Matador R3s Busting pest birds
I havent had a lot of time for posting in he last few weeks but have been doing loads of pesting in the last few weeks.
I have also added an early Matador R3 gen 1 steel breech .25cal long to my arsenal and I have tuned it to 910fps for 90 shots on the reg.
It is VERY accurate and I have been favouring it over my .22 std R3 for the longer shots and windy days.
I fitted it with a Tac Vector Optics 6-25x 50 scope, a brand which I have really taken to of late as the glass and mechanics are hard to fault.
Within a week of owning it I have shot through 5 tins of Kings and found that with a 12X scope setting its holdovers almost match my .22 R3 with the Falcon 4.5-18×56 set on 18x. It made it very quick to get accustomed to the .25 balistics and has had me pushing the .25 out much further than the .22cal.
A couple of nights ago I got the chance to smash my longest kill with a PCP (.22 R3 204 yards on a hare) and landed a kill shot at 242yards!
I had been shooting it at 230 yards on a gong and was quite surprised in the frequency I could land a shot at that range within 5 inches.
The same evening I saw 3 hares just past my gong ranged at 242 yards. Shooting off my outdoor table off a bipod I dropped this one with a heart lung shot.. a whopping 9ftlbs of retained energy still passed right through at that range.
I have also been visiting the stock feed lots, shooting from my car has been very successful on the gran thieves.
The same farm has a very large pigeon problem that is next on the list.
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Sure did..
… and I must say 4 days from him to me is the fastest I have ever received an EDgun product. :8:
Good shooting. Did you get that from Brian? It looks familiar.
Excellent! Great shooting.
Regards,
DT
Regarding your Rabbit shot…was it the first shot out or did you have to dial him in before the anchor shot? That shot was probably like the St Louis arch!
Cheers and Merry Christmas mate.
DT
It depends which gun your are filling with it, for my most air hungry .25cal R3 I fill it to 245bar when I leave home and have 310 bar in the buddy bottle.
If I shoot 90 shots down to 110 bar the buddy bottle will fill it back to 245bar once so thats another 90 shots on the reg, the next fill from 110bar gets me about 180bar into the gun and the following about 140bar so that equals a lot of shots in the field.
Leshiy would get loads of 220bar fills from it.
The hare was just out beyond my 230 yard gong so I held over a little more and connected on my 4th shot once I got the windage right.
I heard the pop of a gut shot sound and it ran about 10 yards then rolled over and died.
Nice set up Wingman. That’s a perfect bottle for packing around in the boonies. How many shots/fills does it give you?
Regarding your Rabbit shot…was it the first shot out or did you have to dial him in before the anchor shot? That shot was probably like the St Louis arch!
Cheers and Merry Christmas mate.
DT
My little 500cc backpack buddy bottle is rated at 4500psi (310Bar).
I got it off Aliexpress for 89usd and about 30usd for the Din valve. The fill adaptor and whip line is one of Eds.
There is more info and links to the Ali Express products in my compressor review here:
http://www.talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=35895
Having now two of these first batch guns was like two twin sisters reuniting after being seperated at birth.. they complemet each other so well and its been hard to put them down. They are a perfect team 😉
Happy for you man! :8:
(And should one of them feel sick some time (I really do hope this never happens) then they’ve found the best doctor to take care of them :biggrinn: )
The very first batch of R3s had the steel breech. My new .25cal was from the same first batch as my .22 matador and the serial numbers are very close.
The steel breech used a sliding sled type cocking block sepperate from the bolt itself and has a lot less friction than the newer round cocking pin attached to the bolt design, combined with a shorter smoother stroke it to me is far superior.
The breech O rings were also on the probe not in the forward breech so are much easier to change out on the fly in the field and the dont have the tendancy to get blowen out or come out when cleaning like the newer R3Ms.
The trigger was also changed on the next batch to the simpler single adjustor screw.. these double screw gen 1’s have a very slick and alot more tunable trigger.
There were some small changes made to the reg valve and plenum too. All stuff I have tuned and improved on to rid the .25 of its nasty loud ping.
IMO the Matador lost part of its soul with all the changes at the next batch. I was very happy when Keyser found me this second hand one that has had very little use and he got it to me inside a week! Cant say enough about his great service and comunication, quite a contrast to nearly a years wait to get my first .22 R3 from Estonia.
Having now two of these first batch guns was like two twin sisters reuniting after being seperated at birth.. they complemet each other so well and its been hard to put them down. They are a perfect team 😉
Wing, where did you buy the Carbon bottle and what is the max pressure for it?
Congrats Wingmaster for your “new” Matador :8:
SS steel breech :8: the last of a kind! (But were the R3 still steel made, wasn’t the 2.5 the last steel batch?)
I think to have read somewhere that for that kind of game 3-4 ft/lbs of retained energy still gets the job done….
Great shooting!
(IMHO Single shot is for “concentration” jobs, multi-shot or semi-auto is for having fun…., I like both but prefer “concentration”…)
Thanks guys, Yes Ive been having a ball with the new .25cal. Big thanks to Keyser for making it happen 😉
221 meters (242 Yards) is a quit long distance for such a jack rabbit and PCPs, very good shoot, i enjoyed your post in deed, i usually enjoy the hunting rather than target practising, please at least post your pics of your hunting trips.
Phil, do you still refer the R3 SS over the R3M ??
I have a new camera and cam scope mount on its way too so hope to put some of this action into a vid for you.
I have always preferred the the single shots over the R3M, if fact I own a brand new R3M breech and have never fired a shot though it. ( probably never will).
I have used R3Ms and and really dont like them. For anyone who has had the pleasure of shooting the older gen 1 steel breech single shots they will know what Im talking about, it has a much smoother and shorter bolt stroke and it runs rings around the newer alloy breeches.
The shooting I do at the cattle feed lot is very fast paced, as fast as I can load and pull the trigger the birds just keep coming.
Having to stop and load mags would do my head in.
Damn! and 90 shots on the reg too!
Brother Phil,
221 meters (242 Yards) is a quit long distance for such a jack rabbit and PCPs, very good shoot, i enjoyed your post in deed, i usually enjoy the hunting rather than target practicing, please at least post your pics of your hunting trips.
Phil, do you still refer the R3 SS over the R3M ??
That’s a lot of Mynah Birds Sir.
I can’t stand them when the clan gets verbally mad at u for takein a gang member out ….. .. LOL
……. .. . and that’s a lots of nice shooting by the way.
~ Greg
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Enjoy, I owned it for 3 years:-)