So I’m on the wait list for a dreamline, and I’m back and forth with the impact. This will be my first FX gun. Besides the price will there be significant performance in accuracy, power, or reliability? I plan to shoot squirrels with a 22 @ 25 yards. Likely overkill with either gun, but want to make an informed decision between the 2 models.
stonerwinst,
Assuming that you've already made up your mind to get either the Dreamline or the Impact, allow me to ask you one question. If you decide to get the Dreamline (no doubt you will be thrilled with it), will you then wish you had spent more and gotten the Impact? If your answer is yes, then by all means before you plunk down all that hootch, go to Youtube and watch every one of Ernest Rowe's Master Class videos on how to tear that gun down and put it back together. Take the time to learn that gun before you buy. Go in to that purchase with the confidence that if anything needs repair, you can do it.
I was drawn to the Impact early on. But I drug my feet for a long time fearing that I'd regret it. That is, until Ernest Rowe's Master Class videos were published on Youtube. After watching them, my fears disappeared. I've owned an Impact for a couple months now and am fully competent to tear it down, fix it, put it back together, tune it to near perfection, and I'm as happy as a clam in cold wet sand. I'm not intimidated any longer. I'm glad I spent the extra and got what I really wanted. I'm not second-guessing myself.
If after watching Ernest's videos you have any doubts, then choose something else. I wouldn't recommend the Impact to anyone that didn't know exactly what he was getting into.
If popping squirrels at 25 yards is all you want from an airgun, then just about anything will do. For 35 years, a Beeman R7 (HW 30) was all I had, and it was all I needed. No squirrel within 25 yards had a chance. But if you want more, LOTS more, then start watching those videos.
Just this afternoon, I dropped a coyote at 70 yards with my Impact .25. It just doesn't get any better than that!!!
Hope this helps.
BeemanR7