Most recent FX Impacts, updated? Improved?

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Cliff_Allen

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Jul 14, 2015
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maine, United States
I've been casually watching from the sideline, the progressing story of the Impact. I'm curious about the evolution it may or may not be going through. I just watched this video of an unboxing and it looks like they changed the case that it ships in so that you don't have to remove the barrel to fit the case.


I'm curious if they've made any other changes that address the issues folks have had over the last year or so. I haven't been following the threads so intently that I can pretend to know the specific issues people were having.

Is there anyone here that has been following the changes, if any, that FX has made with the platform regarding improvements or reliability? If I ordered an Impact today, what would be different about having ordered it last year when they were first announced? Are there any upcoming changes anyone knows about?

Any help greatly appreciated, my interest in the platform has been piqued. ++accuracy for anyone that can share any info they have.

Also, does anyone know if these are available or still on back order?

Thank you,
Cliff
 
Thank you Jam! I didn't know they had changed the fill port to be more accommodating. That is great news! Do you know if they just widened out the fill area or extended the fill probe?

Is there a quick list or something somewhere that explains the most common issues people had? I know there have been several threads about them over the last year but since I believe there has been more than one issue with the Impacts, I'm being a bit lazy and trying to avoid spending hours of reading through hundreds of posts to figure it out. I'm also very interested to hear about anything FX has done to address any concerns. 

I'm considering picking one up but I'd like to know what I may expect so I can weigh the pros and cons for myself and see if it's something that I can live with. I guess at the end of the day there's still a better chance that I'll get one that doesn't have any faults that I can find or that bother me, I'm just trying to do a little due diligence ahead of time. Thank you guys for the help. Anyone who's read my posts knows much I love my FX Royale 500 I hope I'm not coming across a troll here trying to open a can of worms. If so feel free to PM me if you don't want to air any dirty laundry here. I'm open to any and all feedback. 

Thank you!
Cliff
 
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Cliff_Allen.
To me, a well functioning and sorted Impact is the perfect hunting gun. I know you do not hunt. I think it has been designed for easy carry in the field. Just me, but I would not care to do target shooting with one. I don't really even care to target shoot with my Wildcat. I do like to target shoot, of late, with my springers. It's very challenging and keeps me interested trying to make those ragged holes. You could sit down with a sorted impact and make identical ragged holes all day long. I'd get bored. But that's just me.
 
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Cliff, I've been trying to catch up on the evolution of the Impact myself since I became interested in owning one in the last month. The main thing I've noticed is the evolution of the barrels but keep in mind I've never actually handled one just followed the distributors ads and used guns offered for sale. It seems the first guns offered all had telescoping barrels. Later it seems some .25 and .30 caliber barrels were offered with a fixed shroud (and I think a few inched longer) but with no moderator. Today the .177 and .22 barrels are telescoping and the .25 and .30 caliber barrels have a fixed shroud with six sections of hollow moderator on the end. I have seen in u tube videos a fixed shroud .22 with the moderator but have heard they have not been shipped to this country yet. One of the distributors ( Airgun Depot) advertises fixed shroud .177 and .22 barrels but says they may take much longer to arrive. Hope this helps and of course if anyone can add to this I like to know as well.

Roll'in
 
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One more thing I might add there seems to be some concern with the screw that holds the probe in place. I see some of the air gunsmiths modify the screw in a couple of ways and on another place on this site there is a very dissatisfied Impact owner who had the probe come flying out hitting him in the shoulder probably because this screw came loose. I look for FX to modify this. Have other owners had any concerns or problems with this?
 
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"Nueces"Cliff_Allen.
To me, a well functioning and sorted Impact is the perfect hunting gun. I know you do not hunt. I think it has been designed for easy carry in the field. Just me, but I would not care to do target shooting with one. I don't really even care to target shoot with my Wildcat. I do like to target shoot, of late, with my springers. It's very challenging and keeps me interested trying to make those ragged holes. You could sit down with a sorted impact and make identical ragged holes all day long. I'd get bored. But that's just me.
Click to expand...


Thank you Nueces. My primary interest in the Impact for target shooting lies in some of what Ted has said about his Impact and reading I've done about accuracy in general. There seems to be a consensus that the accuracy of a gun can be fine tuned so to speak by fine tuning the speed of the pellet out of the barrel. Each barrel being slightly different of course, which is why some guns of the same make and manufacturer shoot different pellets more accurately than others. It would appear that the Impact is the ideal platform for this type of fine tuning and I think may play a role in Ted's explanation that it is the most accurate gun he's ever had. Granted, while he has promised to tip his hand so to speak, regarding how he's achieved such accuracy, we are yet to hear from him on the matter. Anyway, I'm curious to try for myself to find the most accurate pellet, and then adjust the speed a little bit at a time in either / both directions to see the effect. I think pellet speed may have a direct relationship to barrel harmonics. 

In general, I would actually rather prefer that all of that adjustability was in a traditional rifle configuration as I'm not a hunter and am not really a fan of the bull pup format. Who knows, maybe FX will come out with the Impact Rifle. That would be the cats pajamas :)
 
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Cliff, I understand the due diligence. It's been my observation that with each new airgun you have to sift through what was a real problem from the owners that actually own one and those just airing their opinion. There were some Impacts out in the beginning that had real problems but I found it hard to determine the % number. I believe it to be low. I have had my silver Impact 25-22 for about 4 months. It came hollowed out around the fill probe so it can be accessed easily, but not extended. Was sent a new screw for pellet probe. New guns will have that. mine has the telescoping shroud on both the 22 and 25. They work good I think and not sure if I would trade for a fixed moderator. Accuracy is great in both cal, but the gun is so adjustable you can screw the accuracy up. Easy to readjust it back and a fun learning experience. Mine came with and has had zero problems. I take that back. Had a problem with a trigger screw but it was replaced for free and was more then likely self inflicted. If I had it to do over again, I would. FX has questionable pressure gauges, but your aware of that. Some longer cases showed up, but I don't think they are standard. Have to ask AOA that. If you recall, when the Wildcat came out it was beat up on pretty good and now you rarely hear of a problem and lots of praises. Penchetta usually has them in stock when others run out, but they show out of stock at this time. I think they buy from each shipment imported for their stock so other then go on a list you could more then likely get one out of the next shipment from them. Hope this helps
 
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I am sure FX knows that when you make big improvements to the gun to be careful and not say Generation I and Generation II and even generation III
The price and value will drop on the I and II guns , And the FX is already at the upper price range.
Its all just marketing ,
As it is its marketed as the most complex air gun on the market, I like simple,
I am just going to wait a few years and see what happens.
But I sure want to be my hands on one of those smooth twist barrels just to compare the performance to other barrels , LW, CZ, even the Linstone
Just to compare,
If someone has already done this PLEASE point me in the right direction .
Mike
 
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I'd like to ask everyone to please stay on topic. The OP asked for a list of specific improvements that have been made since inception.

If I recall correctly something that has not been mentioned is that some of the o-rings have been replaced with that of a denser material. This, in combination with a larger case (so one does not have to remove the air bottle each time) has alleviated many, if not all, of the air leaks we've read about.
 
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Hi, I just received my .25 impact about tens days ago from AOA . First thing I noticed is silver model is only half silver (breech end is all black) next thing I looked at was fill port which appears unchanged from previous models but they now provide a plastic extension for hose fitting which works fine. First five magazines would jam every 5 shots, probe would hang up on inner mag rotor. I thought I had a defective magazine. Apon further inspection I found pellet probe was loose causing probe misalignment and jamming. When I put my brand new snap on 1.5 hex into there updated set screw it felt like throwing a hotdog down a hallway-no way to tighten. While waiting for new probe set screw from AOA, I replaced probe set screw from Ace Hardware and that corrected jamming issue. Action is a little stiff closing with no mag, probe alignment? Any how on to shoot'n. Sighting in was not easy due to constantly changing poi. After 300 plus rounds of chasing my tail I checked the cronograph and was down 250 fps. Long story short found power adjuster set screw had backed out and there is nothing to pevent this. I adjusted set screw and applied blue locktite. I will let you know how it shoots in a few days. Also my impact has a couple other cosmetic issues. The cheek piece was poorly machined and one of the rubber magazine friction holder's is coming apart, there was also a small scratch on breech FX logo. So I would say there is almost no difference between this gun and previous models. I am a patient man and I don't mind a little tinkering but if I can't get this thing to shoot as well as my Wildcat I will be disppointed. So far not the new gun experience I wanted.

 
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"RMORRIS"Hi, I just received my .25 impact about tens days ago from AOA . First thing I noticed is silver model is only half silver (breech end is all black) next thing I looked at was fill port which appears unchanged from previous models but they now provide a plastic extension for hose fitting which works fine. First five magazines would jam every 5 shots, probe would hang up on inner mag rotor. I thought I had a defective magazine. Apon further inspection I found pellet probe was loose causing probe misalignment and jamming. When I put my brand new snap on 1.5 hex into there updated set screw it felt like throwing a hotdog down a hallway-no way to tighten. While waiting for new probe set screw from AOA, I replaced probe set screw from Ace Hardware and that corrected jamming issue. Action is a little stiff closing with no mag, probe alignment? Any how on to shoot'n. Sighting in was not easy due to constantly changing poi. After 300 plus rounds of chasing my tail I checked the cronograph and was down 250 fps. Long story short found power adjuster set screw had backed out and there is nothing to pevent this. I adjusted set screw and applied blue locktite. I will let you know how it shoots in a few days. Also my impact has a couple other cosmetic issues. The cheek piece was poorly machined and one of the rubber magazine friction holder's is coming apart, there was also a small scratch on breech FX logo. So I would say there is almost no difference between this gun and previous models. I am a patient man and I don't mind a little tinkering but if I can't get this thing to shoot as well as my Wildcat I will be disppointed. So far not the new gun experience I wanted.

Click to expand...


That sucks, sorry to hear about the issues, I know all too well the frustration behind opening a shiny new air rifle and being let down. I'm curious about the fill port. Someone reported the new ones have the fill port area widened out now for better access. I believe I have confirmed this on two different youtube videos. One by Racknload uploaded 3 days ago, when he turns the gun upside down you can clearly see it is different than previous models. The other is by JoergSprave from 60 days ago where he is reviewing the gun from the FX factory location and he also turns the gun upside down for a view of the widened fill port area. This makes me think you have one of the original designs and not the updated version?

If anyone else has any insight into this particular aspect I'd be interested to hear about it! 

Thank you for taking the time to detail your issues here!
 
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I just purchased the last gun in stock from Penchetta and the salesman confirmed that the filling area had been widened and is much easier to fill now. He also confirmed case is larger, so you don't have to remove barrel everytime you put the gun away and picatinny rails have standard spacing. He didn't mention anything else, but that doesn't mean that was all the improvements.
 
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On Jan 6, I purchased my Fx Impact in 25cal. It arrived with the 6
section "fixed" style shroud. The fill port does not appear to be enlarged
but it did come with a metal extension foster fitting, a little over a inch long, giving enough protrusion below stock to connect easier.
The case is the longer version, the rifle came assembled, but the case is
only long enough to allow 4 sections of shroud to remain installed. The final 2 sections were shipped loose in the case.
The scope rail on this rifle appears to be the weaver spec version.
Upon closer inspection when I arrived home with it, I noticed the scope rail has duller finish along the lower edges on each side where the rings
would clamp on... Nothing damaged or cause for alarm, but nonetheless,
still appears to have that duller finish.
One magazine came with it.
I have not had the opportunity to shoot it yet as the temps here are below
zero here, in a cold snap until next week.
The gun arrived with 220bar of pressure. I had the shop where I bought it
top the tank off at 250 before I headed home.
Upon my arrival at home, I came inside and reopened the gun, I found
the pressure down on the gun to 238 or so. This caught my attention,
so I did not play with it anymore, as I wanted to observe the gun to monitor for possible air leaks.
The next morning, I found the gun to be back at just under 250bar again.
Thankfully it was not an air leak, but just a noteable drop in psi from the sub temps we are experiencing from my trip home. The shop temp was probably 65F, it was -9 on my trip home, which was 3hrs or so. Then back inside my home, temp is 73, the gun's pressure rebounded by next morning. I found it an interesting observation on the pressure swing, hence my noting it here. I'm glad it wasn't a leak!
One point I have saw made in a few gun review videos now is the anticipation of removing the carbon fiber bottle & carrying a spare to change out on the fly while shooting. I have looked into this somewhat for myself, as this was a point of interest for me. I called AOA, asked the rep these questions:
Can the carbon fiber tank be filled while off the rifle?

Have they, meaning AOA, experienced anyone having issues with
removal and frequent exchanges of using multiple carbon fiber tanks?

The rep could not answer my question at that time, said they would call me back after looking into my inquest.
So today I got the call back.

Their response was:
AOA does not reccomend removal of the carbon fiber tank if possible.
They also said the tank does not appear to be designed to be filled while off the gun.
So I asked the rep, why does FX offer extra tanks for it then?
Rep replies, they are intended as replacement only.
I am sharing this information here because I find the gun reviews indicating that spare additional tanks can be carried in the field and swapped out as quite misleading.
This information would stand to reason why FX now ships the guns
assembled, tank installed, hence the longer case. ? I don't know..

I do know that I was slightly disappointed to find out my plan of
owning and using multiple carbon fiber tanks is not advised.
Perhaps someone will come out with an adapter to fill these FX
carbon fiber tanks while off the gun, and using multiple tanks on
the Impact without issues of airleaks, etc will become a reality..
Hope so..
 
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"ballistic1"On Jan 6, I purchased my Fx Impact in 25cal. It arrived with the 6
section "fixed" style shroud. The fill port does not appear to be enlarged
but it did come with a metal extension foster fitting, a little over a inch long, giving enough protrusion below stock to connect easier.


Have they, meaning AOA, experienced anyone having issues with
removal and frequent exchanges of using multiple carbon fiber tanks?


I do know that I was slightly disappointed to find out my plan of
owning and using multiple carbon fiber tanks is not advised.
Perhaps someone will come out with an adapter to fill these FX
carbon fiber tanks while off the gun, and using multiple tanks on
the Impact without issues of airleaks, etc will become a reality..
Hope so..






Click to expand...


Thank you Ballistic! I hope it turns out to be a shooter when you get to try it! Interesting that it didn't come with the widened out fill probe area. It sounds as though you walked into a shop and bought one right off the shelf from somewhere that had them in stock?

Also, regarding the removal of the tank and swapping out other tanks. I can speculate as to why they are not recommending it. There is a check valve inside the tank that keeps the air from escaping. I've had a few FX bottle guns and occasionally, I believe that check valve can become stuck open and not function properly, letting the air leak out when you attempt to remove the bottle. I had this happen with a Royale of mine. I'm fairly handy and so I took the check valve out and disassembled it, put it all back together with what appeared to be no issues and reinstalled it. It still wouldn't work. I took that thing apart probably 5 times and could find nothing wrong with it to dictate to me that it shouldn't work. What was frustrating about the whole thing is that it is a pretty simple mechanism, not much to it and it. The center post in the valve would be stuck open, I would unstick it and it would slide up and down effortlessly, and then when I put it back on it would get stuck open again. It didn't matter as long as the bottle was on the gun but as soon as you tried to remove it the air would leak out. I sent it to AOA and whether they fixed it or replaced it, I'll never know, but it worked properly when I got it back. Again, I have no idea whether or not this is why they aren't recommending it, but maybe someone who knows better can chime in. It's not something that is of concern to me since I'll probably never remove the bottle from the gun and even if I do and there are issues I'm pretty comfortable that it's an easy fix.

Thank you for the update on yours, please let us know how it shoots when you get a chance!

All the best,
Cliff
 
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Weird, I really can't think of a legit reason why the bottles should stay on the rifles.
With older theobens, you MUST take the bottle off to refill, they didn't even have a quick fill in those days. Steyrs, same story. 
I took the bottles of my FX-es off so many times, and never had a problem.
If I were you, I wouldn't be too worried to buy an extra bottle and use it as a spare. Can't do much harm.
And if it would, just put in a new o-ring, and you are good to go again.
 
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>Cliff - About my Fx Impact purchase.. I knew I wanted the Impact in 25 cal, and had been looking around online and in stores.
​A lot of places are Out of Stock, as many will find, without placing an order, ascertaining one of these Fx Impact rifles can be
​a challenge. So, as I pulled into the Airgun Shops parking lot, big Brown Ups pulled in 30 seconds later. The shop owner was
​coming outside to receive his Ups shipment as I got out of my truck. He asked, what can I do for you. I told him, I'm here to
​get the feel of whatever you have, but am wanting an Impact. He goes, your Impact is in this box!
​And just like that, my timing was impeccable and my fortitude grand... LOL , yes!
​Not only did I find the Impact in 25cal that I wanted, but the shop is within an hour from me, and the Shop Owner was very
​happy to show me any and all his in stock available rifles, answer my questions, and was very well versed.
​I am just as excited to have found the Shop local to me as I am to have scored the Fx!

​>weatherby- Interesting points you have made here. It does make sense, why would Fx produce a gun in which the CF tank
​was so easily removable by end user, if they didn't intend for it to be taken off? Perhaps they initially intended for it to be
​a CF tank exchangeable platform, and then the tank reseat/ air leak issues arose and they have changed their stance or
approach in regards to tank swapping? I again do not know, but you raise an interesting point with mention of how the
​older guns all had tanks off to fill.


​Thanks much for the insight guys... :)
 
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