As one of the top manufacturers of precision air rifles, FX offers an extensive line-up of beautiful, accurate, and powerful guns. Those features don’t come cheap, though, with popular FX models like the Impact and Panthera starting in the $2,000 range. Enter the Wildcat MKIII BT VP, in which the “VP” stands for “value priced.” Although, with FX, “value-priced” is a relative term. This bullpup retails for $1,649, but can often be had for about $1,450.
What that investment will get you is a nearly infinitely tunable gun that can excel at just about anything a shooter throws at it, from backyard plinking to small game hunting. And, because it is so good at shooting heavier projectiles, it could even perform well in 100-yard benchrest shooting in the right hands. I had the chance to test the Wildcat MKIII over the last few months at various ranges. Here are my thoughts.
FX Wildcat MKIII Overview
Specs
Type: PCP
Action: Side lever with rotary magazine
Caliber: .22 (tested); .25; .30
Magazine capacity: 18 (.22); 16 (.25); 13 (.30)
Fill pressure: 232 bar (3,364 psi)
Shots per fill: 160 (.22); 100 (.25); 55 (.30)
Max velocity: 920 fps (.22)
Max muzzle energy: 64 foot pounds (.22); 77 fpe (.25); 104 fpe (.30)
Overall length: 31.75 inches
Barrel length: 600 mm (23.62 inches)
Weight: 7.45 pounds
Pros
Accurate
Excellent build quality
Extremely tunable
Great trigger
Compact bullpup design
Good price (for an FX)
Cons
Not lefty friendly
Not much less expensive than many other high-end guns
The VP version of the MKIII features a plain black, 400 cc aluminum bottle, which helps drop the price by a few hundred bucks compared to other models in the Wildcat line. Those include the BT Compact (500 mm barrel with a 300 cc carbon fiber bottle) and BT Sniper (700 mm bottle with a 580 cc carbon fiber bottle). With a huge 89cc power plenum, Wildcats are built for power and are well-suited for shooting slugs and heavier pellets at long ranges.
Dual FX AMP regulators—both externally adjustable—ensure power consistency no matter how the bullpup is set up, be it tuned for lower power for backyard shooting, simple pesting, or cranked up for long-range with heavy slugs. A seven-position knob on the rear of the receiver allows for quick and easy hammer-spring adjustment, while the regulators are also externally adjustable with a hex wrench.
The Wildcat’s stock is synthetic, with a somewhat tacky feel. It’s solid and comfortable. A long Picatinny scope rail allows for a range of optics. The magazine protrudes significantly from the right side of the gun’s cheek piece, making it not ideal for suitable for left-handed shooters.
FX guns are well-known for their excellent triggers and the Wildcat MKIII BT VP is no different. The two-stage match trigger is easily adjustable, with a smooth first stage and a super clean break. This bullpup is pretty quiet out of the box, too. But the barrel features ½-inch UNF threads for a suppressor, so why not? The addition of even a small suppressor, like the DonnyFL FX, provided with the test gun, knocks the rifle’s report down to a whisper.
The Wildcat MKIII BT VP comes with FX’s well-known Superior Smooth Twist X barrel. Shooters who want to use slugs can easily change barrel liners to better optimize for slugs.
At the Range
Over the past year, I put well over 1,000 pellets and slugs through the FX Wildcat MKIII BT VP. Many of those shots were at the 25-yard range in my backyard (with a suppressor this rifle is certainly backyard and basement friendly), though I also shot at my regular range at 50 and 100 yards.
The side lever is silky smooth, and both pellets and slugs feed flawlessly. I shot the rifle at a variety of regulator and hammer spring settings, and it performed well across the range. Power was extremely consistent, with velocities typically not varying by more than 10 fps. I didn’t test it with a slug-optimized barrel liner and slug performance out of the pellet barrel was mediocre.
When it came time to shoot targets for pictures to accompany this review, I settled on a setting that gave me about 30 foot pounds of energy. In this case, I mostly shot my favorite 18-grain domed pellets at about 850 feet per second.
For final accuracy testing, I removed the ATN 4K Night Scope I’d been using for pesting (a friend had a rat issue) and outfitted the rifle with the excellent Hawke Frontier 30 FFP 5-25x56 scope. It was overkill for 25-yard shots, but was nice at longer ranges.
The Wildcat MKIII’s accuracy was excellent. At 25 yards, it’s a bug-buster. Shooting off a rest is not the least bit challenging. At 50 yards, shooting off sandbags, ½-inch groups were common, and I managed a few tighter groups. At 100 yards, 2-inch groups were common, and 1-inch groups weren’t unusual.
I shot several varieties of domed pellets, including the H&N Barracuda and Baracuda Match and 18.1-grain varieties from Air Arms and FX. I couldn’t detect any discernible difference in performance. A few groups with 22-grain H&N Barracuda Heavy pellets were also great. I considered the accuracy results outstanding, especially since I barely scratched the surface with tuning.
Final Impressions
The Wildcat MKIII BT VP version of this iconic bullpup from FX is a great all-around gun. It’s accurate, powerful, and tunable enough that, in the right hands, could do the job in a 100-yard benchrest match. Its compact size and maneuverability make it a reasonable hunter, too, though you’d probably want to add a sling and that would require some creativity.
Maybe the only flaw with this gun—and it’s not a flaw with the actual gun itself—is that even with the “VP” designation, it’s not that much less expensive than some of the premium PCPs on the market. Let’s face it: The number of shooters who are going to spend $1,500 on an air rifle is small. And if you’ve got the desire to buy a high-end air gun and have the means to spend $1,500 on it, is spending another $500 for a top-of-the-line model from Air Arms, FX, RAW, or Karma really that much of a stretch?
That said, from a performance standpoint, the Wildcat MKIII can hold its own with those pricier options, especially in the hands of all but the most elite target shooters.
