Escape Condor Edgun
Hello,
I am asking some help for buying a new airgun. I have little experience, have a low accuracy powerful springer and would like a PCP. So I am considering an Escape, Condor, Edgun, but others may be even more appropriate
In order of importance, my priorities are:
1. Light weight. I’m getting older and only can afford to carry light weight. For that the Escape and Edgun seem better. Also when shooting it is better if the weight is not towards the bore side of the barrel. For that the Edgun seem better.
2. Powerful. Normally it is small game, but sometimes there are larger targets here in Uruguay. Hogs are making $ millions of damages eating sheeps. So the ability to occasionally kill a hog would be also important. Perhaps a .25 may do that. I have seen a video of a Condor killing a cow, so it may be possible. The Escape seems the more powerful of the lot I considered.
3. Accuracy. Power without accuracy is nothing as I have seen with my springer and power goes against accuracy. So it is a matter of balancing which is one of the most difficult things to do in life. For that I need help from someone that knows much more than what I know.
Well it seems all, but if you need more input, just ask
Best
Fran
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Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
Arguing about which is better, Cricket or Edgun is like arguing about which flavor ice cream tastes better. I like them both and I like the Edgun and Cricket that I currently own. For one the magazine system is way better on the Edgun. The trigger is better and I like the way it’s balanced. The Cricket is simple and very accurate and mine in 25 cal is pushing about 50 FPE. The Edgun is a .22 so the power comparison is not fair but the gun is almost boring accurate. The question, would I shoot a pig with my Bug (cricket .25) maybe if it’s all I had but It would not be my first choice. I have shot a lot of pigs in my lifetime and they can be hard to kill. A well placed shot from an airgun will kill anything but that fact doesn’t mean that it is the right choice. My absolute minimum for hogs would be 80 fpe and I would prefer closer to 100. This gun would kill pigs methinks: http://talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28958 Also don’t overlook the Daystate .303.
Good luck with your choice.
P.S. Uruguay is one of the nicest places on the planet. We went pigeon hunting in Rocha Uruguay, a trip of a lifetime. I hope to return to your beautiful country one day.
Talk to recent buyers of recent product runs. “Batches” or current designs change. My R3M was terrible and needed custom parts, grinding, etc., but my Cricket was scoped and has not been touched since I got it. I own both brands and they are both good; just realize any gun may need work. Whatever you buy, make sure you can get service and parts.
If you want maximum ability to adjust, a modified Condor is hard to beat, but it’ll take a lot of work or a custom builder. Dyotat modified a Condor for me that’s amazing; it’ll shoot 100 regulated JSB .25 pellets per fill or, by switching the tank/valve assembly, it’ll shoot 70 grain ring slugs. Both are accurate. The slugs will punch through the steel and braces of a car hood with no problem, plenty powerful enough for deer. It’s effective to at least 100 yds. For pigs, hogs, .25 is about the minimum. Nomadic Pirate uses .25 effectively at shorter ranges, but I’d go heavier.
Power is going to be set by pellet/slug speed and weight, so my Edgun and Cricket have the same power; they’re shooting JSB Kings around 920-930 fps.
The majority of the people that buy a Matador don’t have any issues with them. Some of the Matador owners have somewhat erratic shot strings. The problems can be easily resolved by tuning. Ed designed the Matador to be easily serviced and/or tuned by the owner.
If you happened to get one of the Matadors that needed adjusting, they are very simple to adjust IF, you have some common sense and you have more than a Crescent wrench, a hammer and a pair of pliers.
Thanks Oldgoat, but WHAT may be adjusted? And for what, for accuracy? I like to have a chance to regulate, but AFAIK only the power can be regulated and this depends on the target. For example a bigger animal needs more power. What else may be regulated?
It seems to me that most people send their Cricket to Ernest for tuning before they even shoot it.
I’m sure that the Cricket is a good shooting gun, I just don’t know how long it would shoot without having something break. There are a couple of guys on here that have got over 20,000 trouble free shots out of their Matadors.
Strange to read that. I have seen Crickets are heavier that Edguns. So it seems strange that the lighter gun can be stronger than the heavier one. But I know almost nothing, I am here to learn.
But 6-8 shots may still be important if they are more powerful. Is there any test available about these 6-8 shots?
Many thanks for the nice assistance you gave me
how bout Daystate, are they some kinda of bad too? I was thinking of a Wolverine. Wolverine is also a heavy gun, so its out, I am thinking a 357 Condor conversion, short and sweet, filled to 3200psi and a heavy hammer.
Francus.
I put my vote in for an Edgun, but then, I drink a couple of Edgun Kool Aids every day!
The majority of the people that buy a Matador don’t have any issues with them. Some of the Matador owners have somewhat erratic shot strings. The problems can be easily resolved by tuning. Ed designed the Matador to be easily serviced and/or tuned by the owner.
If you happened to get one of the Matadors that needed adjusting, they are very simple to adjust IF, you have some common sense and you have more than a Crescent wrench, a hammer and a pair of pliers.
I don’t check out the Cricket section here. I’m not interested in a Cricket. When all of the bullpups were lumped together in one topic, I saw some pics of the Cricket’s internals and I don’t think that the Crickets internals are made as robust as the Edgun’s internals are.
It seems to me that most people send their Cricket to Ernest for tuning before they even shoot it.
I’m sure that the Cricket is a good shooting gun, I just don’t know how long it would shoot without having something break. There are a couple of guys on here that have got over 20,000 trouble free shots out of their Matadors.
You can also fill any Matador up to 300 bar. Ed tests the air tube to 700 bar. The extra 100 bar higher fill will only give you 6-8 more regulated shots with the Cricket and Edgun. Both regulators are set up for 200 bar and they will both waste a lot of air until the air tube pressure drops down to 200 bar.
The down side on the Edgun is the wait.
Friends don’t let friends buy anything that has FX printed on it!
Just my $.02.
Many thanks for this information. The Cricket seems really interesting. It seem to allow for much higher pressure, up to 300 bar.
FX Bobcat in .30 would be my choice if I wanted to be able to kill a hog.
Accuracy with a decent shot count will improve enormously if the gun has a regulator; Air Force guns do not have this. My experience is the AF (Condor) and Edgun (R3M) needed modifications and tuning to be accurate, e.g. 1 cm groups at 40 meters. If you want to get a pcp which is light, powerful, accurate, get a Cricket bullpup with a wooden stock. I own all the above guns in .25 caliber. The cricket is the only one which was super accurate and problem-free, right out of the box. If you can tune an Edgun, or have Ernest tune and replace the valve stem with his stainless steel mod, the Edgun is also excellent.
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Francus,
You are not going to get one air rifle that will do it all, however bogman has pointed out one of the major pluses of the AirForce air rifles is that in just a few minutes you can transform one of them from a backyard paper popper to something that has the power to drop feral hogs with a well placed shot and the accuracy to do it.