Talon ss shroud cap breaking!
Sooo, I modded my brand new talon ss .25. Added condor valve and talon tunes tophat and slap mod hammer. Ten shots later the shroud endcap has been blown so hard it wallowed out the threads.
Anyone else experience this? Is airforce going to tell me to get lost if I call them. I know the end cap was tightened properly because I just checked it before shooting. No signs of clipping on the end cap. I believe it just can’t handle the extra air flow….
Are airforce rifles normally this delicate? So far (200 pellets all stock talon ss) the finish has worn off the foregrip and pistol grip, the o ring the top hat stem seals against on the stock untouched valve has worn out ( o ring didn’t even touch top hat stem)also my tank gauge is 300 psi different from my airforce hand pump gauge, now the end cap issue.
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The pictures are big, sorry. The screw went in easily like it was suppose to. After a few shots I noticed the problem and tried to remove the set screw only to find it had been pressed into the aluminum on one side of the end cap and elongated it’s whole in the shroud.
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End cap is 1.006″ and end of Frame is 1.014″. It is able to wobble but the o ring makes an airtight seal. The set screw is .25″ long but the depth of the whole to the top of the threads is .4″.
Something was not done right. Should have no problem holding on end cap on a ss with condor valve.
My .257 only uses the one factory set screw to hold its shroud on. I usually add a second one on top but haven’t seen a need to. You are right though and need to get a longer screw and use all the threads in the frame.
I have shot my gun on 4200 psi and made right around 240 fpe with the shroud on. I also put a nice dimple for the screw to go in. Not sure if the cap is thick enough for that though.
I just noticed you said your end cap was bending down. How loose is it in the frame?
AF guns are not fragile. They work real well and make great slug guns. My .308 makes almost 340 fpe.
Tony, it literally began to bend the end cap down,wallowing the threaded portion of the frame. I noticed the supplied set screw did not take advantage of all the thread available In the frame. I will buy a longer set screw and see how well that holds.No tank dumps.
I’m a reliability tech for Michelin, basically a electrician, mechanic, and programmer rolled into one job. I fix machines every day so not new to this sort of stuff. I have eyeballed airforce guns for a few years now and finally bought one. Very pleased with accuracy and power. But man I feel like I’m holding glass.
They seem to do that with the additonal power we modders chase, others have had the same trouble with the Condor SS. I had that happen with my Talon SS stretched that Doug made for me using a 17 inch barrel and Doug’s valve that uses the original AF valve body and a larger stem.
I was getting around 825 FPS or so at the time with 70 grain 257420’s sized down to .255 and 3200 to 3400 PSI fills, so that tells you something about the power that was hitting that endcap and its single set screw.
I fixed mine and I read others have done the same, by drilling out the damaged hole to accept a 1/4-28 set screw and then drilling a second hole in the tube for the same 1-4-28 set screw. It gives you more bearing surface and the 1/4-28 instead of the 1/4-20 gives you a little more thread surface, altho it might not matter which screw thread pitch you use.
After I did that I had no further problem with the cap.
On the Condor SS, I feel that a better fix would be to thread the barrel, then make a one piece Subsonnic type insert/endcap that uses a spanner wrench to tighten it down. If done properly it would avoid the fatigue on the end cap set screws and avoid clipping as it is lined up with the bore when made.
Hope this helps.
it damaged the threads that hold the end cap in?
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I had the same problem with my condor ss. The end cap was a sloppy fit and it would start to come out on the opposite side of the set screw after just a couple shots every time i adjusted it back in the frame. All of my SS AF guns have sloppy end caps but i guess the talons do not push enough air to push the non set screwed side out of the frame. I fixed mine by installing another set screw on the other side.