Mk2 Impact

[null]

Do the .35 conversion. Trust me.

[YEMX]

I can't remember if I made a new post about this Impact, or simply hadn't updated this post...  Anyhoo, here we are.

After much deliberation with myself, and much tinkering and frustration, I've decided to admit defeat and send the Impact to a tuner.  SOME changes though:

.35 conversion is back on!
I was going to use a Saber Tactical TRS, but have since swapped it out for a Airmarksman Backbone.
Upgraded power plenum
M3 power wheel

I've also got a barrel band to try.  It's 3D printed.  I'll keep y'all posted when this gets done.  The new power plenum should be here Monday (7/10).  I want to paint the parts while they're off the gun, in addition to the Backbone- I got one in red to save a little cash LOL 

[mann]

When I upgraded to 720 power plenum I ported out the block and exhaust port in the valve and running a power plenum up threw the gauge getting 105 fpe out of a 30 cal with 56 gr pellets heavier hammer out of a 600 mm barrel at about 160 bar on the reg  25 shots before refill

[triggertreat]

It should be interesting to see what a tuner can do with the 35.  I haven't done much with my .30 MKII 700mm other than a slug kit and opening up the stock port a little more.  I have taken it up to 115 FPE but at 90 FPE it is a lot more stable and efficient.  I have never really opened the reg up all the way to see what it would really do.  I do have a .30 cal slug mold to play with now so I might have to try doing that to see.  Wishing you the best with your .357 goals!

This is a short test of the typical tune I run with my .30.  I have the .357 Slayer pushing 300 FPE so...

[anti-squirrel]

I'm just tagging along to see how things play out... but as Keith says, this is a very interesting thread.  Tucking under 4% deviation is impressive at these power levels.

[YEMX]

Well, I certainly won't approach the Slayer's power levels, that's for sure!  LOL

[triggertreat]

Well, I certainly won't approach the Slayer's power levels, that's for sure!  LOL

Well, that's maxed out for only three shots under a 3% ES.  Its sweet spot is 5 shots averaging 278 FPE putting it closer to a 2% ES while using cast 155gr slugs.  The Slayer is also built from the ground up for such which the Impacts aren't.  In the end you should have a MKII powerhouse to be proud of and one I will be envious of.  I think in the 60gr to 80gr range it will do quite well at bucking the wind.

[YEMX]

It's been a loooong time!!  Life does have a way of sucking the fun out of itself...  Anyhoo- here's a little update.

-  720 plenum kit bought
-  M3 power wheel bought
-  Tungsten hammer bought
-  Huma Slug Power tune kit bought
-  Huma .357 TP kit
-  580cc bottle bought
-  Digital gauge bought (the original one I bought went onto the Maverick)
-  Larger bolt handle

I'm going back to using the Airmaks Backbone rail (I was using the Saber Tactical rail when the Impact was a .25).  I've dropped it off at a local place to be cerakoted.  I originally bought a red Backbone rail because it was way cheaper than the other colors.  Looking through my receipts, it's STILL cheaper to cerakote the rail after the fact, compared to the price of the "normal" colors.  Utah Air must have been running a sale on that red rail or something.  The 30 MOA cant will definitely come in handy, considering the next "mod".

Lastly, I'm going to be getting a TJ barrel machined for this project.  I've wanted to try a solid barrel in this Impact for a while, but couldn't decide on a caliber.  Now I have.  I'm going back to .357.  BUT the TJ barrel is only going to be a touch longer than 600mm, I'm just not currently sure how much quite yet.  I want to be able to just clear the end of the bottle with an LDC.  I know longer would be better, more efficient and all...  But there's a reason for this compromise. 

See, I'm really enamored with the Leshiy 2, but can't justify the cost.  Especially given the current state of the economy.  I REALLY don't want to sell or trade any of the air guns I have now, so I found myself in a pickle.  The compromise is to run a 600mm+ barrel in the Impact (just like the longest barrel available for the Leshiy 2).  The Impact with all the listed upgrades should perform just as well, if not better than the Leshiy 2.  Really, the only down sides are no folding for travel, and no semi auto.  But TBH, I think this build will be a fair trade off.  Plus, I'll get way more shots before refilling.  The work that Mackeral5 did with short .357 Mrods really inspired me to go shorter.  Also, Ernest Rowe made a really short (500mm?) .357 a while back, but he didn't have some items that are available today- namely the 720 plenum, tungsten hammer and the M3 power wheel.  So it'll be interesting to see how this rifle will do.  Plus, I wanted a rifle that's more "handy".  My Maverick has a 700cc bottle, the longest Saber tactical rail available, with a 700mm barrel.  Add on a LDC and the Saber tactical arca/picatinny bottom rail, and that is a HEAVY rifle.  I wouldn't want to carry that in the field.  Static position or off a bench?  All day.  Walk about?  No thanks.  I want the Impact to be more nimble than that.  Again, this length and set up is, what I feel, to be a good compromise.  That 30 MOA canted rail should also come in handy for the longer shots, since I'm losing velocity/efficiency w/the shorter barrel.  More cant should make up for it.  Also, the added thickness/beefiness of the Backbone rail will also make the gun more solid.  Thicker barrel, thicker Backbone, slightly more air...  All adds up to a well-rounded field gun, I think.

I'm really excited about the direction this project has taken, and I like seeing the progression through my posts.  I'm also excited to see another project come to fruition, and I WILL make time this year to do much more shooting!  I've got to start enjoying these projects more!  Otherwise, what's the point?!   

[YEMX]

I just got the FX .357 barrel kit all apart.  Why FX?!  WHY?!  Why didn't you just make the .357 barrel a solid barrel from the get go?!  *sigh*  Everything is so THIN.  On one hand, it's almost not worth doing up a solid barrel, but on the other I'm still curious to see how it would perform, compared to a FX barrel system.  I'm 100% going ahead with the solid barrel project.  For the sake of curiosity.  But dang FX, not one of your finer moments.

[Madd Hatter]

In case anyone was wondering what a 800mm barrel and 700cc bottle looks like on a Impact Mk2:

Holy moly, that bed rail looks just like mine.

[YEMX]

Long time, no real updates.  Still planning on finishing this project sometime.  Slight change (of course LOL)  I'm going to just shorten the FX barrel I have.  It's designed for pellets (it's kinda old), but I'm curious to see how it does with the hybrid slugs.  Either way, I'm sure it'll shoot just fine.

In case anyone was wondering, the threaded bit at the muzzle that retains the liner, those threads are M13x0.5.  TINY.  I had to use a jewelers loupe to check them.  Anyhoo, I've got a tap, I can re-thread the outer barrel sleeve when the time comes to shorten the FX .35 barrel. 

[GSu]

The stock .357 barrel liner didn't like the Hybrid slugs very much.  Shotgun pattern @ 50 yards.  My partner who owns the gun gave up and went back to pellets.
 The hybrids did shoot good after he bought the 800mm tensioned barrel kit.   Until he managed to drop and bent the barrel unfortunately.

[YEMX]

The stock .357 barrel liner didn't like the Hybrid slugs very much.  Shotgun pattern @ 50 yards.  My partner who owns the gun gave up and went back to pellets.
 The hybrids did shoot good after he bought the 800mm tensioned barrel kit.   Until he managed to drop and bent the barrel unfortunately.

Well that's disheartening...  Oh well- No biggie.  I've got a good supply of pellets LOL

[YEMX]

So found out an interesting tid-bit of info...  You can actually buy a M3 receiver block- or what FX is calling the "Trigger Block"...  Hmmmmmm...  Down another rabbit hole I go *facepalm*

[Madd Hatter]

OR, you can keep your mk2 trigger block and it can become the mk4! 🤣😂🤣😂 Buy the mk4 backbone and a few other (?) tidbits and you'll have a mk4 almost.

[YEMX]

OR, you can keep your mk2 trigger block and it can become the mk4! 🤣😂🤣😂 Buy the mk4 backbone and a few other (?) tidbits and you'll have a mk4 almost.

TBH, I'm not all that enthusiastic about the Mk4 changes...  Except for maybe dropping the first stage reg.  Plus the Mk2 doesn't have the quick tune stuff, which is why I'm interested in getting a M3 trigger block...  I'll have to double check, but I think that's really the only major change.  The trigger and what, 90% of stuff, is swappable between a Mk2 and M3.  I like the Airmarksman Backbone WAY better than the Mk4's version, and I already have one of those.

[YEMX]

Nothing major going on. 

I've had the .35 barrel shortened to 630mm, and I've ordered a tap and die set (M26x1.5) so I can shorten an outer shroud. 

I'm not going to get a M3 receiver, and I'm just going to install all the parts I have currently.

Someday soon, I'll have this Impact back together LOL  Shooting even!!  Until next time!

[YEMX]

Well I ended up having to "make" an outer barrel shroud for this Impact project.  I made two big mistakes to bring me to making a shroud:  I bought an "inexpensive" chicom tap and die set, I then proceeded to ruin my factory shroud parts with said tap and die set    Anyhoo, I probably went about this shroud build incorrectly, but it's what I came up with in my head, and how I'm doing it... 

Originally, I just wanted to shorten a factory shroud to match the new 630mm .35 barrel, and to clear the valve adjustment knob.  After I ruined the factory shroud, I thought to myself: "Self, this is a FORTUITOUS MISTAKE!"  LOL  That's what I'm calling it!  I'll explain at the end...     

I cut the front section of the ruined FX shroud to salvage the threads, so that the muzzle brake has something to attach to.  I made a "coupler" so that I could epoxy a CF tube and the section of factory tube together.  I opened up the bore of the coupler so I could retain the reflex design of the factory shroud.  I then made a rear end cap so that it clears the valve adjustment knob and butts up against the receiver...  This upcoming week, I'm going to cut a section of CF so I can finally epoxy everything together, after test fitting.  Here's some pics:

Factory muzzle brake and section of factory barrel shroud (black parts), plus the two parts I made:


Rear "end cap":


I opened up the rear end cap's forward bore a little (the part that'll be inside the barrel shroud), to get a little more shroud volume.  I know it won't do much in the grand scheme, but it makes me feel better LOL


The front "coupler".  You can JUST make out the slight differences in OD.  I opened up the bore to retain the reflex design of the factory shroud




Fitment of the rear end cap.  I know, the shoulder isn't perfect.  It'll do it's job though:


This is the joint between the short section of factory barrel shroud and the CF tube I'll be using.  The coupler is inside the two pieces, so there's a solid surface to epoxy to:


This (bad) pic shows the clearance between the rear end cap and the valve adjustment knob.  This is with the knob as far forward as it can be, it'll be threaded in further once I get to tuning.  So plenty of clearance.  I did it this way so that the shroud has a hard stop against the receiver when it's threaded into place.  I also did it because I'll be using a Airmarksman Backbone rail.  It doesn't cover the barrel/shroud the way the Saber Tactical scope rail does. So doing it this way looks cleaner.  At least to me.  I really hate how thin the 14mm outer sleeve looks when compared to the barrel shroud and receiver.  This way, the transition isn't so abrupt.  I don't know how to explain it.  It looks better this way to me. *shrug* 


I'll get to cutting the CF this upcoming week.  I have a mount for my QCTP to use a Dremel tool with a cutting disc.  YES, there will be a vacuum there to catch the dust and such.  Plus I'll be wearing a mask.  No worries y'all.  Anyhoo, I'll post some pics when it's all done.  A little bit of blending with epoxy and some paint, and this barrel shroud won't look half bad!  LOL   

[YEMX]

I couldn't wait.  I had to go cut that CF tube!! 

The Dremel attachment was WELL worth the money I spent ($20 shipped I think?  From Ebay).  Please don't mind the mess...  The shop is literal chaos right now.


Here's a better picture (hopefully) of the clearance between the valve adjustment knob and the rear end cap of the shroud:


This is the shroud, dry fitted together.  I still have to prep all the pieces to be epoxied together.  OAL of the shroud is 14".


I'll be using PC-7 to epoxy everything together.  Once the PC-7 is cured, a little 5 min. JB Weld or perhaps UV Resin as a seam sealer where the factory shroud and CF come together, then I can do real blending with some epoxy fairing compound, add paint, and I think this barrel shroud will look pretty good!!

Anyhoo.  Once the shroud is epoxied together, I'll move onto installing all my other bits and bobs, and FINALLY can get to tuning.

[YEMX]

Sheesh.  Life sure does have a way of sucking the fun out of itself.  Time has a way of getting away from you as well.  No major changes as of yet.  I got a new part though, Saber's new "Rear Field & Bench Precision Bagrider Buttstock"


I plan on mostly shooting this rifle from the prone on the ground or off a bench, so I figure this would be a good addition.  Plus it's better than my kinda janky butt pad.  I'm FINALLY getting to a place where I can install all the goodies for this rifle and get it up and running.  OH, and I AM going to update to a M3 trigger block.  I think it'll be a worthwhile update, without going to the trouble/expense of getting a used M3.  It'll also be VERY helpful with the tuning portion of this project.  That's the ONLY thing I didn't like about the Mk2- the hammer spring adjustment.  Plus, with everything I've bought for this thing over the years, it's practically an M3 anyway    Anyhoo, thanks for following along!