ruger impact 22 review

[JohnnyRebKY]

Picked on of these up at wal mart about week and half ago. Must be fairly new since there is basicly zero info on them out there. The first one was a total flop. Pellets were flying everywhere and I mean feet off target not inches. I'd been shooting my entire life so I know it wasn't me. After reading up on proper technique for sprinters I found the artillery hold didn't help either. I began to search for mechanical issues with the rifle in which I discovered the breech was crooked. Yes crooked. It looked as if whoever drilled the barrel out and entered at a angle. I returned the rifle to wal mart to exchange for the same model and found the other 3 in stock had the same problem! I decided to drive to another wal mart 20 miles away to see of their rifles were the same and to my suprise the breech on those rifles were fine. I exchanged the flawed rifle for one of those and took it home. Moral of story..,inspect the breech before buying

Anyway moving on the ruger impact I have is a good looking rifle. The wood is amazingly beautiful for a 129 dollar gun. Of course the machining is sub par IMO but that's what you get for cheap right. Kept having accuracy issues with it again which I soon realized it was the stock screws becoming loose. They become loose very quickly and every time I had to re tighten I also had to re sight the gun. This became quite nerve wrecking after awhile. Finally after 1000 shots I decided to blue lock tight all the stock screws. Now approaching 1500 shots and they are holding firm so far. Once I got the screws to stay tight my accuracy has began to tighten up. I have to say after shooting powder burners my whole life the springer accuracy can be quite frustrating but I am getting better. It took a lot of patients on my part to get to the 1300 shots I've ran though it as there were times I thought about returning it. I kept telling myself to at least give it 1000 shots before giving up. So at this point I am satisfied with the accuracy although it could be a lot better but again you get what you pay for. For me this is a good first springer to learn proper technique. If I can somewhat master this cheap rifle I will have no doubt I can be deadly with a good german rifle in the future.

Power is great! It doesn't always shoot straight but I doubt anyone will complain about power. The manual says 800ish fts with lead pellets and they smack targets with authority. I've been finding my pellets lodged so deep in a beech tree that I can hardly see them in there ( about 20 yards). The rifle seems to modeled after a rws Diana 350 magnum as far as looks go. How they compare in power I dunno since I've not shot a 350. I can say the impact 22 smacks the pond watar in my back field like a 22 rim fire. If you want cheap power then the impact 22 delivers that for sure.

Iron sights look good but the fiber optic front sight breaks on first bump. I accidentally bumped mine in the door frame coming in the house on the second day. Snap they are gone. I've been using the front post to still shoot without the fiber color. The scope....junk. Need I say more?

Recoil is gigantic for a air rifle. I've been reading how the rws 350 magnum is hard to learn because of its hard recoil. Well I believe the impact 22 is no different. It kicks like a 20 gauge shotgun. I think a beginner shooter which this is obviously aimed at could easily become frustrated with it. I'm a seasoned shooter but new to springers and it was very frustrating to me also. As I said I hung in there and 1300 shots later I'm much better. I still believe the rifle isn't very accurate even with the best springer shooter but it's more than capable of popping cans at 20 yards. Dime size groups at 20 yards isn't going to happen I don't think. I've enjoyed it much more since I lowered my expectations and realized it's just a fun 120 dollar pellet rifle and to not expect german performance from it.

In conclusion I'm satisfied. I've had a lot of fun with it so far. If you buy one be patient and shoot a good 1000 rounds quick as you can to get it shooting better. Definitely lock tight the stock screws! It kicks like a mule and will loosen them quickly and result in re sighting every 20 shots. First time shooters might want something else because of that recoil. A young boy learning to shoot could easily become discouraged by this gun I think.

[CA_Blacktail]

Thanks, now I have to go back and check to see if the breech is straight on mine.

[fgwhite]

i looked at them at a wall mart also i think there same gun as the black hawk eleite just dirent stock 

[JohnnyRebKY]

Thanks, now I have to go back and check to see if the breech is straight on mine.

They are out there. That first wal mart had every impact rifle with the same enzact flaw. I pointed it out to the sporting goods worker who seemed like he could care less. My guess is they continued to sell them.

Your rifle should have a perfectly milled hole for the breech that is centered. The flawed rifles have a uneven hole, lop sided to the left. I knew I should have taken a picture for educational purpose.

[56S]

Any chance getting some pictures of the innards of this gun? 
BTW, thanks for the great review and welcome to the GTA.

[JohnnyRebKY]

 It's my first springer so I'm not comfortable taking it apart just yet.  I just got the stock screws to stop coming loose so I don't want to mess with them for awhile. Will have to wait for a more experienced guy to detail the innards. It's a strong spring I can tell you that. I'm 30 years old and 6 feet 2 240 pound farm boy and it wore my arm plum out cocking it.

[56S]

You're going to have a blast with your airgun.  Both my boys are gun nuts but neither has been bitten by the airgun bug yet.  When I send them a link to a nice springer like the AA TX200 or the new Walther LGU, they come back and tell me I could buy a nice powder burner for that kind of money.  I tell them that I already have nice PBs but I can't shoot them off my front porch for pennies a pop!

Are you able to shoot at home or do you have to drive somewhere?

Oh, and given a little time you'll be tearing that Impart apart and tweaking and tuning to get it more accurate.  I'm so bad now that I don't even fire my new airguns before I tear them to pieces, polish, deburr, re-lube and tighten tolerance.  And it's worth it too.  I have a reman Ruger and a Crosman Nitro Venom Dusk that as my son says, "Can shoot the nuts off a Chipmonk at 25Yds"

[CA_Blacktail]

The safety is in the same place as the Ruger Airhawk/XS-25 and not where the Yukon's is. I'll try to get some pictures and measurments today.

[56S]

Ah ha!  I have been going by the photo Walmart is using. It shows what looks like a small tang ahead of the trigger.  That is the only reason I have been thinking of might be convertible to a GP.  Dummy me.

Check it out:  http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Ruger-Impact-.22-Pellet-Rifle-with-Scope/35599438

[JohnnyRebKY]

You're going to have a blast with your airgun.  Both my boys are gun nuts but neither has been bitten by the airgun bug yet.  When I send them a link to a nice springer like the AA TX200 or the new Walther LGU, they come back and tell me I could buy a nice powder burner for that kind of money.  I tell them that I already have nice PBs but I can't shoot them off my front porch for pennies a pop!

Are you able to shoot at home or do you have to drive somewhere?

Oh, and given a little time you'll be tearing that Impart apart and tweaking and tuning to get it more accurate.  I'm so bad now that I don't even fire my new airguns before I tear them to pieces, polish, deburr, re-lube and tighten tolerance.  And it's worth it too.  I have a reman Ruger and a Crosman Nitro Venom Dusk that as my son says, "Can shoot the nuts off a Chipmonk at 25Yds"

I live in rural Kentucky and own 5 1/2 acres. I'm so far off the road I can't even see my closest neighbor. So yea I shoot at home. I sit on the front porch and plink away at various things. I can shoot in any direction at will so it's a lot of fun. I have a small spring creek that runs through the yard so I like to pick various leaves on the mud bank as targets. I can see the mud splatter so I always know my point of impact.

There are more squirrels along the creek here than you can shake a stick at. Some of you guys would have a blast here but I've become to soft hearted to kill any of them. I actually have one that's a pet and eats from my hand and climbs on me lol.

[56S]

Your place sounds like mine. Right down to the spring creek. You are a bit closer to heaven as I can see neighbors and my squirrels are still too afraid of people to allow hand feeding.  Do you have Hickorys?  I have hundreds of shot up Hickory nuts in my woods.

[JohnnyRebKY]

Oh yea lots of hickories on my property. Close to the house along the creek are several black walnut trees and pawpaw fruit trees. Lots of Buckeyes too. My property is also deep in a valley so I have a natural back stop in all directions. The only downside is my driveway is very steep and getting out of here in the winter can be hard lol. But I like living in seclusion, it's peaceful, private, and beautiful. Gods country for sure.

Today I shot some more. I'm at 1400 rounds now. Rifle continues to shoot tighter the more rounds I put through it. I'm hitting small leaves with open sights at 30 yards away pretty consistently. I tend to be a little anal about accuracy because I shoot at such small targets. When shooting at a leaf the size of a half dollar at 30 yards I know now that it just won't happen every time. But now I am hitting them more often than I miss so I'm not complaining. This is with a broken fiber optic on the front sight too which now I'm just using the front plastic post as the sight reference. I'm glad I stuck with it because it would have been easy to give up at 500 rounds when it was pretty inconsistent. Right around 1100-1200 rounds seems to be when it started shooting better and more consistently. Now at 1400 I'm nailing my targets pretty well. For a cheap made in China rifle I am pleased.

You guys are right....this has become very addicting! Maybe it's because it's such a challenge to master a powerful springer. If it was easy I may have lost interest. Since I'm shooting it so well now I've even started looking for a quality scope! I've never been a scope guy because I like the challenge of open sights. However I'm interested in some 50+ yard shots now and I think a good scope will make that really fun. I shot expert in the Marines with open sights but with a low velocity air rifle I think the mil dots will be a lot of fun to toy with.

SCOPE SUGGESTIONS? Rifle has a big recoil so needs to be quality. Under 200 bucks but not a cheapie. I have plans for a rws Diana 350 magnum after tax season so I need something I can use on the ruger and be swapped to the magnum when time comes.

[56S]

That's funny. I go up a 440', 17% grade to get home.
As far as scopes go, many including myself have had good luck with a Walmart CenterPoint 4x16 -40 AO for about  $75.00 out the door.

[56S]

The safety is in the same place as the Ruger Airhawk/XS-25 and not where the Yukon's is. I'll try to get some pictures and measurments today.

Yep. I was looking at the picture on Walmart's website instead of looking at the gun in the store.  Went to WM today and sure enough, the picture on the web is wrong. Sorry about any confusion I may have caused.