"CHUCK"My FX Wildcat was my first regulated air rifle. I assumed that the FX regulator would always give me a consistent shot string – and in the very beginning it did – but eventually it began fluctuating up or down badly. These fluctuations revealed themselves on the target at 50 yards as shots hitting above or below the normal point of impact…it would be perfect for awhile and then start acting up again. Because I naively believed the FX regulator would always be consistent I assumed that my scope was not holding zero. So I sent my scope at the time – a Leupold Mark AR Mod1 6-18X40 – back to Leupold several times swearing that it wasn’t holding zero, wrongly believing the scope was the problem.
Leupold finally offered to upgrade it to a VX 3i EFR Target Rifle Scope 6.5-20X40mm for free – to which I had their custom shop add a special reticle for an additional $160.00. My heart sank when I mounted the new Leupold EFR on my Wildcat and thought it was not holding zero either! The supervisor convinced me that he had checked the scope personally before shipping it to me to make sure it was holding zero, and that I should look elsewhere for the problem causing my point of impact changes.
So I got out my chronograph – which I now know I should have done in the first place – and much to my chagrin I discovered the problem was with the regulator and not the scope after all. I felt like a complete horses ass and called the guy at Leupold back to apologize and explain what I discovered. I even offered to pay the difference for the upgrade since I figured out that it wasn’t the scope’s fault after all, but he refused and told me just to chalk it up to experience. Great people at Leupold!
Next I borrowed a reg tester from Ernest to see just exactly what was going on with the FX regulator, which revealed the terrible truth that the regulator would stay the same for a bunch of cycles, but then would fluctuate up or down badly once in awhile! So I sent the old regulator to AOA for rebuild/repair ($70.00), and had them overnight a brand new one ($220.00) for me to use while they were fixing the old one – I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a spare.
Since I was new to working on my Wildcat at the time, I broke the trigger mechanism, the air gauge, and ruined the air tube endcap. In disgust I sent my Wildcat to AOA for them to repair the damage I caused and set it up correctly again. With shipping this screw up cost me many hundreds of dollars. When I got my rifle back it was perfect again with the brand new regulator installed and the old rebuilt one for a spare against any future problems.
But after several thousand rounds the new FX regulator developed the same fluctuations as the original one had done! I felt like screaming when I saw the proof of this…but instead, I sent an email to Huma in the Netherlands asking if they could make a regulator for my Wildcat – which is exactly the same as the one in my Streamline, just the plenum spacers are different sizes. This developed into a discourse with Huub Andriessen at Huma who graciously agreed to develop a regulator for my Wildcat, on the condition that I take all the measurements he required.
He sent me a parts drawing to which I took the appropriate measurements with my digital calipers and filled in the blanks for him. He then created not one but two regulators for me. The first prototype was about a thousandth less than ideal for me to use the regular standard size FX o-rings, so he made me a second one slightly larger to accommodate my wish to use the regular size FX reg. o-rings. This is the very same Wildcat regulator now for sale on his website and at AOA.
While I was waiting for Huub to make me a regulator for my Wildcat, I also purchased a Lancet MK8 regulator from Robert Lane in the U.K. so I could try out both of them and see which one would retain its consistency the best over time. Well for me it was the Huma Regulator hands down! I have a Huma reg in my Wildcat and a Huma reg in my Streamline, and even after thousands and thousands of shots, both Huma regulators function with flawless consistency, very low extreme spread, and a standard deviation of about 2 ft/s. As an added bonus the Huma reg gives my Streamline 51 shots - instead of the 30 shots I got from the original FX reg; and the Huma reg gives my Wildcat 64 shots instead of the 40 shots I got from the original FX regulator.
Through that entire process I made some priceless new friends named Ernest Rowe, Huub Andriessen, Steve Buchanan and Kevin at AOA parts department. And I learned how to completely disassemble and reassemble my Wildcat correctly, without ever having to worry about shipping it clear across the country again if I need something done. And I learned from Huub how to adjust his regulators in conjunction with the rifle’s hammer spring tension to achieve the ideal perfect settings.
I now have two rifles that are unbelievably accurate and consistent that give me lots more shots per fill than they did before, and I wouldn’t trade either one of them for all the tea in China. And with all the sincerity in my heart I want to thank all you guys here at this AirgunNation forum for the many great ideas and inspiration I have received over the past couple years of trials and tribulations. I sincerely hope my humble contributions here from time to time help someone else solve a similar problem someday, or at least pinpoint what the problem is.
Thanks.Best regards, Chuck
