Gun Week Production Manager
When it’s an AirForce Airgun (PO Box 2478, Dept. GWK, Ft Worth, TX 76113; phone: 817-451-8966; online: airforceairguns.com) is when. A couple of years ago at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) the guys from AirForce Airguns had the booth next to ours. They certainly did get a lot of activity from the space age looking guns that they had on display. They do look really cool, just like all the other black guns that the government wants to ban, the AirForce Airgun was no different with its attraction.For anybody that has read Gun Week for any great length of time you know that I like guns—handguns, rifles, shotguns, big guns, little guns, muzzleloading guns—and I have a special place for airguns. I take 30 to 45 squirrels a year, some rabbits and some crows, usually by means of a Gamo airgun. Gamo makes some fine guns, but they do have their limitations. This is where the AirForce Airgun comes in. The first thing that I liked about the AirForce Airgun was that it came in both .22 and .17 calibers. While I had heard that airguns were made in .22 caliber, I had never seen one. Besides that, if you want to you can change the barrel yourself to change caliber; only a couple of screws are involved with disassembly and reassembly. A fine instructional DVD comes with each gun.
Sometimes the .17 caliber pellet just wasn’t doing the job even when I was doing mine, and a second shot would be needed to finish off some garden predator. The Gamo has a cocking mechanism for its propulsion. The AirForce Airgun has a tank of pressurized air that, when full, is at 3,000 psi. And the power can be adjusted for range and velocity. This way you choose what is best for you.The gun still is a single shot, but then I’m not familiar with a good airgun that is anything but a single shot. And if you, the shooter, are doing your job, why would you need more than one shot anyway!
The air tank serves as not only the source of your compressed air, but is also the stock of the gun. This may seem clumsy, but actually the gun is very well balanced. The company’s literature says the gun weighs 5.25 pounds which seemed light to me and my bathroom scale puts it at 6.5 pounds, but that is with a scope. I’m not sure if they weighed it for the literature with or without a scope installed.
We were sent two models to try out, the Condor and the Talon SS. I really like the Talon much better than the Condor. They are both accurate so there is no difference there. It’s just the appearance of the Talon that I like better.
If you are one of those people who still have good eyes, then you might want to try out the open sights that are an option. They somewhat resemble the sights on an M-16 or AR-15. (Is anybody still using open sights on AR-type guns?) These sights are fiber optic open sights, quickly becoming my favorite on open sighted guns. There is also a laser sight available that is both waterproof and shockproof. Knurled, coin-slotted adjustment and locking screws allow the shooter to adjust the beam alignment without tools.You also can get an adjustable bi-pod that attaches to the lower front rail of the gun. This is probably a good idea. It’s always better to shoot from some sort of rest whenever you can. We did our shooting from a bench and sandbags. The bipod can be installed or removed by way of a large, coin-slotted screw. Couldn’t be easier!
The biggest problem I had with these guns was filling the air tanks. If you scuba dive, you can fill the airgun tank directly from them with an adapter. Otherwise you will have to take the air tank to a scuba store—with the adapter because they won’t have one—and have them fill the tank. It cost us $7 per tank for them to be filled. If we owned a scuba tank, and I understand you can buy decertified ones for not too much money, you can refill the airgun tank probably 7 to 10 times according to the guy at the scuba supply store.
Your other option, which I had lots of trouble with, is filling the tank with a hand air pump. For some reason I had understood that it would take about 75 pumps to fill the tank. Nope. It takes a lot more than that and I just don’t have the stamina anymore to be pumping a pump all night. So I suggest you go with the scuba fill. Besides the pump costs a couple hundred bucks.Another accessory available is sling swivels, which are probably another good idea. I don’t think I own a cartridge field gun that doesn’t have sling swivels.
There are three barrel lengths available in each caliber of the AirForce models for a total of 6 possible barrels. They come in 12 inches, 18 inches and 24 inches.
As mentioned before, the instructional DVD is very good. It shows and tells you how to attach each accessory. It shows the changing of barrels from one caliber to another. It demonstrates how to sight in the scope. It even shows you how to fill the air tank.
I really can’t say anything bad about this AirForce Airgun; well, other then the difficulty of pumping up the tank, so use a scuba outfit like I had to.
This is not your ordinary airgun. This is a proficient projectile launcher. I mention this to lessen some of the sticker shock on the prices for this airgun. Here goes: the Talon SS by itself stripped is $535. They offer two scope models, a 3-9x40 for $119, or the 4-16x50 for $149. The bipod is $70, scope rings are $20, a spare tank is between $180-$200, the open sights are $65, the handpump is $200, the sling swivels are $20. If you want a different barrel they are priced by length—a 12-inch barrel is $120, an 18-inch barrel is $160 and the 24-inch barrel retails for $190. AirForce does have a very good website where they tell you in detail about each piece of equipment and its price. So there are no surprises. Gee, I almost forgot, I saved the best till last: It’s made in the USA.Predator Pellets
I need to tell you about the pellets I’m using. The stores around here don’t have any .22 pellets at all. So I went online looking for some .22 caliber pellets. I contacted several people who said they had some and that they would send a sample for the article but only one guy really came through. Dick Dixon of Predator International (4401 South Broadway, Suite 201, Dept. GWK, Englewood, CO 80113; phone: 303-761-1236; website: predatorpellets.com) sent me a sample in both .17 and .22 caliber. I have used the .17 in my Gamo with much improved results, and increased one-shot kills. The .22 caliber with their added weight make one-shot-kills the norm and not the exception. The .17 caliber pellets weigh 8 grains while the .22 pellets weigh twice that, at 16 grains. It was very interesting to see how they printed on the Caldwell Orange Peel targets. There is actually a black halo indicating the exact location of entry of the pellet.
The Predators are a lead pellet with a polymer tip, just like you see in so many of the bullets on the market today for cartridge firearms. It only makes sense! If the technology works for one, it should work for the other. Give them a try. On the Predator International website there are several locations where you can either pick them up or mail order them. For a tin of 200 pellets the price is $15.99.
We used two types of targets for the AirForce airguns tests. The first one was the Orange Peel target from Caldwell Shooting Supplies (Battenfeld Technologies, Inc., 5885 West Van Horn Tavern Rd, Dept. GWK, Columbia, MO 65203; phone: 877-509-9160; online: battenfeldtechnologies.com or caldwellshooting.com). We did all our shooting from a bench on a 50-foot range indoors. At that range all the shots were in the 10-ring of the 4-inch targets we were using. All groups measured 7/8 of an inch or less. During the shooting I was trying to line up the crosshairs in the scope with the crosshairs on the target and did have a little bit of difficulty doing so, but still shot fine.
The other target was a life-size squirrel target from Champion Traps & Targets (ATK Commercial Products, PO Box 39, Dept. GWK, Onalaska, WI 54650; phone: 800-635-7656; online: championtarget.com). As you can see from the target photo, the Talon SS shoots just fine.
Finally, I need to mention the shooting bench that I was shooting from. It’s the MTM Case-Gard Company (PO Box 13117, Dept. GWK, Dayton, OH 45413; phone: 800-543-0548; online: mtmcase-gard.com) Predator Shooting Table. I haven’t found a table with the portability of this unit. The top of the shooting table measures 28x35 inches and it is 30 inches high. It has folding legs and the unit is just over 2 inches in height when collapsed. The whole table weighs less than 15 pounds, making it real easy to move around. I’ve used this table in my basement range at home, in the backyard for both shooting and pictures, and sighting in airguns in my garage airgun range. Last year we even set it up by a plug for the crockpots at a family dinner. So this is one multi-purpose shooting/utility bench/table that we can all find a use for. It has a retail price of just $90.When I requested the Predator Shooting Table from MTM, they suggested using the SPUD7 ($35) Utility Dry Box as a companion piece with the Predator Shooting Table. It serves as a seat when actually shooting or working on your guns, but can also carry a lot of the equipment to the range that you would be lost without. It measures 18 inches wide by 13 inches deep and is 14 inches in height. They are a great match-up for the range. This box is strong enough to be full of ammo or it is strong enough to protect your gear from outside dangers.
While I can’t be sure about the targets, this might be the first article that I have ever written in which everything is made in the USA. It would be nice if I could say that for all the products we shooters use.
This article has been long in coming but I’ve had a good time doing it and enjoyed all of the products mentioned. Be sure when you are contacting any of these manufacturers to let them know that John at Gun Week sent you.