Evolution of the Condor…PICS

Well my Air Hog Condor has been great so far but admittedly, as with all Air Force guns I’ve owned, I wanted to improve and tweak things here and there to make it work best for me. With the Air Hog Regulated CF Tank on it, I clearly can’t want for better in terms of shot to shot consistency. The barrel has proven to be quite accurate when I could do my part.

But for serious bench rest use/testing with me on trigger, I’ve been wanting a couple of improvements.

First off, I needed a lighter trigger so the other night I opened up a link to the Talon Airgun Forum to read up on the parts and process of removing the safety. Then with my bud Pat J. aka Photo 22 on the phone, I opened up the trigger group, removed the safety components and started trimming coils off springs. After a bit of experimenting, I ended up leaving the forward most spring full length and cut the other two down to where there was almost no preload on them once the flat plate is attached to the frame which holds them in the trigger group. What resulted based on 5 pulls of the Lyman Digital Trigger Gauge is a trigger that is breaking cleanly and predictably at 4.3oz on average!!! 🙂 More importantly, with the gun cocked and pounding my closed fist on the sides, bottom and rear of the gun, the gun would not accidentally discharge!!! 🙂

Secondly, shouldering up to that round butt of the bottle was doable but not ideal so a quick email to Adam in SoCal aka Walkonking got me a Wokbutt to bolt right on and get it adjusted nicely and comfortably!

Lastly, the Condor just sits too tippy in my rests/bags for me to be really comfortable with trying to perform benchrest groups. The high center of gravity combined with a skinny forearm and super light weight gun was just not happening with great comfort and ease so I decided to put together a better forearm for the task at hand. After debating having a wood forearm made up and the corresponding wait to get one, I decided its time to just fabricate something.

So I went to Harbor Freight with my brother in law and FINALLY bought a Table Top Drill Press and Tap & Die Set since my BIL had a 20% Coupon that he wanted to use versus letting it expire! I also called up MAC1 Airguns to see if I could get a USFT Benchrest Forearm that wasn’t drilled out for the USFT Receiver and that arrived a day later.

In my box of miscellaneous Mounts & Accessories, I found an RWS Riser/Dovetail to Weaver Base that was just begging to be drilled and tapped to attach to that USFT Benchrest Forearm! I tell ya, I feel like an idiot for not having bought the drill press, tap and die set over all these years! Gotta stock up on more tools this year!!!

Anyhoo, here’s what I came up with: