Thank you for taking the time to do such great, in depth reviews. I just bought an FX Crown VP, which only came out recently. The cost was several hundred dollars cheaper than the others, and the only difference is the aluminum air cylinder and synthetic stock. The magazine has also been changed. Same shot count, but much easier to load now. Of course being in the USA, I can take full advantage of the power adjustability. This is an absolutely fantastic air rifle, and if you ever try one, you will want it even if you have to sell your first born. I am looking forward to many more of your fine reviews.
I recently bought the fx crown mk2,in .177,and got the atn x sight 4K pro scope,and the crown mk2 is a fantastic rifle,mine has the black synthetic stock
Great review and yep the pitfalls are there in the non FAC but they also exist with the FAC as having enquired about it, the UK issues your slot on a caliber basis hence so far I have been told either one gun per caliber or multiple slots one for each barrel but no one in my local licensing area can confirm which and will not therefore process the additional barrel option as they don't know the answer and hence not much point in buying one with multiple barrels.
I have one, got it back in June of 18 one of the first STX models to be released, but since I'm in the states my experience will be different. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. There are inherent issues that are being addressed albeit too late for some of us who already own one. Across all the models, the FX regulators have always been sketchy and somewhat inconsistent. FX has designed a new regulator and I believe all the new guns shipped as of January will have the new regulators installed. That's the good news. The bad news for we the owners of the older regulators is that they are NOT interchangeable, we're stuck with what we have. The extended shroud suppressor system is quite simply horrid. It works to suppress the rifle at the cost of changing your P.O.I. virtually every time it's extended or retracted. For precision shooting, this is horrid. The magazine is what it is. Steve mentioned it in his review and although the size doesn't disturb me, I known it does many others and the loading system is crap. Personally, I haven't used mine since the first month of owning the gun. I purchased a 3rd party single shot tray on Ebay that works brilliantly and can't be bothered with the mag anymore. So, this is my list of gripes about the gun. Yeah it's a bit expensive, but it's a quality piece that does perform exceptionally well. If the new regulators are as good as they've been purported to be, that will be a huge step up for a gun that's already near the top of the heap.
Awesome information and thank you. I too can confirm the shroud system is awful, it does indeed change your POI and why anyone would want a louder rifle is beyond me. I can only guess it is to reduce cost on the size of the hard case. The mags I simply hate, they easily chew pellets if you don't spend a good amount of time being careful loading.
I bought this rifle in the pepper gray laminate in .22 FAC and I love it. Then I went and bought a Dreamline to take in the woods and screwed up and got the same beautiful stock for it. So I bought 2 cheap Nova Vista Liberty 1 Synthetic and 1 in wood both .22 FAC. I don’t want to scratch the FXs or get dents or blemishes on them so that what the Liberty’s are for. Now...the kick in the pants...Steve...the damn Liberty’s are as accurate and just as consistent as my FXs...???!!! They are not as adjustable but the do have externally adjustable regulators, smooth side cocking levers, 13$ 10 round rotary magazines that load and work perfectly, adjustable triggers....did I mention that they out shoot the FXs??? What the flip? They have become my go to rifles. Every thing I put crosshairs on drops like a rock and I have them tuned the same as the FXs. Same pellet, same speed, one of them even has a more consistent regulator than the Crown and they all have the same scopes on them. If you haven’t done a review on these 300 synthetic 350$ wood Nova Vista Liberty’s/ Alpha dual power settings also high 900 FPS 15.89 JSB and Low power 735 FPS w/JSBs Did I mention that they are a 300 Bar fill gun and get 80+ shots per fill?! People need to be aware of this gun. They put the money in all the right places plus Air Venturi Avenger is coming out which essentially is the Mark 2 of the liberty without the dual power setting but with a gauge for the regulator and also comes in .25. Now my FXs collect dust. The Liberty’s are not pellet fussy and shoot the 7$ Daisy Hollow Points 10 shots in 1 hole at 50 yards and a 1/2” group. Sick to my stomach I paid so much for the FXs and these are amazing and just as accurate and more fun to shoot. Are they as slick and refined...hell no! But I didn’t pay for that either and more than good enough. I love them more than my FXs and may be selling one of the FXs soon because of being to nice to actually use. You have got to check these Liberty/Alphas out. I did do a hell of a lot to these rifles. And they are the bomb. Take care, stay safe.
I just spoke to two employees at FX America and i could not have spoken to nicer people. I am completely satisfied with the product and support. I am fortunate to have a Crown with the new regulators and i feel bad for those that are having issues with the original guns.
Same with all companies that produce air rifles. The development rate is high and small numbers (in comparison to other industries) of rifles made. Problems always happen and it is how they or dealers sort them out that is important. Great to here FX USA doing well.
one quick correction. Original smooth twist was smooth bore till about 3inches before the end, then the rifling spun the pellet. The X Barrel is rifled the entire length. Incredibly nice gun
Having just set up a Crown and done 4 days of experimentation for a friend that had a few probs I have found the following few points. 1. They come with one hell of a lot of protective crud in the barrel and if u dont thoroughly clean it it just won't shoot. 2. Supplied at 55/60 bar on the reg will not shoot reliably if you lift it to 85/90 there is almost no spread in velocity. 3. The above one off low speed seems to be due to the uk hammer spring which seems to be a bit weak and you can actually hear it not strike properly, about 1 in 20 shots. Not good enough. 4. 177/22 and 25/30 power settings appear to make no difference on the UK model as this is changed for import only the LOW does anything and will drop you to about 8.5ftlb. To all wanting to tweak beware the warranty restrictions and also beware you might put it over the limit and only tune it in conjunction with a good quality chrono. As for the magazine I agree its a pain but once you get used to it its actually not too bad and is reliable. If it was FAC it would be a truly amazing rifle as you can harmonically tune it and have the desired power as a 12lb gun its very accurate but also very self limiting in a large part due to the replacement parts put in to keep it legal.
FX make nicely engineered rifles but from what I read in forums and comments their after sales service is almost non existent and the lead time on orders is very long. Seems to me FX have too many models in their range and a small, inefficient manufacturing facility that can't keep up with the orders. As Steve said the adjustments on a 12fp rifle aren't necessary so you're paying a lot of extra cash for something that provides no benefit and indeed at .177 is a distinct disadvantage. For FAC shooters the interchangeable barrels may be a good idea (at a high price) but its not something you can easily do in the field and you need to re-zero the rifle whenever you change barrels. Steve Scialli (AEAC channel) does loads of in-depth accuracy tests up to 100 yds and there seems to be very little difference in accuracy between any of the quality rifles, certainly from a hunting perspective. The major factor by far is pellet choice to match your particular gun. Oh and that magazine..... For posing at the shooting club this is the ideal rifle. For practicality the average non FAC shooter would be financially better of buying a pair of rifles in .177 and .22 rather than this with an extra barrel kit, assuming you could actually get one!
@@qdosgolf Steve explained it in the video. The UK restricted FX Crown is designed to deliver a .22 pellet at just under 12 fp. To propel a .177 cal pellet at the same energy, which requires greater speed, more air is needed but when a UK restricted FX Crown barrel is changed from .22 to .177 there is no way to increase the air flow thus the .177 pellets is expelled with less energy, around 9 fp. This, incidentally, is also the reason why the shot count for .177 rifles is always less than the .22 versions. If the rifle was designed to fire a .177 pellet at just under 12 fp then fitting a .22 barrel would propel the .22 pellet with greater than 12 fp and require a FAC. In the case of the Crown the FAC would still be required even if it was fitted with a .177 barrel firing at just under 12 fp because the rifle would then be capable of being easily modified to fire over the legal limit by changing the barrel to .22 The ability to turn down the air flow when fitting the .22 barrel would not exempt the owner from needing a FAC because the rifle would still have the capacity to fire over the legal limit Complicated, but so are our firearms laws.
Yes I understood the bit in Steve's vid about the power problem. I was more concerned that the 177 calibre was inherently had poor performance. I am getting my 177
@@qdosgolf Doing as you suggest would probably not be legal because you can reverse the procedure. Sub 12 fp rifles are all fitted with anti-tamper devices to conform to UK laws. If your get a .177 sub12 fp Crown it will need to be either around 9fp or be made to that it cannot be converted to .22 to be sold in the UK without a FAC. If you are in doubt about modifying the gun talk to your gunsmith or local police firearms folk.
I would agree on 100% of what you said and pretty much the point I was trying to get across. Beautiful, accurate, but loads of feature you won't and don't use practically. I have no direct experience of FX customer service, so I can't comment. Thank you, please share and join our FB group. facebook.com/groups/351221505224875/
Steve, Would you agree that the lower fore-end of the stock would be better if it extended forward by around 5 or 6 inches such that it cover most of the bottom of the bottle. This would give protection to the bottle and would allow you to mount a bi-pod much further forward, which would allow for more stable shooting. Obviously there would be a weight increase and the balance point would move forward but this, I think, would be a price worth paying.
After i watch a lot of videos of "air arms hunting sa" and the preference for fx impact and crown , i have to consider other air rifles for buy my first pcp , but i leave in portugal , restricted power and after see this video i see the crown does not possible to achieve 100 % in portugal , so i want 90 % WEIRAUCH h 100 , the other 10 % is between zbroia kozak ; fx wildcat mark 2 , but before my 3 air rifles choose are : weirauch h100 ; daystate huntsman or fx dreamline , what can you advice steve ?? The weirauch does for a big variety of pellets ? In lenght ? Because the space for a magazine is not much , my question if he does for other lenghts of pellets ? Thank s and nice to see your videos .
Superb video Steve as always,I have been giving some serious consideration regarding purchasing the fx but don't know if I am expecting to much has I am currently using a daystate red wolf and wolverine RC your thoughts on this please would be greatly appreciated.
I almost got the black plastic crown for around £1400 . I think youre going to slate my new rifle in a few weeks (steyr bigger price and smaller magazine). nice review , shame about the windy weather
Some one mentioned aftersales , probably one of the best aftersales and NOT non existent and yes lead time can be months but so is daystate . Daystate aftersales is the worse I have experienced out of all the major manufactures. I have a FX Crown plus FX impact ,both FAC and probably one of the best if not the FAC air gun you can buy . Would I buy one in sub 12 probably not ,IMO you have a job to beat HW100k in sub12
Nice video..... I have many many air rifles.... but I have noticed my cheaper guns like hatsan can shoot just as good as my fx rifles... they may not be so refined but all I care about is where it hits 40 to 50 yards away.... don't get me wrong I really enjoy the FX guns... but why pay so much when I can do the same with cheaper guns... makes me wonder why I spend so much on FX ,,, I do want a crown but I keep wondering to myself.... why?
Great review .I noticed at 15:21 the reg pressure is set to 110 bar .My 177 crown is pushing 11.6 ft set at 65 bar so presume it's an FAC model. PS the mags are £65 each ouch
@@Bigsbeee Not sure how easy it is to do but you need to be careful as stick a heavy pellet in a gun doing 11.6 with 8.4 grain pellet will hasn't certainly go over the 12fp limit.
Hi Steve going off subject but I like you want a Daystate red wolf but saw a RU-vid video where the magazine is being caught by the pop up in that indexes the mag thus causing not very accurate shooting using the magazine single shot tray was smack on.thanks Chris
All rifles are better finger fed single shot as no risk of catching pellet on misaligned magazines. Perhaps you had a dodgy magazine. I have never had any issues with DS mags before and I have played with quite a few.
Am I right in thinking pre Jan Crown in .177 will be well under 12ftlb ? Post Jan FX Crown in .177 will have a revised reg upping power closer to 12ftlb like the .22 version ?
Not sure what you mean. All RFD's (dealers) by law have to ensure the rifle supplied is under 12 ft lb unless you provide a FAC license. Most RFD's will set them to 11.5 or there about to ensure they are legal. Nothing has changed since January 19
It's a pretty thing for sure...far more aesthetically pleasing than the Impact. That said, I have the Impact, which is: + cheaper + shorter + magazine position doesn't affect scope height - uglier
If I was a millionaire maybe... But here in the real world 4x the price of my AA s400? No thanks--You'd be better off spending the money on a top scope. Excellent review as always, thanks
Can you not tune the regulator to put out around 10.5ftlb with .177 which imo is more than enough then when the .22 barrel is inserted it would be putting out around 11.7ftlb using lighter pellets such as Falcons?
Steve I did get a crown and I am over here in the States but I would love to get it professionally tuned but I want someone truly reputable and that really knows the gun inside out. I do not trust taking it to just a gunsmith here in Texas I want an airgunner truly familiar with the FX products, any suggestions??
Im not 100% ..but by looking at that butt pad I recon it DOES " cant " from left too right ( and visa versa ) as well as up and down ( as you mentioned ) .. I maybe wrong, I which case ill cut me nads off with a rusty saw blade .. On the question of the magazine , lets be honest ... who REALLY minds if you have too stick one in backwards , before flipping it over too finish the job off ?? I certainty dont ... great vid though ...
Thanks Mark, I think you are right, the butt may "cast" a little. The problem with the mags is not just the 1st pellet, just that they don't always seat fullly in with out a shake on each load and so easy to catch the skirt on rotation to next pellet. It does get easier with practice, but I still do it. Annoying design.
Video quality a bit dodgy mate ..unless its my end lol. Nice gun by the way :). I have just bought one of the discovery scopes a 6-24x50 FFP VT-T a cracking price and you also get mounts with it, to be honest you are spoilt for choice with their range of scopes
I have read a lot of reviews on this gun and decided to buy one , what a mistake that was ! I have a yellow .177 version and love the looks , but when it comes to shooting it , what a disappointment when looking at it's accuracy ! This is the worst air rifle I have owned for accuracy , at 30yards it's not bad nor should it be , but at 50 yards it is rubbish , this gun has been back under warranty three times and still no better , I will now ask for my money back . There is a lot of hype out there about this gun , don't believe it , my other three guns beat it hands down every time , they are AA HFT500 , Daystate Genus and a BSA R10se , all considerably cheaper and more accurate !!
Thanks for the advice, hype is a real problem, I have bought my first pcp, a daystate wolverine R forester in .22 it is very accurate, which ls the most important thing. I am looking to buy a .177 now and was looking at the fx crown,
@@skalliwag2766 After the Crown disappointment , I bought a daystate Red Wolf , not cheap but boy what a fantastically accurate piece of kit , I would recommend one 100%.
To be fair, it was windy and I am not the best shot in the word. Plenty of other videos out there with accuracy in them to check out. It is very accurate, I have seen others shoot them.
Magazines are awful and putting them on such an otherwise perfect gun is a crime. Come on FX, nice metal magnetic mag that sits in the centre of the gun please. Then I'll buy.
@@airgunology lol it was harsh but mate a cant see where its near as good as a sorted daystate or weihrauch, very glam tho would look good in a sci-fi flik. I'm to traditional lol
I like watching your video's full of enthusiasm and passion for the sport. Every time though Steve I see you handle a gun with your ring on I cringe. The potential for scratching or marking a rifle is quite high. As a mark of respect for the owner of guns would it not be better that you took your ring off, or better still wore a glove when handling rifles which do not belong to yourself.
Thanks, I am careful, but yes a good idea and something I keep forgetting to do. Luckily so far, no damage done and I am very aware of it on rifles I don't own.
Just watched the video on making up the lead for the Chrony F1 which allows access to the hidden menus. Order the parts from the links provided. Keep up the great videos. Alex
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