Air Force’s .25 caliber pistol – the ultimate truck gun?
in Airguns
as Air pistol, Airguns, pcp, pellet gun
The Air Force TalonP with a red dot mounted.
Folks who have read this blog for even a little while realize pretty quickly that Your Humble Correspondent has hardly ever met a pneumatic projectile launcher that he didn’t like. The new Air Force TalonP .25 caliber pistol is no exception. I like this diminutive powerhouse, but I will admit to not knowing entirely what to make of it.
Air Force says the TalonP is “for the serious hunter wanting a compact yet powerful hunting tool” and adds that it “sets a new standard in air pistol power levels.” It truly is astonishingly powerful. The sample I tested was launching 31 grain Barracuda pellets at 862 fps, generating nearly 52 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. That’s enough power, with proper shot placement, to kill almost anything you might reasonably want to kill with an airgun.
The TalonP stretches 23.25 inches from the end of the air reservoir to the muzzle (with the air tank unscrewed, the main receiver stretches just 18 inches from end to end). It weighs just 3 lbs. 10.5 oz. without a scope or red dot. At the extreme aft end of the TalonP, you’ll find a matte black metal air reservoir with a volume of 213 cc (by comparison, the Talon rifle has an air tank volume of 490 cc).
Moving forward, you’ll find a matte black metal receiver that houses a .25 caliber Lothar Walther barrel. Above the breech is a long dovetail rail for mounting a scope, red dot, or accessories. Below the breech is the pistol grip which had nubbly plastic grips. Forward of the grips is the trigger guard which surrounds the trigger and a red push-pull safety.
The power adjustment wheel is just above the forestock on the left side of the receiver.
About three inches forward of the trigger guard is a matte black plastic forearm. Above that on the left side is the power adjustment wheel and forward of that is the muzzle. Above and below the barrel are rails that can be used for mounting accessories.
When I started setting up the TalonP is when life started to get interesting. At nearly two feet long and over three-and-half pounds, I didn’t want to hold the pistol in front of me, Weaver-style, because I thought that might be too ungainly. As a result, I didn’t want to mount a pistol scope. At the same time, the air tank doesn’t reach back far enough to provide a buttstock for my lanky 6’1” frame, so I didn’t want to mount a rifle scope.
So I mounted a red dot scope on the top rail and held the TalonP with two hands while using the air reservoir as a kind of cheek piece with no buttstock.
It’s easy enough to get the TalonP ready for shooting. After charging the air tank to 3,000 psi and re-attaching it to the receiver, push the cocking knob on top of the bolt all the way forward until it latches. Next, push a pellet all the way into the breech with your thumb or a pellet seating tool. Pull the bolt back to its original position and rotate it into either notch at the rear of the cocking slot (this indicates that the bolt is all the way back).
Take aim, push the red safety lever forward until it clicks off and squeeze the trigger. Just 1 lb. of pressure takes the first stage out of the trigger. At 1 lb., 10.5 oz. the shot goes down range with a loud BOOM. As a shooter, I could feel the recoil and the tug of the muzzle as it wanted to lift. This is one powerful air pistol, and it lets you know it. The TalonP manual says you’ll get about 10 shots per fill at full power. You need to count those shots, because there is no gauge to tell you how much air is left.
The Air Force folks say 10 shots per fill, but if you turn a power down a bit, you'll get a shot curve that looks like this.
Shooting from a casual rest with the red dot, I was able to shoot groups with Benjamin .25 caliber pellets that were roughly 1 inch edge to edge at 13 yards. I strongly suspect that a shooter with a bipod and a rifle scope could do substantially better at longer ranges.
So, in the end, what is the TalonP? The airgun equivalent of an elephant gun for short people? A funky hunting pistol? An ultra-carbine? I think it may find its greatest acceptance among two groups: hunters who want a powerful airgun that can fit in a backpack and farmers and ranchers who want a powerful pest control tool they can slip behind the seats of their pickup trucks.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
Good Grief – Uncle Jock’s Great Pumpkin Challenge
It’s that time of year when the trees in upstate New York start to get streaked with color, when dried leaves begin to crunch under foot, when I get the urge to make sure that the stove on the sun porch is working properly.
While part of me wants to get ready for hibernation with a plentiful supply of warm beverages and good books next to a warm fire, another part of my inner man begins to nag at me: “This is a great time to get out and shoot. Find something fun and challenging to do!” And so, with my wife’s help, I did.
My wife is a frequent “silent” contributor to this blog. About a week ago she was thumbing through all the advertising circulars that get stuffed into the Sunday newspaper when she encountered a flyer from a craft shop.
One of the items in the circular was a “craft” pumpkin. A craft pumpkin, as it turns out, looks just like the kind of pumpkin that grows in a pumpkin patch, but it is made some kind of composite that can be carved like a regular pumpkin but won’t turn rotten over time like the real ones do. “That would make a great airgun target,” my Better Half said.
“Perhaps it would,” I said, as I began mulling the idea over in my head. A jack o’lantern would make an interesting target, I thought, but I wasn’t particularly keen on the notion of shooting up a craft pumpkin. Maybe I could come up with a paper target that would suffice.
A couple of more days of cogitation produced what you see below: Uncle Jock’s Great Pumpkin Challenge.
Here’s how it works: first, download the PDF file for the Great Pumpkin Challenge from this link. Next, print out the file at 100% on 8.5 x 11 paper, attach it to a safe target holder, and have at it.
These are the rules:
- Distance: 20 yards for match rifles and pistols under 12 foot pounds; 30 yards for air rifles and pistols 12 foot pounds and above. You can use any caliber you desire.
- The objective: Hit the black circles as close to the center as possible. There are 19 possible targets on the face of the jack o’lantern. Only one shot per black circle.
- Scoring: We’re using worst-edge scoring. If your pellet hole stays entirely within the black circle, you get 2 points. If any portion of the pellet hole breaks out of the black circle, you get one 1 point. If in doubt, you get the lower score. If you miss the black circle entirely, you get zero points. On some of the circles, it may be possible to squeeze a pellet entirely into the open space inside the black circle. If you manage that, you get 3 points. If any part of your pellet hole touches the black circle from the inside, you get 2 points. When in doubt, you get the lower score.
- Position: You may shoot from any position that is supported by the human body. SteadyAim harnesses are allowed, but shooting from a mechanical rest is not. If you want to shoot with your air rifle or pistol supported by a cushion, the airgun must be supported entirely by your hand or your arm which is resting on the cushion.
That’s it. Now print off your targets, go have fun, and let me know how you did. You can respond to this blog or you can email me with your scores and photos or scans of your targets at jock.elliott@gmail.com
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
- Jock Elliott
The .22 Remington NPSS
in Airguns
as air rifle, Airguns, break barrel, Crosman, Nitro Piston, Remington, review
The .22 Remington NPSS in digital camo.
When I reviewed the Crosman Airgun and Pellet Capabilities Chart discussed in last week’s blog, I was struck by the fact that, aside from the .25 caliber Benjamin Trail NP XL 725 (which I had written about a while back), only one of the breakbarrel air rifles listed on the chart consistently offers the longest estimated effective maximum range.
That rifle is the .22 caliber Remington NPSS. The chart suggests that it is capable of taking pigeons and squirrels at 42 yards, prairie dogs at 45 yards, raccoons at 15 yards, and turkeys at 30 yards. That’s quite a resume. And while I had reviewed the original Crosman NPSS in .177 a couple of years ago, I decided I needed to have a look at the Remington version in .22.
The Remington NPSS comes with a 3-9 x 40 scope and one-piece mount.
The good folks at Crosman were kind enough to send me one, and here’s the skinny. The Remington NPSS, which proudly displays “Made in the USA” on the receiver, stretches 43.75 inches from end to end and weighs 9 lbs exactly with the 3-9 x 40 CenterPoint scope mounted. Physically, the Remington NPSS is identical to its Crosman-branded predecessor. It has a weatherproof ambidextrous polymer thumbhole stock that features a soft rubber cheek piece and “nubbly” texturing at both the pistol grip and the forestock. It’s available in a digital camo finish (on the sample I tested) and a carbon fiber look, neither of which affect the performance of the gun.
The Remington NPSS is fitted with a soft rubber butt pad and cheek piece.
What really sets the Remington apart from other breakbarrel air rifles you may have shot is the NPSS powerplant. That stands for Nitro Piston Short Stroke. Unlike conventional breakbarrel air rifles, it has no spring. Instead it has a gas ram – much like the gas strut in the liftback of an SUV. When you break the barrel of the Remington NPSS to cock it, instead of compressing a spring, you’re driving back a piston which compresses gas in a cylinder. When the cocking mechanism latches, it holds the gas under pressure until you pull the trigger, allowing the piston to shoot forward, compressing air in front of it and launching the pellet down the barrel.
It works exactly the same as a conventional “springer,” except there is no spring, and that gives the NPSS some advantages. For example, you can leave it cocked for long periods without worrying that the spring will take “a set” and weaken the power of the air rifle. In addition, cocking is generally smoother, and there is no torque or vibration when the shot goes off. Crosman also claims that the NPSS powerplant is quieter than a conventional springer. From the shooter’s position behind the receiver, that is difficult to prove, and I’ve found that trying to measure the relative loudness of various airgun powerplants can be fiendishly difficult. Bottom line: if the NPSS didn’t seem especially quiet to me, it didn’t seem particularly loud either, which in my mind works out to “average” loudness.
Getting the Remington NPSS ready to shoot is straightforward. Grab the barrel near the muzzle and pull it down and back until it latches. This takes about 23-24 pounds of effort, according to Crosman. The cocking stroke is incredibly smooth, with no spring noise or creaking. Insert a pellet into the aft end of the breech and return the barrel to its original position.
Take aim. Flick off the safety (The Remington NPSS has a lever-style non-automatic safety inside the trigger guard). Squeeze the trigger. At 3 lb, 15 oz, the first stage comes out; at 6 lb, 8 oz, the shot goes down range. That’s heavier than I would like, but the trigger seemed very consistent and didn’t appear to interfere with accurate shooting.
With .22 Crosman Premier pellets, which went down range at about 850 fps and generated around 22.9 foot-pounds of energy, I was able to shoot essentially one-hole groups at 13 yards, but the groups opened up to 1.25 inches (edge to edge) at 30 yards. I also noticed that the point of impact would shift if I moved from sitting position to shooting off a rest to shooting offhand. It seems to me that the big trick with this air rifle is either (a) to learn where the point of impact will be from various shooting positions or (b) shoot consistently from only one position such as offhand.
In the end, I liked the .22 Remington NPSS. It seems to me to be a solid, workhorse air rifle that would serve many shooters well for pest control and hunting duties.
Til next time, aim true and shooting straight.
- Jock Elliott
The Great Grocery Store Shootout – A Tale of Carnage, Flying Lead, and Edibles
There is now incontrovertible evidence that I should not be allowed to watch television late at night. And certainly not without serious supervision, the kind of high-level supervision that involves electrodes, neurologists, and technicians squinting at readouts. Why? Because I blew the hindquarters off a camel today with an air pistol, that’s why. But I [...]
