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Tuning Tuning My FX Maverick Is Harder Than I Anticipated

Dude I just bought brand new, the Thor 4 and the rangefinder. 2300 bones.

It's only money, right?
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Honestly, don't know don't care. I'll be keeping it unless it fails. I'm pumped about this one! You pushed me over the edge on this one, btw. Hahaha.

Ever since I was but a little boy watching Predator I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I would never go to the grave without having possessed predator-vision. I'm now the absolute most dangerous thing in the woods. Probably already was before...but...ya know?

Anyway that bad boi shipped today, will be here Monday. I'm happy to pay full price for new rather than a refurb. And also from a Florida location so there is no tax (taxation is theft!). I got the little goodies package with it, too, so that's nice. Stay tuned for some videos. I'm probably gonna be non-stop yote hunting when it gets here. Man am I stoked!

I'm all ears for any other tips you have for this thing. 






 
I got in the slug kit, and it came with a heavier hammer:

20220310_205900.1647030258.jpg


It was already difficult to clamp down the barrel to remove the retainer, but once I finally got that out, nothing on earth would get that barrel liner out of the barrel housing! I even clamped the end of the liner in a vise and pulled with all my might, and it wouldn't budge! After messing with it for over an hour, I gave up, after I almost messed up the STX Superior Liner crown, so I'll run it without the carbon fiber sleeve for now. I already got another barrel in my shopping cart just in case I damaged this one. 😔

I'm about to retune the regs with the new hammer and try to get some groundhog pesting in before dark.

Here are my scope tips that I have:

  • If you didn't get the ATN QD mount, just order it now. That way you can swap it between guns.
  • Create profiles for your most used ammo and zero with the velocity you plan to use. Remember, you can only store 6 profiles. Back profiles up to the internal SD-Card when you complete setup.
  • Scope height is very important for the Ballistics Calculator, so make sure you enter it accurately.
  • It's a pain in the butt to try and keep a target hot or cold to try and zero the gun. Just get some 3 inch aluminum foil squares, and tape it to your target. Then tilt your target towards the sky a little bit (5-10 degrees), and this will reflect the dead cold of space to your scope.
  • Black Hot and White Hot modes have the most resolution, but using Fusion or Glowbow can help you pick out things that Black Hot might miss.
  • Run your thermal contrast on low and you sensitivity on 1 or 2. Any higher for either setting adds noise to the video.
  • The thermal scope reads relative temperatures, so you may see colors shift a lot when panning, especially when there is nothing with a big temp difference.
  • Keep your video frame rate set for 60fps, so you can do slo-mo in post.
  • I'd skip the RAV feature right now unless you got the time to train it to detect your airgun.
  • The video quality is much better taking the video off of the SD-Card instead of trying to uploads it using the app. Strange, but true!
  • Compass takes time to calibrate. It may show Err or EMF, but don't worry about it. It will correct itself after a few calibration attempts.
  • Keep the display brightness on 2 or 1 when using at night to try and limit eye fatigue.
  • First focus the eye piece so the icons in the scope are sharp, then focus the front bell.
  • It takes awhile to charge the scope, but you can play with it connected directly into your phone charger.
  • With one shot zero, you keep the white cross on your aim point and move the other cross to where the shot landed. A lot of people get this backwards.
  • Mount the ABL behind the front bell for a more compact setup that isn't as front heavy.

20220301_203321.1647030699.jpg



 
I did do a video on the carbon sleeve installation, not sure if it helps with your situation but here ya go:
https://youtu.be/cvsa3Rfgk08

Thanks for yet another detailed reply. I got the QD mount, absolutely need that. It was part of the free goodies package (thermal targets, bluetooth scroller thingy, QD mount).

I've bookmarked this thread and will definitely revisit when I receive it. I got my scope and rangefinder in the "Elements Terra" colorway. Sounds like you're stoked with yours, hopefully that will be the same with me and mine! :) 
 
I tried that and couldn't get any grip, and I almost nicked my crown! 

So I placed the tip of the liner in a vise, and pulled with all my might to no avail, then I just quit. 😔

I guess I can willingly damage the liner, by clamping super tight in the vise and just buy another one, but I haven't got out to shoot to see what the accuracy is like long range yet.

I meant to ask you about the rail alignment. When I sighted in my scope, I had to add a significant amount of horizontal adjustment to get the scope to zero. For instance, my Bulldog needed 31 units of horizontal alignment, but my Maverick needed 181!

Is this because of some cant in the pic rail? I've seen some people complain about this, but I don't know what I'd have to do to fix it if that's the case.
 
The complete barrel assembly does not need to be removed to remove the liner, nor does the cheek piece need to be removed .

Just unthread the shroud and remove liner lock nut, then slide the liner out. 


if the liner is too tight to pull out then remove the cheek piece and loosen barrel lock grub screws. But keep the barrel in place, just slide the liner out.

The end of the liner with the o ring groove goes towards the breech block upon reassembly.


If your gun shot accurately or if you were sighted in before sliding out the liner, make it a point that at any time you pull the liner always place a reference index mark on the liner so it can be re inserted in the same exact position upon reassembly. Not doing so will for sure move your original point of impact at least 3-5” up/down and 3-5” left/right.

pre marking the liner will only put you off your original point of aim a click or two
 

The complete barrel assembly does not need to be removed to remove the liner, nor does the cheek piece need to be removed .

Just unthread the shroud and remove liner lock nut, then slide the liner out. 


if the liner is too tight to pull out then remove the cheek piece and loosen barrel lock grub screws. But keep the barrel in place, just slide the liner out.

The end of the liner with the o ring groove goes towards the breech block upon reassembly.


If your gun shot accurately or if you were sighted in before sliding out the liner, make it a point that at any time you pull the liner always place a reference index mark on the liner so it can be re inserted in the same exact position upon reassembly. Not doing so will for sure move your original point of impact at least 3-5” up/down and 3-5” left/right.

pre marking the liner will only put you off your original point of aim a click or two

There is no way on earth the liner was gonna slide out. Full Stop.

I put the end of the line in, vise grips to no avail, and even a bench vise using a third of my body weight and it didn't budge.

Like I said, it's like it's arc welded in place!
 
I had the exact same issue. I'm set at 170 140 and 7 on the power wheel and I was getting low to mid 700's weird thing is when my tank gets down to about 130 bar I start getting more power in the 840 to 870 range, but I'm getting no where close to even 900 so I asked the shop I got it from and he said my gun had the lighter 11gram hammer instead of the 13 gram hammer. He's having FX send me the correct hammer. Anyone else have issues with the gun being weak at the top of the fill and more powerful at the bottom ? 
 
I had the exact same issue. I'm set at 170 140 and 7 on the power wheel and I was getting low to mid 700's weird thing is when my tank gets down to about 130 bar I start getting more power in the 840 to 870 range, but I'm getting no where close to even 900 so I asked the shop I got it from and he said my gun had the lighter 11gram hammer instead of the 13 gram hammer. He's having FX send me the correct hammer. Anyone else have issues with the gun being weak at the top of the fill and more powerful at the bottom ?

I know exactly why that is!

Your hammer isn't heavy enough to overcome the second regulator pressure, so it can't open the valve fully. When your bottle starts to drop in pressure, the first regulator is out of the picture, and when the bottle drops past the second regulator, the pressure is low enough so your current hammer is heavy enough to open the valve more.

I just bought the slug kit for the Maverick for .22 and .25 cal, and it had the heavier hammer weight in it and just used the hammer, and now I'm running great. I'm running around 155/135 and get a consistent 930 fps with FX Hybrid Slugs on 7, and 880 with NSA 54.5 gr slugs.

My 6 shot group has a spread of 4 and standard deviation of 1.8. Velocities gradually come down as I go to from 7 to 1, which is exactly the tune I need.

I'm currently very happy with room to spare at 85 fpe with Exact 44.75 and Hybrid Slugs and just over 91 fpe with NSA 54.5 gr slugs.
 
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I had the exact same issue. I'm set at 170 140 and 7 on the power wheel and I was getting low to mid 700's weird thing is when my tank gets down to about 130 bar I start getting more power in the 840 to 870 range, but I'm getting no where close to even 900 so I asked the shop I got it from and he said my gun had the lighter 11gram hammer instead of the 13 gram hammer. He's having FX send me the correct hammer. Anyone else have issues with the gun being weak at the top of the fill and more powerful at the bottom ?

I know exactly why that is!

Your hammer isn't heavy enough to overcome the second regulator pressure. When your bottle starts to drop in pressure, the first regulator is out of the picture. When the bottle drops past the second regulator, they pressure is low enough so your current hammer is heavy enough to open the valve more.

I just bought the slug kit for the Maverick for .22 and .25 cal, and it had the heavier hammer weight in it, and now I'm running great. I'm running around 155/135 and get a consistent 930 fps with FX Hybrid Slugs on 7, and 880 with NSA 54.5 gr slugs. with 3 turns counter clockwise.

My 6 shot group has a spread of 4 and standard deviation of 1.8. Velocities gradually come down as I go to from 7 to 1, which is exactly the tune I need.

I'm currently very happy with room to spare!

Great news, I was hoping it was just the light hammer and that makes perfect sense. Thanks for that tune info 925 930 is exactly what I was looking for. When you say 3 turns counter clockwise you're referring to the little Allen hole on the power wheel right below the words "adjust"? Is that only for the heavier slugs? 
 
I had the exact same issue. I'm set at 170 140 and 7 on the power wheel and I was getting low to mid 700's weird thing is when my tank gets down to about 130 bar I start getting more power in the 840 to 870 range, but I'm getting no where close to even 900 so I asked the shop I got it from and he said my gun had the lighter 11gram hammer instead of the 13 gram hammer. He's having FX send me the correct hammer. Anyone else have issues with the gun being weak at the top of the fill and more powerful at the bottom ?

I know exactly why that is!

Your hammer isn't heavy enough to overcome the second regulator pressure. When your bottle starts to drop in pressure, the first regulator is out of the picture. When the bottle drops past the second regulator, they pressure is low enough so your current hammer is heavy enough to open the valve more.

I just bought the slug kit for the Maverick for .22 and .25 cal, and it had the heavier hammer weight in it, and now I'm running great. I'm running around 155/135 and get a consistent 930 fps with FX Hybrid Slugs on 7, and 880 with NSA 54.5 gr slugs. with 3 turns counter clockwise.

My 6 shot group has a spread of 4 and standard deviation of 1.8. Velocities gradually come down as I go to from 7 to 1, which is exactly the tune I need.

I'm currently very happy with room to spare!

Great news, I was hoping it was just the light hammer and that makes perfect sense. Thanks for that tune info 925 930 is exactly what I was looking for. When you say 3 turns counter clockwise you're referring to the little Allen hole on the power wheel right below the words "adjust"? Is that only for the heavier slugs?

Yes, that was the adjustment I did on the hammer spring. I did that adjustment so I can have a wide range of tuneability from pellets to mid weight slugs. I don't vary that adjustment from one ammo to another; I did it once, and that was it. On my tune, I wanted to be able to take out starlings at distance and up close, as well as reach out and take coyote. So I can shoot starlings at 50-60 yards on power wheel 4, but I can also shoot them up close on power wheel 1 when they are 20 yards away in my tree. If I was taking on groundhogs, I would use power wheel 7 and the JSB Exacts, Hades, Hybrids and NSA 54.5 slugs would do the job up close, with only Hybrids and NSA slugs for greater distances.

If I wanted more power, I guess I could tune my regulator higher, but I prefer lower noise and greater shot count with the current tune. I still find this tune still makes a fair bit of noise, even with the Ronin installed when on power wheel 7. If I really want more power, I'll just use my Bulldogs, as they are right around 190fpe.