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First Date Jitters: FX Impact .30 - The Thrill is Gone

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Mick-VA

Mick-VA

Member
Jan 27, 2017
550
28
VA, United States
New FX Impact .30 arrived today. Came in grand style via big brown truck. I have been sitting back patiently for the past 1.5 years watching all the drama and wild swings and variations in user reports, reviews, data, and forum chatter (not to mention a surprising number of used rifle sales).

Well, all that changed on Monday morning for me when I got an email from vendor saying a shipment had come in and a few were not spoken for. Oh snap, waited an hour for difference from my EDT all nervous and full of anticipation and placed a phone call. She was still available and I snapped her up! This was totally unplanned as I had recently bought a RAW HM1000X .357 that came on Wednesday. Impact shipped Wednesday morning and arrived here in VA at 2:30 pm today.

Talk about nervous and jittery! I'm on my first date with her right now and have been fumbling around! I will let you all know how this blind date turns out!
 
(FX Impact. .25)
My factory settings are recorded with pictures and measurements taken with calipers. Measurements taken at all hammer power settings and a drop of blue thread lock on the threaded power wheel cam follower. I also measured and marked the factory valve setting.
At 50 yards, Jsb heavy mk2 tightest groups at max power...w/factory valve setting and factory regulator setting. Also at 50 yards, Jsb kings 25.39 tightest groups at B power setting....w/factory valve and reg settings. I haven't used the chrony yet. I haven't adjusted valve setting yet, but I will. I don't plan on adjusting the factory reg setting at this time.
The center of a cd makes a great circle template. Lots of circles on cardboard in front of the wood stack. It's amazing how accurate the Impact is at 50 yards.

p.s. Installed the Kraford & Lypt FX Impact Easy Access Trigger Guard (long). The fit and finish is awesome and the bipod forward is a noticeable improvement.
 
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Thanks Tom. I knew this scantily dressed Swede required my full attention. I have been keeping detailed notes, measurements, and photos. While awaiting her arrival this week, I binge watched all the various YouTube videos on her. Yours are very informative and descriptive. I also spent a lot of time watching and closely listening to ER.

The funniest part was dragging the hard case out of the cardboard box and setting it on my couch. I fumbled around for 5 mins struggling like hell trying to unlatch and open the case. There are words "push" and also "pull" on different parts of the latch. I interpreted that as pull to open and push to close. Intuitively, I was pulling on the top edge of the latch thinking it would pop open -no dice. I sat there for a few mins looking for a lock mechanism, scratching my head, and contemplating a rubber mallet! Then I placed my fingers on the edge and began increasing my pull on the latch. I placed my thumb on the middle of the latch to gain leverage and accidentally pushed down with my thumb while pulling with my fingers - Bingo! Gotta push and pull at the same time! Childproof. I suppose it may mention that in the manual somewhere but it was inside the case!

And so, our first date began.
 
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great first date, i guess we took similar routes,. a impact is due in on the 22nd this month ,also got a call my hm1000 30 cal with lrt stock is ready to ship,im actually nervous. i know its crazy to be .im just hoping everythings perfect .i would love to see photos of both rigs u have. good stuff, pleeze keep us all informed with updates,, thankz pat
 
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"Mick-VA"Thanks Tom. I knew this scantily dressed Swede required my full attention. I have been keeping detailed notes, measurements, and photos. While awaiting her arrival this week, I binge watched all the various YouTube videos on her. Yours are very informative and descriptive. I also spent a lot of time watching and closely listening to ER.

The funniest part was dragging the hard case out of the cardboard box and setting it on my couch. I fumbled around for 5 mins struggling like hell trying to unlatch and open the case. There are words "push" and also "pull" on different parts of the latch. I interpreted that as pull to open and push to close. Intuitively, I was pulling on the top edge of the latch thinking it would pop open -no dice. I sat there for a few mins looking for a lock mechanism, scratching my head, and contemplating a rubber mallet! Then I placed my fingers on the edge and began increasing my pull on the latch. I placed my thumb on the middle of the latch to gain leverage and accidentally pushed down with my thumb while pulling with my fingers - Bingo! Gotta push and pull at the same time! Childproof. I suppose it may mention that in the manual somewhere but it was inside the case!

And so, our first date began.
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Thanks for checking out my vids! :) I'm glad you enjoyed them. 
I have the same case for my Wildcat. It took me a few tries before I understood what it was telling me to do. I didn't think I would like those latches at first but, they've grown on me and now they seem quite natural. Unfortunately, I can't use my case anymore since I put a Huggett on my WC and it's now too long to fit. :( 
Be glad they did away with the original style case. It sucked having to break the whole thing down to put it away every time. 
Tom
 
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OK! So our first date turned into breakfast in bed and spending the weekend together. Been a lot of fun and findings are promising. As explained above, the hardest part so far was extracting the Impact out of the hard case for an initial peek. Push in and pull on the latch simultaneously. Case lid opens and wow, she's pretty hot in a tacticool kinda way. I'm definitely of the camp that generally think bottled guns are kinda ugly despite the functional advantages. On this particular platform, it just works for me. She is scantily clad,light and petite, mostly metal and carbon fiber surfaces. Pick her up and shouldered, feels good, instantly reminencent of tactical platforms from my army days. Comfortable like slipping on a set of broken in jungle fatigues and boots. Step 1, Read manual. Check gauge, 220 or so bar in there. Power wheel set at max. Installed Hugget standard. Open back door and dry fired. She let out a low frequency muffled Pffffft. At 1st I thought wow, this is way quieter than my Bobcat .30 with same LDC. No way? Step 2. Dragged out Chrony and turned on its lights. Loaded mag. Insert mag - kinda different than other FXs I've had - seems almost upside down. Fired one across the Chrony and crap - 545 fps. Well duh, no wonder she's so soft spoken. Check gauge again, still up there bout 215ish bar. My heart is racing while contemplating potential return authorization and warranty. Not amused at all. Shot two more JSB 44s, 546 and 545. Well, at least she consistently underperforms. By this time, I started to regret this purchase and that this Swede was gonna be a high maintenance one. Unload, mag, de-cock. Examined her from head to toe scrutinizing every detail, every curve, every nut and bolt and setting. Oh, check out that valve adjuster thingy - I'm not seeing those little marker lines like I have seen in all the centerfold photos and YouTube. Well perhaps this thing is strangled.......made adjustment to show two long and two short lines. It essentially arrived with that setting bottomed out. Reloaded mag with 10 rounds. First shot 877 with the 44s. Nice, more like it and closer to what I was expecting! Over 10 rounds averaged 874 with an ES of 7. Ok, now ready to play. Step 3. Just like most gurlz, she likes blingy accessories. Baseline additions include the aforementioned Huggett, UTG max strength QD pic rings in size medium. An Athlon Helos 6-24X50mm with FFP and Matching Milradian-based turrets and reticles. A small Vortex LoPro bubble level and a Magpul QD pic mounted single point sling mount. Scope leveled and double checked. Scope optically centered. Step 4. Cleaned barrel, absolutely filth black gunk. Topped off to 250 bar, set her up clumsily in a plastic MTM predator rest. Checked out my simulations in ChairGun and Strelock making adjustments for actual data on scope height, muzzle velocity and BC for the JSB 44s from my Bobcat profile of .050. Calculated trajectory and determined an optimal zero for a 1 inch kill zone of 48 yards for primary zero, a 22 yard near zero, and a PBR of 16-53 yards. Hmmm, good hunting PBR. Sighted in at 20X on my favorite dead tree at 48 yard that has no bark left and a smooth surface. Cocked lever action and sent one. Splash - actually pretty close. Lined back up to my original POA and adjusted Helos turrets to match the splash. Sent number two which was spot on vertically but a couple 1/10ths Mil off to the right. Made 2 clicks left, aimed at last hole in tree and got a hole in one. One more, same thing. Found a tree close to near zero, picked a small vertical twig to validate horizontal with less chance of wind effect. Good to go. Aimed dead on at 1 5/8th metal spinner target at 51 yards. Slam wow that was loud! Dialed up 1.4 Mils for 72 yards and let another fly at same size target. Mega splash and shook the frame. Dialed up 1.9 Mil for 80 yards and same thing. Ok, this shoots as well as my .30 Bobcat. A little windy now for my 2 o'clock. Dialed up 3.4 for my 98 yard yard target and just missed. Gust dies and I rack another and the little spinner goes round and round. I think I like her. That was Friday afternoon. We spent Saturday and Sunday together going through two complete tins of 44s and about 30 rounds of the 50s. I am confident she can at least, minimally, shoot 1.5 MOA at 100 and I will get better as I get used to handling her petite frame. 
 
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First observations from Friday afternoon thru Sunday shooting.
  • Seems as accurate as any other smooth twist equipped FX I have tried. Pretty easy to shoot accurately.
  • The hardest part for me in a bench type situation is ergonomics. Not much to hold onto and clumsy placement in a plastic MTM rest. I can see why people like to use bipods with these. You can load up bipod a little to get her to sit still. Every other shooting situation is comfy. Non trigger hand placement will take me a while to figure out. Not much to grasp. Hope it's ok to hold the bottle while shooting.
  • trigger was a little heavy oN second stage outta the box. Made slight adjustment and the second stage is better but I'm not yet digging the first stage which won't give you a distinct stop before second stage unless you apply slight lateral pressure on trigger while squeezing thru. Will work on that.
  • The fill port is still retracted. 1st fill I stuck on the female foster and it sucked way up in there like a turtle pulling his head in shell. No way to get it out with my fingers. Urge! Got out tiny jewelers screwdriver in pulled back the foster fitting collar out. Installed the marginally longer foster fitting shipped with gun. Can just get it out with my fingers. That's a pain.
  • She is thin in the middle and tall with the high scope position - gotta pay attention to cant .
  • From just a couple days, I'm pretty sure she can easily support my primary intent of a hunting platform.
  • It is my intent to get a .25 barrel so I can set it up to shoot JSB Fat Kings .34 gr
  • My hope is that I can get this thing to max performance and accuracy in .30 and leave all the settings alone. I'm hoping those same settings will support the .25 barrel shooting JSB Fat Kings exclusively with no further adjustment other than perhaps the power wheel. I have other guns that shoot the Skinny Kings 25gr very well so not intending to use those in the impact.
 
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Congratulations on the new gun! What vendor did you buy it from!?

I like reading your posts for the most part, but I have to be honest. All that "she" talk, and all the references towards IT being female, are really annoying. I mean, do you say, "Have you seen HER?" when you are looking for your phone???

Kmd

p.s. I bet you $20 bucks that my comment will earn me at least 2 new negative accuracy points. At least, lol. 
 
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Yes, hands on time helps with familiarization. I'd like to tweek the valve a touch to see if I can get it to 885ish but am in that phase of afraid to mess with it while it's shooting well.

In almost a week, I have only found the following negatives (far outweighed by positives):
  • The gauge for the air cylinder pressure is off by 25 bar - whereby - 225 actual bar reads 250 on the gauge. Compared against 3 different fill set ups. I consider this a true defect, minor. Will address.
  • The barrel fixing screw backs out every two mags. I just check it every time I insert a mag since its right there. Saw some where about oring fix. My opinion is design issue.
  • The retracted male foster connection is most annoying. My opinion is design issue. Just a tiny bit more extension would resolve. An included magnetic dust cover would be nice at this price point.
  • Gun arrived with valve adjustment knob bottomed out yielding very low fps. Easy fix. QC issue in the supply chain somewhere.
  • Shot full string. 41 on reg. Average 877.6. Extreme spread 13.3. SD 3.8
That's pretty much it. Gun is stabilizing, reg is settling, barrel reaching a point of stasis, and I'm getting more used to it.

Bottom line......it's a keeper!
 
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Urgh! The honeymoon is over and the thrill is gone. With no changes to any settings from June 14th, the gun has continuously lost power from 77 FPE down to 68 FPE today. No changes, no trips anywhere, not even left my house. Every day I Chrony it, using a consistent 220bar starting point, it averages 10-15 fps loss each day. Went from avg 877 fps at break in down to 825 or so today.

So far about 4 tins JSB 44gr (600 rounds or so). Very annoyed and put it away while trying to get my blood pressure down. Kind of disappointed after watching and waiting for more than a year and a half and seeing the gun go through its release and growing pains.

On a positive note, it hasn't leaked anywhere.
 
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Frustration is part of the Impact experience. I met my Impact 6 months ago. She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Within no time I had her on the bed, my full clip ready to slide into her...but wait she wouldn't take it. She had a little nub sticking out of her valve housing preventing easy insertion of my clip. I was so close I kept pleading with her until finally I felt the bottom of her clip hole. I prematurely shot a couple loads before she jammed on me. Now what baby? Will it turned out her pellet probe was loose. I learned later on that little nub sticking out was due to a broken metal valve seat. Her next issue was constantly changing velocities due to no thread lock on power wheel adjusting screw. Next issue was first 2 or 3 shots were always 1 inch low at 25 yard oh great she has a creeping regulator. After 4 months I still could not get this gun to shot as well as my wildcat. Constantly changing POI. Last week while caressing her I found her front barel block loose...holly crap what does FX have against Locktite. Despite all she has put me through I still love her. She has never leaked and she's great to hunt with. Now I'm going to send her back to AOA for warranty repairs. All I can say is hang in there buddy, she's worth it.
 
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"RMORRIS"Frustration is part of the Impact experience. I met my Impact 6 months ago. She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Within no time I had her on the bed, my full clip ready to slide into her...but wait she wouldn't take it. She had a little nub sticking out of her valve housing preventing easy insertion of my clip. I was so close I kept pleading with her until finally I felt the bottom of her clip hole. I prematurely shot a couple loads before she jammed on me. Now what baby? Will it turned out her pellet probe was loose. I learned later on that little nub sticking out was due to a broken metal valve seat. Her next issue was constantly changing velocities due to no thread lock on power wheel adjusting screw. Next issue was first 2 or 3 shots were always 1 inch low at 25 yard oh great she has a creeping regulator. After 4 months I still could not get this gun to shot as well as my wildcat. Constantly changing POI. Last week while caressing her I found her front barel block loose...holly crap what does FX have against Locktite. Despite all she has put me through I still love her. She has never leaked and she's great to hunt with. Now I'm going to send her back to AOA for warranty repairs. All I can say is hang in there buddy, she's worth it.
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yoda-the-innuendo-is-strong-with-this-one.jpg
 
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Ok, here's where I'm at today. Talked to Ernest quite a while and did the following.
  1. Rechecked barrel alignment and thumb screw. Ok 
  2. Rechecked shroud tightness, ok. Rechecked for slop on the hammer spring dial - good. Set to max. 
  3.  Checked the depth of the probe with micrometer just under 45mm and tight. 
  4. Rechecked Chrony - still 790. 
  5. Gave reg under 1/2 turn counterclockwise, needle moved from just under touching 150 to just over touching 150. Tiny move. Counter clockwise on the valve all the way out showing 4 lines. 
  6. Rechecked Chrony 20 shots from 220 bar. Avg 874 fps and 11 ES. Back to 76 FPE. I'm back to near where it was at the beginning during break in of 877.
    [/LIST=1]
    Going to stop now and just Chrony it each day with no further adjustments. Hopefully it stays put this time. Damn gun gives me a headache. Reminds of that old game Operation with the tweezers pulling organs and avoiding the BUZZ!

    Thank you Ernest for the help today.
 
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