'm very pleased how such an inexpensive gun can shoot so well.

Good rant, I hope that it is productive, for you and us.
 
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FLgunner said:
Last Thursday I purchased a 600mm .177 Barrel Kit for my Impact. I purchased from UA because they were the one vendor that showed it in stock. I called to see if they were running any specials for Mother's Day. I was told no. I asked about free shipping because I have read that others have gotten free shipping if they called in their order. Nope, that's usually only for orders over $1000! Well, FX barrel Kits are over priced and down't even come with a magazine, but thankfully, they aren't $1000! So, I hang up and place my order through their website so I can use PayPal 6 months 0 interest. Then Friday morning, I get an e-mail saying they have free shipping all weekend for Mother's Day! What the... Really, their staff didn't know they were offering free shipping the next day and could have told me? I could have easily waited a day if I had known.... Shipping was $19, so I tucked that away and will use another vendor next time.

I received the Barrel Kit on Monday. I installed it and tested it today. Nothing would group and pellets felt as if they were snagging as they were loading into the barrel. At this price point, you'd think you'd get a quality product! Not knowing what was causing this I pulled the barrel and checked the loading end. There was no bevel at all and the angle looked quite sharp. I took a cone shaped grinding wheel and gently grinder a small bevel by hand then polished it and the inside of the bore. I put it back together and cleaned it really well and now it's stacking pellets and they are loading like butter! You know, like they should have to begin with!

A couple weeks ago, I purchased a refurbished Hatsan Flash-R in .177. Yea, I had to fight to get the fill port off the air cylinder because the fill valve was leaking. And, I had to recrown and polish the barrel to get decent groups, but it's shooting small clover leafs at 50 yards now! I had to put some work into it, but it was a $195 refurb, not a brand new $325 FX barrel kit!

Fortunately, the .177 Impact barrel is working fine now, but I still feel at that price, I shouldn't have to rework the bore to get pellets to load smoothly! I feel fortunate to have been hanging around here long enough to actually know what to look for and how to fix it! Thanks Airgun Nation!
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Iirc the 177 liners have had problems for a while, almost forever. The 25s was a fluke of probably a new worker in a peak demand time shipping unfinished tubes.

Yes it should've come correctly for the price and fx slipping on deburring is inexcusable.

Why not just a liner, magazine and probe at the length your other caliber was? (my morbid curiosity). I've been thinking about a barrel kit too but only because my current setup is 700mm and I'm a little tired of the length and it was a way more enjoyable gun before the slug disease got me.

What reg pressure are you running?
 
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While we a ranting , I ordered a complete 22 FX barrel kit for my Notos,, USPS, I kept getting your package is delayed ,, When I got the package the box was tore all up and open, Yep , NO barrel kit just an empty box with plastic bags,,, I make a phone call and a Email to the company,, NO name as I am not sure who to blame , Well I got a tracking number to day and there going to make it right,,, When I get the barrel in I will post up the COMPANY name and give them ten big STARs, and see what else I can buy from them,,,
and FLGUNNER I am taking notes on your FX barrel fix...
Mike
 
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elh0102 said:
I won't get into criticizing specific brands, but your experience is not unique. Of all the brands I have owned, RAW and Taipan have been consistently good out of the box. In some cases, marketing hype seems to overpower performance. Someone buys a well-known brand, it shoots as garbage, and the owner thinks, "I can't complain, this is one of the best." Is it?
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There's just way more fx units out there(my two examples have had no issue) too. Raw was 1 guy curating his vision for the longest time, messups would be super unlikely and they were basically box tuned and made so you had to try and screw it up.

FX has a few BIG issues they need to address, adding part deburring or fit and finish to that list could lead to the death spiral of the brand if they don't get on it. The liner errors are probably the victim of "machine shop shenannigans" as I know them. Every single aerospace shop seems to be plagued by them.

Fix it fx.
 
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I wonder what would happen if we sent back everything that wasn’t correct instead of fixing it? This is the strangest hobby when it comes to that. We buy brand new guns and fix them so they function as they should. We buy after the sale stuff and fix it too. I’m trying to think back in time when this all started. How did this become the norm?
 
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I think it would be better for the consumer if FX allowed another US company to be an importer. If we want FX parts in the states, we are forced to be at the mercy of Utah, as to whether they want to stock a product or not. Europe is getting a TON of FX bits and bobs, that we are not getting in the states.
If Utah doesn't want to carry parts (margins too small)? they should get out of the way and let someone else do it!!!!
 
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Thanks everyone for the support! I certainly would not have known what to do or how to do it, if it weren't for being a member of this community! It's sad that it has come to this, but thankfully, we have this community of support that gets us through these frustrations and back to doing what we love!

If this has been a longstanding issue with .177 Barrel Kits, you'd think the vendor would have cared enough to check them before sending them out the door, especially since they are now the only U.S. FX Importer/Service provider! Seems it would be more cost effective than having to pay postage back and forth just to do what should have been done to begin with! But then again, they just want our money and probably bank on the majority of us to do exactly what I did, fix it ourselves.
 
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I have several vendors I prefer to deal with, but none of them had the .177 Barrel Kits in stock. They all had .22 through .30 cal Barrel Kits, but no .177 kits. That might be because there has been a long standing issue with the .177 barrels, which I wasn't aware of at the time, and they just don't want to deal with them. I didn't call any of them and ask, I was just checking online inventory when I was looking. UA was the only option I could find...
 
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I wanted a heavy 600 mm .177 barrel for my Maverick taking it back to stock, as these in my experience will shoot both pellets and also slugs just fine.
But not a single dealer in the EU territory had those in stock, actually i had to go out of my way to find a standard FX barrel in 600 mm ( late last year )


My Two was ordered with the LW barrel that was supposed to be un choked, but the middle 25% of the bore had a unholy choke,,,,,,, do not understand how a reputable company can send something like that out the door.

In these matters however CUZ that do often happen, what matter is how it is handled, Epic airguns took really good care of me, and i hope to god they in turn contacted LW or sent a strongly worded letter with the barrels back to Germany
 
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Vetmx said:
I wonder what would happen if we sent back everything that wasn’t correct instead of fixing it? This is the strangest hobby when it comes to that. We buy brand new guns and fix them so they function as they should. We buy after the sale stuff and fix it too. I’m trying to think back in time when this all started. How did this become the norm?
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For me, the time saved by just doing it myself, is more valuable than teaching uncaring shoddy manufacturers a lesson. It would be nice not to have to though.
 
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Vetmx said:
I wonder what would happen if we sent back everything that wasn’t correct instead of fixing it? This is the strangest hobby when it comes to that. We buy brand new guns and fix them so they function as they should. We buy after the sale stuff and fix it too. I’m trying to think back in time when this all started. How did this become the norm?
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I agree 100%. I cannot see spending $$$ or more and have to "fix" it to make it perform/ work as it should. I am not a tinkerer ,so when I get these products for whatever cost, I want it to do what it's supposed to do, if not I call ,email, text etc, sometimes all together to get it fixed OR replaced. If the company stands up to the task I stay with them for other orders . Screw me ,,, then you might say it was a "one time thing".
 
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