pointblank, that AIAW looks awesome. nothing better than an accurate rifle with character


out of curiosity, why were you disappointed in the impact?
perhaps it was a rhetorical question and i'm wasting 10 minutes writing this, but 10-15 years ago, there weren't a lot of custom actions marketed to the tactical crowd. they were primarily for benchrest and not at all appropriate for dirt/sand/mud. the Surgeon was pretty much THE choice, and had quite a cult following, but despite popular opinion, the surgeon had many, many flaws. Among them was that, depending on the year, it was rarely cut square and often had to be trued. the firing pin hole in the bolt often needed work, etc. then things changed. 5-10 years ago there was an explosion in the market and you can't sling a can of iced tea now without hitting 3 dudes making their own custom actions.
so in that context, the hype around the impact was partly due to the stellar reputation and history (as shooters and gunsmiths) of the guys who make it. it replaced the venerable surgeon action, which was destroyed through acquisition and bad business practices. but the impact is very nearly a surgeon, just with all the problems fixed, and with superb machining, and tolerances that allowed them to lead the market in pre-fit barrels. as i'm sure you know, i can take a barrel from one of my impacts and screw it on to the other, and be assured headspace is correct. lots of companies offer this now, but the only ones that did before impact, did so via barrel nut shenanigans, not precision machining. This was truly a game changer for the competition crowd that would shoot out 2-3 barrels per year, at a time when it could take 4-6 months to get a gunsmith to custom ream a new barrel. so the hype was imho well justified, and it's success is clearly demonstrated by dominating the podium at PRS matches.