Issue - Brand-new FX Maverick Sniper .22 with 100 fps spreads in shot strings

@akshonc Hey! Unfortunately I had not resolved even after sending the gun to FX Customer Service, but I forgot to follow up on this since the disappointment made me somewhat uninterested with the sport.

I am not sure @Samc11 is around.
I have a theory that starts back to his original post that could be a key point to the problem he is having.

"Some additional info to "replicate the behaviour":
1. When I received the rifle, I emptied the bottle and then
emptied the rifle by dry-firing it (just as some of FX videos suggest when disassembling)"


I had an original Maverick from the first shipment in 2020.
It starts with the valve pin and the brass piece that secures the valve seat (forgive me as I have forgotten the technical name for it) that is pressed on the pin to secure the Delrin valve seat.
The back story is that FX discovered (after numerous failure returns) that the brass piece was not secure enough (pressed) and would move up the valve rod until it would start leaking air. Happened to me. FX fixed, as FX does so wonderfully, at no charge, and told me that they had not seen a brass retaining cuff "totally come off the valve pin". FX made a new cuff and my Maverick had no problems. Back to my theory...
FX, along with myself, believe that it is NOT recommended to Dry Fire your Maverick, or any other FX for that matter.
Reason... Dry Firing the Maverick (FX in general) puts extra force on the valve pin assembly that is above and beyond its design parameters and potentially causing the brass retaining cuff to forcibly move from its intended location a "smidge" causing inconsistent FPS swings. These "swings" will vary based on how well your particular FX is tuned. Way out of tuned guns on the upper end have more potential for dry fire damage than low power out of tune guns. Relatively speaking of course.

Just my thoughts and experiences with my Maverick.

Patrick

Hey @2L8

When dry-firing it, I meant shooting it with air but with no pellets inside. Is that the same as what happened to you? Would you mind pointing the parts that were replaced/were fault from the FX diagram?
I have to be honest and clear: my experience with FX Customer service has been mediocre. I sent my gun to them in May after they told me that they would take 3 weeks with it max. This was a key point since I travel a lot and had no one to receive it.

After 3 weeks, they seemed not to have checked and one of the women responsible for the emails was being somewhat mean and unresponsive. The manager intervened and I got my gun back some days later. However, I was never told what the "repairs" where. I tested the gun and it still performed faulty. I emailed several times FX Customer Service because I wanted to know what was done while they had it in their offices and never, NEVER, received an answer. I even tried to contact their Instagram account and received a response, but once I pointed them to my RMA, they ignored me and stopped answering.

My gun still varies a lot, with some huge peaks and then drops, that are really noticeable down range. 10 inches variability in POI in a 60 yard distance is nuts. I don't know, but as a customer paying that much for a gun with such customer service is something to beware for future customers. One tends to think that one will not be the unlucky one, but if you are, you have essentially wasted 2K USD.


I have already checked almost anything from hammer, rod, screws, testing leaks, installing digital gauges to find if there is variability on pressures, etc. The solution @2L8 suggest is something that might work, so I'll have a look. Also, I have thought about installing the Huma regulator and the Huma Power kit, but, again, I should not be spending 150 EUR on repairs from my own pocket for something that should come working
 
Here’s the deal you gotta ask yourself- has the gun always had this problem since you unboxed it brand new?

If yes, then for sure a warranty claim is valid.

If it started happening just recently, what have you done to the gun? I don’t care if you lubed it, adjusted the trigger, or even cleaned the barrel. Anything and everything must be disclosed.

Too many times I’ve seen problem complaints, and after a few questions get answered it is found out it all stemmed from user error.

The pro techs at AOA, FXUSA, etc, they already know once they received a gun in their hand if it’s been messed with incorrectly or not. Sometimes they can just tell by the fault description if somethings been messed with. Here’s a perfect scenario-
CUSTOMER- I don’t know what happened, all I did was follow the instructions to adjust the reg
TECH- How did you adjust the reg to lower reg pressure?
CUSTOMER- like it says in the instructions

The tech opens up the reg and sees the plastic piston head just smashed in, crushed. No, it wasn’t done per the instructions

Not saying the OP hasn’t been honest in any of his feedback to us, I’m just throwing this out there for future folks getting ready to turn a gun in under warranty. My advice is just to be honest and write down everything that was done to the gun before any of the problems began
 
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@Bigragu I understand your point but can't agree with the first part..

To answer your question, per my first message in this post, I wrote that the problems were noticeable the first day of use. So yes.

Now, even if a user has "lubed it, adjusted the trigger", etc., it is a huge stretch to use this to put into question a warranty claim, since these actions are part of what is a reasonable use of the product -> typical use of similar products and what is stated in their website/ads/manual.

The heart of the issue here is that the gun underperformed from the very beginning and after following all instructions from FX Customer Service and then sending it to repair, the gun is still not working properly. That is a case of 1. a faulty product and 2. negligence since the gun was returned in the same state and I never, after insisting many times by email and other mediums, received an explanation of what was done to the gun. To be honest, I don't even think the gun was checked at all

As a closing remark, I have found that many times people are unreasonably defensive when talking about FX guns. I've seen it in many posts, while looking for a solution to my problem, that some people try to transfer the blame to the user and not the company. I get that there are people that damage the gun due to user fault, but many can agree that there are several instances where that is not the case and the official excuse is that since they are very tunable, then the user has to figure out what the sweet tuning is.
 
Thanks for clarifying, so in your case I understand the frustration. That is why I made sure to say my earlier paragraph isn’t meant to be directed right to you and only you, just meant for others who will pop into this thread with possibly similar problems.

And if I appeared that I was defending a gun maker, I was not. My comments were not only based on my own experiences but also with talking with techs that work on our guns.

It’s like anything else in life. I watched a guy at my local Ford dealer years ago pull up and as I’m chatting it up with him he tells me he’s in because he fried his tranny on a six month old truck, because he towed a fifth wheel with his programmer set to 80 plus more horsepower, the race setting.

I watched him quickly set the trucks program back to stock with the programmer, before he walked in to speak to a warranty person.

I took his number down as I wanted to know the outcome. A week later I called him and he said Ford denied it as they were able to find a “footprint” in the computers files, left by the programmer.

Good luck with getting your gun back to where you would like it to be
 
Where's the FX representative at? I too like to see this issue resolve. It seems like FX are very good at customer service when you needs parts. But when you have real issues, they don't don't even answer or gone MIA. It happened to me too when I have my Maverick (diff issue though), I ended up got help from this forum members. And now I no longer own the Maverick, not because of the service. But more of I see the drawing on the wall that it'll have issue later on, I've to treat the Maverick like an egg if not poi will change.
 
@Bigragu I understand your point but can't agree with the first part..

To answer your question, per my first message in this post, I wrote that the problems were noticeable the first day of use. So yes.

Now, even if a user has "lubed it, adjusted the trigger", etc., it is a huge stretch to use this to put into question a warranty claim, since these actions are part of what is a reasonable use of the product -> typical use of similar products and what is stated in their website/ads/manual.

The heart of the issue here is that the gun underperformed from the very beginning and after following all instructions from FX Customer Service and then sending it to repair, the gun is still not working properly. That is a case of 1. a faulty product and 2. negligence since the gun was returned in the same state and I never, after insisting many times by email and other mediums, received an explanation of what was done to the gun. To be honest, I don't even think the gun was checked at all

As a closing remark, I have found that many times people are unreasonably defensive when talking about FX guns. I've seen it in many posts, while looking for a solution to my problem, that some people try to transfer the blame to the user and not the company. I get that there are people that damage the gun due to user fault, but many can agree that there are several instances where that is not the case and the official excuse is that since they are very tunable, then the user has to figure out what the sweet tuning is.
Hi Samc11,

We have investigated what could be the difficulties your facing with your rifle. Our techs and customer service are aware of and tracking on the repairs, tuning, and testing that took place. The technician that worked on your rifle read the thread this morning and wanted you to be given some options for the next steps. You can e-mail us, and we are keeping a look out for your e-mail, or you can call CS/technician when you are available. Or we can send you an email or phone call, whichever works best. Please feel free to DM us or reply here if you want us to reach out to you.

Regards,

FX Airguns USA
 
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I'm having a hard time understanding guys talking about a floppy barrel on the Maverick . The barrel is held in place at 4 places, the shroud is around 14" long on the VP and is screwed directly into the frame. It makes sense if your shooting long unsupported barrel. All the barrel bracing is what attracted me to the bull pup design. My poi haven't moved in my 600mm barrel.

This video might help some.
 
I bought a FX Maverick Sniper cal. 22 from PyramydAir 2 weeks ago. I had been very busy, so I was only able to test this weekend. To my surprise, when shooting on the Power wheel 5, which at first seemed the best velocity for my JSB 18.13, I got shot velocities all over the place as well. They were from 831 fps to 904. Tried another shot string and the spread was from 817 to 903. I checked the regs to see what the pressures were: 140 and 100 aprox. After readjusting, I decided to let them in 130 and 95 (made my best, since the gauge is extremely small). I went to shooting again, and this time I got a spread from 888 to 950 with the same power wheel position (std dev of 21.3, which is a lot). I am getting very worried because I bought this rifle expecting tight speeds (2 to 4 fps of max spread). I am able to achieve 8 fps of max spread with a $500 Hatsan, so I expect much more from a rifle almost 4 times the price.

Some additional info to "replicate the behaviour":
1. When I received the rifle, I emptied the bottle and then emptied the rifle by dry-firing it (just as some of FX videos suggest when disassembling)
2. My barrel came uninstalled, so I proceeded to install it: all the way in, with the P vent downwards (the barrel is a Smooth Twist Superior X, 700 mm), no sound moderator
3. I have seen videos where after each shot, there is a sound of air filling. With mine, it happens from time to time very randomly. That is, some 5-7 shots there is no sound, and then at the 6-8 there is. Sometimes is between each shot.
4. The max I've been able to fill the bottle is to 200 bar.
5. I am not rapid-firing the rifle
6. Did the "tissue test" in the pellet probe and the tissue barely moves, but it moves in the right side.
7. Checked the screws from the cocking arm that attach to the steel rod and they are tight (#37 in the parts diagram)
8. Checked the hammer screw and it was tight as well. Checked the internal screw that holds the adjustment screw and it was tight as well (#88 in the parts diagram)
9. Currently I have shot around 80 pellets.

Here is the FX diagram for the Maverick, btw (https://fxairguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Maverick-schematic.pdf)


Neither the chrono nor the pellets are to blame, since I have had great success with other guns shooting the same tin of pellets. I have already emailed FX but I want to check all possibilities to take a quick decision with regards to the air gun.

Thank you very much!


I'm running my regs at 85 on the second and around 120-130 on the first. It's shoots 18gr pellets at 890 fps at this time . Yous sniper should have higher fps with the longer barrel than my VP. Easily over 900fps.

I would back the pressure down on the second reg and get your hammer spring tuned in. They shoot down pretty fast, I've heard. Lol

Start with turning your HS in clockwise until you start loosing speed. Then start turning the HS counter clockwise until you find its peak fps. Then back it in some for better efficiency.

That's what I did anyway. And I'm not done. I wouldn't want to mail my FX right mow with all the ups and mail workers out there swamped and angry. Hope it helps.

Shot count: 20
Low: 886
Hi: 898
Avg: 892
STD Dev: 3.2
Spread: 12.0

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the barrel IS screwed on, but the barrel is held at ZERO place. What's held is the barrel sleeve/housing, not the actual barrel. If it's held so well, I wonder why FX? or XX selling barrel sleeve and tensioner for?

The barrel rides on o-rings.theres no slop or flex in mine. Sure you can by stiffer liner but does it really need one ? I don't have a problem with the accuracy.

10 shot groups at 27 yards. I can't blame the gun. Just under 50 yards 4 of 5 holes were touching on my first time out.

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So you just confirmed yourself the barrel is not held at 4 places then, ok. Thank you.

I will confirm the barrel is held in place in 4 places with O rings between all facets of the barrel. AND the suppressor tube screws directly into the frame with the barrel and shroud centerd by Orings. A 14" tube screwed directly into frame holds the barrel centerd with Orings between each piece . Think about it.
 
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