FX new gun won't accept air, what am I doing wrong? (fx wildcat)

[fuegonasus]

I have just got my first air gun! It is a fx wildcat mk3 bottle compact.
I bought with it a small air tank.

Unfortunately I can not figure out how to fill the air gun
Since I'm new to the hobby, it may be something obvious I'm missing, or I may just be doing it wrong or missing a step somewhere...

Can anyone here be kind enough to double check my process and offer any advice? I would really appreciate it.

STEPS:

1. I got the tank (guppy from topgun airguns) filled at a local paintball shop, (unfortunately there are no airgun stores even within an hour drive of me).
They filled it to where the gauge says about 4000ish psi. Tho now it's down to 3500 after all my attempted troubleshooting.

2. When I get home I connect one end of the hose to the tank. I make sure the side bleed valve and the top open valve are both closed.

3. I take off the little dust cap on the fill opening of the gun. I slide the quick connect part from the other end of the hose over it, making sure it locks in place.

4. I slowly open the tank valve. Here the gauge on the tank jumps a bit (i'm assuming because it is filing the hose.)
HOWEVER, it stops after that small bit and does not rise any.
And also NOTHING happens on the gauge of the gun, the numbers don't move at all, even if waiting a full minute.
It just stays on the same number (stays at what it came with, maybe 240ish, I was trying to fill it to the 300 full line)

5. I close the tank top valve. I open the bleed valve on the side, and air comes out of it plus the gauge on the tank itself empties. Then I disconnect the hose from the gun.


6. Once the hose is disconnected from the gun, I opened the tank valve back up to see if air comes out of the hose by itself, and it does.


So it seems no air is getting into the gun?

I tried googling some stuff to see if I can find any suggestions,
One suggestion was to try filling it with the gun cocked, or with the lever held partially cocked.
I tried both, but same thing, air will come out of the hose, but if the hose is connected to the gun, nothing happens.

Another suggestion I read was dry firing the gun a few times to maybe reset inside stuff.
Tried that, it fires fine. But attempting the fill actions after, again nothing happens.


Anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance

 

[LDP]

How much are you opening the valve on the tank? Are you sure the tank has 3500 psi in it? How are you verifying what the fill tanks pressure is at? How much pressure does the wildcat have in it? If the wildcat has 240 ish bar thats roughly 3500 psi. So if the fill tank is at 3500 psi and the wildcat is at 3500 psi its not going to fill since they are at equal pressure.

From what the FX site says about the wildcat one model has a fill pressure of 230 bar and the other has a 250 bar fill. Why are you trying to fill to 300 bar?

 

[fuegonasus]

How much are you opening the valve on the tank? Are you sure the tank has 3500 psi in it? How are you verifying what the fill tanks pressure is at? How much pressure does the wildcat have in it? If the wildcat has 240 ish bar thats roughly 3500 psi. So if the fill tank is at 3500 psi and the wildcat is at 3500 psi its not going to fill since they are at equal pressure.

From what the FX site says about the wildcat one model has a fill pressure of 230 bar and the other has a 250 bar fill. Why are you trying to fill to 300 bar?

Hi thank you so much for taking time to try to help! I'll try to answer your questions so far

I have tried opening the valve a little, tried it halfway, and also turning it all the way where it won't turn anymore.
None of those have done anything when connected to the gun.

I am not positive the tank started at 4000 and now has 3500 psi, but that is what the gauge on it says.
This tank has two gauges on it, one that says how much is in the tank,
and a second gauge that shows pressure when filling something.
This second one is the one I was talking about that is moving a bit to show the pressure in the hose
Here is a link to what tank I bought https://www.topgun-airguns.com/product/guppy/

The wildcat has 240ish bar according to the gauge next to the bottle.
The gauge goes to 300, and also this model on their website says the air capacity goes to 300cc.
I think the one you mentioned that says 250 is a different model. This is bt compact.
Here is a link that has the models listed https://fxairguns.com/rifles/wildcat-mkIII/

And the reason I was trying to fill to 300 even tho it has 240, is because I just got the tank filled for the first time like I said,
and I wanted to test out how to do the process and figured topping the gun to full would be good before I went out to shoot it


Thank you for trying to help me narrow it down!

 

[LDP]

The gauge goes to 300, and also this model on their website says the air capacity goes to 300cc.

Thats the capacity of the air reservoir not the pressure to fill to. Like I said one model has a max fill pressure of 230 bar and the other has a max fill pressure of 250 bar. The receiver will have one of those two max fill pressures engraved on it. Also if the wildcat has 3500 psi and the fill tank has 3500 psi its not going to fill it more. First thing you need to do is verify which fill pressure is correct either 230 bar or 250 bar. Next if they both have equal pressure you will need to shoot the wildcat down to the reg setting then try to fill it. I almost guarantee it will fill when you do that and only fill it to the stated 230 or 250 bar for your model. Next to the magazine on the butt pad side of the receiver you see big letters that say FX wildcat mkIII. You will also see smaller writing on the other side of the magazine, the muzzle side that says fx airguns along with serial number and some other writing. It will also say max pressure and either 230 bar or 250 bar.

 

[trompis]

if air is coming through the hose. then the foster fitting(part that attaches to the gun) is not tight, remove it and put 2-3 layers of teflon tape. WHEN THERE IS NO AIR IN THE GUN DO NOT DRY FIRE. put your hammer wheel adjuster at minimum , cock the gun and throw a big burst of air to begin and then slow fill it to 100 bar, after that let it cool and fill to 200bar, let it cool and again fill to 230 bar. when fully empty is wise to do it in steps so condensation wont build in your internals

 

[LDP]

Here is where the max fill pressure will be listed

 

[fuegonasus]

Thats the capacity of the air reservoir not the pressure to fill to. Like I said one model has a max fill pressure of 230 bar and the other has a max fill pressure of 250 bar. The receiver will have one of those two max fill pressures engraved on it. Also if the wildcat has 3500 psi and the fill tank has 3500 psi its not going to fill it more. First thing you need to do is verify which fill pressure is correct either 230 bar or 250 bar. Next if they both have equal pressure you will need to shoot the wildcat down to the reg setting then try to fill it. I almost guarantee it will fill when you do that and only fill it to the stated 230 or 250 bar for your model.

Oh, I see! You're right, on the website there is a listing for air capacity 300 cc, and then further down the page it says fill pressure 250 bar.
I absolutely don't know the difference between those and I am going to read up on it, thank you so much, I thought when it said the air capacity is 300, and there is a gauge next to the bottle that goes up to 300, that is what it meant

So you're saying basically the gun is already full and to ignore the gun gauge because even tho the dial goes to 300, it will never ever get to 300?
If I am understanding correctly?

 

[LDP]

So you're saying basically the gun is already full and to ignore the gun gauge because even tho the dial goes to 300, it will never ever get to 300?
If I am understanding correctly?

I am saying if its the 250 bar model then its almost full and do not fill it to 300 bar. No the rifle will fill to whatever pressure you try to push in it at least until something fails.

Look at the pic I posted it shows the location of the engraving that tells you what the max fill for your model is.

 

[LDP]

Oh, I see! You're right, on the website there is a listing for air capacity 300 cc, and then further down the page it says fill pressure 250 bar.
I absolutely don't know the difference between those and I am going to read up on it

The capacity is how much air the wildcats reservoir holds. The fill pressure is the max pressure you can subject the regulator to and or the rifles air reservoir.

 

[fuegonasus]

I am saying if its the 250 bar model then its almost full and do not fill it to 300 bar. No the rifle will fill to whatever pressure you try to push in it at least until something fails.

Look at the pic I posted it shows the location of the engraving that tells you what the max fill for your model is.

Alright, I think I got it now.
I guess I am super lucky then, that the tank could not push more air in it, because I definitely would have tried to fill the gauge up to the 300 mark.

Honestly, looking at the gauge, it should have red markings past the 250, because it is not intuitive at all, to me it looks like it should be filled to the full line.

Actually i am just going to take some red nail polish and paint the edge of the dial from 250-300 (serious)

Thank you for being patient and explaining things.

 

[fuegonasus]

if air is coming through the hose. then the foster fitting(part that attaches to the gun) is not tight, remove it and put 2-3 layers of teflon tape. WHEN THERE IS NO AIR IN THE GUN DO NOT DRY FIRE. put your hammer wheel adjuster at minimum , cock the gun and throw a big burst of air to begin and then slow fill it to 100 bar, after that let it cool and fill to 200bar, let it cool and again fill to 230 bar. when fully empty is wise to do it in steps so condensation wont build in your internals

Hi, the other member here helped me figure out what I wasn't understanding, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to chime in to try and help me also.

And especially the tip for filling the bars in stages and letting it cool in between, that had not occurred to me and I will keep that in mind when the gun is empty and I am refilling it next

 

[techna]

Just to be sure you’re understanding things correctly. The gauge you’re showing displays pressure in bar. 300 bar is just a little over 4300 psi, so if your local paintball store is able to fill your guppy to 4500, you will absolutely be able to fill (overfill) your Wildcat to 300 bar. Don’t do that! Watch the gauge on the gun and close the fill valve when it reaches the max fill pressure of 250 bar as shown in the picture LDP has provided. There is no regulator in your filling system to prevent overfilling, so if you don’t close the fill valve at the appropriate pressure, the guppy will keep putting pressure into the gun until the gun and guppy have equalized. The “300” you’re seeing on your Wildcat’s bottle is the volume or space inside the bottle, with that capacity listed in cubic centimeters. It is NOT the max working pressure rating in bar, and has nothing to do with the filling process as it is being discussed here. And by the way, the Wildcat is such a neat gun to me. I’ve liked them since the first version, and will probably have to pick up a BT Compact some day.

 

[Emu]

Just to be sure you’re understanding things correctly. The gauge you’re showing displays pressure in bar. 300 bar is just a little over 4300 psi, so if your local paintball store is able to fill your guppy to 4500, you will absolutely be able to fill (overfill) your Wildcat to 300 bar. Don’t do that! Watch the gauge on the gun and close the fill valve when it reaches the max fill pressure of 250 bar as shown in the picture LDP has provided. There is no regulator in your filling system to prevent overfilling, so if you don’t close the fill valve at the appropriate pressure, the guppy will keep putting pressure into the gun until the gun and guppy have equalized. The “300” you’re seeing on your Wildcat’s bottle is the volume or space inside the bottle, with that capacity listed in cubic centimeters. It is NOT the max working pressure rating in bar, and has nothing to do with the filling process as it is being discussed here. And by the way, the Wildcat is such a neat gun to me. I’ve liked them since the first version, and will probably have to pick up a BT Compact some day.

One manometer shows pressure in the tank of the rifle, that one goes up or down and should not be filled above recommended pressure. The other manometer shows pressure in regulator and never moves, no matter pressure on tank.

 

[IndyDurtdigger]

My Wildcat FX MkIII came with the wrong owner's manual, had an M3 book which does state a fill of 300 BAR. If you are using it to get your fill pressures and op instructions, it's worth making sure yours has the correct book as there could still be some floating around with the wrong ones.

 

[fuegonasus]

Just to be sure you’re understanding things correctly. The gauge you’re showing displays pressure in bar. 300 bar is just a little over 4300 psi, so if your local paintball store is able to fill your guppy to 4500, you will absolutely be able to fill (overfill) your Wildcat to 300 bar. Don’t do that! Watch the gauge on the gun and close the fill valve when it reaches the max fill pressure of 250 bar as shown in the picture LDP has provided. There is no regulator in your filling system to prevent overfilling, so if you don’t close the fill valve at the appropriate pressure, the guppy will keep putting pressure into the gun until the gun and guppy have equalized. The “300” you’re seeing on your Wildcat’s bottle is the volume or space inside the bottle, with that capacity listed in cubic centimeters. It is NOT the max working pressure rating in bar, and has nothing to do with the filling process as it is being discussed here. And by the way, the Wildcat is such a neat gun to me. I’ve liked them since the first version, and will probably have to pick up a BT Compact some day.

Thank you for breaking it down like this, it definitely helps reassure me I am finally understanding it thoroughly now!

 

[fuegonasus]

My Wildcat FX MkIII came with the wrong owner's manual, had an M3 book which does state a fill of 300 BAR. If you are using it to get your fill pressures and op instructions, it's worth making sure yours has the correct book as there could still be some floating around with the wrong ones.

My manual is wrong too, it doesn't have a number listed in bars at all,
but the page of instruction on charging the rifle, it only has instructions for the Mki and the Mkii...
even tho the front of the manual correctly states MKiii !!!

Also, the pictures of the fill ports and how to fill it in the manual also only show the 1 and 2 version,
and the mk3 actual gun has it in a completely different spot than both the 1 and 2 versions.

Makes me kind of nervous other stuff in the manual is ALSO different, but being new I wouldn't know lol.

 

[fuegonasus]

One manometer shows pressure in the tank of the rifle, that one goes up or down and should not be filled above recommended pressure. The other manometer shows pressure in regulator and never moves, no matter pressure on tank.

Oh hey manometer is such a cool word, I didn't know that one. Just been thinking gauges and dials.

 

[North East Airguns]

99% of the time on a "won't fill" situation is the refilling source is at or below the pressure in the rifle. In your case I would recommend shooting it enough to drop the pressure to say 110 bar. Once the tank shows 110 bar then connect your guppy tank and attempt to refill it. You should be good to go. Also please do not fill any pcp past the recommended fill pressure.

 

[jking]

Hi, the other member here helped me figure out what I wasn't understanding, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to chime in to try and help me also.

And especially the tip for filling the bars in stages and letting it cool in between, that had not occurred to me and I will keep that in mind when the gun is empty and I am refilling it next

Just wanted to make sure that you understand that you don't want to shoot the gun down to empty. You don't want to shoot it down below its normal "regulated" pressure. Make a mental note or written note of what that pressure is (the other gauge, not the fill gauge) when the gun has been filled to its 250bar or there abouts pressure. That regulated pressure may be anywhere from 90bar or 160bar. It just depends on how the gun is tuned, so if the gauge is showing for example 120bar and it never moves then that is your regulated pressure. Keep an eye on that gauge and when you notice that it's starting to fall off, that is the point at which you want to refill the gun. Also, if you're new to the PCP world, I wouldn't make ANY adjustment's until you fully understand the whole process and the gun.

 

[LDP]

@fuegonasus Youre welcome.
Thanks @techna, @Emu, @jking for chiming in and mentioning the fill gauge vs the regulated pressure gauge and helping to clear up the wording. It was late and I was tired and didnt even think about mentioning the two different gauges and what function they perform.

@jking you should be getting something monday