pics of current configuration of Talondor with MD stock…

…I have not yet touched up the over spray on the stock, but if I decide to keep it this way (which I doubt as I am always changing paint on everything I have 😕 ) I will clean up the lines where the black meets the tan…

Anyway, I purchased a .25 18″ barrel for a good price from a gent here in North Florida. I came home from work last night to find the box waiting on my dining room table. Since I don’t have T.V. at my house (only netflix), and since I couldn’t watch my Giants play on Monday night football (probably for the better as the Refs would have had my blood pressure boiling {lots of bad calls}), I decided to listen to the game on AM radio (less stressful) while putting my (new to me) 18″ barrel in.

Things went very smooth in the beginning until I discovered I had a problem getting the breech to ride over the leade in and cock the gun. Now I am no “newb” when it comes to these “lego” rifles so the first thing I thought of was something was binding the spring, perhaps a screw, perhaps something got inside in the midst of my worry as to how the Giants D (or any defense for that matter) can contain the likes of RG3 and win a football game…man that kid has some talent, but I digress sorry. Sooooo, I take the barrel out to find nothing interfering with the spring and hammer so my next thought is perhaps a bent barrel (sorry Roger {the gent I bought it from} nothing personal, just trying to sort it out. I check the barrel and it is perfect. I then move on to the barrel bands (as no two are alike (are you reading this Air force Quality control manager???), reaching into my “box O’ many bands” I put two new ones on. I reassemble the rifle and STILL, the same problem 😡 . By this time the giants are down by 7 and I’m up way past my normal bed time of 10:30 so I am getting tired, frustrated, and angry. But since I have a date with a complete garage over hall in the morning (my day off), thereby reducing my “honey do” list from 103 things to 102, I must get this sorted out before hitting the sack. Now I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I recall many years ago, a “red neck” mechanic here in Florida told me that when working on anything it is imperative to be smarter than what your working on (paraphrased of course). I can’t tell you how many time since I was outsmarted by inanimate objects and machinery, but still, I call upon his Solomonic words as I breath in deep, then exhale. I take a few moments and deduce that I need to have the barrel out of the frame so I can compare it to my other barrels and figure this thing out so I can get some must needed shut eye. By now the Giants already fell 17-16 opening the door further in the NFC east for a number of rivals to walk through, especially considering the soft remaining schedule of our rivals…but again, I digress (sorry, especially for those of you who don’t like football).

BINGO, the barrel leade in is fine. The culprit: (drum roll please) the breach! The breech I was using has been on my .25 condor for 2.5 years getting slammed by a 90 gram hammer so as can be expected, it was starting to break down. I reach into my “bag O’ breeches” and put on another and Eureka…problem solved.

Enter Problem number two: barrel shroud. I have a shroud from R&L that was on my .25 24″ barrel. I purchased a barrel band/shroud stud in the event that I ever wanted to use this shroud for a 12″ barrel but wouldn’t you know it, the band/shroud stud has an i.d. for a .22 barrel not a .25. So ooooooooo I reach into my “box O’ barrels” and put on a 12″ .22 barrel (acquired from Rob in NC) for the time being and there is good reason for it. A year ago I made a large .22 pellet purchase and it included five tins of EJ’s and now I have reason to try them out! Ultimately this will be an 18″ .25 but for now I am off to see if these “North Carolina” barrels can shoot, lol.

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