Baracuda/Kodiak .22 settings?
Before shipping my .22 stock Condor to Tony for some work, I want to get a couple months of small game hunting using 21.14 gr. Baracudas.
Understanding all guns tweak a bit differently, does anyone got a sweet combo of tank psi, pw setting for tight groups? Haven’t got a chrony yet and would be using any suggestions as starting points. If it’s any guide, the top hat’s about .0975, using feeler gauges.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanx!
All Replies
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
I appreciate all the tips and insight. Before all the experimenting, barrel was clean (patches and modified weedeater mono) and very lightly lubed as the travel areas were looking a bit too dry and manually holding/moving the hammer back smacked of friction.
The Tony shroud is a fine piece of work. Makes the gun long, but I’m tall enough and it reminds me of a cross between a sniper rifle and a Tenn. (powder) “squirrel rifle”. It works great! just the sound of hammer spring and pellet strike. Fits the rifle’s design; looks like it belongs on the gun and it’s light. Thanks Tony! 😀
Better yet, all the hints at reducing power were right on. With the shroud, at pw4-4, it wasn’t going sonic, nice and quiet-BUT, a slight increase to 5 and it was crackin’, so I’ve been shooting close to sonic. Dialed it down to 3 and things are tightening up. I’ll try the suggestion of zeroing the pw/preload and taking the tophat down if zero pw isn’t enough. Got to get a chrony and a slab of steel (hadn’t thought of that-thanks)!
I have a tin of JSB Monsters, the 25.39gr. If anyone has info as to which pellet tends to group better Kodiak/’cudas vs. Jumbo Monsters, I’d love to know. If the monsters can group as tightly, I’ll head in that direction with the ‘power train’. Seems the kodiaks have more followers. To me, greater knockdown and energy are great as long as accuracy is good, e.g. 1/2-3/4″ @ 50 yds. and the shot count is five or better.
Man, I hate these short days-not enough time after work for more than moment of shootin’.
As mentioned, I opt’ for a dry moly lube in the frame and around trigger parts…
Silicone grease on the O-Rings in the breech slide, not the outside… Would not be a bad idea if you have not cleaned your barrel good either. First thing that should be done when you get a new rifle is clean the barrel…
I would not use anything metal inside the barrel either… Just use plastic coated and patches with a good solvent followed by dry patches till they come out clean. Then one damp with gun oil and chased by dry patch.
My Condor gets to shooting off and its had more than 500 rounds through it, I clean the barrel. Then lube the frame up. good to go…
Hi Rowdy,
Can you tell me how to lube the slide and hammer? I’ve been using some 100% pure silicone by the cocking bolt but not sure if I am doing it right.
i dont like silicone actually in the frame, i only use it on valve parts and the breech area of the barrel. for the frame, first pull the frame internals(endcap/shroud, barrel, powerwheel, spring and hammer) cleanliness is more important than any lube, so id use methanol and a rag on a stick to thououghly clean the frame. as for lube, its a matter of preference, but youd do best to use a dry lube as the internals are very open and prone to gathering debris. 2 really good ones are a cerflon based dry lube, or a moly based dry spray like dri-slide. if you are feeling saucy, you could try burnishing white lightning or krytech into the frame as this will take up a tiny bit of slop, but if you go that route make damn sure its well rubbed in as too much will just contribute to the problem.
Hi Rowdy,
Can you tell me how to lube the slide and hammer? I’ve been using some 100% pure silicone by the cocking bolt but not sure if I am doing it right.
The Kodiacs group well enough from every barrel I have ran them on… Good solid pellet to choose.
I want to know now that you have a Tony Shroud on, is she still loud??? That will tell us that you are breaking the sound barrier if its loud… You breaking the sound barrier, I would do as Stick pointed out and get you a tin of the JSB-Monsters…
The JSB- Monsters are wonderful pellets also. I personally like my Tophat pulled down close as possible and still get the power setting I am after…
A guy really does need and chrony when you buy one of these rifles… Then you dang sure set a piece of 1/4″ steel in front of the display while you shoot also, I have winged more than my share trying to shoot in less than perfect weather… You find yourself shooting as close to the top of the traps as possible… Bad juju that is LOL… Any pellet from a Condor will just destroy the chrony LOL…
I do understand and completely agree with you on the cats, ferrel or otherwise getting the quail… The JSB-Monsters and the EJ’s will be something to try if you are getting the sonic crack with the Kodiacs…
I had my tophat set way tight at .50when I was shooting mine as a .22 and I usually don’t mess with my power wheel and leave it at zero… I seem to get plenty of shots as well like that…
You shooting a 24″ barrel? You really get the power from that long of a barrel LOL… Don’t even waste your money on the pointed nose EJ’s… Stay with the standard round nose on them. I don’t like the fact that the EJ’s have such hard alloy, but they have always shot well for me… That is where this newer much more heavy JSB is a great option when you need more weight…
One other thing to make sure of, that you have the breech slide and hammer lubed up well… You get the hammer dragging in the frame or the breech not sliding on the necked down part of the barrel, your rifle doesn’t shoot the way it should from one to the next shot, groups reflect it also… So make sure of that!!!
Then something that is a pet peev of mine is the trigger on these rifles, you really have to work at getting use to the trigger if possible, on these rifles… I don’t shoot well if I don’t have a over travel stop set really well on any rifle… You get the trigger lubed up good and honed well, with a distinct over travel stop, and your miles ahead to start with…
Lots to swallow here with a new rifle and just right from the get go… Then there are so many of us gearheads out here that have these AF rifles that can and do all sorts of stuff with them and make it even harder for the new guy with the new Bird LOL… Good luck getting her dialed in better…
IMO…which ain’t much the stock condor is a .25 peroid…I don’t see how you are going to get it tamed unless you are throwing .22 JSB monsters or above…I’m only speaking on behalf of my .25 which at a 2700 fill …TH .069…powerwheel near zero….25gr Kings at 975ish …thats how much i had to back it off to make her work, and that system has stopped anything it touches….right there…
Thanx Stickbow; what psi are you thinking?. Moneyshot, I’m guessing the valve is opening quite a bit: at pw 6-8 @ 3k, it’s crazy loud and the groups irregular. They seem to settle down after 10 shots, but still not great. Just put a Tony shroud on, so that’ll let me know ballpark sonic speed when I can fling some lead.
So far, the best groups are pw4-4 @ 2800 psi, reasonable groups at 30 yds. for about 10 shots; then it drifts (if that helps). I’ll be hoping to extend the accurate range to 50 yds. max; this place is brush-city.
I forgot to mention earlier that it’s a high flo valve.
Not knocking the Condor at all, since I’m new to it and trying to figure it out, but I’m hoping to get closer to what my AAS510 Extra FAC is doing: ten-shot half inch groups, twice, at 30 yds. Pellets are lighter, it can’t push ‘cudas. For it, I’m using JSB 15.9gr match diabolo. I’m trying to set up the Condor to push a heavier pellet to deal with, say certain “cat sized” ferals that are wiping out the quail here, plus thinning out the groundhogs. Maybe the ‘cudas/kodiaks can’t group so tight? Fewer shots, say 6-10, at the “bell” peak are fine.
how well does the valve open on a 3k fill?
Drop that Tophat back a bit, probably about to .075….then play with the P/W and see where your at…
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
With the power you have and all, I bet your JSB Monsters will group as good as the Kodiacs or anything else… You will need a chrony to dial things in for each different pellet to get the best form any of them…
The single best thing I like about the JSB’s over even the Kodiacs, has to be how nice and soft the alloy is and on impact they dump all the energy they bring to the POI… You also have to know with the alloy nice and soft, it gets the full profile of the riflings also…