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Impact .357 fouling issue

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drumie

Member
May 20, 2015
288
81
NY, United States
I got my Impact .357 barrel kit a few days ago. I installed the power kit with no issues, installed the barrel and got to shooting. Accuracy just isn't there with this gun. I put about 80 rounds thru it and still the same. I cleaned the barrel and shot some more with only cleaned JSB pellets. After about 80 more rounds this is what the 1st patch looked like when cleaning the barrel 
20210102_184654.1609639027.jpg


I have never had a barrel this dirty with so little pellets thru it before especially a FX barrel. Do you guys think there might be a issue with this barrel? I have a bunch of other .357 guns and I don't think I have seen it this issue with any of them.
 
The lead flakes indicate some type of shaving is going on - damage to the pellet causing spiraling and inaccuracy. Try hand loading 1st to see if accuracy improves. Then try loading a pellet, decocking the gun safely, then removing the barrel and pushing the pellet back out the breech (may have to remove the breech o-ring to do this). Look for signs of shaving on the pellet, if nothing significant, try pushing the pellet all the way through. There probably is something that is causing a nick on the pellet and degrading accuracy. My guesses are: miss-aligned magazine, a burr at the transfer port, and/or a burr on the barrel or liner locks. 

BTW, what speed does the kit put out with the JSB pellets and heavier hammer?

Dan
 
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Odoyle,

I myself have always wondered about the issue of "hand picked" barrels at the FX facility. For that matter any company that has a close relationship with their barrel maker. At Fx they make their own barrel liners and test them in house. It would be hard to convince me that the best of the best don't end up in a pile of select barrels. If you've got the means to run such tests are you really going to throw that 1 in 100 "ringer" in the same rack as the normal run of liners? Of course you don't. And what do you do with them? Unless you're a total idiot you get them in the hands of the influencers/reviewers and in every competition you can find! I don't think it's cheating, maybe just a bit dishonest. Probably just smart business and another advantage of making them in your own factory. 

Glenn in Texas
 
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I was getting 3-4 inch groups at 50 yards. I watched videos from 68 Whiskey and Up North Airguns and they were both getting much better accuracy from theirs.
Click to expand...

You need to remember its paid advertisement.. Those guys work for FX.. If you see comercial saying Big Mac is best burger in the world what are the odds its true? Back to subject do some firelapping should reduce fouling alot. Alltho wont solve your clipping problem.. Probably probe, mag, barrel dont line up and you shave ur pellets when inserting. 
 
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I also received such a kit in October. I have the same picture of ballistic horror. horizontal mortar. a sheet of A4 paper here is his group. I was already desperate and put this strange fantasy of FX designers away into the closet. I got a 9mm blank, which showed good groups, but it is 700mm long, so the muzzle velocity was about 250ms, which is not enough, so I decided to wait until they release .35 hybrids and a liner for them. then I will again try to get some acceptable result.
I got the impression that for this platform all the same the limit is .30 caliber.
At the same time, I consider the blow to be one of the best rifles.
Respect for the community
 
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I just checked for issues with the magazine. The pellets loaded great. I loaded some pellets and slugs and then pulled the barrel and pushed them back out. All looked great. So I pushed a few down the barrel with a rod. Again all looked good. So I decided to polish the barrel. I used VFC pellets and JB paste, then JP bore bright then Fitz and finally that awful green stuff that Knifemaker uses. I shot 4 mags indoors just to check things out and here is what the patch looked like after.
20210103_112323.1609691426.jpg
. Just pretty dirty, no lead flakes at all. I am happy the lead flakes are gone but i am a little surprised at how dirty it is.. i did find out this barrel is a 1/26 twist. And for those who want to know the gun shooting thr JSB 81 at 880 fps with the reg set at 160. I get a little more than a full mag, 18 shots, on a fill and that is with the standard air tank. No need to put on the 500cc tank for it. Hopefully I can check for accuracy tomorrow now. 
 
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I was doing more work with mine. In addition to polishing, I also tried many options for liner gaskets to reduce the vibrations of the liner inside the casing when fired. I did not see a noticeable improvement. I think the problem with .35 is the instability of the liner system this long. I have already ordered a .35 800 mm blank for verification. I think this is a more promising thing, since the old barrel is from the old condor, from which less than 700 mm remained after the alterations. shoots much better than the liner from FХ
 
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Tango, do the barrels come apart on the 35 just like the others? I noticed both ends are different. I tried to unscrew the end to pull off the barrel but it is on really good so I didn't. I was going to try supporting the barrel by replacing the shroud with carbon fiber tube but I can't find a nut that would screw on to the end of the barrel assembly .
 
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After polishing, like yours, the lead on the patches became less, but I went further and cut the end of the barrel and re-formed a chamfer. In fact, these liners are not as well made as is commonly believed. but this is not their main problem. In my opinion, the problem of a terrible grouping in the very concept of a large-caliber prefabricated barrel, this system itself is not stable, take pity on your nerves and money spent on pieces of lead that will not bring the best result. Perhaps you just need to wait until fХ offers any update or fix for this caliber.
 
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I apply silicone oil to my pellet tin foam pad and roll slugs around on that before loading. It keeps the barrels really clean after polishing. Being that your patch is that black with lead, but no more flaking, it might do good to give it more polishing. 

Also, check the transfer port for sharp edges. I will take a tightly rolled up piece of fine grit wet/dry sandpaper to the inside edge of the port, rolling the inside leading edges into a nice polished radius. It doesn't take much polishing to roll them from a sharp machined corner. As long as you are not taking off a lot of material you won't be wrecking the port. Pellets and slugs won't be able to catch and shave pieces of themselves off and do load smoother with this attention to detail.
 
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I was getting 3-4 inch groups at 50 yards. I watched videos from 68 Whiskey and Up North Airguns and they were both getting much better accuracy from theirs.
Click to expand...


I think the guys at 68 Whiskey are good honest men. They shoot way more than the average guy and have learned to tune their guns very well. They may end up with better equipment though due to suppliers they deal with wanting all the positive advertisement they can get.

As soon as slug liners are available I'll buy the 357 barrel kit.
 
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