Used Condor, very inconsistent
I bought a used .22 condor which I am guessing is about 2 years old. The seller shipped it to me with a full bottle, but at what PSI I dont know.
Shooting the gun I had very good accuracy, and apparenly pretty good power. It was punching through a sheet of 1″ plywood and burying the pellet into the second sheet.
All shooting so far has been with the same tin of Beeman Kodiaks.
I shot maybe 50 times before the tank went too low, and my pump had not showed up yet so I did a teardown of the rifle to get better aquainted with it.
The hammer appears to be the standard weight, appx 49Gm, and the striker is brass weighing 30Gm, total weight is 80Gm. The spring is apparently stock.
The pump showed up last night, so this morning I refilled the tank to 2900-3000 PSI, wasnt as hard I was worrying about.
Went out and shot the rifle, PW setting @ 10. Outside temperature, 35° F.
First shot was obviously very weak, the pellet didnt penetrate the wood past the skirt. So I brought out my chrony, and clocked the next shot at 545fps.
I cranked the PW up to 13, and next shot was 707fps.
The next 20 shots slowly climbed up to 850, and finally 10 shots later I was up to 950.
All this time the shots are climbing up my target board, POI changed over 8″ over this 30 shot string.
Suddenly the velocity jumped up to 1070, then over the next 10 shots it dropped back down to 903fps. All shots at PW 13. Only the last 20 shots hit the POI that I originally sighted in at.
42 shots, very inconsistent string.
I went back inside, and filled the bottle again. Starting pressure was about 2200PSI, I stopped at 2900.
First 10 shots, PW13:
1- 747
2- 754
3- 756
4- 766
5- 787
6- 767
7- 789
8- 801
9- 805
10-811
11-810
12-823
13-843
14-854
15-934 big jump
16-899 drop again
17-955 jump again
18-988
19-986
20-978
21-982
22-1002
23-1011
24-985
25-984 getting frustrated, almost threw the gun into the snow
All pellets shot at same target, first shot4″ low, shot 13 had climbed to bull, shot 14-25 about 2″ vertical pattern just above the bull. Almost no horizontal shift. All shots appx. 35 yards. Velocity never did climb much above 1000fps.
Put bottle on pump, pumped until starting pressure was evident which was 2400PSI.
Other than the heavier striker, I dont see anything else modified inside this gun.
Tophat gap measures 0.099 (maybe a little wide?)
What is obvious to me so far, is the valve doesnt open correctly until I shoot at least 10 times. (accuracy is damned poor until then)
Once it opens, I get about 10 acceptably consistent shots, then it falls off again.
What do you experienced Condor shooters suggest I try?
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Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
RiffRaff: drop a small nut from a nut and bolt into the charging adapter and screw the Tank slowly into that until you hear air hissing out. Keep on adjusting how much it is screwed in by when the flow of air changes. Should take about 30 minutes or so to empty the Tank. Just don’t rush it as you could melt the seals.
Yank that barrel out, give the inside of the frame a good cleaning along with your hammer and weight.
Remove that stupid masking tape off the spring and lube your breech orings and breech end of barrel with divers silicone.
Fill to 2500psi
Good Luck
I have had the gun apart, and cleaned it this morning before the second string. I have been unable to find divers silicone locally, I think I will have to order some online.
My spring was bare, did not have any masking tape on it. I considered using a silicone washer between the power wheel and the end of the spring, but realized that would only help until the pressure dropped in the tank. I have been trying to figure out how to add 20-25GM of weight to the hammer and keep it secure.
orings should have a dap of silicone
one thing that can affect the power is a loose bottle collar….screw the bottle into the frame and see if the shoulders of the bottle meets up tight with the frame….test of the bottle can move when mounted….alot of the condors suffers from the collar being hammered out of the frame slowly….then it gets loose…the bottle ends up at an angle…and well you can imagine the rest
I followed the advice from another thread and tried a small bit of dry graphite. Didnt help at all.
I used to have a can of teflon, used to use it on the bolts of my centerfire rifles with great success. But I dont think friction is much of an issue here.
The bottle does meet the frame solidly and flush.
Cygnus X, limiting the valve travel makes sense to me. Can you remember how much travel you limited it to? I would guess the gap between the tophat and the washer would dictate the limit?
Oh I think I could handle it, however Im not sure how to relieve all the pressure from the tank safely. I have been looking at posts for the last hour because I know I saw how to do this somewhere, but I cant find it again.
Oh well, I love a challenge.
Thanks everybody. This gives me some ideas to try.
yeah take it appart and clean it….make sure hammer and brass weight is degreased….i have had good luck with dry teflon lube, or dry moly lube…just a tiny layer might help reduce friction.
orings should have a dap of silicone
one thing that can affect the power is a loose bottle collar….screw the bottle into the frame and see if the shoulders of the bottle meets up tight with the frame….test of the bottle can move when mounted….alot of the condors suffers from the collar being hammered out of the frame slowly….then it gets loose…the bottle ends up at an angle…and well you can imagine the rest.
your rifle reminds me of my first condor….it would also start at 500 fps and for the next 20shots climb to 1200+ fps with kodiacs….insane top power, and then go downover the next 30 shots….what a useless piece of crap that was…..i had to limit the valve travel to a minimum and add a washer behind it…that took it down to 35 fpe, but at least i got some consistency.
if your up to it ….take the valve out of the bottle….untighten the return spring retainer…and retighten it….you want to tighten it just enough that it closes the valve and then add quarter turn, use a bit blue loctite or teflon tape to the threads so it wont unscrew…..this should help with both fill pressure and consistency…will probably increase power a bit too
RR,
Yank that barrel out, give the inside of the frame a good cleaning along with your hammer and weight.
Remove that stupid masking tape off the spring and lube your breech orings and breech end of barrel with divers silicone.
Fill to 2500psi
Good Luck
You will need to find out were to fill. Chances are you are filling far to high and need to fill much lower.
Some of the guys here who have them can lend you sum advice
Jeeze WOK, what took you so long? LOL.
I did think that was probably going to be the answer, however at this time I have spent my allowance 😉
I might try to add weight, however I do not have access to a lathe.
You are suffering from Crappy Condor Valve Syndrome!
Call Airforce and buy the new replacement parts to upgrade to the new valve. One member here was able to get the parts for like $40. Look around and I am sure you will find the post here.
The new valve will cure your woes.
Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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i took the tophat as close to the bottle as possible….and stuffed a 1mm washer under the tophat too
to get the pressure out….a hex nut that fits over the tophat…or a dime dropped in the fill probe, and then tighten it till the air start hissing..will do the trick….just let it sit there hissing for about 30 min…i have emtied bottles in mutes….but once in a blue moon there has been reports of melting parts comming out from releasing the air too fast.
to get the valve apart, you probably need to heat the bottle if it hasnt been done before….the former owner might allready have had it appart and in that case its just a matter of trying to unscrew it but if you cant…
heat the valve and neck of the bottle, you can boil it for 5 minutes….or use a heatgun…heat it good and try unscrew it….getting a screw that fits into the dumpvalve hole will give you something to hammer on….on my bottles theres a hole opposit the dump valve, and i have found something that fits perfectly in there….i then place bottle on linolium floor, with my knees on it….i then hammer the screw until it gives way…the glue has broken its grip…and you now gotta unscrew it fast before it cools an resets !
this wont be necersary the ever again…..when you go to stuff the valve in the bottle again….i usually use the fill adaptor to handtighten it in place…pressure in the bottle will make it next to impossible to unscrew until the pressure is released