I finally achived some accuracy with slugs and Airforce Condor.. I took the factory Airforce lother wather barrel with choke at 18 inchs and cut 1 inch off the muzzle end.. I hand lead lapped the barrel.. Its .221 in diameter... I got a mold from a .225 48 grain bowman mold decked down to a weight of now 39.0 grains.. To my suprise in testing the slugs unsized at .225 shoot best.. Im using a Doug Noble valve and heavy spring and 110 gram hammer .. Its accurate and right at 1050-1065fps... I wasnt expecting good results...I figured it wouldnt stablise in the 1-17.7 twist..I was wrong...The Lother walther barrel looks really good in the borescope..The best interior finish i have in a barrel currently... I thought i needed a 28 inch barrel in a Airgun to get 1050 fps with 40 grain...You can do it with 17 inch in Airforce...The same combo with doug valve and 28inch barrel 1165fps-1200. Im handi cap...Im so happy with accuracy with12mm 17 inch barrel Airforce Condor..Even with moderator very short and Light...I can carry with cane or crutches...Anyways so happy to finally have a accurate 22 cal slug slinger for Legal Pa small game hunting on my property...Thanks AGN friends that helped me along the way..
Airforce Airforce 22 Condor 17 inch LW Barrel 39 gr at 1050 fps
- Thread starter RM.510bigbore
- Start date
Great to hear... I did similar with a .177 Condor that I was determined to make into a mini slugger. Had originally tried to use lapping compound to remove the choke and after about an hour of that just said 'piss on it' and chucked up the barrel, cut the choke off, recrowned and done. Still havent tested with a lot of slugs, but initial results were encouraging and my groups at 65 yards were about half the size of before.
Upvote 0
Lol, I wondered how that turned out.
Lapping a barrel into performing is certainly a patience-requiring process.
Upvote 0
haha... yes, sir. Your post with your results inspired me to try and I lapped...and lapped...and lapped.... the more I lapped, the more it became obvious to me that I had a small lathe and really could live with an inch or so less barrel on that thing. So that's what I did. Funny thing is my dozen year old HF lathe was really, REALLY struggling to get through that barrel and so I ended up getting an upgraded lathe shortly after that fiasco. So indirectly, your post inspired me to try, fail, realize my current lathe was crap and then get another lathe.
About $2.00 worth of pure lead and powder coating..A few hundred slugs....Beat tariffs... lol
Upvote 0
It is real loud without moderator...Same power as 22lr...Same noise...With a Moderator 1.5inch diameter x 12 inchs tames its down very nicely.. Im waiting on the dony Fl talon P 1\2-20 moderator adaptor for the endcap...The differnt valves make different amounts of noise...The Doug noble valve turned all the way up is Texan loud..The trajectron valve works good too a little less powerful and a little less loud and much cheaper and easier to get at $100.00 price tag... Doug Noble valve is a absoulte beast for Condor platforms..
Upvote 0
This has been debated over and over, but wanted to get your opinion on the powder coating. Benefit for air guns? I know folks talk about less lead dust, etc... but that makes zero difference to me. Great looking little pills there, by the way!
Upvote 0
Powder coating is worth it for me in Airguns...Leading is my number one problem with accuracy and slugs..Im using normal cheap production grade barrels..IF i were using American made custom double lapped barrels , lapped after reaming the barrel, and again after rifleing....Like Krieger, Benchmark, Barliten, ect powder coating may not be nessary... Powder coating covers the lead like a copper jacket does but is only good to around 2200 to 2500 fps.. shake and bake is my method and i can coat and bake 1000,s of small slugs together and bake in oven 12 min 400 degrees and then straight otta oven into water quench..All the slugs seperate perfectly... A pound of powder coat does thousands of slugs.... I powder coat all my slugs for my .510 up to 650 grain spire point boat tail.. Another benefit is the shiny coating of powder coat when shot at night with IR light and night vision...Its looks like a tracer..THe IR light reflects off of shiny powder coating... Another huge thing for me is I smoke...I smoke when I shoot.. handling slugs..No lead dont have to wash my hands...
Upvote 0
Leading the barrel... that makes perfect sense. Didnt think about tracer effect, either bonus. Appreciate the explanation!
Upvote 0
In my youth I had more money than brians.lol I burned through 1-2 Benchmark .224 barrels a year... Benchmark barrels didnt have a name then and were cheap $230.00 for countoured stainless blank..Everyone was great I bought at least 15-20 for myself and others..Now Benchmark Barrels still great but at a $400.00 plus price tag just like all the other quality american barrel manfactures....I worked ar ER Shaw barrels..After drilling and reming 1000,s of production grade barrels ..I lost my fear of the mystery of the interior of barrels.. So if your barrel is drilled straight and reamed a little rough...like most are..they have reamer marks in rifleing...Hand lead lapping is a old school thing..Put with a lil patience it can help out a decent barrel...Some barrels may be too crooked...17cal and 22 cal drill way off center alot of times.. With the cost of barrels its worth it...My Texan .510 Lother Wather was terrible,,so rough ...New one $375.00 from Airforce....I luckly polished a turd...It now shoots clover leafs at 70 yards...I start with 120 grit lapping compound and then go to 240 grit lapping compound..I may pour 2-6 new lead laps in the process..The new digital borescopes are amazing..It really helps..If i can figure it out i upload vidoes of interior finish of barrel..
Upvote 0
I've said it before, but I've seen improvement in accuracy/precision from all the barrels that I've lapped and/or polished. Some took more work to get there than others, but all were at least some degree better after than they were before. Some can even be turned into substantially better barrels.
2k + guns are cool what ever the name comes with that price , but me personally after I could see what a good cast bullet could do and how easy is if this is the kind of thing you like of the hobby, to simply order order the tooling, send it to TJ have the barrel made to your liking and shoot bullets from your AF platform, I really don't see any fun in buying a 2k pcp and start testing to see what it likes and be the slave then of that particular slug manufacturer.. at least for the kind of use I give to my guns.. so in my future the only thing I could see my self doing if I want something new.. is just buying barrel and have them machined wich is not that complicated in a AF .. no more purchased pcp for me .. next on my which list is 177 in a 7 twist for 30gr .. a 6mm in a 11.5 twist for 75 to 80gr .. n the last a .300 for 125 to 130gr but this one need a sway bullet first to know how long it would be to calculate the twist..
Upvote 0
My Airforce Condor is half the size and weight of a FX Slug Slinger 700 -800mm barrel...Not any other .22 cal pcp going 1050fps with 40 grain slugs in a 17 inch barrel...Im so happy the short barrel shoots that fast...I need something lighter smaller.For the tractror..For the days when im using canes and crutches..I can still sling over my shoulder.. Im so happy with my friends on AGN...The Doug Noble valve is a beast!!!!! Its taking me awile but im getting all the variours molds optics mounting barrels for 2 custom condors..It s coming together... Nothing good is too easy...
Upvote 0