Why buy a FX 9?

Canuck44 said:
Rifleman338 this pm I had 3 cases Crack above the webbing and several cases showing a slight bulge near the webbing. Would a 5.9oz buffer eliminate this issue? I can order ar springs if you think it would solve this issue.

Take Care
Bobk
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Never tried anything other than the Blitz hydraulic buffers because we ran them in our now safe queen OIC rifles with 100% a success rate. We also had a fellow who builds IPSC race guns run a 9mm reamer through the chamber to give it a clean up which helped as well. Just wondering about your brass (not sure if you hand load or not?) If you do and are using range pickup, we have seen it happen here where guys are reloading 9mm brass that was used in a 9mm Open pistol which already stresses the hell out of it and shouldn't be used again. Not saying that's what happened, but it is possible.
 
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Quarter trick plus a heavier buffer worked perfectly for me. I agree with the above, they need a bit of tuning to go from good to awesome - I just naturally have that philosophy about all my guns. Customize them to me, improve feeding, cycling, reliability, add useful or upgraded parts when you can etc. Part of the fun of owning these little pieces of machinery is the polishing and tinkering and figuring out just the right amount of cleaning and maintenance to make 'em go.
 
A nearly $1500 straight blowback gun shouldn't need work to run properly. There are guns 1/3 the price that work fine out of the box. If Hi-Point can do it there is no reason to defend the FX-9.
 
This gun sells in the US for just north of $600
The gun had some great attributes and is worth $1500 if it runs OK out of the box. Mine causes bulges in the Brass using factory new and reloads out of the box. As it stands right now, uncorrected it is a head separation issue waiting to happen happen. Wolverine says nothing to see here. Well I am going to spend some money for a heavier buffer and buffer spring. Hopefully that will end the case bulge issue. Anyone else have this issue out of the box? In talking to Len on this site he has put me on the path to having a reliable competition ready carbine. The gun should not exhibit the case bulging once I am done.

You should not have to spend money to make the gun operate properly. If my experience is not normal then please let me know over the weekend. Monday I will be calling Wolverine or a couple of suppliers.

Take Care

Bob
 
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Bolt issue, noticed this while cleaning the bolt. Took the firing pin out and shone a light into the FP cavity.
Then there was line of missing material.
The Quality Control on this rifle is subpar and it needs a bit of work to get it running right.
Then this issue shows up
 

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Just an update on the saga of my FX9. I remain in love with the gun but as some have said it really is a project gun. At $1,500 taxes in though it should not be.

I tried Wolverine and the lady who handles Warranty is off for a well earned vacation and will return next week. I intend to send her, on my dime, spent cartridge cases and ask her to take them to their gunsmith and ask him again if the bulged cases are "normal". I doubt they will do much for me but I live in hope. Wolverine has offered excellent service in the past with my families purchases so ya never know.

In the meantime recognizing the gun is a work in progress i will install a H3 Buffer and a rifle spring and see if the issue of bulged cases ends. I suspect it will. The trigger works for me but could be a lot better. A friend of mine has a "competition" trigger in an AR that soon will be surplus to his needs and I will install it if it becomes available. I don't intend to spend north of $300 for a trigger. The stock trigger will do for know.

The Romeo5 arrived yesterday and replaced the Strikefire on the gun. The latter works great and will return to it's former place on a Kidon Kit. It took a few rounds to get the Sig on POA but once there runs like a charm. I am not convinced there is much daylight between it and the Vortex Crossfire though. Both work well on my guns, At around $200 including taxes the Romeo sight is an excellent buy. I missed the best deal right now at Cebelas where the Romeo sight is on sale for $179+ taxes and today with free shipping. Their small ammo boxes are on sale for $4.99 which is half their normal price. They work great and I highly recommend if you shoot IDPA/IPSC or two and three gun matches.

More in 10 days or so.

Take Care

Bob
 
You can try the paracord trick on the trigger, to see if that helps. I'm a trigger slut so my fx9 got a Triggertech as soon as they were available to order.
I don't reload 9mm but saved my brass. Took a look last night, and if there's a bulge present its really really subtle. I didn't bring out the calipers to measure, but I couldn't see a bulge with my bare eyes.
Adding a heavier buffer will only help these rifles. It will have noticeably less recoil, and having less bolt slam should considerably reduce wear and tear.
 
It sounds like these guns lack sufficient mass in the bolt/buffer and in a blowback gun that is unacceptable. It would be one of the first engineering considerations to an experienced builder, or even just one who knows what he is doing.

I spent a lot of time working with Thureon Defense when they first started putting out 10mm rifles. Managing to add significant weight is hard in the AR buffer style carbines. A heavy buffer can be added with small changes in actually slowing down the bolt.

Then you get guys who think heavy springs make a difference... The math in this sort of thing is relatively easy but often overlooked.
 
The stock buffer spring weighs 2.9 Oz. The H3 buffer weighs 5.4 Oz which essentially doubles the buffers weight. Adding a heavier spring in addition to the added weight of the buffer seems to be the ticket to delay the bolts travel to the rear. Based upon the experience of someone who has traveled this road before. I am hoping doing what he did will get the same result. Time will tell. I will first add the new buffer, test then add the spring.


Take Care
Bob
 
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A heavier spring will help slow the bolt down but it will also help speed it up going the other way. Recoil spring weight is close to meaningless in blowback guns, at least as far as keeping the gun closed long enough for safe and proper operation. Consider a few pounds of spring weight against thousands of PSI in pressure. While it does technically make a difference, inertia is concerned only with the mass of the spring itself.

If the fix is as simple as a couple ounces I imagine the bolt of the FX-9 is pretty beefey to begin with. TNW bolts can be well over a full pound. They handle high performance loads very well. They even chamber them in .460 Rowland which I find incredible. Thrust numbers for that cartridge are wild, relatively speaking.
 
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Don't have an FX 9, but there are basic similaries between this model and the TNW ASR/Aero. In my TNW I found a combination of this spring, and modifying the buffer weight by boring it out and replacing steel with tungsten (adding 1.75oz) made it reliable with 147gr, my preferred ammunition.

https://www.reliablegun.com/en/strike-industries-ar-parts-ar-15-carbine-flat-wire-spring

The more constant rate of spring compression with the flat wire spring made for an obvious improvement in consistent extraction and feeding. Of course I also did a lot of polishing of parts to ensure nothing was dragging. And machining a 16mm diameter, 42mm deep hole into the buffer weight and replacing that with a snug-fitting tungsten rod, raising the inertial mass to delay extraction slightly and also adding slightly to the rebound delay to give more time for spent brass to fly clear, seemed to really do the trick.

If anyone's interested, here are the stats from my TNW, before and after:

16.75oz - stock bolt
9.22oz - stock buffer weight
11oz - modded buffer with 16mm diameter, 42mm long tungsten rod found on eBay
 
Odin makes an adjustable heavy AR buffer specifically for pistol calibers, it starts around H3 weight and goes up from there.
Haven't seen one in stock anywhere since the 2020 OIC, but it would be the ticket for a FX9 IMO. It would allow you to increase buffer weight a bit at a time and dial in the heaviest weight that is still 100% reliable.
A few people here used them, and ran them in the 7.Xoz range with good reliability.
 
The TNW and the FX9 are selling in the US for about the same price. The hype in Canada enabled the importer/retailer to raise the price for the FX9 to 1,350/1,399 while the TNW is at around $950. I will wait until the market is saturated and then I may pick one up to try it out. The major market is of course Ontario, so the poor folks there pay another 13% on top of that.
 
Canuck44 said:
... Adding a heavier spring in addition to the added weight of the buffer seems to be the ticket to delay the bolts travel to the rear. ...
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The heavy spring isn't going to slow the bolt any significant amount. But it may significantly increase the bolt's return speed, which might in turn require a stiffer magazine spring...

Good idea to try it with just the heavy buffer by itself, hopefully that will take care of it. Use reciprocating mass (buffer) to control the bolt opening speed, and use spring rate (action spring) to control the cycling speed.

I think there are things you can do with your handloads with regards to the pressure curve that might also be a factor. But you probably want it to work with factory ammunition regardless.
 
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After taking apart my bolt catch / release assembly and spring and putting it back together, I took it to the range last night. Same behaviour. The bolt release goes off by itself for no reason, sometimes just moving the gun has it go off and close the bolt. Sometimes inserting the magazine. Sometimes just holding the gun. What is interesting is, if the empty mag is kept in the gun and the gun moved around or put on the bench or jiggled, the bolt catch does not release. However, once the magazine is removed then it seems like the bolt release has a mind of its own. A mosquito can land on the gun and it goes off. No rhyme or reason. It is the ONLY thing I don't like about this gun, and it's increasingly annoying - I'd almost prefer it not work at all so I know I have to pull the charging handle each time. Many times when I remove the mag and as I am in the middle of inserting a new one, it goes off. Sometimes when I remove the mag and turn the gun slightly in the air it goes off.

I looked it up when I got home and it seems like a number of others have reported similar things online and it looks like it is down to the bolt release spring being too light. Unfortunately I have not seen any replacement springs for this either from Freedom Ordance or third party. I have written the company this morning to see if there are any known solutions to this.
 
thegazelle said:
After taking apart my bolt catch / release assembly and spring and putting it back together, I took it to the range last night. Same behaviour. The bolt release goes off by itself for no reason, sometimes just moving the gun has it go off and close the bolt. Sometimes inserting the magazine. Sometimes just holding the gun. What is interesting is, if the empty mag is kept in the gun and the gun moved around or put on the bench or jiggled, the bolt catch does not release. However, once the magazine is removed then it seems like the bolt release has a mind of its own. A mosquito can land on the gun and it goes off. No rhyme or reason. It is the ONLY thing I don't like about this gun, and it's increasingly annoying - I'd almost prefer it not work at all so I know I have to pull the charging handle each time. Many times when I remove the mag and as I am in the middle of inserting a new one, it goes off. Sometimes when I remove the mag and turn the gun slightly in the air it goes off.

I looked it up when I got home and it seems like a number of others have reported similar things online and it looks like it is down to the bolt release spring being too light. Unfortunately I have not seen any replacement springs for this either from Freedom Ordance or third party. I have written the company this morning to see if there are any known solutions to this.
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This has been a common issue with these since they first came out. If the charging handle wasn't proprietary and you use something like the Radian it would act as a kickstand and you wouldn't have that issue. The now neutered AR based PCC's had the same issue and an over size charging handle fixed the problem.
Blame all your issues on the Turd and his gestapo. It's because of them that we have to try and make a silk purse from a sows ear.
 
rifleman338 said:
This has been a common issue with these since they first came out. If the charging handle wasn't proprietary and you use something like the Radian it would act as a kickstand and you wouldn't have that issue. The now neutered AR based PCC's had the same issue and an over size charging handle fixed the problem.
Blame all your issues on the Turd and his gestapo. It's because of them that we have to try and make a silk purse from a sows ear.
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Thanks for the feedback. I was waffling whether to buy the improved large charging handle made by a fellow CGN member here. Looks like I may pull the trigger on that purchase.

Interesting - I would have never thought that this behaviour was charging handle related, but good to know there is precedent for both the problem and the solution. I will focus on getting a different charging handle then.

Thanks again for the input!
 
I've seen some guys in the US at matches use a bat wing like you would see on an Open pistol to keep the gun tilted upwards. The people using them on Open pistols would usually have them on for a stage where you start from a table pick up.
 
thegazelle said:
Thanks for the feedback. I was waffling whether to buy the improved large charging handle made by a fellow CGN member here. Looks like I may pull the trigger on that purchase.

Interesting - I would have never thought that this behaviour was charging handle related, but good to know there is precedent for both the problem and the solution. I will focus on getting a different charging handle then.

Thanks again for the input!
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110% recommend the Nick charging handle. Fits snug as a bug in a rug, and it works incredibly well! I haven't looked to see if that affects the light bolt release action you describe (mine is much the same) though I don't think mine is as light as yours. It only snaps closed if I give it a medium-size bump, which can be handy when I'm slamming a magazine home but if I tap the butt-stock or give it a good shake that's not so fun. BRB, going to check the LRBHO and how light it is now...
 
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