The FX Impact M3 in .22 caliber is now my all time favorite long range airgun shooting platform. PERIOD. I have big bore airguns that can slings slugs with higher BC, but not even close to the accuracy and precision shot to shot like this.
To demonstrate how the Quick Tune System paired with the new FX Integrated Harmonic Barrel Tuning System and Carbon Fiber Sleeve perform at extreme long range, I set out to hit a golf ball at 325 yards.
For this test I took about a magazine’s worth of shots to confirm my ballistic solution and make corrections for the slight wind I was contending with. I will tell you that these 34 gr. Patriot Javelin slugs zipping at over 1000 FPS just slice through the wind like nothing I have ever seen in a small caliber airgun slug. The accuracy at 100 yards was MOA and many sub MOA groups. Pushing out to 325 yards they held up amazingly well as you will see in this video.
I will tell you though that winding the FX Impact up this high with the hammer spring maxed out and the Power Plenum at 165 bar isn’t this peaceful pellet pushing creature I normally use in a competition set up. For 100 yard benchrest, my preferred set up is .30 call JSB 44 grain shooting around 850 FPS and is this nice gentle shot cycle.
This set up on the other hand is much more like the pop of a .22LR powder burner. It is a noticeable difference and I found my hold was critical to keep those groups in that MOA zone.
The research we have been doing to find this amazing combination of barrel harmonic tuning, damping, and stiffening has been an amazing journey for me. Working directly with FX to develop this magic combination of the integrated harmonic tuner and damping system has been an awesome experience, but it has been a long journey. I have been obsessed with this topic now since 2017 when I first got into this sport and I have learned so much talking with people within our sport and within the precision firearm shooting sector.
One of my favorite interviews was a conversation with Ian Klemm, 2020 F-Class National Champion. I had been watching his successes over the last few years and when I saw he was running a barrel tuner on his championship F-Class rig, I knew he would be a great shooter to chat with about drawing parallels from precision firearms to precision airguns.
I had about a dozen things I wanted to talk with him about, but I knew this was my chance to get his thoughts on barrel harmonics specifically. Like Ian points out in this interview though, this is a deep and technical topic and is the 3+ beer question and will take further discussions.
At the end of the day, we are all still learning the dark magic of internal ballistics and barrel harmonics, but as a student of empirical evidence, I have seen the results first hand and know these factors are controllable. It was validating to hear Ian confirm many of my own findings as he too is a student of empirical evidence and single variable testing. If you are serious about precision airgunning, this interview is a MUST watch!
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