My First Airforce
Hi Guys
A few months back my arch-nemesis, a Labrador-sized raccoon sat at my bait station, comfortably eating without a care in the world. I frantically pumped my custom 1322. By pump 15 he had become startled and ran off. This wasn’t the first or second time it happened. Finally had enough. Decided it was time to switch to PCP.
Purchased a Marauder Pistol. It was neat. Rotary magazine was neat. Easy to pump, also neat. It didn’t like most pellets, very not-neat. In the end I could only shoot JSB Exact Heavy’s. Not that big a deal, I can deal with only buying one pellet type. Already in that habit from my springers.
Then I got a chrony. Found that the p-rod was only producing 500-550FPS. What a terrible disappointment. Steps were taken to tune, mod the hammer spring and all resulted in disaster.
AirForce guns have always caught my eye. I got drunk and ordered one. That’s how I do things: Contemplate for months then make a rash alcohol-induced decision. I’ve ended up with a comfortable house, 2 great kids and a wife I intend to keep around using that exact method. Has not steered me wrong.
The Talon SS is on it’s way from PA. She’ll be here tomorrow. From the videos and forums I’ve found that it will be a bit louder than a stock p-rod. I’ve purchased a Talon Tunes 6″ Shroud extension in anticipation.
MY QUESTION
What do I mod next?
I’ve found hammer slap mods, “top hat” mods (I dont know what that is), and tank drop-downs. What should I know as a new Talon owner? I plan on pumping. HPA tank may be in my future but for now I would like to continue to use my Benjamin HPA pump. It’s sometimes time-consuming but by no means difficult.
All Replies
I went to Home Depot and got a assortment of o rings so don’t really know the size. it doesn’t have to fit the stem exact. Eventually I ended up with rubber washers which are nearby o rings in Home Depot. It’s all about experimenting.
Understood. I’ll pick up some o rings today.
Got first kill with the Talon last night. Mouse or a mole, it was hard to tell. Sent it flying a few feet. Possum got it over night so I don’t know what was left, but tapping on the shoulder with 20FPE I’d imagine was pretty devastating
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I mean at the same fill pressure I can turn my wheel to 6 and get 700fps.
I went to Home Depot and got a assortment of o rings so don’t really know the size. it doesn’t have to fit the stem exact. Eventually I ended up with rubber washers which are nearby o rings in Home Depot. It’s all about experimenting.
[quote=”jmmartinez”
My 2nd option is power wheel 6-0 700fps,
[/quote]
What do you mean “6-0 700FPS”
Also, would you happen to know the o-ring # or size?
Fill pressure, Power wheel, and top hat clearance.
These are the things you will have to mess with. The 700-720 speeds on PW 8 are about right. That’s what I got when I first got my Talon and shot heavies. Too be able to slow them down I put rubber washer behind top hat. On PW 8 I still got to the 700’s and when I drop the PW down to 4 or 5 I had 600fps.
I don’t believe the heavies are to blame. It is just one of the quirks with this gun. Think of the power wheel as fine adjustment and the top hat as more of a coarse adjustment.
Anyways try an o ring or rubber washer behind top hat. It will give you more flexibility with the PW.
My gun as of last night is shooting 830fps with heavies, on power wheel 9-0 from 2900 psi down to 2400 psi .(18 inch barrel)
My 2nd option is power wheel 6-0 700fps,
I don’t think getting that set up would have been possible without putting rubber behind the top hat. Even though all these guns behave differently, I’m betting that on power wheel 8 on your gun with an o ring or rubber washer will drop your fps by 50-100 depending on thickness of o ring or washer.
Put 20 or 30 across the chrony and got very odd results.
Down on #2 I was getting pretty consistent 690-700 using JSB heavy 18g. Very pleased with the results.
Went up to #10 still getting consistent results, this time only from 700-720
Is it the pellets? Will there be greater flexibility if I go down to 14gr stuff?
I dont mind the power, but I’d like to be able to dial it back a little. If that means I have to switch down to something 14gr thats OK I supposed, just didn’t want to have to hassle with re-zeroing
It came from PA with exactly Zero air in the tank. Took about 15 minutes to get to 2700, not counting breaks. Took a dozen or shots to zero and it dropped down to 2200. I’m happy with that, especially on “4”
Chrony testing is next, then going back online to buy higher rings and/or the tank dropdown
Yes, it does take a little getting use to. I usually use high scope rings. Which puts scope 3 inches above scope. My most comfortable set up is the airforce tri rail with medium rings , but that puts scope at 3.75 above. Only other option is he Talon tunes tank adapter.
At 3.00 above my trajectory from 25 to 40 yards is almost spot on and 50 yards is half mil down. That is JSB 18s at 800fps.
I’m surprised the gun came with hardly any air! That stinks. I ordered from R & L and I at least had 2600 psi when it arrived. Pumping from near zero sucks. Luckily you only have to do it once.
I’d say the erratic velocity could be because of low tank pressure, but remember that top hat should not rotate at all. 100 fps spread is kind of a lot. Make sure breech when cocked and pushed to the side does not wiggle back and forth too much. I replaced o ring inside breech with thicker ones to provide even better seal.
Quick update. Talon arrived. I like the weight and balance but shouldering it is a bit funny. May need high rings to get the scope where I need it. Stinks because I dont like the glass that high above the bore, starts to get tricky for short shots.
Hand pumping to 1k took a bit longer than I anticipated. The next 2k will be my cardio for the day, that’s for sure. Set at “4” and chrony’ed between 550 and 650. I attribute the variance to low pressure in the tank. Without the TT shroud its still pretty quiet. It’ll be just fine in my basement range without the shroud for now. Still backyard friendly as-is in my opinion.
Looking forward to getting it pumped up, sighted in and put to work!
That’s a solid standby too. Doesn’t work for me. These guys know I don’t have any problem sitting on the can all afternoon and still getting work done. Luckily I’m a department head, there’s no one to question me . Hell if my office was a bit bigger I’d consider setting up a duct seal trap in here.
That is what I did the day I got my Talon. all of a sudden I had diarrhea. Had to rush home and try it out.
Some advice. Before you start shooting make sure the top hat is not loose. I didn’t know anything about these rifles when I bought mine and I couldn’t figure out why my velocity was so erratic. The tophat could easily be rotated. It should be rock solid.
Understood. Thanks for the explanation.
Talon is on the FedEx truck and scheduled for delivery today. I’m watching tracking. When it arrives the plan is to suddenly develop a migraine and take a half-day. We’ll see how quite it is, stock. The TT shroud was just ordered yesterday. I reckon it’ll take a week or two.
if you got an 18 inch barrel, you could not use the built in suppression in the Talon ss. However since you have the TT shroud, you can still shoot suppressed. The 18 inch barrel will stick out of the Talon ss frame by half and inch or so. So the TT shroud will slide right over it. That is my exact set up. The 6 inch shroud does a good job hushing it up.
!
I’d be able to change out the 12″ .22 barrel for an 18″ .22 and still use the shroud that came with the gun and my 6″ TT shroud?
Welcome Rev! Congrats on the talon ss.
I also have a talon ss with 6 inch Talon tunes shroud. The shroud combined with the sound lock built into the gun it will be pretty quiet. The sound of the hammer hitting will be louder than actual report. To me it’s slightly louder than my .25 marauder which is setting around 40 ft lbs.
With the 12 inch barrel I struggled pushing the 18 grain jsb past 750 without wasting a bunch of air. Maybe 25-30 shots around 750. Since you got the shroud you could get the 18 inch 22 barrel and still be fairly quiet. That’s what I did and now I shoot the jsb heavies at 800fps for about 40 -45 shots. With a rubber washer behind the top hat.
I also pump my Talon. I use the Hill mk3 pump.
From 2000 psi to 2600 psi, I can do it within 5 min. Maybe 70 – 80 pumps. If I only shoot 30 shots and I can fill within 3 min.
40-50 pumps. Love my pump. i can shoot all weekend. No need to go get a tank filled. The cost of a carbon fiber tank 300-800 bucks. 5 -8 dollar fill ups. I have filled my gun probably 1000 times and saved 1000 dollars.
Good luck on your journey!
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Welcome to the Airforce addiction. I feel ya on the getting hammered and ordering stuff, i do it all the time. Worst thing is when a box shows up and you have no idea whats in it. LOL As said by most just shoot the piss out of it and get a good feel for her. That shroud from tony will help a ton. I have the 14 inch model on my condor and it keeps it very calm even when shooting over 100 fpe.
When your ready, get some nylon washers and sand paper. Makes washers to go under the top hat in different thicknesses. I have them from .010-.050 in .005 increments. Yes that small of a change will make a difference. You can tune your gun to almost regulated consistancy and will only cost a couple bucks.
Once you are ready to get silly let us know what your looking for and many of us here can shorten you experiments and maby save you some change.
Good luck and welcome to the addiction!