Any regrets on buying Condor instead of Talon?
I have been lurking here for the past couple of months while trying to decide on my next air rifle. I currently have a .17 caliber RWS Diana that has lost its umph, and I never shot it well anyway. I need a rifle for general pest duty under 50 yards (Squirrels, rabbits, starlings, possums, skunks, and raccoons). As of now, I am considering either a Condor or Talon SS in .22. I am not worried about having to fill the condor more often than the talon as I am not going to be using this for extended shooting sessions, and I am going to buy a SCUBA tank. My concerns are the following:
1) How quiet can I make the Condor compared to the Talon SS? I have all the tools I need including a lathe to make a LDC.
2) Is the Condor overkill for the game that I am dispatching? I worry about pass through on red squirrels and birds.
3) Are the Talons more accurate than the Condors due to barrel length? It seems to me that the pellet will be in the 24″ barrel for a loooooong time vs. a 12″ barrel on the Talon.
4) How much adjustment will the power wheel give me on the Condor? Can I get down to 700 FPS or so?
5) How long is the Condor with an LDC?
Thanks for the help. I am pretty well set on either one of these rifles. I just don’t want to have to buy a second tank and barrel because I made the wrong choice.
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I would have to say, no regrets whatsoever.
When I started looking at PCP airguns, I was after raw power. At the time, I didnt know shooting too fast would affect accuracy.
I found my Condor on Kitchens classifieds, and within 2 weeks I had the rifle. I bought it for $500, and it came with a lot of goodies that made the deal quite sweet.
It had a nice Russian-made Axiom red dot sight on it that retails somewhere around $150. Came with a AR15 grip installed. Had a night light with thumb switch and a Morgan butt pad on it. Also had a weird AR15 faux magazine that held spare batteries or whatnot, and acted as a upright fore grip.
Only the Morgan still resides on the rifle, I modded it to my liking. If I had it to do over, I would be looking at the same gun. Im not saying the gun had no problems, but they were easy to figure out.
Its now a .25 hammer with a full stock I made myself, and a carbon shroud I made myself. Couldnt be happier with it.
I went the SS route. I did add a 18′ bb.. in .22 . So far, rabbits, squirrels. Opossum’s, Armadillo’s, Ferrel ***’s. It has downed everything I wanted it to. And very well. This morning, It was field mice at over 65 yards. One was a called head shot. The JSB’s have been very good at not giving pass trough’s on the larger critters. Although Kodiaks would give more smack down! A talon with 18″ bbl should do great, as you only have 6-7′ of free space in the talon SS for baffles any way. A talon 18″ would be just fine since you are going to make your own LDC any way. Wish I had gone this way. It would have saved a few bucks!
Mike
1) How quiet can I make the Condor compared to the Talon SS? I have all the tools I need including a lathe to make a LDC.
2) Is the Condor overkill for the game that I am dispatching? I worry about pass through on red squirrels and birds.
3) Are the Talons more accurate than the Condors due to barrel length? It seems to me that the pellet will be in the 24″ barrel for a loooooong time vs. a 12″ barrel on the Talon.
4) How much adjustment will the power wheel give me on the Condor? Can I get down to 700 FPS or so?
5) How long is the Condor with an LDC?
Thanks for the help. I am pretty well set on either one of these rifles. I just don’t want to have to buy a second tank and barrel because I made the wrong choice.
First, I started with a .177 Talon SS and it took a couple possums no problem so power and accuracy are good reguardless of choice. I’ve been through a few variations – modded valve, 24″ .22 barrel, and most recently I am shooting a 24″ Talontunes .25 barrel and shroud and got a Condor tank and heavier hammer.
If I were to pick ONE setup (you said you didn’t want to deal with extra barrels, tanks, etc) I think the ideal combo would be a TalonSS in .22 w/ 18″ barrel and custom LDC. Plenty of power for your intended range, lots of adjustability eg. 650fps w/ light pellets plinking or 900fps w/ heavy pellets for larger pest control. The Condor is VERY powerful but won’t really stand out over the talonss until range is stretched beyond 50 yd or for larger game w/ heavy pellets and will make most lighter pellet choices borderline useless due to the high velocity.
Accuracy will be about equal with either as long as velocity doesn’t exceed 1050fps.
Overpenetration could be a concern with the condor especially, depending on your shooting environment
Either can be made VERY quiet. My .25 w/ condor valve/tank shoots 31gr kodiacs at 950-1000fps and makes 1/3 the noise of my daughter’s .177 qb78 on co2.
Either way you pick, you should be happy. Clinched my teeth and choked a couple times to spend the money I have in mine but have had it 2 yrs and it still brings a smile to my face every time I get to shoot.
Welcome,
For what you want to do a Talon SS would be great. It can be made very quiet and is very compact. The Condor with an LDC is very long and very quiet. So long you can almost poke your prey’s eye out..lol.
If you find you need more power you can add an 18″ or 24″ barrel and have plenty of velocity.
Accuracy wise the extra velocity the longer barrel provides also aids in hitting further targets with a less loopy trajectory.
The PW is really a pre load wheel. Once you find the sweet spot you usually leave it there.
BTW if you can make your own LDC maybe a Talon with 18″ barrel might be a good choice for power and accuracy.
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RiffRaff,
You could be happier…… 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Shameless Plug! 😯