I bought my FX Impact 600 PP in .22 in October last year to shoot slugs at long distances. And slugs I shot. I have shot north of 5000 slugs over many months. I learnt a great deal and had a lot of fun trying out new combination of slugs, speed, reg pressure, valve settings, etc. I learnt by talking with friends who were on a similar path and learning from what some of the guys on Airgun Nation were doing. The objective was, and still is, to shoot slugs as accurately as possible at long distances. And I managed to achieve many truly amazing groups at 100m and beyond.
I had one persistent issue, though, in that the tune would not hold. It might hold for two weeks and sometimes, only for an afternoon. I would then have to start the tuning process again. It became more and more frustrating. With the carbon sleeve on the liner, it became quicker to find an accurate tune, but the consistency remained elusive.
I also found that many, if not most Impact owners, who were on a similar mission, were experiencing the same problem. Excellent accuracy, and then it would disappear for no apparent reason. I bought a second Impact, always hoping that one would be in tune when I had the opportunity to shoot at my favorite venues. It fueled my passion for understanding the reason for this inconsistency. The guys behind the various YouTube channels, which got me into this sport, were seemingly not experiencing this issue. Their guns all appeared bullet-proof once tuned. In my group of friends who shoot together, we have 9 Impacts, and they are all accurate but inconsistent in holding the tune with slugs. No issue with pellets, though. We fitted pin probes, carbon sleeves and generally followed the advice from others. It helped but did not solve the need for ongoing fine-tuning to get the slugs back on track.
And then the journey took an unexpected turn. Pieter Pienaar, from HP Performance, reached out to encourage me to continue sharing my experiences. Pieter is a very good friend of Hein Frommann, who I then met, and we got chatting. Hein and Pieter were deeply interested in what my group of friends and I were experiencing.
And then it began. Hein started to work on improving the consistency of our Impacts and improving the accuracy even more. Long story short, over two months, I witnessed first-hand a master engineer going about innovating and improving an end-to-end system. I knew Hein was behind innovations such as the pin probe, dual transfer port, and even the carbon fiber sleeving that then swept across the world. Over that period, my Impacts, and a few of my friends, went through what I can only describe as a complete transformation. The breakthroughs in innovation just kept coming. Our guns had to go back.
What I then received back are not the same guns. From the smoothness of the cocking action, the brilliant trigger, to the tune's balance and overall setup. Some not insignificant work has been done to the internals. Nothing, however, compares to the performance I got from the very first shot and onwards. I have now put more than 800 slugs through both guns over a month, and not once did the tune not hold. I can now change the valve adjuster to play around with the speeds, and they remain accurate. On the power wheel, they shoot accurately on max, 5 and 4. They shoot pellets equally accurately, one small ragged hole at 25m with 28 shots. Change from H&Ns to JSBs slugs, and they shoot them accurately. It's everything I could have wished for and more. Next, I will try a piece of toast, which I am sure will shoot accurately.
I spent many hours with Hein in his well-equipped workshop talking about new ideas and theories. I saw the obsessive attention to detail, the exhaustive testing, the neatness, and perfection. And most of all, the passion for our sport. He took the opportunity to drive the innovation he had done so far with his and Pieter's Impact to new heights.
We saw across all the Frommann Improved/blueprinted Impacts that they all shot brilliantly and were utterly consistent. And all felt the same, the smoothness of operation. The parts just fit together better. Don't get me wrong; the Impact is a quality rifle, but, like all production guns, can be improved through customization or blueprinting.
In follow-up posts, I will share what the transformation entails. The good news is that Frommann Improved Impact conversions will soon be available through HP Performance, in South Africa. It’s Hein and Pieter’s part time business through which they help guys improve their rifles. These guns are not set up for power. They are blueprinted and tuned to consistently shoot the tiniest of groups at long distances.
In closing, I want to take the opportunity to thank Hein and Pieter for reaching out to help me. They were always patient and explained what forces and processes were at play in these complex systems. Hein is the current 25m Benchrest World Champion, and Pieter is one of the South Africa’s top competitors for those that don't know. They have made both my Impacts future proof and an absolute delight to own.
The photo below shows the average 10 shot groups we are getting at 100m, in fair or mild wind. We are getting these groups very consistently and that is the point of sharing this story. In no less than 10 sessions over the last month, this has been the result. And not just my two Impacts but all the guns that have been improved.
Average groups at 50m, both in mild wind.
I had one persistent issue, though, in that the tune would not hold. It might hold for two weeks and sometimes, only for an afternoon. I would then have to start the tuning process again. It became more and more frustrating. With the carbon sleeve on the liner, it became quicker to find an accurate tune, but the consistency remained elusive.
I also found that many, if not most Impact owners, who were on a similar mission, were experiencing the same problem. Excellent accuracy, and then it would disappear for no apparent reason. I bought a second Impact, always hoping that one would be in tune when I had the opportunity to shoot at my favorite venues. It fueled my passion for understanding the reason for this inconsistency. The guys behind the various YouTube channels, which got me into this sport, were seemingly not experiencing this issue. Their guns all appeared bullet-proof once tuned. In my group of friends who shoot together, we have 9 Impacts, and they are all accurate but inconsistent in holding the tune with slugs. No issue with pellets, though. We fitted pin probes, carbon sleeves and generally followed the advice from others. It helped but did not solve the need for ongoing fine-tuning to get the slugs back on track.
And then the journey took an unexpected turn. Pieter Pienaar, from HP Performance, reached out to encourage me to continue sharing my experiences. Pieter is a very good friend of Hein Frommann, who I then met, and we got chatting. Hein and Pieter were deeply interested in what my group of friends and I were experiencing.
And then it began. Hein started to work on improving the consistency of our Impacts and improving the accuracy even more. Long story short, over two months, I witnessed first-hand a master engineer going about innovating and improving an end-to-end system. I knew Hein was behind innovations such as the pin probe, dual transfer port, and even the carbon fiber sleeving that then swept across the world. Over that period, my Impacts, and a few of my friends, went through what I can only describe as a complete transformation. The breakthroughs in innovation just kept coming. Our guns had to go back.
What I then received back are not the same guns. From the smoothness of the cocking action, the brilliant trigger, to the tune's balance and overall setup. Some not insignificant work has been done to the internals. Nothing, however, compares to the performance I got from the very first shot and onwards. I have now put more than 800 slugs through both guns over a month, and not once did the tune not hold. I can now change the valve adjuster to play around with the speeds, and they remain accurate. On the power wheel, they shoot accurately on max, 5 and 4. They shoot pellets equally accurately, one small ragged hole at 25m with 28 shots. Change from H&Ns to JSBs slugs, and they shoot them accurately. It's everything I could have wished for and more. Next, I will try a piece of toast, which I am sure will shoot accurately.
I spent many hours with Hein in his well-equipped workshop talking about new ideas and theories. I saw the obsessive attention to detail, the exhaustive testing, the neatness, and perfection. And most of all, the passion for our sport. He took the opportunity to drive the innovation he had done so far with his and Pieter's Impact to new heights.
We saw across all the Frommann Improved/blueprinted Impacts that they all shot brilliantly and were utterly consistent. And all felt the same, the smoothness of operation. The parts just fit together better. Don't get me wrong; the Impact is a quality rifle, but, like all production guns, can be improved through customization or blueprinting.
In follow-up posts, I will share what the transformation entails. The good news is that Frommann Improved Impact conversions will soon be available through HP Performance, in South Africa. It’s Hein and Pieter’s part time business through which they help guys improve their rifles. These guns are not set up for power. They are blueprinted and tuned to consistently shoot the tiniest of groups at long distances.
In closing, I want to take the opportunity to thank Hein and Pieter for reaching out to help me. They were always patient and explained what forces and processes were at play in these complex systems. Hein is the current 25m Benchrest World Champion, and Pieter is one of the South Africa’s top competitors for those that don't know. They have made both my Impacts future proof and an absolute delight to own.
The photo below shows the average 10 shot groups we are getting at 100m, in fair or mild wind. We are getting these groups very consistently and that is the point of sharing this story. In no less than 10 sessions over the last month, this has been the result. And not just my two Impacts but all the guns that have been improved.
Average groups at 50m, both in mild wind.
