Brand new Condor Bounty Hunter coming soon
I have recently ordered an Air Force Condor “Bounty Hunter” .25 model (thus the user name, lol). I will be getting a scope and an Air Force hand pump (yes, I know there are better pumps… but geez Louise this stuff ain’t cheap!)
I’ve been lurking on these boards and some other pellet gun forums for a week or so since deciding to purchase the Condor and have seen a whole friggin lot of posts from lots of people about things that seem to deserve some attention.
For example, I see that some owners have reported issues with the safety. Others have reported issues with burrs in the innards which scratch up the hammer or do other things. I see some that indicate I should take apart and polish things, silicon grease things, etc…
For the money I’m paying I have to say I’m a little surprised to see how much there is that people end up doing themselves or paying someone else to do.
Also, I see lots of comments about how loud the gun is.
So, with all of that, I am seeking advice from the experts on this forum on what I should do with the gun when it arrives.
I am reasonably competent with my hands, but I’m no machinist and I only have basic tools to work with. I don’t have a lathe, drill press, micro-guages, etc.
I would like to get the gun “set up” as well as I can, plus I’ll probably end up wanting some noise reduction technique.
For the most part I will be using this gun for target practice and pest control. I live in a rural mountain town so I can shoot it freely in my backyard, but I don’t want to annoy the neighbors. Because it’s the “Bounty Hunter” model, the barrel is threaded for the “flash suppressor” (? whats up with that?), so I’m hoping a noise suppressor exists that fits those threads.
Bottom line here, what should I do when I get the gun to ensure the most positive shooting experience possible?
Oh, also, I would like to use CO2 for light plinking, but I don’t even know if the .25 model will run on CO2. Will I need to buy a new barrel for that? And if so, does that mean I also need to change out the valves? I know the .22 and .25 models have different valves than the .177 and .20 models…
Any help is appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
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I have a .22 long rifle trap already, so I could shoot indoors if I had a decent place to do so, and if my family didn’t mind. Shooting outside is no big deal except when it rains which is pretty rare since I live in a semi-arid climate.
Yeah, I definitely could have done more research, but even if I had, based on what I know now, I would have ended up with the same thing. I need a hand pump as a backup no matter what I end up using on a daily basis. So now the question is what to buy next. If I can find a used scuba tank for less than a hundred bucks, that’s probably what I will do. Heck, I suppose it is theoretically possible to fill a scuba tank with a hand pump too. 😉
I did the go to the scuba shop and get my gun tank refilled a couple of times while i was searching for a scba 88 cu ft carbon, i rented a scuba bottle also.
but i read enough to know i needed a tank before i bought the gun. i knew that i did not want to pump anything, had enough of that with my pump air rifle in the past, PCP is about having that ready air supply after all.
i also read enough to know that most all that bought a scuba tank , ended up getting a scba tank later so i found a scba to start with .
nothing wrong with taking the small steps, but getting the rebuild kit for the pump is a must because it will not last , or for others it did not last, but i would really consider at least getting a scuba tank instead of the more expensive pump. and keep your first pump as a back up for when you run out of air at just the wrong time, especially if you have shops that can fill your scuba tank close buy.
i want the shoe box or a full size high pressure air compressor, but i have fill places close at hand, so it really is not cost effective for me. i went thru allot of air at first, but i have slowed down considerably now. i had 10000 ronds thru the condor in like a year, but not so much now.
depends of your personal needs really, but you might look for a used scuba tank at first ,i have found them for less than a hundred bucks, it sure is nice to hook up your gun tank and open the valve and watch your gun tank fill up ,
also sounds like you need a good indoor pellet trap so you can shoot indoors 🙂
If you watch my video I explain what a spinloc ready gun looks like.. and you can retrofit your tank by sending it to airforce or buy a talons tunes tank adapter
Photobucket.com create an account for this website you will want one LOL and welcome :tag:
Thanks Pandemic, I’ve bookmarked that air pump rebuild link.
The gun I have came with the non-spinlock tank. I actually am not even sure if it can use the spinlock tanks, I’ve sent a question to the distributor I bought the gun from to find out. I purchased the gun right about the same time that they announced the spinlock change and it was on back-order for a bit. I THINK it supports them, but I’m not totally certain.
Right now a photo wouldn’t be much value since it looks exactly like the ones on the Airforce home page. I haven’t done any mods at all. It’s been raining like heck here all weekend so I only had the time to shoot the one group, so it’s pumped up and ready to go when I get a chance.
I talked to the boss (wife) about the scuba tank and even the shoebox air compressor thing. But in all honesty she’s still in a bit of “you paid HOW MUCH for a PELLET GUN?!?” stage of the deal, so another $2-300 isn’t going to fly at the moment. I did find a paintball store in town that says they can refill the tank for $3 and it’s right on the way home from work, so I will give them a try.
I really do want a spinlock tank. Having to unscrew the tank to refill it, and having no way to see the current pressure in the tank is more of a pain than I thought it would be.
I’m going to try to post a pic here to see if I can even do it.
That’s just the image of the gun from the place I bought it, not a photo I took. I assume I need some place to upload photos if I want to upload my own.
UPDATE: Based on that video, it appears my Condor does support the spinlock tanks. Good to know. 🙂
lets see some pics of the gun
next thing to buy is a scuba tank trust me you need it also call 1-(817)-783-6433 and ask them the send you a rebuild kit for your airforce hand pump better to have it on hand then not be able to shoot for a while here are the instructions on rebuliding a hand pump http://www.sunopticsusa.com/handpump.html
and here is a video of filling with a handpump and a scuba tank with the new spinloc tanks.. http://youtu.be/MZ-DOMwNSy0
did your gun come with the spinloc tank or just spinloc ready gun?
The only “mod” I’ve done to my 1377 is to add the steel breech. I’ve got a $7 Walmart scope on it, and it’s deadly accurate out to 25 yards. I just use cheap crosman pellets too, so it’s a plinkers dream gun. The only downside is that you have to pump it so much. I don’t have a Crony so I don’t know what fps I get, but it punches through an old plastic pail I have set up as a target, and that’s pretty tough plastic. I’m pretty confident it could take down a squirrel or a groundhog.
It really is amazingly accurate for such an affordable and commonly available gun.
But it’s no Condor… that’s for sure.
yep i like that crossman , a trigger job ,and narrow the front sight a bit and she’ s a shooter . have it lent to my dad right now to get him to shooting , built him a pellet trap so he can sit in his recliner and shoot away, he is 83 last month, but still can get around pretty dang good.
Heh… yeah, no doubt I am…
Although I blame the show “Top Shot” for my recent revival of interest in the shooting sports… And I probably would have been OK if I hadn’t bought that Crosman 1377 which turned out to be a sweet-shooting little pistol…
yer hooked 😀
Well, today I had my first chance to shoot an actual group. I set up my target at 25 yards. After a few shots to fine tune the scope settings, I set up a target and took 8 shots at it.
I had one outlier where I twitched when I took the shot. With the outlier my group was 1 1/8″ center-to-center. Without the outlier my group was 7/8″ center to center. The group (minus the outlier) was dead center on the bullseye, and was just a bit smaller than a quarter.
Yeah, I know, it’s not a 1/3″ group, but it was my first attempt, so I’m pretty happy. For the most part I consider 1″ accuracy to be suitable for most hunting situations. So at least for now I feel pretty solid up to 25 yards anyway.
Next weekend I think I’ll go to a shooting range and see what I can do at 50 yards.
For what it’s worth, I am pretty sure the gun is more accurate than I am. At 16 magnification I could see that I was not holding the gun perfectly steady. I need to work on that.
OK, finally got it pumped up. Took it outside.
Oh. My. God.
Four shots to sight in at 20 yards. Dime sized bullseye. No problem.
I think I’m gonna like this gun.
Gun got here this afternoon. Been pumping since I got off work. Over an hour so far, with 50 pumps and a five minute break. The instructions said “pump slowly” so I am pumping slowly. One second down, pause, one second up, pause. So 50 pumps is probably taking me three minutes. About 400 pumps so far and just over 2,000 psi.
Sheesh…. Can’t I just plug something into the wall!?!
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😯
That would be a chore right there !!! IF the pump lived .
just have fun man,
i thought about a pump, and in no way did i want to spend the money for a 88 cu ft carbon fiber 4500 psi scba tank. but i did find one for 300 bucks. here on the classifieds.
i do not regret spending the money, it last a while , not very long when i am shooting heavy pellets at high power, but forever when shooting, 14 grain at 900 and less.
really depends on what you want to shoot, i get allot of shots filling to 2100 or so with 14 grain pellets in the 800 to 900’s .
these guns are a blast, i havent shot my condor in a while, been mostly shooting handguns