Wildcat When the Dream Gun Becomes a Nightmare

[PasadenaMike]

Ever buy a gun you’d been dreaming about, only for it to turn out to be a lemon?(ive had my fair share) You spend time, money, or go through multiple RMAs just to get it to perform the way it should have from the start. And even when it finally shoots right, the whole experience leaves such a bad taste that you just can’t look at it the same way anymore.
I’ve had a few guns like that over the years, but the worst case by far was the Wildcat MK3. It took three trips to FX before it finally ran the way it should have. By then, the excitement was long gone. What really sealed it for me was the dealer — SPAW — telling me a 50 FPS spread was “normal.” Seriously? What a joke.

 

[Florida_Man]

I feel you. My experience was the same basic rifle (Maverick.) I only had one RMA with it, but it was after only a week of use. It was nothing like the Royale 400 I previously owned.

 

[Vanman]

You think that is bad, try building a house.

 

[Florida_Man]

You think that is bad, try building a house.

I bought a fixer upper. I’m over it haha. Fixer upper, demanding career, and a toddler; rifles are easy

 

[PasadenaMike]

Rifles are easy until you add everything else that’s when perfection is demanded from guns

 

[Pumacarl]

If you want perfection you have to do it yourself. That way you can keep it perfect too. No RMA's, shipping, waiting, hoping, or blaming anybody else either. I would love to have the option to buy premium top tier airguns for less money with no extended warranty. Everyone says, "well I paid for a warranty, so I'm going to use it," that's fine, but I won't, so I'd like to have the choice not to pay for it. A seven day product guaranty to insure it was made correctly in the first place and not defective from the factory is all that I want, and I probably wouldn't use that either, unless the problem was egregious. Nobody is going to care about fixing your gun right more than you will. I know that I soapbox this opinion a lot. It is as annoying for me to express it, as most people find it to be reading it, but I persist. lol

 

[Luis Leon]

If you want perfection you have to do it yourself. That way you can keep it perfect too. No RMA's, shipping, waiting, hoping, or blaming anybody else either. I would love to have the option to buy premium top tier airguns for less money with no extended warranty. Everyone says, "well I paid for a warranty, so I'm going to use it," that's fine, but I won't, so I'd like to have the choice not to pay for it. A seven day product guaranty to insure it was made correctly in the first place and not defective from the factory is all that I want, and I probably wouldn't use that either, unless the problem was egregious. Nobody is going to care about fixing your gun right more than you will. I know that I soapbox this opinion a lot. It is as annoying for me to express it, as most people find it to be reading it, but I persist. lol

Agree to a point, because you apparently have the “skills” to make it right. The majority simply want a product to work as “advertised”…

 

[Pumacarl]

Agree to a point, because you apparently have the “skills” to make it right. The majority simply want a product to work as “advertised”…

Agree to a point also, the majority would be doing themselves a long term favor to just really learn their hobby completely, so that they wouldn't have to involve anybody else all the time. And, I too, want a product that works as advertised, I just know that most of the time, it is wasted time (MINE), to send things back for truly simple things, that I can do myself, and usually better. I truly believe the majority would find that to be the case too.

 

[Luis Leon]

@Pumacarl, to the majority a hobby means an escape, simple fun paid for. Most don’t need to know how a combustion engine works, myself included I simply want to prees the ignition button and drive away. I want to send, not tinker on my PCPs. Unless of course, something is off…

 

[pan60]

I dont think everyone has the skill set to do mechanical things at least I met many that should never be allow to own a tool. and some people just dont want to and to be honest I think they they should have to to a point.
mechanical things need to be worked on from time to time it just is what it is.
these guns are pack full of thing that can fail regards the manufacture can not predict a gauge or o-ring will fail somewhere either on the shelf in the delivery rought in a week after someone buys it. so if you dont want to work on it send it back.
but it isnt always the manufacture of a given gun.

and something it is. you get what you pay for : )

 

[Pumacarl]

@Pumacarl, to the majority a hobby means an escape, simple fun paid for. Most don’t need to know how a combustion engine works, myself included I simply want to prees the ignition button and drive away. I want to send, not tinker on my PCPs. Unless of course, something is off…

Yeah, but what I'm trying to say is that you will be 'sending' a lot more lead, if you are not always 'sending' your gun in for service.

 

[PasadenaMike]

No way I’m tearing into a $3000 gun. That’s just me. I feel like I’d do something wrong and completely compromise its reliability or functionality . I would however take one apart under supervision and I’ll do it by myself once mastered. This is coming from a long time tech by the way. I don’t tear into something im not certain about

 

[Pumacarl]

No way I’m tearing into a $3000 gun. That’s just me. I feel like I’d do something wrong and completely compromise its reliability or functionality . I would however take one apart under supervision and I’ll do it by myself once mastered. This is coming from a long time tech by the way. I don’t tear into something im not certain about

Believe it or not, that is where the much maligned YouTube videos really shine. FX Master Class, Sub12AirGunners, Hajimoto, countless others. You watch you learn. It's freaking empowering not to be under anyones thumb, and fix, or even better, the gun yourself. There are not too many that I wouldn't tear into at this point, especially the better ones. They are actually easier to work on. I won't touch/buy electronics though because I don't have those skills and don't really know where to find them. If someone dropped a Daystate in my lap, I would probably figure it out though. Why not? These things are to shoot and if something goes wrong I'm not waiting on somebody else or shipping anything anywhere. That's just me.

And by the way, it helps if you don't think about it as a $3,000 gun, but as "your" gun. My gun, my problem.

 

[Florida_Man]

If you want perfection you have to do it yourself. That way you can keep it perfect too. No RMA's, shipping, waiting, hoping, or blaming anybody else either. I would love to have the option to buy premium top tier airguns for less money with no extended warranty. Everyone says, "well I paid for a warranty, so I'm going to use it," that's fine, but I won't, so I'd like to have the choice not to pay for it. A seven day product guaranty to insure it was made correctly in the first place and not defective from the factory is all that I want, and I probably wouldn't use that either, unless the problem was egregious. Nobody is going to care about fixing your gun right more than you will. I know that I soapbox this opinion a lot. It is as annoying for me to express it, as most people find it to be reading it, but I persist. lol

I agree when it comes to tuning. I do that with all my rifles. The Maverick I had in my opinion required the RMA. In one week of use it had a catastrophic valve failure requiring the valve and block around it being replaced. I also noticed the rifle shipped with a stripped bolt in the cocking linkage.

 

[ctshooter]

No way I’m tearing into a $3000 gun. That’s just me. I feel like I’d do something wrong and completely compromise its reliability or functionality . I would however take one apart under supervision and I’ll do it by myself once mastered. This is coming from a long time tech by the way. I don’t tear into something im not certain about

I thought this way at one time, but then I learned on cheap guns like the Prod and then more used PCP purchases. I built my toolset slowly with quality tools a piece or two at a time while at the same time building my understanding of PCP function, repair, maintenance and modding within my skillset. Now, I have no issues digging into a brand new $3,000 airgun.

Example - just got the Evol HPS Mini 30 - went to adjust the reg up and before I realized it I had gone a 1/4 turn in the wrong direction DOWN. ARGH!! Yep - I score the delrin reg seal and now the reg was all over the place. I've had this gun a week and I managed to screw it up. So I tore it down, took the reg apart, smoothed out the delrin plug and put it all back together. Everything working fine again.

But to your original point - I had a FX Wildcat Mk3 in .177 - one of the worst guns I've ever had. I made PA accept it back for a return because the POI shift were random 2" shift @ 20 yards. Too bad - I kinda liked the platform.

 

[jps2486]

Afraid to work on your $3000 gun? Wait till UPS either loses it or bends it into a pretzel then refuses to to honor the insurance claim.

 

[PasadenaMike]

Afraid to work on your $3000 gun? Wait till UPS either loses it or bends it into a pretzel then refuses to to honor the insurance claim.

Thats been a lingering nightmare as well for sure every time i ship something but i do pack like its being air dropped without a parachute

 

[Elexious Musick]

No way I’m tearing into a $3000 gun. That’s just me. I feel like I’d do something wrong and completely compromise its reliability or functionality . I would however take one apart under supervision and I’ll do it by myself once mastered. This is coming from a long time tech by the way. I don’t tear into something im not certain about

You are 1000% correct Mike. A $3000 airgun should perform perfectly! In fact how did it get pass quality control? The hype surrounding FX is astounding. People buy them thinking the overpriced wundergun will make them a marksman or they can flex it on family and friends. The upper end of the PCP market is awash with excellent offerings. Why suffer financial drain and emotional turmoil just to own an expensive paperweight?

 

[Madhatter]

@Pumacarl, to the majority a hobby means an escape, simple fun paid for. Most don’t need to know how a combustion engine works, myself included I simply want to prees the ignition button and drive away. I want to send, not tinker on my PCPs. Unless of course, something is off…

Knowing how to work on the vehicles today besides basic maintenance is not for the shade tree mechanic. Our airguns are a hobby and way simpler. It's not rocket science.

 

[Bladefin]

I think the problem today is the younger generations want everything done for them. "Why take the time to learn something when I can have someone else do it?". If you took 1,000 people 18 to 30yrs old and asked them to change a tire on a car, 95% would look at you like you were from outer space. Of the remaining 50 people, maybe 10 would be able to do it.

I know I'm in the minority, but I take pride in learning something new and figuring out how to fix something. Everything from replacing capacitors in an LCD TV to stoning a sear on my gun. My father taught me "It's not how much you make, but how much you keep".

I've had tons of hobbies over the years and for me the most fun is the building process. If I bought a $10k Barret I'd still tinker with it to make it better and the way I want it.