FX Bobcat .25 FAC review

[Zetter]

I thought I would do a review of my FAC Bobcat MKII in .25 cal as I have chance to give it a bit of a thrash over the past couple of months since my variation came through.

Obviously its a bullpup so I know they are a bit marmite and also its synthetic stocked so again people seem to love or hate them. Personally for me I like the the bullpup look and also for hunting prefer a synthetic stock as I dont have to handring when going through bushes and over fences.
The finish is the nice grippy rubber synthetic so you get a good grip and I havent had any issues when the stock is wet. The barrel and air cylinder are a coated finish and not blued, along with an aluminium reciever this means rust issues from a shower in the field are less of a concern.

Balance on the gun is I must say fantastic I have now shot both this and the Daystate Pulsar and to be honest the FX blows it away the Pulsar is very butt heavy and feels unwhieldy when I shot it. The FX is perfectly balanced and is a dream to shoot if taking standing shots feeling lighter than it actually is.
Build quality is good as you would expect on a rifle costing over £1K with no rattles it has two pressures gauges one for the cylinder charge and the other showing reg pressure. Also if required it has a two stage power adjuster which allows you to kick the power down from 48 ft/lb to about 18ft/lb if you need to do some close quater work such as ferals or rats.

Cocking and loading is accomplished with a sidelever situated at the back of the stock, this is also the location of the manual safety catch. It can be a bit of a faff to cock the rifle when in the shoulder with the sidelever being back at this point also the safety catch is a pain to take off when the gun is in the shoulder as you need to feel along the length of the sidelever to find it by touch. I can see why FX changed the location of both on the Wildcat as I have had a couple of occasions been fumbling about feeling for the safety in the dark when a rabbit has popped out from cover.
On the same subject the magazine is the standard FX rotary magazine holding 11 pellets and can be stored in the stock on a specific recess. I have never had an issue with these mags having had a Verminator MKII before and mine functions with no issues. One problem with them on others of the FX range is they tend to force the scope onto high mounts this isnt an issue with Bobcat as the mag sits well below the scope rail.

The scope is mounted on a rail above the cylinder which is a standard 11mm rail. As with a lot of Bullpups this does tend to crank the scope up fairly high above the bore. Even on low mounts this does put the scope about 2.5" above the bore which does tend to drag PBR at short range above 17 yards. Initially this cost me a couple of close range bunnies I now remember to hold over but sometimes you do forget when the buck fever hits so its something to bear in mind. Also if you need medium mounts or highs to get the correct eye position due to the shape of your face this will make it worse.

Accuracy is good and what I would expect from a gun costing this much. Once I found the right pellets (it needs heavy weight .25s such as JSB Kings mine hated light weights like H+N FTT as I suspect it was driving them too fast and sending them transsonic) I can regulalrly put down <1/2" groups at 45 yards which is the best zero range to give me the widest PBR of 17 yard to 50 yards. This is helped by the trigger which is a match 2 stage and is easily comparible to other top class airgun triggers and I have owned HW, Daystate and Air Arms.

It hits like the proverbial express train and I have taken bunnies and squirrels on a regular basis with it. Squirrels can be tough sometimes but with this any upper body shot drops them with ease. I tend to head shoot rabbits with everything as I want to eat them but it will if required drop a bunny with a decent chest shot.

Shot count is about 60 full power shots. The gun is regged so its consistent through the cylinder charge. I do have a slot on my ticket for a .25 moderator but the shroud is very efficient and its not much louder than my .22LR so I am leaving that for a while and I may not fit an additional mod.

Fitting a sling is proving to be a challenge on a syntetic stock and I need to investigate putting a weaver rail at the front to help with this as the rifle is a bit of a lump when toteing it round a field.

Overall its been a good buy.
Yes its a cost but to be honest for a new FAC air your choices are limited especially in .25 Cal with only Daystate, FX, Kalibregun and Hatsan offering options really.
It filled a niche for me, I do have .22LR and .17HMR but I loves my air rifles and this is ideal for one of my smaller permissions on the bunnies.

Pros
Accurate
Good Shot count
Well balanced
good stopping power
Durable

Cons
Expensive
Sidelever placement is a bit of a pain along with the safety catch
Sling fitment a pain

If anyone wants to know more just ask

Zetter

 

[Rimfireboy]

Good post, thanks for the review. Looks like a good tool. My .25 is 12ft lb and as such doesn't get used much. Works best with marksman, pylarm and h&n ftt.

[Hamster]