The ‘Cat's Out Of The Bag!

Russ Douglas has his rifle modified in preparation for a renewed anti-vermin campaign

I’m still in a lot of pain from my unresolved back/pelvic issues, suspected trapped nerve – but as always, I’m stubbornly persevering wherever I can, whilst I wait for an orthopedic appointment. A month ago, I reluctantly admitted to myself that I wasn’t going to get back out on the pests as soon as I’d like, so decided to take some time to prepare instead. My FX Wildcat Mk1 is certainly compact, but I couldn’t fully zip-up my favourite compact rucksack gun slip because with the excellent, fully adjustable, 3D-printed butt pad in place, the muzzle shroud, and lasers for short-range ratting, was protruding, protected from sight and from breaking the law by only a flimsy fabric liner. I wanted to see if the rifle could be further shortened, as well as thoroughly serviced and any issues resolved, so I contacted Air-Fective tuning, after hearing that they were working magic with FX rifles, both from friends and online chatter on airgun forums.

After completing an online consultation, Liam got in touch – cue a right old blether between two gun fans; so cool when someone (i.e. him) really knows his stuff! Any concerns I had were smoothed over as he reassured me that what was top of my wish-list, shortening the rifle, whilst leaving enough muzzle shroud protruding beyond the cylinder to hold my ratting lasers, could be achieved. As you know, FX excellent ‘Smooth-Twist’ rifling only sees the last 100mm or so of the otherwise smoothbore barrel crimped, which was the length I wanted to lose. Plus, the Mk1 is so wonderfully quiet, I didn’t want the void between barrel crown and shroud end cap to be disturbed.

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