Anyone installed an 18” .25 on a talon?
I am thinking about an 18” (.22 or .25) barrel for my talon SS has anyone used an 18” .25 without a valve modification?
Can you tell me how fast .25 kodiaks will fly from the 18” barrel on a talon without a valve mod?
I was told with the 24” barrel I could expect just under 800 fps. With the talon tank and valve.
I’m on the fence because part of me wants the bigger .25 to make bigger hole / wound channel in the squirrels.
I think I might be better off going with the 18” .22 barrel to get an increased velocity over my 12” barrel. This will result in a flatter trajectory so I can easily reach out a little farther. If I go with the .25
I think I will suffer from a loopy trajectory which is what I have with my 12” barrel on the longer shots. I have a mil dot scope so I can deal with that if I need to.
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1. Any .25 18” data you could pass along?
2. What do you guys think I should do?
The game I hunt is squirrel and dove and the .22 seems to work fine if I do my part in the aiming and trigger control. I don’t want to do the valve mod if my shot count will suffer because sometimes I walk with my airgun.
I also use a co2 adaptor for plinking, but I would be willing to swap out the condor valve if needed. I ordered and have the condor weight just incase I get the urge.
Thanks
Roger
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Thanks guys for the advice, I am wanting to keep the shot count high, and I have the talon adjusted so well (using the rubber washer behind the top hat ) I get a lot of consistent shots.
I took it squirrel hunting in a target rich alpha field where I usually shoot my 17hmr. In many spots of the fields we hunt the squirrels can eat the alpha as fast as it will grow leaving huge bald spots in the fields.
I was amazed how much better the air gun put a hurt on the squirrels over a 1022 rifle. To me it seems that the pellet still passes through but is shedding more of it’s energy on the squirrel. I think on impact the pellet might be expanding just enough to create a slightly larger wound cavity. One thing I noticed is even on less than perfect shots fewer of the squirrels were making it back to the hole compared to a 10/22
My hunting partner is Doug Yenshaw, wrote a book on 1022 performance enhancements he sells at theworks1022.com so you know he loves to shoot squirrels with his 10/22 rifles. For the first two days of our hunting trip we both shared my talon SS. Normally we shoot the squirrels at 75 to 120 yards. with 10/22’s.
I bring (2) ruger 1022’s, (1) 17hmr, and (1) of my AR-15’s. He travels with (3) 1022’s (1) 22 pistol (1) AR-15, and a 22-250.
The thing we notice is that after shooting the 10/22’s for 20 minus or so is that the bark of the rifles push many of the squirrels out to 100 yards or so.
The fact that we were both content to share one very accurate and quiet air rifle with all the other guns to choose from in the truck says a lot about how the gun was shooting. They had no clue and we shot all we wanted at ranges from 15 to 55+ yards.
I know we shot at least 250 squirrels with the talon during the two days we used it hunting. It was not uncommon for me to shoot and kill 3 squirrels off the same hole. The first one goes down and starts twitching, the other two just watch. Two shots later all three squirrels were down twitching. This happened so many times it was amazing.
I started off shooting predators, and kodiaks and then switched to a fresh box of CP’s, the CP’s were lighter and flatter and it seemed to kill them just as well. I just kept using the CP’s and burned through the whole 650 and still had plenty of squirrels to shoot at.
The gun was so accurate, and the shot count per charge was great, but I was filling the gun pretty often because there were so many squirrels you could not load the gun fast enough. This went on for hours.
On the way home from my trip, I decided to put my 308 Savage FP-10 with a 26 Inch barrel up for sale. When It sells I will re invest into another Talon SS so I will have a favorite and a loaner gun for my truck.
It is only fun to hunt with an airgun on a rig with other airguns. I’ve tried sitting with my father who loves to shoot his 223, and that sucks.
The noise pushes 90% of the squirrels out to 145+ yards. The only thing I can do is shoot at dirt clods or brake out my 17hmr and get the squirrels in the 100 – 190 yard range.
I’m very interested in the .25 and may do a valve mode if I am convinced it will be worth it. If I just upgrade to launch stuff slower than my 12″ barrel did, I may not be happy. I am considering the .25 with a lighter pellet also.
I will probably end up picking up a custom .22 18″ and building a shroud to keep it quiet. I’ve seen first hand that quiet plus accuracy really gets the squirrels, and I am hooked. And I don’t know how bad a valve mod will hurt my shot count.
Thanks for all your input, please keep it coming. If you have advice on the .22 or .25 in 18″ please post here or PM me
Thanks.
Roger
If you don’t plan on making any valve mods, then go with the 18″ .22 barrel. You won’t be disappointed. You ‘ll get a considerable power increase over the 12″ barrel. My friend’s stock Talon with 18″ barrel makes 33-34FPE and shoots Kodiaks at 845fps. After 20 shots it was still around 800fps. That ‘s a lot better than what you get now and you will get a nice flat trajectory to 50yds.
The heavy .25cal pellets need extra valve work to get the power to get them “moving” and keep them from dropping down range.
You really don’t need .25 cal. to bring down squirrels. Most of the squirrels in this country are taken with .177. Just aim for the head. I used to take squirrels with my 760 pump at 10-15yds with head and neck shots 25-30yrs ago. Just took one yesterday with my stock 850 .22 (12fpe). Put a 14.3gr CP in his skull near the ear and he dropped. Of course I normally don’t attempt to take down squirrels with the 850 at ranges greater than 25-30yds, but with a 20-30fpe gun you can take them easily out to 60yds. They are tough, but all you need is about 4fpe on impact to penetrate their skull (or heart/lung vitals) deep enough and hit the brain. Many guys take squirrel with their stock Crosman 1377 and 2240 pistols.. I took an adult 11lb groundhog with my 13.5fpe Diana 36 .177 springer 2 wks ago (posted pics in the hunting forum) at 22yds. The .177 Superdome went all the way through its skull (850-860fps MV) and it didn’t even move. It’s all about shot placement. The Brits bring down Fox and big Hares with their 12fpe guns at 20-25yds. Get a LW 18″ barrel .22 (from Tony or whoever) which will be very accurate, and you will bring down 20lb racoons if you want at 50yds. Just know that the report will be a lot louder than your 12″ setup.
Personally, if I were to go to a .25 with my SS, (even with my 18″ barrel) I would still get a Condor valve/tank, or have some kind of valve work done to get that .25 moving just a little better. (or at least a 24″ barrel) On the other hand, the stock SS tank/valve with a 18″ in .22 does pretty darn good, I’m thinking you’d get a flatter trajectory at longer ranges in .22, with about the same FPE Tony mentioned, but with .22 Kodiaks, (mid 800 fps) and mid 900’s with 14.3’s. I cronied my gun at a freinds house when I first got the 18″ barrel, and on the 10th shot, used a Kodiak. It did 834 fps for 32.66 fpe, and I have yet to tune my gun in any way, (Don’t have my own crony)
If it’s just squirrels and birds you’re talking about, a stock SS .22 with a 18″ barrel will be more than enough, and will reach out a good distance further with more punch than than the 12″, so i’m thinkin just the barrel swap may do you just fine, but of course, it’s up to you.
🙂 roger you might consider a valve along with that .25.i have one of marks valve’s and a 18.5″ .25 talon that gets 20 shot’s and averages 60fpe.i will post some 100yrd groups tommorow.
With a standard tank and no valve mod, an 18″ .25 barrel will shoot Kodiaks in the 700’s FPS….approx. 33FPE.
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I love CP’s also. Flat shooting accurate Mfers for sure.