Airhog 111fpe .25 Condor available soon
Why quit while you are ahead? According to the Febuary ’08, vol.62 Shotgun News, Airhog is working on a limited-edition .25 Condor. “It features a 28 inch. Lilja premium hand-lapped barrel that’s custom fitted to a Condor frame. Then, the valve is tweaked to make use of those extra 4 inch. of super-smooth bore.”
It further said, “In preliminary testing, this limited edition .25 has delivered 111fpe with heavy pellets, and accuracy that exceeds the standard conversion. There are more developments yet to come. . . by the time this special rifle hits the street, it will have exceeded 120fpe, which of course is well into .22 LR territory.”
Btw, Gaylord was getting .75″ group at 50 yd. shooting 31 gr. Kodiaks with the standard .25 conversion so this Ltd. edition would likely be getting 0.5″ or less with some “heavy pellets”.
Lilja is well known in the BR world but I didn’t know they make AG barrels. Wondering if it’s a modified PB barrel and who made those pellets. At 120 fpe, wouldn’t a 42 gr. EJ be flirting with the transonic zone ???
Still, this has to be good news for those that think excess is just “enough”. 😉
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In Illinois, you can’t fire a rifle except if its at an established gun range. Only shotguns are allowed. Deer hunting season — shotguns only.
Low powered. quiet, airguns have a place in this state. It allows descrete hunting/plinking. Where I go, I have 700+ yards from any farmhouse in all but one direction (400 yards in that direction). A rimfire would not be safe, but a 65 FPE .25 cal. airgun is just fine.
Mark
i agree..urban setting a quiet airgun is the best…low power…high accuracy…as i said they have their time and place….
but when someone goes for a 80-120 fpe airgun…i just dont get it…rimfire would be so much cheaper..42 grain EJ fired at that kind of power….has a really good BC(for a pellet) and requires same consideration as a rimfire..
airgun have their charm….
i like the low noise output…you can sit and talk while having fun unlike powderburners
the crappy BC of a pellet is great for shooting into trees without proper backtop when out hunting (i wouldnt recomend it in an urban setting, where it might drop on houses or residents)
without airguns i wouldnt have been able to harvest so many squirrels…too many houses and people around….
of course shooting colibri ammo out of my .22lr is just as lownoise as my 410! and it produces 14 fpe in my rifle…shame it wont cycle in the TC-r55…gotta get me a bolt action if i want to shoot that ammo
Cygnus X,
More good info. While the cost is ever present that’s not the only issue for me. Practical side in a semi urban situation gives the right airgun a real plus given it is set up to be fairly quiet. You also pointed out the range issue earlier which is a big consideration. As an example in a lot of situation you really don’t want to be throwing lead long distance if one can avoid it.
If there is something that has to be taken care of reaching for a 22 rimfire or maybe even a 12 gage etc. seems the practical approach. That said high power airguns are to be appreciated as well.
m
hehe
did some calculations…
singleshot
SS+pump=700$ new
Ammo 200 shots 5$
bolt operated savage(close to single shot)
Rimfire=200$
ammo lets go with the expensive stuff CCi greentag 6$ pr 100 shots…
cost of shooting 10.000 shots
Airgun 700+(10000/200*5)=95$
rimfire 200+(10000/100*6)=800$
at 15k shots thats 75 tins of pellets or 150 briks of ammo, quite alot !
Airgun 700+(15000/200*5)?1075
R 200+(15000/100*6)=1100
as you can see now the rimfire starts to be more expensive.. but it means you have to shoot about 40 shots a day every single day for a whole year…i shoot alot…but im no where near 75 tins in my aa410 which is the rifle i have shot the most ever….if you dont shoot the expensive cci ammo…but go for their meain stream standart velocity ammo…its like 20 bucks for a brick of 500 rounds….and it will take more than 20k rounds for the airgun to catch up to the rimmie….
if you do the math up agains a monsoon vs semi .22lr…it gets even worse !
but airguns do have their place and time….backyard plinking….shooting up in trees without a perfect backstop…etc….where the poor BC of pellets makes them a safer choise
and if you buy a say a B26 that is cheap to begin with, and doesnt requiere extra anything but ammo…then airguns will once again be cheaper to operate
Cygnus X,
Great comments, I’m sort of with you re thinking. 😉
Looking at that Lilja site. He charges 300 to 400 a barrel. Not hard to see how the price shot up that high, and thats just the “in stock” barrels, nothing custom.
.25 Barrel from LW – $100
Condor – $550
Having your own lathe – Priceless
I sold my .22 barrel for $130 (had a 1/2″ UNF thread on the end) So I basically SAVED money on my .25 Condor compared to the .22 as the Final cost was $520, even including the machine tools (lathe $399) I spent less than on it than an Airhog !!
Anyone who doesnt have a lathe can save a bundle by just ordering a .25 from one of the guys who sells them already machined such as Tony for a LOT less than Airhog charge and then just sell their 24″ .22 to a Talon/SS owner. Even a TimW .25 Conversion kit (which does come with custom tophat and breech to justify the additional expense) costs a good amount less than this….
As for accuracy, I’d get 5 shots all touching with mine at 50 yards.
I’m a bit curious about the high power claims and how its achieved. If its just the longer barrel then that is a big price jump for the barrel and its installation 😕 . Even if a little valve work is included its a hell of a price increase. I’ve always thought there was little that could be done with the Condor’s valve assembly. I guess i could see some work being done on the spring retainer for a more efficent burst of air, but without ever seeing one its all speculation. For 4″ more of barrel one would expect around 40fps or 10fps per inch. I’m not convinced that is enough power increase to merit the $$$$. I’d be interested in some real world numbers, just out of curiousity.
back when mine was .25 with old style condor tank it was pushing about 80 fpe…and would do 3 shots in .6″ pretty much cloverleaf
the lilja barrels can be ordered with micro rifling which is whats used in our airguns…so tecnically it could be a custom airgun barrel
28″ is quite long…but when your taloking that kind of power and compare to barnes and DAQ…then its about the same too…some of their rifles have 36″ of barrel….downside is that it sucks in the woods….upside is you can use the rifle as a fishing rod when the air runs out ! 😆
with a little valve mod you can get the .22 to move into the 90-100 fpe….and same with .25 …and still using a 24″ barrel…..but why would you ?
ok i sort of got the answer to my own question
high power airguns are cool if
1: a fellon and not permittet to poses firearms…
2: Resident Alien/Alien and not permittet to poses fireams
3: anyone/Resident Alien/Alien and dont wanna go through the trouble getting a FID
if none of the above why not just get a .22LR…140 fpe…price of rifle is not much…ammo is cheap…cheaper to get & operate than a high quality airgun
when i started my bigbore projects i was because i fell into the group of people not having a FID…and as an RA didnt want the hazzle…plus i find developing them facinating….my 457 is the pinaccle…capeable of doing the same job as alot of powderburners….
i think airguns really shine when hunting, and pest controlling in urban setting….the pellets shape looses power fast, they shoot lighter ammo, 20-50 fpe is much less power than 22lr….alltogether making them a safer choise….
in denmark getting a firearms requires hunting course(difficult and takes a long time, plus can be quite expensive)…and nearly 200$ to the state for the first rifle and 100$ pr rifle for rifles after that…so the initial trouble to do get it is one thing…but it quicly gets expensive with the fees to the state every year…so alot turns to airguns…as you just have to be 18 yars old….but here in the states….it doesnt make as much sense to have super high power airrifle…unless your 1 of the tree above….
So what kind of groups are guys getting with their .25 Condors with the LW barrels at that distance?
So what your really getting is a longer bbl. at apx. $100. an inch for the extra overly long bbl. Sounds a little out there to me.
But then again my lolly 18″ .22 ss will only shoot slightly under half an inch at fifty. And the 🙄 high dollar bbl. is supposed to group how well?
🙄
Mike
The Lilja barrel would account for about $400 retail. Dan Lilja makes some of the most accurate bbls used in long range competition shooting.
Agree with TEF. 1100 + bucks….WOW. I wonder what ammo they tested in that NEW gun? 28″ barrel is hella long also. Most of you guys complain about 24″. Imagine a 28″ barrel with a shroud that goes another 5 inches…HE HE.
If they don’t touch the valve at all, then a price of $1100 is outrageous, even considering the premium barrel. The extra power is purely from the extra 4″ with about 12 extra fps per inch that’s where the extra power comes from.
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Cygnus X,
I tried those lower power 22 CB caps and whatever. Had real good luck I thought,,, but was frustrated with inconsistency. Got to the point it was driving me nuts so took up the pcp.
Higher power 22 rounds no problem, fairly consistent but then the noise and range come back.