After more than two decades of shooting some of the best airguns in the world, it is easy to take blistering downrange accuracy and refined performance for granted. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of airguns that really excite me, and the FX King has quickly established itself as one of them.
The FX King is a PCP airgun that can do amazing things with both pellets and slugs, and it also happens to look great too. Unsurprisingly, this is not a cheap airgun – the laminate stock models have a recommended retail price of £2,100 while the synthetic version comes in at around £1,650. That is a lot of money, but those who are lucky enough to get their hands on this air rifle will soon realise that the cost is more than justified.
I am testing the 500 model here, which has a 500mm barrel. It’s about 970mm long from butt to muzzle and weighs around 3.5kg unscoped with laminate stock. There are multiple stock options including several great laminates and a walnut version made by Nordic gunstock aces GRS - and lefthanders are catered for too. There is also a lovely new synthetic version, which is a little lighter. The synthetic stock draws on several design elements from the stocks of past FX airguns, and the result is a robust and functional handle with a very useful height-adjustable butt pad.
FX supplied me with laminate and synthetic stocks for the King. I spent a lot of the test period using the synthetic stock, but also really liked the Nordic Wolf grey laminate GRS stock. This is a beautiful handle, both in form and function. Its short forend means your leading hand is on the carbon bottle, which is a fairly typical arrangement these days.
There are some amazing features incorporated into the GRS stock. Firstly, the palm-filling pistol grip has been beautifully sculpted. It cradles the hand wonderfully and set me up brilliantly for the trigger – that said, shooters with smaller hands may find it a bit on the chunky side. The cheek support and butt pad are both adjustable, and the mechanism is tool-free. You simply press a button to unlock either the cheek support or butt pad and hold it down until you achieve the correct position – release the button and everything locks securely in place. This brilliant feature makes it very easy to achieve perfect length of pull and eye-scope alignment. I also like the fact that the butt is finished with a very soft rubber pad that really molds to your shoulder.
The 500mm barrel version I have been using is supplied with the FX Superior STX barrel – the 600mm barrel version comes with the Superior Heavy STX. The barrel is fully shrouded and, as with the Panthera, that shroud incorporates the plenum which is wrapped around the barrel – it’s a 62cc plenum on the 500 and 156cc plenum on the 600. The barrel is threaded half-inch UNF for silencer attachment,
This is an incredibly well engineered airgun, and the black anodised finish is flawless. There are side picatinny rails for accessory attachment by the neck of the bottle and scope attachment is also via a Picatinny rail which 30 MOA. There is about 140mm of clamping space for scope mounts and you need to make sure your mounts are high enough to keep your optic clear of the magazine. That said, I like to have my scope quite low and, even with relatively low mounts, I just about managed to keep it clear.
The FX King runs a tried and tested magazine which can hold pellets and slugs up to 13mm long. Calibre options are .177, .22, .25, .30 and .35. I have been testing the .22 version, the magazine of which holds 18 pellets. That magazine is driven by a fantastic sidelever action with a really nice, large dropdown handle. And, combined with a lefthand stock, it can be reversed to ensure perfect handling for southpaws. The lever is well positioned and works an absolute dream, cocking the action and probing home pellets or slugs for rapid and reliable reloading.
As you should expect at this price point, the trigger on the FX King is excellent. Its release is adjustable as is the height and angle of the match-type blade. Straight out of the box, this one felt spot on to me. First stage travel and weight are just right. There is a positive stop point – just as I would want – and second stage break is crisp and very predictable.
The safety switch is nicely positioned just above the trigger blade – sufficiently far from the trigger yet very easy to access for quick operation. It is safe when it’s in the horizontal position and you just flick it down when you’re ready to take the shot.
Power-wise, the sky is the limit with high power versions of the FX King. The 500 model is capable of more than 130 ft/lb and the 600 can do more than 170 ft/lb. I was initially running the .22 calibre 500 at just under 40 ft/lb and it felt silky smooth. I then dropped it down to around 20ft/lb for pest control in confined woodland conditions and the firing cycle felt remarkably refined – as smooth as any gun at sub-12. You do have to remove the stock to access the screw for regulator adjustment, but I managed to do that without any problems.
The regulator on the FX King is an AMP MK2. It makes for very efficient and consistent shooting and its pressure is displayed on the top of the two neat and very easy to read rear-angled Wika gauges. Even at 40ft/lb, muzzle velocity was within five fps over a ten-shot string. When it comes to tuning, the King is equipped with FX’s awesome quick-tune system, with easy to access macro and micro dials making tuning a very simple and intuitive process.
Maximum fill pressure is 250bar. The number of shots you get per fill will depend very much on barrel length and power output, but the 500 model will return 180 shots at around 30ft/lb. Pressure in the main bottle is displayed on the lower gauge. When it’s time to refill, you just need to pop the dust cap off the inlet in the belly of the stock and snap on the supplied Foster connector.
I’m sure you won’t be very surprised to learn the FX King is a very accurate airgun. I’m a big fan of the Superior STX barrel and, with an Element Helix scope on top, this setup was absolutely pinpoint. I have only carried out accuracy testing with pellets so far, and it has been stacking them at 30 and 40m. In calm conditions, sub-one-inch groups are comfortably attainable at 60m. I’ve not had a chance to push it much further than that yet, but I know plenty of shooters are more than doubling that range with slug ammo.
The FX King is an awesome airgun with potential for huge power output – and it comes supplied with a foam lined hard case. It isn’t cheap and will be out of the reach of a lot of shooters, but those lucky enough to be able to afford one will see where their spend is going when they pick it up and shoot it – it really is a quality piece of kit.
As for the sort of shooters it will appeal to, I’m a hunter who tends to keep his shooting fuss-free and I really love it, but the FX King will be just as appealing to shooters who want an airgun they can fettle to achieve blistering long-range accuracy. There is huge scope to tune, tweak and customise the King to create exactly the shooting machine you want. That said, it is amazing straight out of the box, and I would certainly recommend trying one if you get the chance – shooting it is an experience to savour.
From: https://fxairguns.com/
Manufacturer: FX Airguns, Sweden
Model: King (500mm barrel)
Length: 970mm (38in)
Weight: 3.5kg (7.7lb) – laminate version
Barrel length: 500mm (19.7in) – on this model
Maximum fill pressure: 250 bar
Shots per fill: 180 (.22 500 model at 30ft/lb)
Muzzle energy: Up to over 130ft/lb and beyond
RRP: £2,100 for GRS stock, circa £1,650 for synthetic
