Newbie 1st Post..where to start?
Greetings,
I’m a 61 yr old life long PB hunter, shooter, reloader, tinkerer who recently fell into the Darkside. I bought my 1st PCP in July and I’ve had a world of fun shooting and working on it, but I need/want more power. I’ve decided a .25 Condor or Condor SS is my next rifle. Here’s what I want to do:
1) I want to end up shooting slugs for long range shooting and maximum hunting power. I live in TX and have access to plenty of hogs etc.
2) I want quiet, accurate, and powerful in that order.
3) I want to get my hands “dirty”, I need to know my hardware inside and out! If I just called Tony and stroked him a check would take a lot of the fun out of it IMHO.
4) I’d like to be able to swap barrels . 20 and .25 as easily as possible.
Now having told y’all that, I hope someone will offer an opinion/suggestion on how to go about achieving it. I’m leaning more towards the Condor for reasons 1). What are the 1st few things to do to a new Condor to get me where I want to be?
I already have SCBA gear and will probably purchase a Shoebox for Christmas. I’d like to have a Condor for spring turkey!
TIA, Will
All Replies
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
knifemaker,
I would really like to have a .177/.25 combo since i have a lot of 177 laying around the house but I don’t quite understand what I need to accomplish this. I think I read I needed two complete rifles?? Or is it just another tank and valve?
It’s odd about hogs in Central TX. I hunted my best friend’s ranch in Eastern Burnet county for thirty some years. We had great deer, turkey, dove, and varmint hunting but never any hogs. We could see the light at Ft Hood from the ranch, I often passed hogs along 290 on the way to the ranch, and the ranch manager complained about all the hogs on his place in Lometa in Lampasas county. At the time we thought it was a blessing and I suppose it was after seeing the damage hogs are capable of on other friends ranches. I feel like I missed out on some good hunting then, but I’m trying to make up for it now 😈
Thanks, Will
I went the .20 route first. PA sent the wrong bbl. in the gun. 👿 I ordered .22 first. Why .22 over .25, because there were no .25’s back then. 😆
the .20 has some very nice advantages in a springer. In a PCP, it has nothing but disadvantages. It’s an answer to a question, or problem that does not exist in a PCP. So just put it on the shelf of “Also Rans” and forget about it. 😆
I shoot a “LOT of .25 and .257. And although I live in Central Tx, For what ever reason, Not many pigs right here. And if there were, Fort Hood has all the ranchers so damed afraid of guns, that you would be damed lucky to be able to hunt. And probably have to pay a huge fee if you did. 👿
R&L Airguns is working on a drop in .257 project, and it is well under way.
For Info on the .257 and results on target, check out the .257 section in “Other Guns”.
The writtings of Roach Creek, Tufastfou, and more recently, a few small contibutions by yours truly.
Our own Dyotat100 here builds custom .257’s, and does a damed fine job. But he is swamped with work.
We also answer pm questions.
KnifeMaker
I’m a 61 yr old life long PB hunter, shooter, reloader, tinkerer who recently fell into the Darkside. I bought my 1st PCP in July and I’ve had a world of fun shooting and working on it, but I need/want more power. I’ve decided a .25 Condor or Condor SS is my next rifle. Here’s what I want to do:
1) I want to end up shooting slugs for long range shooting and maximum hunting power. I live in TX and have access to plenty of hogs etc.
2) I want quiet, accurate, and powerful in that order.
3) I want to get my hands “dirty”, I need to know my hardware inside and out! If I just called Tony and stroked him a check would take a lot of the fun out of it IMHO.
4) I’d like to be able to swap barrels . 20 and .25 as easily as possible.
Now having told y’all that, I hope someone will offer an opinion/suggestion on how to go about achieving it. I’m leaning more towards the Condor for reasons 1). What are the 1st few things to do to a new Condor to get me where I want to be?
I already have SCBA gear and will probably purchase a Shoebox for Christmas. I’d like to have a Condor for spring turkey!
TIA, Will
1. You need to remove the choke on the barrel to shot slugs well. And as I understand it .25 calibre is not the best choice. .257 works well. See Roach Creeks posts about it. Very informative.
2. Quiet- You can make it as quiet as you want, just depends on how big a tube up front you want. Accurate- It can be extremely accurate as long as the rifle and all it’s components are in tune and of good quality. Again, see Roach Creeks results with his .257. Powerful- yes,yes it will be 😆 Contact Doug or Tony for an appropriate valve.
3. Buy all the components you need and put it together yourself. The rifle is very modular and extremely basic in design making it very easy to work on.
4. Swapping barrels out is quick and easy but you need to match the powerplants as well. You won’t be able to use your slug barrel and a pellet barrel using the same valve. Easiest solution to that is to have two valve/tanks. I’d avoid .20 as pellet choice is limited.
Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in, but here goes. Something about the .20 caliber ammo produces lower velocity for .20 than .177 for comparable mass. It has to do with cross section and physics and I don’t understand. Tuning a hot rod, this might add extra aggravation. Other than that, my aversion is mostly pellet selection. Not a lot to choose from in .20.
John
Thanks for your reply John and please post about your new rifle when it arrives.
If you can explain what you said about the .20 cal I need to know. I knew it would be more difficult to swap .177 and .25 but I’d thought .20 was doable?
If you don’t mind me knowing would you PM me about what the new rifle is going to run so i can start desensitizing the little woman.
Thanks, Will
Welcome!
I have an identical priority list as yours, for pretty much the same reasons. I’ve ordered an aggressively modified Condor SS from Talon Tunes. My reasoning is that it’s the cheapest route to get close to where I want the gun to shoot. I’m expecting the gun will arrive any day, so I’m relating what I’ve learned from a hell of a lot of research, and may be totally misguided. So anyway …
1) Slugs require everything you can squeeze out of a Condor, and you’d better be a good shot. Getting past 100 yds with significant energy requires major mods. Custom barrel, custom valve, high tank pressure.
2) Like I said.
3) If you end up with a gun that can hock ~70gr slugs at hogs and stiill shoot commercial .20 pellets, you’ll get your fill of tinkering.
4) You’ll need a complete power plant and barrel (at a minimum) which will give you two guns that share a single frame. You are aware that .20 Cal has weird physics problems that cut into power. .22 may make more sense for a convertible gun.
John
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My reasoning/wanting a swap barrel in either 177/20 and 25 is since I don’t live on the ranch is to practicve/compete locally with the smaller caliber in FT, benchrest, and maybe silhouette and to put the trigger time gained at the range to use on the ranch with the larger caliber. I only mention the 20 because I thought I had read it was more difficult to swap between 177 and 25 and that I was also told that the 20 is making inroads in competitions formerly owned by 177. Does clarify things?
Ideally I would like to have a rifle in both calibers and probably would have pursued that route before my disability and now lower income! Call me frugal, call me impatient, or I may have to find some extra $ and get both! The wife won’t catch on unless I get them both out at the same time!!
-Will-