My FiX Wildcat MK2 Review

[Blackpaw]

Okay @intenseaty22 I find it very disturbing that @FXUSA hasn’t even “manned up” to do anything to help you with the issue. I am in the EHS field and quality issues can turn into safety issues, if allowed to repeat over time. Small things can turn into big things, and yes, I acknowledge this as an escalation, but I want to get a point across.

I never accept a company doing an “OH WELL, sorry you drew the short stick, but you just have to deal with it unless you want to spend another $400.” Yes, I have kind of suffered this myself, self admitting, but people have stepped up to make it right. From what I have seen so far, @FXAirguns and @FXUSA www.FXAIRGUNS.com would not do this, even when they admit their failures.

Just to note: back in the early 2000s Toyota’s sales decreased because of poor customer service from their dealers. Even though overall Toyota was still building a quality vehicle their sales started to decrease on how dealers handled complaints with the one off quality issues, and this was BEFORE the WWW really was part of customer complaint’s search. People started to lose faith in the Toyota brand because of arrogance of their product. It cost Toyota a lot of money, and the company took a few years to bring back their brand name.

@FXUSA / @FXAirguns can learn from Toyota, listen to every customer, or in the end Toyota did rebuild their reputation but did lose forever loyal customers.

 

[Guest]

Very well done. Thanks

 

[tor47]

A nice and honest review. You clearly got a lemon there. I had similiar experiance with my wildcat mk2 in .177. Here is my story: When I got it the accuracy was not that good, and when I chronied it the velocity would jump maybe 60-70 fps from one day to another. I then suspected the reg was faulty, and later confirmed it by adding a gauge in the bleeder hole in the stock. It would jump as much as 20 bar or so. It worked fine from a full fill, but once the bottle pressure reached 150-140 bar, it started to creep up. Since my wildcat was ammong the first production of mk2`s it had the old style reg, similiar to the one in the mk1 guns, not the AMP version. I did not contact the dealer (I live in Norway btw, so the gun was not bought in US), as I wanted an easier adjustable reg anyway, and bought a huma reg. I have btw done the same modification on the stock, as you did, so tuning got simpler. After the huma reg install it got better, until I managed to get the endcap stuck on the tube, while dismantling the gun while tuning. The story about the endcap getting stuck was my own fault. Instead of unscrewing and see what the problem was, when the threads did not run smoothly, I used more force. It did make the encap reaching halfway in, and got completely stuck.

My next step was to buy a completely new mk2 tube, with AMP reg inside. I btw went for a 300cc tube for more air available. When the new tube with AMP reg was installed, the tuning prosses was really easy, but I did not get the accuracy where I wanted it. As a last step, I tried the smoth twist X- liner which I had for my .177 barrel kit for my FX crown, and the gun now shoots very nice. I have since tried the same liner which did come with the wildcat, in my crown, and I have never got it to shoot good. So in my case the gun was shipped with a faulty reg, and a bad liner.

I would still say I am happy with my FX guns. I have 4, a bobcat mk1 in .177, a FX crown in .22 which I owned before the wildcat, and a impact in .177 I got later. I also own a taipan veteran in .177. The crown in .22 shot good as long as the pellets are lubed (it is a gen 1), and the impact I have had no issues with. I have since bought barrel kits for the impact in .25, and .22. They all shoot good with the proper tune. Some prefer lubed pellets for extended cleaning and stable POI. Since my impact also was in .177 it was a tackdriver with the factory tune. It use the same barrel system as on the wildcat, and I have had no issues with it. But I have never done a comparable POI test as you have done.

Of the 4 FX guns I own, the wildcat was the only one with clearly faults in it. I did once managed to screw up the reg in my crown. It is a gen 1, before the AMP, and I did turn it in the wrong way while tuning, which made it start to creep. But that was a user error, and have worked nice after I installed a reg repair kit. The AMP reg in both my wildcat and impact have been adjusted many times, and work just fine. But I do take extra care when I do adjust it.

About the wildcat: In my case I clearly got a lemon, as you probably did, and I should not have messed with it, but instead returned it to the dealer. That would probably had fixed the issues from the start. But now as I have "fixed" it (messed up a litle first, and then got it working), I am happy with the wildcat. I still would recommend a wildcat, as it is a very nice and ergonomical gun.

The only thing I do not like on the mk2 even when the gun is working fine, is that it requires to take the stock off to adjust hammer, and it is a litle flimsy as you allso point out. And there is no way to lock it, without some modification, or using locktite. I have done the same mod on the stock, which doeas not bother me, but it is not good if you plan to sell the gun later. The mk3 seems to have improved on the way hammer is adjusted. As I understand FX produce many 10th of thousands of guns a year, I would believe customers which do happen to get a lemon is relative few.

 

[intenseaty22]

@tor47 I’m sure you are right about it being relatively only a few lemons, but when it’s you that gets stuck with the lemon, it’s really bitter.

I also understand that happens even to the best of companies. However, when you have such a successful company, that basically tells me, “yeah, those were hit or miss in .177” and not make it right, all the while giving out $1800 guns for free to the likes of Matt, 68, & Ted and spending thousands on marketing, that, in my book is the real problem. But, I’m sure they can afford to loose a few sales from honest reviews here and there.