How nice would it be if the Airforce Condor had...

[CoyoteGod]

I love Airforce airguns. I have had a .22 Talon since 2002-2003. I still shoot it most weekends at reactive targets in my backyard and it hasn't skipped a beat. Bottles still fill to 3000PSI, still shoots 21.1 Beeman Kodiak at MOA at about 28FPE. It's always been a great hunter at 25-50 yards with the 12 inch barrel. With the Donny Sumo it's totally backyard friendly. I would get the Condor if it wasn't a single shot, but I went with a Cricket 2 instead. While sipping some whiskey in the study I started thinking of what I would love to see in the Condor. (I know Airforce has a repeater line in the RAW, I am thinking about their original line).

How great would it be if the Condor was a true lever action with an 8 shot magazine that indexes every time you push down the lever? The shape of the Condor would lend to a great lever action look. The bottle set up could remain the same and give the same power and power curve. Man that would be a good looking rifle and probably with the weight be an excellent field rifle. Just dreaming... while sipping some Old Elk Bourbon. 

 

[JamesD.]

As a lefty I like the lever action idea. 
Kind of why I hang on to my "Lever Action 6 Shooter Wheely Airgun" that's putting out 93ft/lbs w/ 48 grain RBT slugs at 945. Not even power tuned.

Sam Yang must of really loved Westerns, right?

It does that but I really enjoy it on setting 2-4 with 25.43 or 33.95's. Whisper quiet 1/4" at 50 yards. But I might as well say, I do prefer the .22 Condor for 28-32 grain RBT Griffin slugs. They're capable of 1/4" at 100 when tethered.

 

[MrP]

Love my airforce guns. What you describe sounds very nice for sure. Get a few different bottles, springs, hammers, barrels, and valves and you can reconfigure these in a quite a few different ways. 


I just tried this:



Condor valve polished by TalonTunes with talon tunes top hat and restrictor

12" .177 barrel

heavy hammer

4000+ psi fillable bottle 

Amazingly accurate and very wide range of power possible out of that valve. Shooting 10.9 grains at up to 1050 FPS but can be dialed down to the 500-600's as well. Talon ss frame with a 3d printed can i designed on the end - very very quiet. All just hammer slap and maybe a little puff sound 



Love this setup.

 

[CoyoteGod]

As a lefty I like the lever action idea. 
Kind of why I hang on to my "Lever Action 6 Shooter Wheely Airgun" that's putting out 93ft/lbs w/ 48 grain RBT slugs at 945. Not even power tuned.

Sam Yang must of really loved Westerns, right?

It does that but I really enjoy it on setting 2-4 with 25.43 or 33.95's. Whisper quiet 1/4" at 50 yards. But I might as well say, I do prefer the .22 Condor for 28-32 grain RBT Griffin slugs. They're capable of 1/4" at 100 when tethered.

That's a beautiful lever gun. And the power is very nice. 

 

[Jesse1972]

I would like a carbon fiber tank for my condor. I have it on my Texan Texan Carbine. 45. Could anyone give me some advice

 

[Roachcreek]

Get one from Talon Tunes. They have a 3600 psi fill pressure and simply screw on. You degas your rifle remove the valve and screw it on the TT tank. You can also get them on Ebay that will work also. I have both, one on a Kratos. and one on my Texan LSS 257.



Regards,



Roachcreek

 

[AirNGasman]

Having known the owner of Airforce Airguns almost as long as they've existed, from our very first meeting I congratulated him on his products; but lobbied him for either a more 'sporter' style rifle, or at least something with some WOOD. Think it was about 20 years later before Airforce added anything with wood. 

Considering his success, and the fact I've experienced business bankruptcy, I can neither continue trying to give John McCaslin business advice, nor criticize his conservative approach to business. 

Nevertheless, and also knowing Martin Rutherford personally, it sure warmed my heart to see John attend my TEXtreme Field Target competition (as a spectator), and witness a RAW win it! Though a man of few words and obviously trying very hard to not show it, John's pride and gratification in that win was palpable. 

Unfortunately the winning RAW had not a speck off sawdust! DOH!!! 

MY RAW field target rifle, built by Martin with a personality walnut blank he was saving for himself (but I talked him out of)-

In my last conversation with Martin a couple months ago he stated that only my and his own personal RAW have my TM's stock profile. Is my pride and gratification showing?

Keep lobbying John for your wants CG. It might pay off (in a couple decades).

 

[kaylaindy]

How nice would it be if the Airforce Condor had…

....a regulator? 

 

[MrP]

I think airforce guns are perfect as-is, only in a personal sense. Tried adding a regulator but didn't care for it. For some reason i enjoy working with power curves and kind of using knowledge of the gun to maintain more or less consistent speed across a range of pressures. Probably because it is pure entertainment for me and i am not depending on it to win a competition or get food.


i would love a CF tank but they are about 8x the cost of the much cheaper aluminum tanks that can be filled up to 4500 and i have heard nothing but good things about them. They have thick walls so slightly lower volume (like 480cc instead of 500) and of course they are not light. I am not using stock valve or hammer spring, but i find filling up to 4000 and shooting down to 3000 is where i get the best power and shot count and not too noisy. Shooting from 3000 down to 2000 gets loud, each shot uses noticeably more air... feels wasteful. When you use higher pressure (and more hammer spring preload to access that pressure) it makes the gun very sensitive to small changes in settings. Tiny little changes on the PW to maintain a particular energy or speed as pressure drops