BE WARNED: LONG POST AHEAD...
I figure I'll buck the apparent trend of people who post to complain about their FX Impact and start a thread about an airgun enthusiast who, oddly enough, happens to really like his Impact!
Let me preface this by stating that I'm a nobody in this hobby - I don't have any ties to any manufacturer or any particular forum and I have no hidden agenda. I'm just like many of us airgun nuts who have spent way too much money on these things and will, most likely, be spending a lot more money down the line. I don't have a YouTube channel, I don't get anything for doing this, and I am not out to massage anyone's egos or piss anyone off. Just wanted to get all of that out of the way because most of the Impact threads I've seen have been pretty polarizing - so I'm trying to maintain the middle ground here.
All that said, you can see my current family of PCP's as of this month (I say that because it's a constant evolution and the roster could likely change at anytime). Prior to these rifles, I've had numerous other (mostly high end) models from Air Arms, Falcon, Daystate, FX, Edgun, Kalibrgun, AGT, and the like. I've gone through a long line of FX models from the T12 Whisper to the Monsoon to multiple Royale 400/500's but am by no means an FX fanboi. I don't typically get too attached to any one rifle or brand because I know there's always something else coming down the pipe and I've sold many "favorite" rifles to finance the purchase of the next greatest thing. If anything, it's the Edgun (in one iteration or another) that has been the most constant part of my stable as I've always had an Edgun in my safe for the last 6-7 years while the other rifles continually cycle through. But that beautiful Edgun R3M you see in the photo has shot probably less than 200 pellets in its lifetime (less than 50 by me) and less than 10 shots fired in the last 6 months.
All of the above may seem like unnecessary info but I wanted to provide the backdrop against which I'm comparing/contrasting the Impact. I got the black .22 Impact in mid-December and also got a .25 in silver last month. I decided to keep the black .22 because of it's overall shorter length, lower noise, and higher shot count compared to it's bigger .25 brother. Neither of the Impacts I had exhibited any of the various problems others have grumbled about and neither has been sent back to AofA for any repairs or any other work. So now that I've had the Impact for a couple of months and the novelty of the honeymoon is mostly gone, I can give it an honest assessment.
Here's why I really like my Impact:
-Truly innovative design:
- It's modular and highly adjustable so you can easily customize it to your liking; I have to imagine that there'll be plenty of OEM and aftermarket parts we'll be able to get for this rifle in the not so distant future
- Great balance: the Impact is short (~29.5" w/ the .22 barrel shroud retracted), relatively light weight (under 10lbs as fully dressed above with Atlas bipod), and very comfortable to hold/shoot.
- Forward cocking location: the Colibri Hummingbird is the fastest and easiest rifle to cock. The Vulcan's bolt can be positioned on either side of the rifle for the ultimate flexibility but it's a much more deliberate motion to cock. The Impact's lever is very easy and smooth to operate. Regardless of where each ranks, this feature is one of the main reasons the Edgun gets get little use now (it's more work and less ergonomical to cock).
- The AR grip on this black .22 is different from the one I had on the .25 silver and it's hands down the most comfortable gun grip I've ever held. I'm not into AR's so I don't have much exposure to those parts but if I wanted to switch out this grip, it's cheap and easy to do. Doing this on a more traditional PCP would require me doing some woodworking to reshape the stock/grip - which is well beyond my skillset.
- Multiple rails included - yes, the original scope rail isn't to mil-spec but I don't care b/c I only use two piece mounts so it doesn't affect me. This issue has since been resolved by FX and a mil-spec replacement can be attained from AofA for those who care. There's also rails on either side for other accessories as needed. On my wood stocked rifles, I had to add the rails myself . . . with the extreme paranoia of ruining the stock if not done correctly.
- Extendable shroud: this is not a gimmick, it works. On the .22, the shroud only extends about 2.5" but it makes a huge difference in suppressing the sound. The .25's shroud extended about 6" to achieve the same results. Some have questioned the potential change in POI with this design and for my purposes (shooting squirrels and other pests), this is not a concern. I've notice no discernable shift in POI with my Impact - and if one existed, it's nothing that would prevent me from consistently hitting the head of a squirrel from 50-75 yds (which I literally just did about an hour ago - and was partly the motivation for this post).
- Removeable carbon fiber bottle: having recently upgraded the aluminum bottle on my then AirWolf MCT to a CF bottle, I can attest for how big a difference this made to the overall weight of the rifle. Needless to say, glad to see the CF bottle on the Impact vs those ultra heavy old-school bottles. The biggest bonus here is (because each bottle is self sealing) that you can have multiple bottles and quickly/easily swap them out in the field so you don't need to lug your whole air tank setup with you.
-Overall build quality: the Impact is a very solidly built rifle. When you pick it up, it just feels like a well made rifle, which it is.
-Accuracy: I'm superficially aware of the ongoing debate between the Smooth Twist barrel vs. the CZ or LW and others out there. Regardless of what side you're on in that debate, what matters is your real-world, everyday use of these guns. Again, I shoot squirrels and other pests on my property from between 30 to 75 yards 99%. In the decade that I've been into PCP's, I've had ONE (yes, 1) occasion to shoot a pest at 102yds (and I did hit/kill it - yay!). With ANY of the rifles above, if I miss a squirrel at anything under 50yds, that's MY fault and not some intrinsic flaw of the barrel or rifle itself.
-Fun factor: this post is already getting pretty long and I could go on for several more paragraphs but will wrap up the positives with the fact that the Impact (like the Colibri Hummingbird) is just down right fun to shoot. Both the Edgun and Vulcan are ultra reliable and consistent - to the point of being boring. The Impact, I think mostly by virtue of it's innovative design, definitely has more of that undefinable "it" factor that makes it more fun to own and shoot.
Now, there are a couple of things that could be improved on the Impact:
-The fill probe: FX, for the love of God, please fix this incredibly stupid design! How did this pass Q/A at the factory? It's as if you guys never had to fill the gun ever - otherwise how could you not see that it's nearly impossible for the average human being to remove the foster fitting after each fill? Luckily I don't have to fill it often but when I do, I do curse you for this stupid oversight. It appears to be just one piece that needs to be redesigned on the rifle so it shouldn't be too hard to do (either that or ship a longer foster fitting that allows for more space for your fingers to grab onto)!
-Barrel thumbscrew: the thumbscrew that holds the barrel in place is poorly finished and both of the ones I have/had already show signs of corrosion on the other surface.
-Cost: I'm probably not going to win that battle here but $1900 is pretty steep for a PCP. I almost never pay full price for ANYTHING but the fact that I did for the Impact does speak volumes as to how appealing this forward thinking design was to me. However, I think that getting the price in line with other competitors at the $1,500-$1,600 range would see a lot more people adopting the Impact (although by the looks of the continual wait list, there's no shortage of buyers as is).
5.20.2016 Update: Here's what the bullpups look like today...
