Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Condor landed today...

Saw the all new AirForce Condor SS at the SHOT Show this year and having always wanted a PCP in .20 ordered one...and being suppressed was a deal maker.

Got it all up and running today and it is very impressive. Once I get the scope just where I want it will shoot some groups and post some pics...

It is great exercise filling the tank to 3K.

Anyone else have an AirForce??

Bob

Only got to shoot the gun at some "things" out the back slider about 30 yards away...one thing became quickly apparent...this gun doesn't like pointed pellets...like 12" groups at 35 yards. Put in some Beeman Crow Magnum HPs and some Silver Ace round nose and it was hitting shotgun shells...

More soon.

Bob

You have a Monster there. Had Condor and miss it to this day.
I used a hand pump back then too,LOL.
I'd try the 13.1 gr. JSB Exacts.

Got the Condor SS on the chrono yesterday and have one major problem...it is "too" powerful. Minimum velocity with the dial turned all the way down is in the 1050 fps area. Anything over that there is a supersonic crack...

Called AirForce and they will be calling me back Monday when their engineers are in. In .20 top end is supposed to be in the 1100 fps range....with this gun it is minimum.

The accuracy with the Beeman Crow Magnum pellets has been outstanding. Silver Ace and Silver Arrow has also been good....everything else has been poor.

Pics to come....Bob

My Condor in .22 shot the 25.4 monster pellets at 1040 fps. turned half way down.
I'm not sure if they changed the top hat design but it use to be adjustable.
I would shorten yours up so the valve didn't open quite as far.

Keep us in the loop please. Photos of targets would be nice too. What bbl length on the Condor? How to you like the weight and ergonomics?

Thanks,

Jordan

Had time this weekend to do some more shooting. Saturday off the top of my trailer standing with the bipod and Sunday got serious and set up a good solid bench and just shot pellets that had some promise from Saturday.

Gun with pump attached...





As said before there is a problem in that dialed all the way down the gun shoots most pellets supersonic. One other problem is that many pellets can not be used in the gun because they are too small in diameter. The following was observed:

Beeman Silver Arror: Tight

Beeman Crow Magnum: Tight

Beeman Silver Ace: Tight

Crossman Premier: Very tight

Benjamin Cylindrical: Loose

Beeman Silver Jet: Loose

Beeman Silver Sting: Loose

Beeman Silver Bear: Loose

Sheridan Diablo: Loose

One can NOT use a loose pellet in one of these guns due to the chamber design. The pellet has to be able to seat firmly and stay in place as if it falls out before the shot is fired it could case a problem. Also the loose pellet groups could better be described as buckshot patterns...

All shooting was at 25 yards over a Competition Electronics chrono. This was Day I.

Silver Arrow: 1055 fps





Silver Ace: 1060 fps




This was the first 5 shots out of the gun Saturday. It had been sighted in with the Crow Magnum pellets earlier. The chrono was not set up at this point and I stopped to set it up and then fired shots 6 and 7. Velocity was 1080 fps.



The next are groups shoot with the Crow Magnum. Was also moving the scope around to get the optimum eye relief which is why the groups shifted.



[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Aiirguns/DSCF6831_zps8a5d5d65.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Aiirguns/DSCF6832_zps98372442.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Aiirguns/DSCF6833_zpsf56824bc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Aiirguns/DSCF6836_zps7c5b0100.jpg[/img]


I was not an overly happy camper after Day I. But I could see the gun had the potential to shoot it was just finding the correct pellet. If you notice the Silver Ace and Silver Arrow cut nice clean holes but large groups. The Crow Magnum small groups but the holes were not perfectly round...

So we got serious and moved to Day II.

Day II

No bipod..sandbagged the gun...much steadier as the crosshair would not even move off the patch if I did my part.





...a little too bright for the camera...





Started out with the Crow Magnum. Average was 1121 fps
1059/1136/1128/1148/1146/1139/1137/1129/1121/1102/1094



Topped off the bottle after every set.

Silver Ace: 930 fps. Wasn't watching the chrono and only two registered. 939 and 922. Will post a pic later as I apparently forgot to take one...

Silver Arrow: 985 fps
873/951/1001/1065/1010/954/979



For whatever reason today these two pellets shot subsonic...and the Crow Magnum shot higher than the day before...no clue.

On Day I I didn't find the box of Crossman Premier pellets until the session was over. I was told by AF that these and the JBS shot the best in their guns. They were not kidding...



999 Average/910/1043/963/992/1044/950/978/1029/1027/989/1092/973 And the 1092 was the only pellet in the string that has a supersonic crack.

Then for ha-has I tried a Benjamin Cylindrical. These and the Silver Jets shoot best from the older Sheridan pumps. It was buckshot. On the same target made one more run of the Premier.

Group I: 1038/1046/1015/994

Moved the sights for Group II: 1060/1064/1072/1081

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Aiirguns/DSCF6844_zps4ca703d0.jpg[/img]

And so the gun is sighted in at 25 yards for the last of my Premiers. Notice however the velocity creep.... I tried to keep the tank generally topped off. But that said at airgun ranges a 50-75 fps spread isn't going to cause a miss on a small target. I've seen Long Rifle ammo with more spread shoot MOA size groups at 50 yards.

The weight and balance of the rifle is good. One thing that is needed just like with a flat-top AR is HIGH rings and these are not quite high enough....

Pyramid Air Guns had a sale yesterday so I ordered some more pellets...and even some in .25 as this week I'm ordering a .25 barrel for the gun.

Has potential once all the small bugs are worked out...Bob

Spoke to the CS rep for AF again today. They are going to test and ship me another tank with valve. The problem may be AF over estimated the air required to push a .20 caliber pellet. There are two tanks...one for .177 and one for .20, .22 and .25. The one for the .177 has a heavier spring so not as much air is released by the hammer. I asked that they send me one of them to see if the pellets will then be subsonic.

Once the JBS and a better supply of Premiers gets here I am going to start upping the pressure to see how fast this will push a pellet...

Also ordered a .25 caliber barrel but it will be a few weeks before there are extra 18" barrels available...

Bob

The additional pellets ordered from Pyramid Airguns arrived. Talk about well packed...holy crow... The box could have been run over by a bus and the pellets would probably been fine.

It has been raining since the pellets arrived but the JSB and the new batch of Premiers fit tight into the chamber. Just sitting in my dining room shooting out the slider at 39 lasered yards is boring on any target bigger than a shotgun shell....and that is sitting, no sling, not off the bipod. Waiting to get sandbagged up and then shoot the JBS pellet for group.

The Premier continues to stay subsonic. There is just a mild "pop" inside the house than then a "ding" of the steel rimfire swinger. Just fired several more of the JSB that are just a little lighter and POI was the same as the Premier and there was no "crack".

So things progress....Bob

The friend who bought the .22 Condor SS has been putting it to work on some problem birds and one red squirrel in his back yard. All he said have been "pop&flop" using Crossman Premiers...he has no plans to change pellets.....

Bob

The .177 air bottle arrived yesterday along with some other accessories I ordered...probably won't get a chance to do some testing till next week...

Did some more shooting yesterday and the gun has been staying subsonic with both pellets...POI is also very close.

Bob

Finally got some time to get away with the airguns so I went to a friend's place camping for the weekend...









Started out with the original bottle that came with the Condor that is marked for .20-.22-.25 caliber guns. Dialed all the way down as low as the power setting would go...



Crossman Premier Pellet 14.3 grains

Velocity: 863-896-1035-1055-1041-1040-1018-1056-1073-993-1023-1041-1061-1075-1079-1091-1002-1006-1101-1101-1106-1081-1107-1094-1074-1071-1062
Ave: 1051
Hi: 1107
Lo: 863
ES: 244
SD: 55
31 shots were fired and I missed putting a few down on the paper.

Pumped the bottle back up and ran the JBS 13.7 grain pellets over the chrono and got about the same results:
Ave: 1075
Hi: 1122
Lo: 995
ES: 127
SD: 37

Nothing to write home about...

Before switching to the new .177 bottle I decided to up the power to see what happens....

Power Setting 4-1 on the dial. Crossman Pellets. Bottle recharged.



1156-1144-1156-1139-1134-1120-1108-1104-1096-1090-1083-1085-1077-1076-1069-1066-1068-1048-1027-1039-1026-1033-1028-1026-1019

Ave: 1079
Hi: 1156
Lo: 1019
ES: 137
SD: 43
26 shots fired. The lower shots in the group was when the power started to drop off.

Still nothing to write home about...



Bumping the power setting to 8-1 again using the Premier Pellet:



1165-1161-1151-1142-1145-1134-1132-1123-1124-1105-1104-1098-1086-1090-1096-1090-1078-1082-1078-1075-1070-1064-1053-1051-1041-1036-1028-1021-1012

Ave: 1088
Hi: 1165
Lo: 1012
ES: 153
SD: 42
31 shots fired. 24 shots in one group before they started to print low.

Notice at this power setting the Hi was the first shot and instead of jumping all over it went consistently down shot by shot...and this shows in the consistency of the group.

Starting to cook...but almost all the shots were supersonic..

Then turned the dial to max...12-9



1183-1139 (wide right)-1154(rt)-1122-1128-1136-1125-1129-1139-1130(flyer)-1114(flyer)-1122-1128-1124

Ave: 1133
Hi: 1183
Lo: 1114
ES: 69
SD: 16
15 shots fired and quit as even though this string had the lowest ES and SD the group was not very tight.



So I backed down to the 8-1 power setting and fired 10 Crossman and 10 JSB pellets...



Velocities with the first 10 Premiers ran from 1191 down to 1141. I am not sure if I recharged the bottle or not before running the JSB pellets or not...I don't think I did.. The 10 JSBs ran 1152 down to 1100. I also was adjusting the scope to zero so I am not counting the overall size of the group. The zero of both pellets is very close...

Switched out the air bottle that came with the gun for the .177 that AF sent me. Left the power setting at 8-1 just to see what if any difference there would be.



Notice shots #1 and #2 low of the rest of the group...

1008-1059-1070-1088-1111-1114-1115-1111-1111-1118-1065-1098-1130-1125-1100-1089-1107-1089-1107

Ave: 1097
Hi: 1130
Lo: 1008
ES: 122
SD: 27
21 shots fired and this time I didn't keep shooting till the drop off. Notice the velocities all over the place compared with the same power setting when using the .20-.22-.25 valved bottle. Velocity is almost the same. Yet the group is excellent.



Bumped down to the 4-1 power setting after topping off the bottle...finally SUBSONIC!!




786-864-898-892-883-869-873-832-868-837-872-898-827-927-827-929-939-960

AVE: 864
Hi: 960
LO: 786
ES: 174
SD: 41
20 shots fired. Shot #1 was low as was the velocity. Shot #2 was also low and then a nice group started to form. The two shots below the group were the two listed at 827....and they were both in the middle of the string. But again the velocities were all over the place yet a nice group was fired...



So knowing that at the 8-1 setting the rounds were still cracking SS and 4-1 was subsonic I bumped up one rotation of the power dial to 5-1...HELLO....WE ARE ALMOST HOME!!!



953-962-989-974-981-908-989-999-1009-1010-1020-1014-1019-1046-1048-917-1069(getting SS crack above 1050)-1026-1074-972-1072-1029-1086-1083-1081-1085...28 shots and looking at the pressure gauge could have probably run 10 more pellets before they would have started dropping out of the "hole"...I was getting bored shooting and seeing nothing happen....just a pellet whizzing through a hole...

AVE: 1017
Hi: 1086
Lo: 908
ES: 178
SD: 44

And there I quit for the day... Next time out I'm going to run the power dial down to 4-8 and see if I still have the accuracy and keep all the pellets under 1050...

One interesting thing...I kept putting the new paperplate right over where the last one had been....oops...

...notice the tree through the hole...







The reason I posted all these velocities here is the techs at AirForce are monitoring this thread so I wanted to give them all the detail possible...

Bob

Great info. Thanks for posting.
Especially the tree photo

Very informative post. I have never paid much attention to airguns, but this is just plain impressive! Digging the range too

I wish my range had trees ...or water

Fine, articulate writing too.

MS

I saw your post over on rimfirecentral and thought I'd check out your post here.
Great write up. I have a Condor in .22 and have been going through the same process with it. I have a .177 barrel too and seldom use it because the 12", .22 barrel with baffles is so quiet. One thing to consider with a new rifle is break in time. Mine took about 500 rounds to calm down and another 1000 to really get consistent with each barrel..
I'm not done yet because I still get clumps of fliers every now and then; 6 to 10 shots in the middle of a session that are an inch off target. Then it'll go back to shooting 1/4" groups at the same poa as before the problem started.
If you would like more Air Force specific advice and interaction there is a site talonairgun.com that has a lot of information about tuning and feeding the Airforce animals. Be careful though, as they have contributors shooting slugs at 1/4 mile and beyond with hundreds of FPE. I have to read them and dream because the budget won't support that kind of gear.

Back to your post: now that you've started to find sweet spots in the power settings you'll enjoy it much more. You may find more than one for each pellet too. A couple of recommendations; get a regulator as it will smooth out your shot string velocities, and on the site mentioned above there are trigger tuning instructions as well which will greatly improve the stock trigger. I don't know if the Airguns of Arizona "super sear" will work with the newer rifles but you may want to call them and find out as it is the ultimate trigger upgrade.

Thanks again for the write up. Most interesting.

Thanks for all the advise PB... I did know about the Forums but have not had a lot of time to really get into it over there...

The SS continues to improve. All the shooting right now is at 40 yards from my diningroom slider to the small "gallery" I have had set up out back for several years... Anything larger than a shotgun shell prone with the bipod is unchallenging...

Pained the steel silhouette target swinger a couple of days ago and it was the end of the spray can so I left it out there...after punching the body it was laying on its side so I tried to knock the spray button off...just a tad left but did knock the button off...



Then three shots on the head of the little chicken....




So I need a few clicks right....

.25 barrel came in last week...hope to do some testing with it next week...

I shoot 5-10 rounds a day...it is really helping my long range shooting... This was with a SAKO TRG-22/.308 last Saturday...





This was my first group at 800...7"... I usually have not been making MOA past 600 yards...





Second group....





Then one on the 5 gallon kerosene can and one on the bbq size propane bottle...

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Long%20Range%20Shooting/20130720_171101_zps1510aeb5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b77/RJM52/Long%20Range%20Shooting/20130720_171048_zps147306c2.jpg[/img]



Bob