Got my Talon SS/ Shooting birds in store tonight!
So I get the gun, slap on a Nikko Sterling Nighteater 6x24x56 scope, and after 26 shots during site-in, my next 3 were tack-driven into a 1/4” group at 30 yards. Power is set to 3, and initial fill was 2700psi. Pellets were JSB Exact Diablos. Next, I started going through all of the wadcutter and hollowpoint pellets in my pellet sampler from Straight Shooters. It looked like the RWS Diablo Basics were shooting just as accurately as the JSB’s, but I expected some of the others to do better. I had high hopes for the Beeman H+N Match, the RWS R-10 Heavies, and RWS Super Mags, but for some reason they just didn’t perform very well. So I got the JSB ED’s and RWS DB’s and just started shooting from random positions and distances to see what I could expect in a store.
Well, the groupings started turning into crap, pellets were dropping about 2-3 inches, and then it finally dawned on me what was happening. I had already shot about 90 shots without even thinking about it! I thought I’d get more at power setting 3, but apparently not. When I checked air pressure for a refill I was down to 1000 psi. Ooops!
The next disaster was my scuba tank would only refill it back to 2500. It’s a dinky starter type tank, only abt. 6″ in diameter, maybe 2′ high. I’m not sure but I think it’s only 30cf, which ain’t enough, I found out.
So, I shot only 1 pellet with the new fill to see if accuracy was back on, and sure enough, at 30 yards whamo!, out goes another bullseye. I have a job tonight at a grocery store 1 hour away. They have 4 birds in the store, and I’m going to see if I can get a shot at em’.
I’ve bothered some of you before with questions about the gun and such, and I just thought you’d like to see an update on my situation. I gotta tell you, as soon as I picked up the Talon SS, it was love at first sight! It feels so right for me that I’m probably going to sell the Daystate Harrier X that I bought for Field Target shooting, if I can figure out how to keep the SS a little more stable when shooting at 55 yard targets. I know some of you have told me that it couldn’t compete in that arena, but you know what? I’m having so much fun with the Talon that I don’t really care. If I miss a few shots out past 45-55 yards, so what. At least I didn’t miss them with the $5000 guns some of these other guys have, and for closer-in ranges, I’ll definitely give them a run for their money and make em’ wonder why they spent all of that dough.
Anyway, gotta go, gotta be in the store at midnight when it closes, so I’ll post an update on what happens on the Talon’s initial outing. Thanks so much to all of you who have given me advice and information about this gun. I do absolutely love it!
Scrench
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Another thing might be an o-ring under the top-hat to limit how far it can move. If you adjust it too far down w/o an o-ring, it will smack into the brass, i.e., metal on metal. That isn’t very good.
Just remove the top-hat, add an o-ring, and put the top-hat back on. Start with a lower fill pressure and work up/down until you get what you want and adjust your top-hat too.
I’ve adjusted the TopHat much lower than stock and will try the power on 3-4. I don’t know what this will give me since I don’t have a chrony, but initial dry shots seem encouraging.
I’m now considering an equal trade if anyone’s interested. My brand new standard air tank for a Micro-meter.
For lower velocities, I’d suggest a lighter hammer and a lower fill pressure.
Hammers aren’t that hard to make (I’ve made a couple out of Delrin and UHMW), and you should be able to a decent velocity spread if you play around a bit.
Or, you could buy a replacement hammer from AirForce and drill holes in it crossways to lighten it. Be sure to clamp it in a vise or it will eat your fingers when the drill bit breaks through that uneven surface.
If you do your homework and adjust your tophat I’m sure you can get your SS to a level of bird killer without the airate the roof.
Great gun, very adjustable if you mess with top hat AND power wheel.
Yep,
Put heart and soul into my trusty Benjamin Franklin 340 model, even put a scope on it, but beyond 10 yards, it was useless. Of course mine is so old that the barrel has no rifling and was designed to shoot pellets and BB’s. Maybe the newer 392’s or 397’s are better?
Did you ever consider a multi pump?
This is exactly why I was searching for a gun with only about 400-500 fps. I am conscious of the possibility of shooting a hole through their metal roofs, and I want to cause as little collateral damage as possible in case I miss. The Talon SS and the Air Arms ERB series were the only two I could find with adjustable power, or a Beeman R7 was considered.
I’ve already found out that the Talon SS is way too powerful no matter where the power is set with the standard tank, so thats why I’m considering the Micro-Meter tank which many Wildlife and Fisheries people use. The Air Arms was just too big and heavy, although the S410 carbine version might work, and the R7 is around 700 fps which might be too much power. I do have to say that I know guys with Gamos shooting 1000 fps in stores.
I wouldn’t even remotely consider bringing a Condor into a store, although your points about the laser are well taken. I also like to shoot Field Target competition, and I’ve set up a range in my backyard from 10 yards out to 55 so that I can practice at various distances and become familiar with both how much adjustment the rangefinder scope needs, and how many mil-dots I need to adjust in case there isn’t any time for adjusting focus and range.
Right now I’m experimenting with wadcutter pellets to see which is going to be the most consistent, but so far there seems to be a tremendous difference between just 20 and 30 yards. I can get Beeman Crow Magnums and RWS Supermags to group within 1/2 ” at 20 yards, but at 30 they seem to lose it. I don’t really expect to shoot anything at 30 yards, but I’d like to have a margin just in case. Wadcutters are aggravating because I can easily shoot 1/4″ holes from 30 yards with JSB Exact Diablos. Maybe I’ll just blow off the wads and stick to what’s hitting. Better to hit what you’re aiming at with the wrong pellet than miss with the right one, I guess.
Can’t wait till you blow a sprinkler head off.
2 points on that comment:
#1: I havent met a starling that wasnt scared of a laser point. Your birds may be different, but I stopped trying with one. Smarter birds: forget about it. 6x scope setting works well for close in shots for me.
#2: Lasers wont correspond to your impact point at all given distances. In the heat of the moment, you might not consider your range and you’ll end up shooting something thats not where the point is. With practice you get good at it, but be aware of your distances and offsets at first. I always shot outside so it was not so critical, but I’m just wondering about what your backstop is if you miss in a store (my condor would put a nice hole in even metal roofing).
Just my 2 cents.
Are you suggesting the laser as a sight on the gun or to use to scare them out of the store?
I can tell you that CO2 in .22 will dispatch a 4 lb furball at about 45 yds or so, so I’d imagine it’d work great for birds, even in .177. With 100s of shots per 12 oz tank, I’d say it’d be an excellent option for you, as long as you don’t have to shoot in temps below 65 degrees.
One other thing I’d suggest… I like big optics as much as the next guy, but that Nikko might be too much for the type of close-range, quick acquisition shooting that your job seems to entail. You might want to consider getting yourself a decent laser. As long as those birds aren’t hiding, it’d probably pay for itself on its first job. It’d also help to minimize any collateral damage over in the bread aisle as well. 😉
Hope that helped…
shrpshotr28 – so it’s possible that I didn’t kill this bird, just made him very miserable. I didn’t realize the kill zone was that small. Instead of the center of the chest, isn’t the KZ on these birds between the head and chest, the thorax (neck) area as depicted on many bird targets? also I know you make some accessories for the Talons, what all do you have?
You are right on the KZ, neck is included; but next time you get one, examine a little and you’ll find that the neck itself is only about the diameter of a pencil, not the 3/4″ or so that it appears with feathers on it. Only a dead center shot will be fatal, a smidge left or right and you get a cloud of feathers and not much else, been there done that. If you drew blood, he likely did not life long or suffer much. If it was a missed “neck shot” then that bunch of feathers will grow back and you’ll get another chance at him. Best bet for your grocery store pest control is to concentrate on center-mass body shots.
PM sent.
Going rate for me is $100 for a single bird, every one after, if on the same session, $25.
shrpshotr28 – so it’s possible that I didn’t kill this bird, just made him very miserable. I didn’t realize the kill zone was that small. Instead of the center of the chest, isn’t the KZ on these birds between the head and chest, the thorax (neck) area as depicted on many bird targets? also I know you make some accessories for the Talons, what all do you have?
your power is more than enough for those little guys. They just have a very small KZ, not much bigger than a nickle. Off by just a small bit can result in an explosion of feathers and no confirmed kill.
You are going to want to shoot your gun at 3-5 yard increments and take notes of yardage and POI vs POA; and estimate your range accurately in order to increase you kill percentage. Very important to dedicate the time to being proficient and knowing your gun, especially with your indoor shooting environment. Just getting a hit is often not enough, it has to be a well placed hit and inside a grocery store it is much more important than in an outdoor environment.
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How close is too close?