FX Any recommendations between the FX Impact .30 and .35

[robertwalsh1981]

Hello everyone,

I am new to PCP air rifles, I am looking at the FX Impact, my intended use is for varmints (Ground squirrels up to Coyotes) from 50 - 150 yards. I will be shooting from a rest a lot of the time but also want the ability to shoot free hand while hiking, any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Chasdog]

I have an Impact M3 in 30 caliber. That would be my recommendation.

 

[BlackICE]

35 way overkill for squirrels. 30 marginal for lung shots on coyotes. 35 ammo cost $$$.
30 good compromise if limiting coyotes to head shots and don't mind more damage to the squirrels. Then again of limiting coyotes to head shots then at 25 would do just as well and cost even less for ammo and air.

 

[MongooseV8]

35 way overkill for squirrels. 30 marginal for lung shots on coyotes. 35 ammo cost $$$.
30 good compromise if limiting coyotes to head shots and don't mind more damage to the squirrels. Then again of limiting coyotes to head shots then at 25 would do just as well and cost even less for ammo and air.

Sums up my suggestion too. I have a built MK2 700mm 25Cal and would feel ok making a side shot behind the eye on a coyote. I dont know about taking long shots offhand but it certainly could from a good rest or better prone.

 

[Trucker3573]

I would avoid the .35 personally. Just isn’t quite powerful enough to justify the cost of 357. If I go 357 it has to have well north of 200 fpe to make it viable for larger game. That gun would make shooting a 9mm handgun seem peanuts cheap. lol.

 

[greenbeans]

Since you’re new to the PCP world you might want to not get an impact. It’s a tinkerers gun and very fuzzy, there are a ton of posts here about issues with impacts by people who expect the fun to simply shoot. If you want an impact to shoot to its potential you’ll spend as much time fiddling with as you are shooting, if not more. Plus you’ll need to mod it with aftermarket stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I have an impact and love it after getting it to where I want it to be. But it can be unreliable at times and it’s not my preferred hunter.

There are other guns that check your boxes and don’t require all that. Uragan 2, Ghost, RAW, Prophet, Vulcan 3 (if you don’t mind a ping) to name a few. I’d check other guns if the primary purpose is hunting. Way better hunters imho.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

35 way overkill for squirrels. 30 marginal for lung shots on coyotes. 35 ammo cost $$$.
30 good compromise if limiting coyotes to head shots and don't mind more damage to the squirrels. Then again of limiting coyotes to head shots then at 25 would do just as well and cost even less for ammo and air.

Yeah, I know the .35 is overkill for the squirrels, I was looking at it for the ability to take Coyotes, it is a fun thing to balance between the two. The simplest may be to just have a PCP rifle for Squirrels/plinking and then grab my hunting rifle when I see a Coyote.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

I would avoid the .35 personally. Just isn’t quite powerful enough to justify the cost of 357. If I go 357 it has to have well north of 200 fpe to make it viable for larger game. That gun would make shooting a 9mm handgun seem peanuts cheap. lol.

In looking at the cost of pellets/slugs I see that the price jumps quite a bit for .35 ammo, and it is overkill for ~90% of the shooting I would be doing. Thanks for the input.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

Since you’re new to the PCP world you might want to not get an impact. It’s a tinkerers gun and very fuzzy, there are a ton of posts here about issues with impacts by people who expect the fun to simply shoot. If you want an impact to shoot to its potential you’ll spend as much time fiddling with as you are shooting, if not more. Plus you’ll need to mod it with aftermarket stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I have an impact and love it after getting it to where I want it to be. But it can be unreliable at times and it’s not my preferred hunter.

There are other guns that check your boxes and don’t require all that. Uragan 2, Ghost, RAW, Prophet, Vulcan 3 (if you don’t mind a ping) to name a few. I’d check other guns if the primary purpose is hunting. Way better hunters imho.

You mention that your Impact can be unreliable, is that before you get it tuned to your liking, or do you see issues after it has been tuned that require you to "retune" it?

I appreciate the recommendations and will take a look at the other guns you mentioned.

 

[greenbeans]

You mention that your Impact can be unreliable, is that before you get it tuned to your liking, or do you see issues after it has been tuned that require you to "retune" it?

I appreciate the recommendations and will take a look at the other guns you mentioned.

It’s 98% reliable now, though that took way more than just tuning it. Various mods and custom parts. Still I’d never shoot it at something with a heartbeat without having my zero checked double on the same day AND not having it moved around much after that. The barrel is held in place by a couple of orings and a grubscrew, that’s not enough to keep it in exactly the same spot, in particular for something as flimsy as FX barrels, even with the CF liner.

Bottom line is the impact is not a hunter, don’t let (FX paid) YouTubers tell you otherwise…

 

[MongooseV8]

It’s 98% reliable now, though that took way more than just tuning it. Various mods and custom parts. Still I’d never shoot it at something with a heartbeat without having my zero checked double on the same day AND not having it moved around much after that. The barrel is held in place by a couple of orings and a grubscrew, that’s not enough to keep it in exactly the same spot, in particular for something as flimsy as FX barrels, even with the CF liner.

Bottom line is the impact is not a hunter, don’t let (FX paid) YouTubers tell you otherwise…

I would agree, mostly. Some of us here have issues with the barrel design FX has come up with. Its really cool that you can swap things around and play with different calibers and length etc. But the down side is they are very very flimsy and need lots of help to prevent poi shifting. There are lots of forum members that have not had any poi issues, and others that have. I have had poi shifting issues in several FX pcps and all needed some extra parts to resolve.

In my experience if you use the CF Sleeve, the newer front support block with the clamp, and some kind of tensioner you can effectively mitigate the poi shifts to near zero. I dont think it will ever be as good as something like a Taipan Veteran with a thicker barrel and well supported.

 

[357cal]

If you plan on eating squirrels and you want to hunt coyotes i dont think there is one caliber that can do both well. for squirrels i wouldn't go much bigger than a .22 cal and as far as coyotes if you're going to go with FX no smaller than the .357, a head shot is not aways going to present its self. The lungs and heart is a much bigger target, this is just my opinion. If i had to pick just one pcp it would be 308 Texan. You would have to tune for each.

 

[greenbeans]

I would agree, mostly. Some of us here have issues with the barrel design FX has come up with. Its really cool that you can swap things around and play with different calibers and length etc. But the down side is they are very very flimsy and need lots of help to prevent poi shifting. There are lots of forum members that have not had any poi issues, and others that have. I have had poi shifting issues in several FX pcps and all needed some extra parts to resolve.

In my experience if you use the CF Sleeve, the newer front support block with the clamp, and some kind of tensioner you can effectively mitigate the poi shifts to near zero. I dont think it will ever be as good as something like a Taipan Veteran with a thicker barrel and well supported.

Fully agree! I guess I’m saying every gun has its place and is better than others for one thing and worse for another. And hunting isn’t the impact’s forte imho.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

I would agree, mostly. Some of us here have issues with the barrel design FX has come up with. Its really cool that you can swap things around and play with different calibers and length etc. But the down side is they are very very flimsy and need lots of help to prevent poi shifting. There are lots of forum members that have not had any poi issues, and others that have. I have had poi shifting issues in several FX pcps and all needed some extra parts to resolve.

In my experience if you use the CF Sleeve, the newer front support block with the clamp, and some kind of tensioner you can effectively mitigate the poi shifts to near zero. I dont think it will ever be as good as something like a Taipan Veteran with a thicker barrel and well supported.

I appreciate the insight.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

If you plan on eating squirrels and you want to hunt coyotes i dont think there is one caliber that can do both well. for squirrels i wouldn't go much bigger than a .22 cal and as far as coyotes if you're going to go with FX no smaller than the .357, a head shot is not aways going to present its self. The lungs and heart is a much bigger target, this is just my opinion. If i had to pick just one pcp it would be 308 Texan. You would have to tune for each

Yeah, in this case I would be shooting ground squirrels not for food but because they are destructive to our orchard. The hope was to have a single PCP rifle that could take care of both even if it was overkill on the squirrel end, but it sounds like the cons of the Impact probably outweigh the pros for my application. I will have to take a look at the Texan, Thanks.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

Forking my own thread here... Does anyone have experience with the Wildcat Mk3 BT in a hunting application? Does it also suffer from the POI issues due to barrel design? My cousin has one in .22 (slugs) and seems pretty happy with it for plinking/shooting squirrels.

 

[MongooseV8]

Forking my own thread here... Does anyone have experience with the Wildcat Mk3 BT in a hunting application? Does it also suffer from the POI issues due to barrel design? My cousin has one in .22 (slugs) and seems pretty happy with it for plinking/shooting squirrels.

I had a Wildcat tube version that was awesome. I added the CF Sleeve and a Black Arts Design barrel band and the the thing is a laser. Not as much power as the bottle versions but an excellent walk around squirrel pcp. Not enough for a coyote probably, but the bottle version has a bigger plenum and two regs and in 25 or 30Cal could humanely take down a coyote. The Wildcat and Maverick have the same barrel assembly as the Impact, but have less of the length supported and no clamp available. The Panthera and DRS have a stiffer barrel design overall but will be louder as they dont have a traditional shroud. You can run a moderator to help.

 

[robertwalsh1981]

I had a Wildcat tube version that was awesome. I added the CF Sleeve and a Black Arts Design barrel band and the the thing is a laser. Not as much power as the bottle versions but an excellent walk around squirrel pcp. Not enough for a coyote probably, but the bottle version has a bigger plenum and two regs and in 25 or 30Cal could humanely take down a coyote. The Wildcat and Maverick have the same barrel assembly as the Impact, but have less of the length supported and no clamp available. The Panthera and DRS have a stiffer barrel design overall but will be louder as they dont have a traditional shroud. You can run a moderator to help.

Thank you for the information. I think I will see about borrowing my cousins Wildcat MK3 BT to get a feel for it and if I like it I will probably see about finding either a Wildcat MK3 BT or Maverick. The price for .25 or .30 ammo does not look to be prohibitive for plinking and varminting so I will have to do some research to see how those platforms perform in each.

 

[weevil]

Robert. I agree with the advice to steer clear of the Impact for predominantly hunting purposes. Not only because of the barrel arrangement but there are many are reporting valve issues with the M4, which lead to slow first shots. That’s a problem when you need to pick it up after sitting and rely on it to hit something beyond 50y.

I would suggest looking at an Airmaks Krait Lite Long in .22 for the smaller pests. It will shoot the JTS 22grain pellets very well out to 100y as well as the lighter slugs if needed. It’s robust, light-ish weight and only $1150 at UA.

It could be augmented with one of Rich Dudeks (Airgun Revisions) Bulldog 257s for the yotes, which will shoot heavy .257 slugs MOA out to 100 and beyond delivering 150fpe. Details here:

Benjamin - Bulldog m257 in the house....

Big shout out to Rich @ AR. Told him I wanted a long m457 tube, depinger and the new DonnyFL. 257 Ronin. With 75 gr she will hit 145 fpe as advertised. Now, when the rain stop we can have fun.

www.airgunnation.com

Together, those two will set you back the price of one M4 and I suspect will perform your tasks very well.

 

[357cal]

Yeah, in this case I would be shooting ground squirrels not for food but because they are destructive to our orchard. The hope was to have a single PCP rifle that could take care of both even if it was overkill on the squirrel end, but it sounds like the cons of the Impact probably outweigh the pros for my application. I will have to take a look at the Texan, Thanks.

I own the Texan .308, which is powerful enough to eliminate squirrels. It is also an excellent PCP for coyotes, which is why I purchased it. It offers great long-range capabilities and substantial power. I use150gr ammunition and would confidently take a shot at a coyote from 150-170 yards, if not further. The shots below are tethered.