FX IMPACT M3 Questions. Please help. Trouble tuning .22 cal .22 grain FX Hybrid slugs with the .35 cal hammer and spring and etc kit installed!

I have an FX Impact M3. I also have terminal cancer. So I’ve had the gun for prolly a year or so know and I have done work on it. But I haven’t worked on it in a while and I feel the chemo has gotten to me, because it’s like I forgot all I knew about it. So I wanted to ask some questions and get some clarification on if my gun may be malfunctioning.

The first question I want to ask is really more of a discussion. See, I ordered the Impact M3 in as the 700mm .22 cal version. But during deer season last year I swapped over to .35 cal to go deer hunting. I had a lot of trouble with swapping out the hammer and spring and stuff that comes with the .35 caliber barrel kit. Eventually I got it though. Well most of the time I run the gun in .22 cal (I am now) and I feel like either my adjustments are way off and I don’t know how to properly tune the gun, or my “Macro Wheel” adjustment and my “Micro thumb screw” adjustments just aren’t acting right. And I’m not so sure it’s not because I’m shooting .22 cal and I’m using a light weight slug (.22 grains). Here is where my question comes into place.

I feel like after I swapped over to .35 caliber my macro wheel and micro fine adjustment thumb screw have been messed up. For example: Today I got a new scope for my FX Impact M3 and I wanted to sight it in. I thought while I was at it I might as well try to see if I could get my FX Hybrid Slugs .22cal .22gr. to group better. What I mean is that I planned on using the macro and micro adjustments to see at what FPS those slugs like to shoot out of my 700mm smooth twist barrel best.

I shot several test groups at different FPS’s using my FX pocket chronograph. It’s the one that rubber bands to your barrel. Anyways, one thing I notice big time is that my FPS spreads were like really big. When I first got the gun I shot 18 grain .22cal JSB pellets and I could stack them in the same hole at 50 yards. My FPS spreads when I shot them always seemed to be about a 10FPS spread in like a 10 or 20 shot string. Maybe 15 FPS spread at a bad one. But my spreads today were anywhere from like 20-50.

I just feel like that is really bad. And I think because of it I get fling-ers in my groups. Any suggestions as to why my FPS spread is so big right now? Could it be that I am shooting .22 cal .22 grain slugs with the .35 cal hammer kit installed? Also, I did think about one thing. I don’t know if I ever adjusted that black knob above the air tank back down after swapping to .35 cal. I don’t know what that knob does inside the gun, but I know it can adjust your FPS. So maybe that could be contributing to my massive FPS spreads?

Also, when I was adjusting the macro wheel today (the actual wheel with numbers 1-16 on it) my FPS would increase about 25 or so for maybe two clicks, or like from a 6 to an 8. I feel like this is normal. But I feel like my macro thumb stew adjustment is off. First thing is that when I adjust the “Macro Wheel” it seems to make “Micro thumb screw” move slightly. Like if the “micro thumb screw” was on 2 and I adjusted the “macro” wheel up, then the “micro thumb screw” might jump up to like 2.5 or something. Is it normal for the “macro wheel “ to be able to move the “micro thumb screw” when it gets adjusted?

And other than the “micro thumb screw” movement thing. When I went to actually adjust it today it seemed to adjust the FPS waaay more than I remember it did. I think I went from a 2 to maybe a 4 on it and it made my FPS jump up 100. I feel like that is too much, to me it should have jumped up maybe 20 or something. Am I wrong in this? Any comments on this / or suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh, and my brother and I adjusted the second regulator today. The first regulator is set to 150psi (per the manual) and the second reg was on 130psi, I think left from when I had the gun as .35 cal. So we adjusted the second regulator down to 100psi. The brass screw behind the trigger that adjust the second regulator seems to be really wore out. Does anyone know where to get a new one and how hard it is to replace it? Also, could it be replaced with like a steel screw or something more rugged than soft brass?

Also, does anyone know what good regulator pressures there are for the .22cal FX Hybrid Slugs? I know you need to leave the first regulator on 150 psi, but what is a good second regulator pressure? Currently, mine is set to 100 psi, but I’m open to suggestions.

Aside from adjusting the regulators, how much difference does that black knob above the air tank make? I think I should adjust it back down to line four or so. I believe currently I have is maxed out, like prolly line 9ish. So if y’all think that needs to be backed down please let me know.

Can anyone explain to me what all of the adjustments actually adjust? What does the black knob above the tank adjust? I know the first regulator adjust the pressure of the first regulator, but what does adjusting the pressures in the second reg actually do for your FPS and shot function? What actually does the “Macro Wheel” adjust? What does the “Micro thumb screw” adjust? Is there a way to adjust the second regulator without stripping that brass screw? And can someone point me to a video or something of how the whole gun actually functions. I hear about hammers and springs, but I want to know how they function and how the different adjustments affect them. That way if I truly understand the gun I will know how to accurately adjust and use it and I would know if something is wrong with it.

Another question. I did replace the 580cc tank (or 500 something one that came with the gun) with a 750cc airmarksman tank. The tank itself wouldn’t really be able to make my FPS spread a lot more than normal could it? I don’t think the tank could be and issue , but I don’t want to leave anything unchecked.

I have an 800mm heavy slug barrel. I ordered it to try and shoot heavier slugs at longer distances. I think it may have come with some carbon fiber tube that I have to tension on there or something. Anyways, I would love to utilize this barrel over my 700mm smooth twist x barrel. I haven’t switched yet because I wanted to shoot the .22 cal FX Hybrid Slugs (.22 grain). I thought maybe the lighter slugs with that big hollow point would slap birds. And I was trying to keep the energy a bit lower, because sometimes there may be a barn or something like 250-300 yards behind where I shoot. And I wanted a slug that wouldn’t carry too much energy if I shot at a bird and missed and the slug actually ricocheted.

Does anybody have any experience with the .22caliber 800mm heavy slug barrel for the FX Impact M3? Can I still shoot FX Hybrid Slugs .22cal and .22grain out of the 800mm heavy barrel with good accuracy? What are some good weight slugs to shoot out of the 800mm slug barrel? What adjustments/settings do you set everything at, to shoot said slugs out of the 800mm slug barrel good? Like what line is the black air tank knob at? And what’s your 1st and 2nd regulators set to? What’s the “Macro” and “Micro” settings?

Have any of y’all used the .22 caliber 800mm slug barrel in conjunction with having the .35 cal hammer and spring and such installed? I know people have told me that I could still use the .35 cal hammer and such while shooting .22 caliber, but I may not have the finer adjustments I had with the .22 hammer and spring installed. I feel like this is true, I feel like my “micro” and “macro” adjustments are definitely different and not as fine while shooting .22 caliber. That is why I am thinking of just finally using my .22 cal 800mm heavy slug barrel. I have several hundred 40gr slugs (H/N slugs I think) and also have a few hundred 25 grain JSB knockout slugs and a few hundred 23 grain. NSA slugs. So I am a bit worried that the only slugs I have that I will be able to shoot out of the .22 cal 800mm heavy slug barrel well will be the 40 grains. I have heard the heavy slug barrel is meant more for weight ranges of 27-40 grains. If anyone has any knowledge on this please share.

I just think at this point I have a few options to try and get my FPS spreads back to normal and get my groups more consistent. I think I use the heavy 40 grain .22 cal slugs with the .22 caliber 800mm heavy slug barrel. The idea hear is that the heavier slug would perform way better since I have the .35 cal hammer and spring installed and they are essentially just a heavier hammer, a slightly different hammer cover design, I think it had a heavier duty spring, and it had a different whatever that piece is called that is on the very end of the rod and I think stops the hammer. So my hope is that the 40gr slugs would allow for finer adjustments and therefore tighter FPS spreads and tighter groups.

Or I could just try and switch back to the old .22 caliber stuff that came with the gun. But it’s been so long since I’ve taken the gun apart and I’m not doing as well with the cancer and treatments as I was back then. I am still pretty good, but my hand strength is none existent and my mind is clouded by chemo.

Also, I have a heavy tungsten hammer, I think it might be part of a .22 caliber heavy slug hammer and spring kit. I could intall that, but I didn’t think it would be much different that what the .35 cal hammer and spring already are and I didn’t know if I wanted to be holed up only being able to shot .22 cal heavy slugs. So I haven’t messed with this.

Or I guess a third option would be to send the gun into FX and let them figure it out. Maybe something or multiple things are wrong with my gun and they need to be able to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

The one thing that I know I messed up on and it sorta hurt my gun was when I was putting in the .25 cal hammer and spring and stuff. I had to replace that little thing on the end of the rod that stops the hammer. You know the one that has to be like exactly 5.5-6mm away from the edge and stuff. That piece. Well I was replacing it with the new one and the video said use vice grips that you have ground down so you don’t scratch the surface of the rod. Well I didn’t do that and I scratch the rod a little. It wasn’t too bad or too deep, just marks from vice grip teeth. Anyways, once I was done replacing the part I used very fine sand paper from a knife sharpening kit I own to polish the marks out of the rod from the vise grip teeth. That way everything can still slide on the rod as smooth as possible. So I know I messed that up, but I feel like I fixed it just fine and it shouldn’t be an issue.

Well, that’s it for now. At least until I have more questions or thoughts. Sorry for the post being so long, I didn’t intend it to be. I just wanted to provide all the best detail I could in the post, so hopefully it’ll paint a clearer picture and y’all can help answer my questions better. Thanks in advance to anyone with knowledge that can and will try and help me. I still feel like a newbie at this a lot of times and I feel like I can never find the answers to my questions when I try and look around online. That’s why I made an account on here. This place seemed to have the most answers on stuff when I would do google searches. So hopefully there are some people on here that can help answer my very weird questions.
 
I just glanced over your novel but I think if you put all the stock parts back in the gun, not .35 stuff, you’ll be fine. A FX Impact needs no help like heavy hammers, weights or springs to shoot Hybrids at the speed they like. Your gun with the stock spring, weight, and probe will do it in its sleep. Then you will see all your adjustments make a difference. Nothing will be weird or strange. Right now you are pounding on your valve rod with what’s in there and designed for a jumbo caliber at big time reg settings.
 
I agree with Vetmx. Way too much hammer and air.
you are driving a finish nail with a sledge hammer. Never works.
My M3, 22 has no performance anything on it, has a 600mm barrel and I was shooting Zan 23 gr at 1030. I toned them down to 980 and they were more accurate. Now I am shooting 27.5 gr @ 975 and the gun is not working or being pounded to produce that speed.
Put your 22 cal stuff back in and you will see an instant improvement.
 
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I converted my 35 to 22 and left the tungsten hammer in it. I have the hammer spring set as light as it will go, and it’s still a little hot so I used my valve adjuster to slow it down. I should probably just put a lighter hammer in and get better consistency. Vetmx has a lot more knowledge than me on this stuff and I would lay money he is right.