FX Impact magazine modification

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stinkajames

stinkajames

Member
May 8, 2018
176
10
Qld
Thought some of you Impact owners might have been interested. 

I found it a little annoying on the Impact that you can't see how many pellets you have left in the magazine. Especially when out hunting and may need a quick follow up shot. So here is a little modification I worked out. I'm sure some of you would have done something like this already but I think it should become a factory standard for these magazines.

1. Leave 1 pellet in magazine and see where the last pellet holding section that you can visibly see is when in the gun. On the 22 it is the 7th ridge from the probe stopper.

2. Disassemble magazine (carefully)

3. Drill a small, shallow hole in that exact spot. I used a 2.5mm drill bit and probably went a little deeper than necessary. I would recommend approx. 1mm is enough. 

4. Fill said hole with some kind of paint or putty. I used white nail polish (my wife's, not mine. Although no judgment here) but if using nail polish, make sure it is completely dry before reassembling. I rushed it a bit and the chemical in the polish scored the clear plastic cover in that spot. Not a big deal but would hate for someone else to do it. 

5. Reassemble magazine. 

Here is the result. A small white marker that is just visible when you have one pellet left. Its pretty easy to tell how many are left as well but maybe you could make some small roman numeral marks instead so you have a countdown to the last pellet. Maybe next time. 

James

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"stinkajames": Nice, I just did it to both my Mags. However, you'll have to put the dot over the 6th pellet point for the .25 Mag (one point less than yours). I used a drop of white latex paint instead. Just one more thing, I did not know how much tension to put back on the spring so I uses 3 turns counterclockwise and it seems to function normal. Thanks for this fantastic idea.
 
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"stinkajames": Nice, I just did it to both my Mags. However, you'll have to put the dot over the 6th pellet point for the .25 Mag (one point less than yours). I used a drop of white latex paint instead. Just one more thing, I did not know how much tension to put back on the spring so I uses 3 turns counterclockwise and it seems to function normal. Thanks for this fantastic idea.
Click to expand...

Funshine. I wasn't sure either but 2 turns on the 22 magazine seems to be correct. I was a bit worried that 3 might put too much pressure on the pellets and bruise the skirts or heads a little. Just keep that in mind if you start getting flyers now or something.

James
 
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Great idea! I will add this to my mags also.

I also have a mod I am trying on a side shot mag. I already ruined one mag because the depth setting on my Dremel tool kept slipping and I didn't notice it until too late. I cut right through the bottom of the magazine, $120 down the drain. What I tried once and will try again in the next day or two is to route out the channel that the pellet/slug travels in to accommodate a larger/taller projectile. The largest slug that will fit is a 39 grain HP and I want at least a 52-55 grain. The difference between the 39 and the 55 grain is .109 or just over a tenth of an inch. From my measurements I have enough thickness in the bottom and possibly some from the top to get it done. I bought some high speed cutter bits for my Dremel tool, the first one I tried was a round ball shape but was too large and also contacted the side. Then I tried a flat bottom bit and was actually getting pretty close to succeeding before cutting through the bottom. I had to make a template or jig first so the Dremel base would slide evenly around the mag without catching on the nubs that keep the cover aligned. This time I have a smaller round bit that should follow the already shallow groove in the metal side of the magazine. I will post pictures of my failure and hopefully my success when done. It's a holiday and I have plans so may not get to it today.
 
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stinkajames: I tried out the magazines and they appear to shoot fairly good with the 3 turns on the spring. I did a search and saw a video on YouTube by Esting Rowe, he said it was 4 turns, but settled for 3. ??? When I had the Mags apart I opened some of the holes that prevented the pellet from seating without pushing with a probe. Now all seems good.
 
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The saying goes that "The third time is a charm" So the bad news is that I went through the bottom of my second side shot magazine. The good news is that I now know what bit to use, how deep to go, how far or close to the wall, basically what technique to use and best of all, I may be able to fix both of the magazines with holes through them. We shall see if they hold up but I think if I mix some JB weld epoxy and fill the hole I can mill the surface with the same Dremel bit used for the metal. I haven't quite figured out how the bit can come out when you are pushing on it but it has now done this 3 times. I almost went through a third time. Anyway, here is a shot of what it looks like. I now have room for a 52 grain HP to fit and if I mill 50 thousandths from the plastic cover the 55 grain will fit. I'll give final results after I try the epoxy and whether or not I'll be purchasing a third magazine.
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I finally got around to making the repair yesterday and it worked perfectly. You can see from the back side pic that the actual hole was the size of the bit I was using. Unlike the first one where I cut a hole twice that size. I started by putting a piece of HVAC foil tape over the hole on the back side and then making sure it was not concave from pressing it on, so it would be sure to hold as much epoxy as possible. Then I mixed up some J-B Weld Pro steel epoxy and filled the damaged area. That was a month ago but 24 hours is all that is necessary. Then I took the Dremel and re cut the bottom of the magazine.
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On the inside you can see at 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock the epoxy where I had gone too deep. It all smoothed out perfectly and functioned flawlessly when I loaded to capacity with 52 grain HP's. I'm gong to see how it shoots the sample pack from Nielsen before I mill the cover to accommodate the 55 grain HP's. That will still be quite some time. The rifle is still at the gunsmith for barrel fitting and he has been on vacation. Then I'm going to have a power tune done for max power. The HUMA extra high power regulator is out of stock right now also, but that can be added after the power tune. So another month maybe, hopefully? We shall see. When it is all done I will start a new thread on the .25 Impact with all the mod's.
 
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After watching Esting Rowe I had another look at my mags, always a bit awkward putting that first reversed pellet in. The 'stop' stops to early, resulting in the slot not lining up cleanly, a bit of dremelling to reduce the size of the delrin 'stop' allowed the slot to line up cleanly. Also gave each slot opening and the loading hole a bit of a chamfer as per Esting's vid on YouTube.

Loading is now a bit smoother, as the chamfering allows the pellet to have a bit of room as it goes in.

All of this process made me look a bit closer at how a pellet feeds into the chamber. Looking at the loaded magazine from the aluminium side, the 'ready' pellet is not centred on the opening. Fixing this is a bit more complicated, as it requires the aluminium stop inside the magazine to be bit bigger keeping the pellet centred on the opening/hole. Or FX could change the position of the internal stop by 1-2mm. 
 
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