Finally got to the range to try out my condor airarcher…
…, my new .457 Jack Haley, and my AAA .25 that has been sitting in the safe collecting dust 😥
The day started out very nice with hardly any wind. By the end of the day—when I reached the archery range—the wind started picking up to around 10mph gusts.
Cedric (Tofazfou) was kind enough to make me 50 318.5 gr RCBS FP’s for my .457 and 50 309.5 gr lyman HP’s. All sized and free of charge! Thanks again Cedric, you are a true brother in Lead!
I started at 50 yards with my AAA Talon Tunes .25 and I shot a 5 shot group with the “girlie lightweight” (as Jerry would say) JSB kings. They grouped well at a .657 ctc and that was only because I forgot to dump the first shot in the dirt as it is sometimes a little slow on a 3000 psi SP. The next four in the group were within 1/2″. (see pic below)
Next I filled my Jack Haley to 3300 psi 😡 (This is all I had in my tank) Jack recommends 3600, but I made due with what I had. I refilled after each shot since I was already starting 300 psi below recommendation. I shot a 3 shot group slightly over 1.5″ with the 318.5 FP’s. (keep in mind that this was my first time shooting this rifle) It has some kick to it. It sounds like a powderburner, not an air rifle) I think it surely requires the perfect hold and I will eventually master it…) (see pic below)
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I then went back to the .25 condor to shoot some surefire 7 rings at 50 yards. I managed a decent 1.5″ four shot group (I am convinced that these heavy slugs will benefit from a little more speed) Soon enough I will be seeking to obtain a bottle/valve specifically for these slugs. I am hoping for something that will get them up in the 900’s. (see pic below)
It was time to move on to 100 yards. I started with the Surfire 7 rings Not a bad group at 2.5″ ctc and it would have ended badly for any small to midsized game. (see pic below) They dropped around 7″ to 9″ lower than the kings poi at 100 yards.
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Kings were next up at 100. They grouped a tad under 2″ so Jerry’s Surfires held their own for sure! (I have to admit, I am quite impressed with anyone getting MOA or Sub MOA with their .25 Condors, bravo…cause I can’t seem to do it 😡
Time to put some big holes in that paper. I didn’t want to use up all my air before I set out for the archery range with my Tagdagger special, so I took two shots just to get me used to how I wanted to hold for my group.
I decided on Cedric’s hollowpoints because…well, because that’s all I had left. I have to tell you, I am very impressed with these slugs he made. I am also very impressed with Jack’s workmanship. This thing is a beast! I have much more testing to do with it…, if I could only wake up to find 32 hours in a day, and 9 days in a week.
Here is a pic of this very impressive 5 shot group that measured 1.996 ctc. The dust cloud that was stirred up by these slugs hitting the burm was impressive. I filled to 3200 psi for each shot (what a pain in the ass…next time I will have a buddy bottle for sure!) (see pic below)
Time to move on to the archery range. As expected, at 50 yards the target swallowed up my arrow (I apologize to the archer who ruins an arrow when it hits my lost arrow). I took a few more shots at 60 yards and I still sunk the arrows deep enough to cause me to curse (which I hardly ever do) while trying to pry them out. Enough messing around, I know this thing has some power so I mandhandled a huge, water logged, block of foam to the furthest distance available, (80 yards). See pic below. The black durango in the background is where I was shooting from. I took the photo from the spot of the target.
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Shot 7 through 12 are the following 80 yard group. Shot 12 dropped a little low as the tank was loosing pressure. So it seems so far that mine is good for 11 good shots on a 3000 psi fill. This is my first time shooting my TD conversion at distance. I am sure I can get better groups in the future. Not too shabby, however. (see pics below)
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It was time to head for the homestead. Over all it was a fun day with no one getting hurt, especially me 😆 Thanks again Cedric, thanks again Subsonic for the bolts, and thanks Jack for the bang stick, and thanks TD for the airarcher(sorry, forgot to take pics of the rifle) kit and I’ve thanked Tony already for his AAA..but thanks again, Tony!:wink:
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All Replies
The color fooled me, my 2413’s are camo. I want to get a dozen x cutters, but they seem hard to find. I thought I had located some at Sportsmans warehouse, but they had sold out.
Roachcreek
I am running easton’s. I had the local archery shot cut a 12 pack in half. I had 24, but I managed to sink a few too deep 😆
Joe,
If those are Goldtips, they are carbon, the only aluminum ones are the 2413’s, and they do look like the goldtips that Tagdagger supplies with the kit..
Eddy the arrow must be able to slip over the .380 barrel, there are only two shafts that are that large, the 2413 Easton and the Goldtop xcutter, which is a target arrow, the Goldtip is a carbon like I said.
The points are 125 grn.
Roachcreek.
Eddie, I’ll have to double check, but I believe the shafts are 100 gr (they are aluminum, not carbon) and the heads are 100 gr…so 200 gr. Not sure how fast, but I’d put em at at least 400 fps. At 80 yards they still sunk 6 to 7 inches into that dense foam. It was not easy to pull them back out. I will crony them when I get a chance. I need to crony them as well as my .457. With the four times crossbow scope I was using (truglo) my poa was the bull on the top left. I held over to the third line down. That reticle has four lines all together. I could not see the POI I could only hear them hitting the target. This was my first time out with it. I plan on getting it zeroed at 25, then figuring out the hold over for longer ranges. One thing is certain: This arrow conversion is loads of fun! I recommend it to all!
I have shot Archery Joe all my life those 80 yard targets are awesome to say the least 80 yards for anything throwing and arrow yours are tops! that is an excellent group and I would say good shot count for a 3000 fill! Do you know what the weight of your arrows are? Just wondered how you came up with what arrows to use? I am guessing the length has to be where they are to fit right in the frame! they make all kinds of different weight of arrows Carbon arrows are good and that looks like what you are shooting! Give me some specs on what you are using in your Air Archer I might can be some help on speeds, how fast are they shooting now have you chrony’ed any arrows 😆
Those big bores loose about 500+ psi per shot and operate BEST at peak designed pressures. It makes all the difference…..Believe me. And yes, they GULP a ton of air and that is just the nature of the beast. But boy are the fun and loud….lol.
Very good post and great shooting 80. We will talk soon.
Thanks “C”. I still have plenty of bullets. I “ran out” of what I took with me to the range. I think I only shot 10 in all out of the 100 that day. Yeah, it sure is loud! Can’t wait to get the right amount of air in it!
WOW. Very good accuracy from all of the above. I would really like to see those groups again with the Haley filled to a FULL 3600-3800 psi. Looks like i am gonna have to make you more bullets.
Those big bores loose about 500+ psi per shot and operate BEST at peak designed pressures. It makes all the difference…..Believe me. And yes, they GULP a ton of air and that is just the nature of the beast. But boy are the fun and loud….lol.
Very good post and great shooting 80. We will talk soon.
Looks like you are doing fine as is… 😎 😎
Hard to imagine “blow back” with enough force to recock the gun 😯 Didn’t you remove the power adjuster and opt for fixed washers instead? Just wondering if more preload would at least prevent it from recocking. Also, I wonder if the addition of the heavier subsonic bolt on the breech would help add some needed weight to counter that problem. Worse case scenario I could always rig up some kind of locking cable to place around sub’s bolt to a fixed position somewhere in close proximity.
In addition to wrecking your frame…where you able to hit the broad side of a barn??? I would imagine that blowback would be detrimental to accuracy.
Doesn’t the Edge frame feature a locking bolt position???? Just curious.
The preload and mainspring force was immense. Required a lot of force to cock it.And yes, it re cocked the fucker AND mushed the frame up 😯 😯 😯 😆
Most the power from the air release was lost in the blowback cycle, so high power was not achieved.
Hell Joe, order up a Bigbore from Sean. He supplies them with the breech as well. See how you get on, though don’t hold your breath mate. Just too much air trying to enter too small a hole. And that air HAS to go somewhere….
I am in no positon to change my .25 platform beyond some “minor” valve work. Otherwise, I will leave things as they are. The surefires are still accurate enough for hunting and you can put some good energy on target at 50 yards with enough accuracy to get the job done. I was just hoping to get them up to par for some longer range shooting.
nice 80!
Hard to imagine “blow back” with enough force to recock the gun 😯 Didn’t you remove the power adjuster and opt for fixed washers instead? Just wondering if more preload would at least prevent it from recocking. Also, I wonder if the addition of the heavier subsonic bolt on the breech would help add some needed weight to counter that problem. Worse case scenario I could always rig up some kind of locking cable to place around sub’s bolt to a fixed position somewhere in close proximity.
In addition to wrecking your frame…where you able to hit the broad side of a barn??? I would imagine that blowback would be detrimental to accuracy.
Doesn’t the Edge frame feature a locking bolt position???? Just curious.
The preload and mainspring force was immense. Required a lot of force to cock it.And yes, it re cocked the fucker AND mushed the frame up 😯 😯 😯 😆
Most the power from the air release was lost in the blowback cycle, so high power was not achieved.
Hell Joe, order up a Bigbore from Sean. He supplies them with the breech as well. See how you get on, though don’t hold your breath mate. Just too much air trying to enter too small a hole. And that air HAS to go somewhere….
Hard to imagine “blow back” with enough force to recock the gun 😯 Didn’t you remove the power adjuster and opt for fixed washers instead? Just wondering if more preload would at least prevent it from recocking. Also, I wonder if the addition of the heavier subsonic bolt on the breech would help add some needed weight to counter that problem. Worse case scenario I could always rig up some kind of locking cable to place around sub’s bolt to a fixed position somewhere in close proximity.
In addition to wrecking your frame…where you able to hit the broad side of a barn??? I would imagine that blowback would be detrimental to accuracy.
Doesn’t the Edge frame feature a locking bolt position???? Just curious.
Lang makes a valve that works well for high power, more powerful than a blod/condor valve.
Do you think that there is adjustment enough in one of these bigger valves to get to 1000 fps with the 70 grain slugs, is that what the 9 ring weights.
Maybe a stronger spring on the return side of the valve.
a way to lock down the brech bolt?
What was it doing as far as the back pressure, opening the breech, dumping the tank.?
Was a blodnob valve scaled up for 9mm guns and upwards. I tried it on my .25 for some silly power….. Had it set as low as possible. Already had a very strong valve return spring, but too strong is kinda counter productive if you know what I mean..
Yeah, me and Jerry talked about some means of locking the breech to stop it firing back but it would of required major surgery.
The force of the valve closing again was slamming the breech back into the frame, easily recocking it( it had a mega strong main spring as well 😯 ) and almost ripped the side of the frame away (remember I have a side cocker frame so that part is weaker than a full frame)
The ID of the stem was about 8.5mm iirc and this trying to vent into a 6.35mm bore was too much.
Tried everything I could think of, but it just wasn’t happening. Constant blowback of the breech. Blod even made a new, tighter tophat and we adjusted the breech to try and channel the air down from the 8.5mm id stem to the 6.35mm breech but still didn’t work.
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Good job Joe. I’d call that a succesful day. Everything worked how it was supposed to, nothing went home broken and no one got hurt. You can’t complain about that.