Taipan Need to Tame my Taipan

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J

Jairow

Member
May 18, 2023
25
17
Harlingen
I purchased a Taipan Veteran in June based on the positive experiences that users posted here. I was looking for an accurate and highly adjustable air gun. I never was able to see the accuracy that Taipans were known for. I shot a variety of pellets (18.1, 15.8, 14.3) from JSB, H&N, Crosman, FX, Hades, in the 800 to 880 range and I could never get a good group at 35 yards. I cleaned and polished the barrel, tried a different scope, used an Atlas bipod with a rear bag and still no accuracy. My Marauder groups were much better than the Taipan.

I remembered that I received the Taipan with a card where the dealer tested the rifle before sending it to me and it showed extreme accuracy. Referencing this card revealed that the avg. velocity was a whopping 930 fps with 18.1s. I may have shot that a couple of times when I first got the rifle and quickly adjusted it down and never went back to it. Most everything I read indicated that pellets may destabilize above 900 and 880 is the sweet spot, etc. Just for kicks, I adjusted it back to 930 this week and sure enough, it shoots nice groups with all holes touching at 35 yards. Both the JSB 18s and 16s shot very well above 900.

This almost makes the adjustment part of the rifle useless to me. Seems like I'm stuck having to shoot everything above 900. I was envisioning being able to dial down to 700 for backyard shooting, then dial it back up as needed and maintain accuracy.

So, I'm considering a couple options:
  • Purchase a Huma regulator to tune it down, but I'm not sure if the limiting factor for accuracy at low speeds is the regulator or the barrel, or both; or
  • Designate the Taipan as only a +900 fps shooter, and move on to another backyard-friendly truly adjustable bullpup.
I'd appreciate any ideas or recommendations from you all. Any input from Taipan owners who have had success tuning down the rifle? Any pellets that work well in the Taipan at lower velocities? Is it unreasonable to find an airgun that shoots accurately across varying velocities by simply adjusting the HST?
 
You should be able to adjust the factory reg to shoot sub 900 fps. That should be no issue at all. It may be that you don't have the right reg pressure and HST combination and thats why you are getting bad groups ? I can't see anything that would affect the groups at low speed not being amplified at high speed on a stock taipan.

A Taipan standard shooting 18.13 at 880 shouldn't be all holes touching at 35y but all pellets in the same hole.. from my experience.
 
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_CTAIRGUNNER_ said:
You should be able to adjust the factory reg to shoot sub 900 fps. That should be no issue at all. It may be that you don't have the right reg pressure and HST combination and thats why you are getting bad groups ? I can't see anything that would affect the groups at low speed not being amplified at high speed on a stock taipan.

A Taipan standard shooting 18.13 at 880 shouldn't be all holes touching at 35y but all pellets in the same hole.. from my experience.
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The regulator should be marked with the setting from the factory, I haven't opened it to check yet, but it looks like it's set around 125ish based on when shooting seems to fall off the reg.
 
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I do not have a gun as nice as a Veteran yet but with my cheaper regulated guns I do not get good accuracy unless the hammer spring is adjusted to a point the gun likes close to where it gives the maximum velocity for the regulator setting. Just changing the hammer spring doesn't work at least in terms of delivering accuracy. I guess it may on some guns. I also get a low velocity first shot unless I am close to the maximum velocity hammer spring setting.
 
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The reg that's in it is better than a Huma, so don't change it. Adjusting the reg down for lower speed isn't going to improve your accuracy at any given velocity, i.e., 700 fps is 700 fps regardless of how it is generated. Once you find your most accurate velocity, then you can obtain a balanced tune by adjusting the reg and HST in tandem. I would expect the rifle to shoot better at lower speeds, although maybe not at its optimum. Assuming you are getting consistent velocities, then your solution may be the barrel, because that is really the source of accuracy.
 
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Did you buy it new or used?

My Vet Short and Standard were perfectly happy running as low as 19fpe, doing nothing more than reducing the hammer tension. With only hammer spring tension adjustments my Short ran as a .22 at 19.5fpe for a couple years-even shooting a perfect score in a field target match. My Long still shot accurately @ 19fp, by reducing the hammer spring tension, but the fps spread was large enough to start seeing some vertical stringing at 55-60 yards.

I agree with @elh0102 about the barrel being a potential culprit. They have really tight chokes and it could be leaded up. A good serious clean and then polish with JB bore paste would be on my to-do list prior to fiddling with the reg pressure. ESPECIALLY if you're wanting to preserve the option of dialing in additional hammer spring tension to be able to shoot at higher fpe as the need arises.
 
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This was a new Taipan. I also thought it was the barrel, and I did clean and polish to no avail. I convinced myself that it wasn't the barrel since it shot well above 900 fps.

Anyhow, I've gone ahead and started messing with the regulator. I remember now why I was interested in a Huma. My first attempt at adjusting the Taipan regulator didn't go too well. I think I went too far as a pellet got stuck in the barrel. I'll readjust and give it another try.
 
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Jairow said:
This was a new Taipan. I also thought it was the barrel, and I did clean and polish to no avail. I convinced myself that it wasn't the barrel since it shot well above 900 fps.

Anyhow, I've gone ahead and started messing with the regulator. I remember now why I was interested in a Huma. My first attempt at adjusting the Taipan regulator didn't go too well. I think I went too far as a pellet got stuck in the barrel. I'll readjust and give it another try.
Click to expand...
Let us know how you make out!
 
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Jairow said:
This was a new Taipan. I also thought it was the barrel, and I did clean and polish to no avail. I convinced myself that it wasn't the barrel since it shot well above 900 fps.

Anyhow, I've gone ahead and started messing with the regulator. I remember now why I was interested in a Huma. My first attempt at adjusting the Taipan regulator didn't go too well. I think I went too far as a pellet got stuck in the barrel. I'll readjust and give it another try.
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Doesn't take much turning on that adjustment wheel to change the output pressure quite a bit. I've found it easier to disassemble the reg and adjust without the tension, documenting measurements with calipers.

I'd bet your stuck pellets are right at that crazy tight choke.


I recently revisited the .22 barrel that came in my Vet Long, also purchased new so OEM barrel.
This is a barrel that shot the 18.13s and lower weighted pellets quite accurately, impressively accurately actually. BUT was absolute crap with the .22/25.4 Monster RDs. It couldn't keep the .22/25.4s on an 8x11 sheet of paper at 100 yards.

This recent revisit included opening up the excessively tight choke with some 280 grit grinding and lapping compound. I also recrowned the muzzle. Prior to the aggressive lapping, the choke measured 0.211-0.212. Most pellets measure somethign like 0.217-0.218. that's an aweful agressive crunch put on that pellet in the last inch or two of the barrel. I opened it up to 0.214-0.215 and it will now print 2 to 2.5 inch, 10 shot groups at 100 yards, using the same .22/25.4 Monster RDs that were so abysmal prior to the loosening of the choke. 2-2.5inches at 100 yards isn't amazing, but MUCH better than 8-14inch groups. The barrel is at least useable for hunting now, whereas previous accuracy from the .22/25.4s made it useful for not much more than tomato stake duty.

I'm not advising or encouraging you to go after the choke with 280 grit or to recrown the barrel, just sharing that as an example that occasionally even a high quality CZ/LW barrel leaves the airgun manufacturers factory in a less than optimal state.
 
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elh0102 said:
I've never tried my Veteran at low velocities, maybe I'll give it a try sometime. My guess, you might need a barrel with a faster twist to shoot well at 700 fps.
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Thanks for confirming that. I have not been able to determine for sure based on previous posts if there is someone that is able to shoot their Taipan with the same accuracy across varying velocities simply by turning the adjuster. Seems the adjuster may be for tuning and not for changing velocities on the fly.
 
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