The Jewel in FX’s Crown? Editor Mike Morton takes a close look at the Swedish airgun company’s ambitious and feature-packed new hunting rifle…
FX provide two power adjusters for the hammer spring and transfer port
Key Specs
Barrel: Smooth Twist X
Power Adjusters: Two
Regulator: Externally adjustable
Noise Reduction: Shrouded barrel
Magazine Capacity: 18 shots
Stock: Various; laminated wood shown here
Calibre Options: Ability to change
FX Airguns is keeping everything quiet with a fully shrouded barrel, and it’s the shroud that hides one of the Crown’s key features – a quick-change barrel and calibre-swapping system.
What’s best: .177 or .22? What about some of the other calibres that are now available to airgun shooters? Which one should you really choose? Well, with the Crown, FX Airguns firmly believes you can have your cake and eat it, because its newest PCP lets you switch calibres, barrel length and twist rate. It features the new Smooth Twist X barrel system, which, says the company, can be swapped in seconds.
What’s this? Two pressure gauges! One tells you the amount of air remaining in the buddy bottle, while the other measures the regulator pressure.18
If the option to change calibre isn’t enough, FX also provides two power adjusters for the hammer spring and transfer port. This means the power can be fine-tuned for specific shooting scenarios and calibres, especially if you shoot at FAC levels. The rifle is regulated, but will most likely come out of the box optimised for a certain calibre and power, so FX has included an externally adjustable regulator allowing the user to eke out the optimum accuracy and efficiency from their rig.
Get dialling: FX lets you dial in your own levels for the hammer spring and transfer port without the need to remove the stock.
Of course, all this technology is meaningless if the rifle can’t be held on aim, and FX has thought of this, too, with the Crown being offered in multiple stock configurations including an optional adjustable cheekpiece and match trigger. The package is rounded out with a full barrel shroud and an 18-shot magazine. A journey into the future with the Crown is potentially both exciting and scary.
Scopes & Mounts: FX Airguns has its own range of scopes and vertically adjustable No-Limit mounts, but feel free to scope up with whatever works for you.
The level of user adjustability is simply phenomenal. Get it right, and this high level of customisation should mean a rifle that’s tailored to the shooter and their chosen calibre, power level and pellet. The only concern is whether or not the user could end up in a muddle simply by being offered too many options. But we’d be more than happy to put this to the test!
Let’s take a closer look…
Cocking the 18-shot magazine should be easy, thanks to that biathlon-style sidelever. The safety catch has sensibly been located away from the trigger, which can be upgraded to a match-quality unit if desired.
The Crown comes in a choice of stocks, including those with an adjustable butt and cheekpiece. The laminate stock here is a thumbhole version, but also has a thumb shelf, offering a slightly different way to hold this great-looking handle.
Onboard filling is the norm these days with buddy bottle rifles. The bottle itself is made of carbon fibre, which means you’ll spend more money but will save on weight.
The big magazine has a huge ammo capacity but sits very high out of the action. This means you’ll probably need higher than average scope mounts so the mag clears the saddle of the scope and functions smoothly.
This article originally appeared in the issue 96 of Airgun Shooter magazine. For more great content like this, subscribe today at our secure online store www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk
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