Introducing the FX Impact M3

Thanks Chris... I always wondered why my .30 FX Bobcat shot MUCH better with the heavy DonnyFL Ronin than any other moderator... This tends to give insight into that...

Yup. PJ Clark and I have done a TON of testing and discovery using every single DonnyFL can and we found that even .4 ounces of weight change can change your POI a TON. Those findings fell in line with what I had already found with the dampening and trying to barrel tune big bore airguns. 

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If you have been following me the last few years you may recall seeing those rubber Limbsaver donuts on my barrel and this hideous shroud thing I had on my gun from the very beginning of my YouTube Chanel. That is actually where this idea started as I made that shroud out of ABS plastic tubing. The secret sauce is what was in side of that barrel shroud I had made. There were two rubber pull plugs on each end for dampening and then a collar weight on the barrel itself I would move up and down the barrel. What I found was barrel harmonic tuning was NOT a macro effort of sliding something up and down the barrel - it had to be very small adjustments. I could literally nudge the collar weight almost an imperceivable amount and it would change the shot groups. I think people who say those rubber donuts work have found that dampening does help, but to find WHERE it needs to go on the barrel is a total lucky guess. 

The research we put into this FX approach takes all of this R&D into one complete package to make all of this fully controllable and repeatable.

Your not the only one that has been looking into doing a barrel tuner. Here is me messing around with the idea. In the end I could see it showed promise but needed to find a better way to make fine adjustments. Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz3IJJG0_ms&t=15s&ab_channel=GunPowder%26AirPower
 
No US price? Or ETA?


Impact Compact (500mm / 300cc Bottle) $1999.99

Impact Standard (600mm / 480cc Bottle) $2099.99

Impact Sniper (700mm / 580cc Bottle) $2199.99

Impact .35 (800mm / 580cc Bottle) $2249.99

A lot of units at dealers now, more coming every two weeks into the US as unlike the Maverick, this is an existing line and they are up and running at full steam. Upon launch there were fairly low pre-paid preorders in the US, so waiting times shouldn't be horrible (depending on how demand spikes today)

Hope this helps!

- Jonathan

Johnathan, I sent you a PM, but I pre-paid for the .357 FX Impact and have been waiting over 7 1/2 months and while I am excited to get the M3 instead of the older model, I hope you fulfill pre-paid orders before you give more stock to the big online dealers...
 
Thanks Chris... I always wondered why my .30 FX Bobcat shot MUCH better with the heavy DonnyFL Ronin than any other moderator... This tends to give insight into that...

Yup. PJ Clark and I have done a TON of testing and discovery using every single DonnyFL can and we found that even .4 ounces of weight change can change your POI a TON. Those findings fell in line with what I had already found with the dampening and trying to barrel tune big bore airguns. 

IMG_2112.1618422309.PNG


If you have been following me the last few years you may recall seeing those rubber Limbsaver donuts on my barrel and this hideous shroud thing I had on my gun from the very beginning of my YouTube Chanel. That is actually where this idea started as I made that shroud out of ABS plastic tubing. The secret sauce is what was in side of that barrel shroud I had made. There were two rubber pull plugs on each end for dampening and then a collar weight on the barrel itself I would move up and down the barrel. What I found was barrel harmonic tuning was NOT a macro effort of sliding something up and down the barrel - it had to be very small adjustments. I could literally nudge the collar weight almost an imperceivable amount and it would change the shot groups. I think people who say those rubber donuts work have found that dampening does help, but to find WHERE it needs to go on the barrel is a total lucky guess. 

The research we put into this FX approach takes all of this R&D into one complete package to make all of this fully controllable and repeatable.

Your not the only one that has been looking into doing a barrel tuner. Here is me messing around with the idea. In the end I could see it showed promise but needed to find a better way to make fine adjustments. Bill







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz3IJJG0_ms&t=15s&ab_channel=GunPowder%26AirPower






Right on brother. This isn't the first barrel tuner by a long shot. Barrel tuners have been around for a loooooooooooong time. I just watched your video and if you test it long enough, you will find the same thing I did with the home brewed one you see in this photo. Large macro adjustments up and down the barrel will have you chasing your tail. Trust me, I spent all of 2018-2019 doing that exact thing with a collar weight on my big bore airgun. Sometimes I would get lucky and kind of sort of find what I thought was an accuracy node, but it wasn't repeatable if I took it off or moved it. My aha moment was one day I barely nudged it and it opened the groups significantly. Nudged it again and it changed the groups yet again. That is where I came up with the analogy that trying to find harmonic accuracy nodes or if you want to take a deep dive discussion into positive compensation barrel tuning, buy moving a weight or a deresonator donut up and down the barrel - it is like trying to measure a grain of salt with a yard stick. The weight shift only needs to be in the thousands of an inch to have controllable and repeatable results and you have to have a way to return to that spot. 

The approach that makes this unique though is how it is a fully integrated system that takes different aspects of barrel harmonics from dampening, to stiffening, to tuning all while keeping a nice sleek FX look and feel so it doesn't look like you have a roll of toilet paper or some plumbing parts on the end of your gun. During my research, I looked more into the precision shooting powder burner world to see how and why they were using them when they also have so much control over their custom loads.

I get it why .22LR guys use them because they can't control primer combos with cartridge powder charge nor seating depth. But a ton of centerfire guys are using them competitively. Furthermore, I came into this sport through the Big Bore Airgun back door and not through small caliber airgun stuff. I have spent a solid few years now tinkering with many - many - many home brewed and off the shelf powder burner accessories taming and attempting to tune 34 inch relatively thin barrel big bore airgun profiles to try do do the impossible.The new M3 is reaching .22LR power in .22 airgun caliber and with all that power, you have to find a way to tame and tune it to keep everything in harmony. I think we have found the perfect combination of taming and tuning with this system.
 
I like .38, .45 and .50 caliber air rifles. A .35 is not an ethical pellet size for big game but will do for small game. I wouldn’t shoot a grouse or anything smaller with it. Be perfect for coyotes. 


As for looks, it’s pretty cool looking. I like the workmanship being put into these new emerging air rifles. Keep up the good work.
 
Wow! Looks like FX has hit another major home run with this new Impact M3! They hit this one clear out of the ball park! 
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FX improved every aspect of what was already the world's most versatile and popular air rifle. Congratulations FX on your new baby! Job Well Done! Can't wait to get my hands on one! 
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P.S. The new dual-regulator system is a stroke of genius that will virtually eliminate the old creep problems, because now there will only be 20-30 bar pressure sitting on the high end of the regulator instead of 100 bar or more. And to accomplish this with such a small unobtrusive design on the primary regulator is fantastic! I am just flabbergasted! 
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Check out the actual first regulator Chuck. What will really blow your mind is that it's got two way flow as it still allows the bottle to be filled from the gun. It's so incredible but I know most people won't quite understand how brilliant it really is. Take a look, yep, there's a regulator inside of that!

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This looks great. Is it available as a update for older models. Have the internals of the m3 changed to have 2 way flow of air? I guess you’d lose your bottle pressure gauge as it would be now first regulator pressure and you would have to fill the gun using the gauge on your fill bottle?
You would still get some indication your getting low on air as first regulator pressure would start to drop before your off the second regulator. 
The upgrades on this model look great. Thanks for continuing to develop the gun. 
 
Thank you for your response Jon.

"Dual port as standard" good stuff. and glad you can reassure me regards 600mm being "fine" for slugs.

If the guns can now handle 300bar, you (FX) may as well make hay regards shot count claims and supply 300bar bottles as standard, this could also save you from being accused of aftermarket profiteering

Slug power kit , for me, A gun that shoots slugs great at long distance and Pellets (at shorter ranges) reasonably well is the holy grail, Not sure if the aftermarket "kit" would provide that, however that is me and (maybe) not the masses, so fare play on your reasoning for not including it as standard.

Again thanks for your response, very professional as always, FX may get my Pennies as yet.

I bet you sleep better knowing that😉.

good luck.
 
Wow...congrats FX ! This possibility of harmonic tuning on the barrel is nice but I do see a very complex combination with the slug adjustable depth probe. Fiddling with either one of these harmonic tuning adds is already something that takes a lot of consideration and feel to the vibration issue but in combination with each other it is an even more challenging thing that has to be brought in balance with each other in order to create the aimed optimum harmonics ( both features serve the same purpose) . I look forward to the messages about this tuning of the new Impact MK3 and for those who take on that challenge ( which could be a great experience and hobby for the right person I am sure) please be aware that when you have your tune to your liking parameters and adjustments change by any adjustment of the speed or weight of your ammo or any other change of other parameters or even hold or support of your rifle. For me personally The idea that maybe a fraction of a turn on a barrel tuning device or a fraction of change in seating depth could improve or damage my results would make me nervous but I do see that for others this playgound is a space of endless joy ! I consider creating the optimum harmonics with a given projectile to be achievable by small increments of the projectile speed and therefore a good tuning / harminics play with regulator and hammerspring are sufficient for me and complex enough to achieve very nice groups. To add FX barrel balancing feature like on the new Impact and seating depth setting probe to the equation is giving me the shivers !!!🤯🤯🤯

the good thing is that for all kinds of airgun shooters there are all kinds of rifles available and FX is bringing us options that are great and bringing the PCP shooting forwards a lot. Kuddo’s for that but keep in mind that more options does not mean more fun and better shooting for everyone ! For half the price of an Impact you could walk away with the champions trofee as well ! Understand what tuning harmonics means and understand that many variables do have an influence hence understand that fiddling on one aspect influences the other. Understand that with a much simpler rifle you can shoot perfectly well !!! Some even better 😉
 
Wow...congrats FX ! This possibility of harmonic tuning on the barrel is nice but I do see a very complex combination with the slug adjustable depth probe. Fiddling with either one of these harmonic tuning adds is already something that takes a lot of consideration and feel to the vibration issue but in combination with each other it is an even more challenging thing that has to be brought in balance with each other in order to create the aimed optimum harmonics ( both features serve the same purpose) . I look forward to the messages about this tuning of the new Impact MK3 and for those who take on that challenge ( which could be a great experience and hobby for the right person I am sure) please be aware that when you have your tune to your liking parameters and adjustments change by any adjustment of the speed or weight of your ammo or any other change of other parameters or even hold or support of your rifle. For me personally The idea that maybe a fraction of a turn on a barrel tuning device or a fraction of change in seating depth could improve or damage my results would make me nervous but I do see that for others this playgound is a space of endless joy ! I consider creating the optimum harmonics with a given projectile to be achievable by small increments of the projectile speed and therefore a good tuning / harminics play with regulator and hammerspring are sufficient for me and complex enough to achieve very nice groups. To add FX barrel balancing feature like on the new Impact and seating depth setting probe to the equation is giving me the shivers !!!🤯🤯🤯

the good thing is that for all kinds of airgun shooters there are all kinds of rifles available and FX is bringing us options that are great and bringing the PCP shooting forwards a lot. Kuddo’s for that but keep in mind that more options does not mean more fun and better shooting for everyone ! For half the price of an Impact you could walk away with the champions trofee as well ! Understand what tuning harmonics means and understand that many variables do have an influence hence understand that fiddling on one aspect influences the other. Understand that with a much simpler rifle you can shoot perfectly well !!! Some even better 😉

100% agree. In an upcoming video I address everything you just mentioned and more. The comparisons to precision hand loading are very relevant in how precision hand loaders use primer / powder charge / seating depth to control harmonics INDIRECTLY through "barrel time" (velocity). Up to this point this indirect method of using velocity to harmonically tune was the only lever of adjustment we as airgunners have had to have repeatable tunes.

Now with the introduction of the FX Pin Probe we have a similar approach to controlling seating depth, but there is a huge difference though as compared to firearms since we aren't jumping to the lands. They avoid "jam" by backing off thousands of an inch for their seating depths and measure that jump to the lands as a way to control barrel time. We on the other hand are always at "jam" as our projectiles actually seat into the lands. 

I will cover the concept of DIRECT barrel harmonic tuning in my upcoming video to show how dampening, stiffening (tensioning), and tuning with the tuning weight impart DIRECT methodologies of barrel harmonic control. Velocity of course still plays a huge part in this as finding the tightest SD / ES is paramount and just throwing a tuning weight or dampening element onto an airgun isn't going to be magic pixy dust. Consistency of velocity is priority #1. The beauty of the FX Integrated Harmonic Tuner is that you don't have to fiddle with the velocity levers of adjustment (hammer spring / plenum pressure) to find your harmonic accuracy node. You just dial the weight and microscopically move the center of gravity to find the sweet spot. As long as your projectile is stable at the given speed, you will find that accuracy node. 


 
Nice to read UpNorthAirgunner.
When you are not able to balance well the regulator and the hammerspring in symbiose with your platform and requirements, all other bells and whisles that you can use to optimize harmonizing your rifle is money thrown out of the window. The way FX makes regulator and hammerspring micro adjustments so easy in most of their platform these days is a great , great feature. Would be nice in case other brands would have external adjustment on their regulators as well. Having to “de-construct” an airgun in order to enter and change the regulator setting is a far cry from the past compared to what FX makes possible these days. A quick visible, repeatable possibility to change settings from hammerspring and regulator pressure is a must in my opinion for all PCP brand out there anno 2021. A pitty that good and nice rifles like from Kalibrgun, Edgun and Vulcan for example still lack this mentioned easy adjustability of the key parameters in pcp. I for example do prefer Kalibrgun , Edgun and Vulcan their solid make over any FX rifle but still bought a Wildcat MK3 because of the easy adjustability and (after market) parts availability. It should not be “rocket science” to have mentioned external adjustability included in a pcp platform.