Shooting The FX Impact MKII

Jan Pritchard said:
Hi Joe,

Good luck to the other FX Impact shooter. If his rifle is like mine, the factory regulator setting is 85 bar and the hammer spring preload is set to zero.

If he hasn't already done so, he might try upping the regulator pressure to 110 bar and then increasing hammer spring preload until he achieves 925-950 fps with 15.89 grain pellets. This seems to be the sweet spot so far - good accuracy well within the mechanical limits of the rifles internal components.

I removed both the factory moderator and barrel shroud, This leaves a short length of exposed 1/2" x 20 male thread at the muzzle end. My "tuners" consist of: a hex nut, a half nut, a lug nut, and a coupler. I've tried all of these with a variety of pellets, slugs, and MV's. The only combination that appears to have any beneficial effect is using the coupler (the heaviest weight) along with 15.89 slugs at 950 fps.

The moderator is comprised of three components threaded together. I've also tried using combinations of those components as bloop tubes. None of those combinations helped accuracy.

I only have the one air rifle so I'll keep tinkering and maybe score a breakthrough some day. As they say, Hope Springs Eternal.

Jan
Click to expand...

Thanks Jan, I believe he has messed with the reg and hammer adjustments and will let him know your suggestions. I have not looked at his rifle yet, since I have the FX Crown it seems to be different set ups. The crown reg was 110 hammer set at max MV was 910 with 25 grain JSB, 700mm liner. Today the reg is at 135, hammer tuned, max MV is now 970 with 25 grain. It took a lot of work and patience to get it there and happy with the performance and accuracy. It shoots well at 970 also in the 890 range. Still can not get slugs to shoot well enough but that's fine.

Interesting tuner, and hope you can get more out of it.

Thanks,
Joe
 
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For what it's worth:

Back when I was messing with Air Rifles I tried a number of things with regard to barrel devices to include a tube to make it to the Purdy RX. The Purdy RX worked great the first time I set the rifles up but went away the next time I shot them. I tried air strippers I made and determined they were only tuner weight and not very good tuner weight. I then went to a 1 oz bushing that fit the outside of the barrel. I found that midway between the muzzle and breech, the barrel came into tune and would go out quickly as the bushing was moved very little. I began at the muzzle and slid it back as I shot groups. Once it was what I felt was tuned, I quit moving the device. Perhaps there were other sweet spots but I didn't explore them.

I bought my first Custom RF bench rifle back in 1984. It was a newly built 40X with a Lilja barrel and a Fudd tuner on it built by Layman Loggins. The tuner would slide back behind the muzzle and I eventually found tune with it behind the muzzle. I did it so as not to have to clean the tuner and I found it tuned the barrel fine behind the muzzle. If I had a way to engrave, I would explore making a Fudd replica to try on the RF barrels I currently have. I think one needs a defined scale to use so that one knows where they are at with a two pieced tuner or at least it's easier for me. I have meant to try a sliding sleeve on a RF barrel to try to tune it but haven't gotten to it yet. Perhaps in the Spring when I get home.

Pete
 
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There is also

the issue of how much weight. Its a proven fact that 3 0z of weight behind the muzzle of a HV Centrerfire rifle will easily tune it. I would suspect a RF barrel is no different and may take very little weight to find a tune. When on compares the size difference it's only logical. Easy to whip up a sliding sleeve and try it.

Pete
 
Bummer

The three month old FX Impact died today.

I was shooting a National Fifty Target using 15.89 gr pellets at 980 fps - not a particularly hot load. After about 30 shots, the next shot dropped to 850 fps. The following shot went to 760 fps and then it just went "click." There are no leaks in either the main bottle or the plenum. The rifle cocks, the hammer strikes the valve, but no air is released from the plenum.

I called warranty service but it's after hours so I'll call again tomorrow morning. I think I'm going to be out of the airgun business for a while.

Jan
 
Good Customer Service

My first experience with FX customer service was a happy one.

Customer service picked up on my first call. I was immediately connected to a tech who diagnosed the problem and told me how to fix it.

It turns out that the hammer seat was installed at the factory without locktite and the hammer seat had simply unscrewed itself from the valve rod. He walked me through the steps needed to get it back together and it took me about ten minutes to do the repair.

The rifle is now working and I'm looking forward to getting back to the range to determine if this repair had an overall beneficial effect.

Jan
 
FX IMapct - Installment 6

I've been otherwise occupied so there hasn't been much time to experiment with the FX Impact.

So far, the rifle consistently shoots the National 50 target in the mid 240's (8 to 14 x-count) with JSB 25.39 Redesigned Monster pellets at 860 fps.

The main issue the occasional spiraling flyer that eats up 2 points. I get at least one on every card and that leaves no room for mis-reading the wind.

I want to up the velocity but I'm already at 41.4 fpe and I'm reluctant to drive this thing any harder. However, this is the only pellet that shows consistent performance - so I'll most likely try to bump up the speed in small increments. Perhaps I can get rid of the spiraling fliers.

So that's it. The rifle continues to wok well after reattaching the hammer shoe to the valve rod. It's easy to use and I'm confidant it could hold its own against similar rifles in its price range.

Jan
 
Any pellet prep?

Jan Pritchard said:
I've been otherwise occupied so there hasn't been much time to experiment with the FX Impact.

So far, the rifle consistently shoots the National 50 target in the mid 240's (8 to 14 x-count) with JSB 25.39 Redesigned Monster pellets at 860 fps.

The main issue the occasional spiraling flyer that eats up 2 points. I get at least one on every card and that leaves no room for mis-reading the wind.

I want to up the velocity but I'm already at 41.4 fpe and I'm reluctant to drive this thing any harder. However, this is the only pellet that shows consistent performance - so I'll most likely try to bump up the speed in small increments. Perhaps I can get rid of the spiraling fliers.

So that's it. The rifle continues to wok well after reattaching the hammer shoe to the valve rod. It's easy to use and I'm confidant it could hold its own against similar rifles in its price range.

Jan
Click to expand...

Are you sorting pellets, washing & lubing, or skirt forming? I'm wondering if you could weed out that 'spiraling flyer' ahead of time.

GsT
 
Cleaning and Lube

GeneT said:
Are you sorting pellets, washing & lubing, or skirt forming? I'm wondering if you could weed out that 'spiraling flyer' ahead of time.

GsT
Click to expand...

I've tried cleaning and lubing but not skirt forming.

I've washed the pellets with a very dilute solution of Dawn dish soap. After drying overnight, the pellets were then:

Left clean, or
Lubed with a very light coating of Imperial Sizing Wax, or
Lubed with RWS chamber lube.

All variations performed the same - one or two spiraling flyers each card.

The odd thing was that the RWS lubed pellets shot about 10 fps slower on average than all the others. These pellets were so "slippery" that I had some trouble loading.

I'm not familiar with skirt forming. Is there a tool for that?

Jan
 
Jan Pritchard said:
I've tried cleaning and lubing but not skirt forming.

I've washed the pellets with a very dilute solution of Dawn dish soap. After drying overnight, the pellets were then:

Left clean, or
Lubed with a very light coating of Imperial Sizing Wax, or
Lubed with RWS chamber lube.

All variations performed the same - one or two spiraling flyers each card.

The odd thing was that the RWS lubed pellets shot about 10 fps slower on average than all the others. These pellets were so "slippery" that I had some trouble loading.

I'm not familiar with skirt forming. Is there a tool for that?

Jan
Click to expand...

Found this with a quick search: https://www.trrobb.com/product/adjustable-pellet-sizer-177, but the one I was thinking of came as a tray with a backing tool, but I'm unable to find it at the moment. I have tried neither - just trying to ride your coattails to better accuracy.

GsT
 
pellet seating tool- at one time marketed by Beeman. one end a bit pointed other a round ball, flared skirt out a bit or if deformed round it back out a bit.
flat tray refered to was a sorting sizing system for pellets caliber specific. other sizing tools were push through types again Beeman had one in their line up, caliber specific.
then there was a real fancy rig a gentleman was making for air gauging pellets for size.

whole thing comes down to about the same deal as sorting 22lr by rim thickness or weight of the assembly. top quality pellets or 22lr does not seem to matter, el cheapo pellets or 22lr - sometimes.

Sizer makes pellets a bit more uniform physically externally in dia. does not change a weight variation.

Rim thicknees gauge for 22lr ( $90 green backs)- was a hot item for a bit, but then so were bloop tubes.

I once sorted 500 rnds of some medium quality 22lr by weight ( electronic scale)- did not see any improvement, ditto on the rim thickness and no I did not lay down $90 for a gauge (one type) I simply made one ( I have a small machine shop so dial indicators are not in short supply) there was a sliding type also.
 
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I have 2 impacts. 22 cal and 25 cal, also have a swap setup for 17 cal. Yes pellets are not perfect. That is why original air rifle competitions, like in olympics is 10m. Everything affects Airguns more than powder burners. So wind flags a must. Sorting pellets does help for me. In .177 you can even buy different diameters, there is a reason. Slugs are very popular now. Your setup, lighter slugs may work. With all of this said, we know the issues with .22lr. A 5fps velocity change can make all the difference.

Today at out door 100 yard shoots, the most popular cal is probably 30 followed by 25. Why, wind. My rifles consistently shoot sub moa groups, but wind makes a difference, temperature makes a difference, the way you touch the gun makes a difference, pellet in barrel a long time. So trying to shoot that target at 50 yards is hard. You are doing well.

Also go to Airgun nation.com
 
FX Impact Installment 7 - Good News For a Change

Things are looking up.

I raised the regulated pressure to 120 bar and adjusted the trigger pre-load and the Valve Adjustment to get 908 fps average. This was not one adjustment but the end result of a whole bunch of intermediate adjustments.

The rifle seems to have found its happy place with 25.39 gr. Monster Redesigned JSB's.

I'm still getting a few flyers but that may be pellet related. I'm going to have to do a bit of sorting.

The attached National 50 target scored 247 - 18x using a .350" plug. All three points were lost on one bull as a result of a flyer.

I hope this keeps up.

Jan
 

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FX Impact - Installment 8 - Final Chapter?

Hi,

I'm out of ideas for testing (improving) my FX Impact. It's been a interesting experince but I think I've hit the limits for a factory gun.

So, to wind things up, here are two pictures of my bench set-up.

The AR-style grip is gone; replaced by a parallel-to-the-bore rigid bag rider.

The stock trigger guard has ben replaced with a Saber Tech Gen II extended trigger guard. This thing also rigid. I attached a piece of 3" aluminum channel to the new trigger guard.

The front rest is a FUDD (remember those). The rear bag is by Edgewood.

It takes a bit to convert an FX Impact to a bench gun, but it can be done.

Jan
 

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FX Impact - Installment 9 - More Hammer Seat Blues

Good morning,

I had another issue with the hammer seat backing off of the valve rod despite the use of blue locktite. I checked other airgun websites and it appears this is a recurring problem with the Impact. So, if you have an Impact and you notice a gradual drop in mv for no apparent reason, the hammer seat is the likely cause. Fortunately it's an easy fix.

There was a previous thread on pellet uniforming. I gave it a try using a .221 push-through bullet resizing die. And, son-of-a-gun - it worked. The die resized the skirts on JSB 25.39 grain "Redesigned" pellets to .221 and made each skirt uniformly round.

After fixing the hammer seat, I tried the uniformed pellets on a National 50 target. Average mv was back at 908 fps with 8fps max spread and 2fps SD. This the lowest max spread I've achieved with this rifle so perhaps uniforming the pellets had a beneficial effect. The low max spread translated to very little vertical dispersion at 50 yards.

I hope to get out again this week and verify today's results.

Jan
 
Excellent!

Jan Pritchard said:
Good morning,

I had another issue with the hammer seat backing off of the valve rod despite the use of blue locktite. I checked other airgun websites and it appears this is a recurring problem with the Impact. So, if you have an Impact and you notice a gradual drop in mv for no apparent reason, the hammer seat is the likely cause. Fortunately it's an easy fix.

There was a previous thread on pellet uniforming. I gave it a try using a .221 push-through bullet resizing die. And, son-of-a-gun - it worked. The die resized the skirts on JSB 25.39 grain "Redesigned" pellets to .221 and made each skirt uniformly round.

After fixing the hammer seat, I tried the uniformed pellets on a National 50 target. Average mv was back at 908 fps with 8fps max spread and 2fps SD. This the lowest max spread I've achieved with this rifle so perhaps uniforming the pellets had a beneficial effect. The low max spread translated to very little vertical dispersion at 50 yards.

I hope to get out again this week and verify today's results.

Jan
Click to expand...

What bullet sizing die / pusher did you use? Might try this myself.

Thanks for continuing to follow up!

GsT
 
GeneT said:
What bullet sizing die / pusher did you use? Might try this myself.

Thanks for continuing to follow up!

GsT
Click to expand...

Hi,

Lee used to make custom push through dies at a very reasonable price. I just checked and it seems that Lee is out of stock on almost all of the regular sizes and doesn't appear to be taking custom orders.

NOE makes .221 push through sizers but the cost is significant.

I don't recommend buying expensive tools based on just a few targets. Let me see if the performance of resized (uniformed) pellets holds up over time. I'll keep everyone posted.

Jan
 
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