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Condor Condor SS in .25 + MP Slugs 47.7gr?
- Thread starter Franklink
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 38
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- Original poster
- #2
Reason I asked is because I'm gonna try.
Black Condor SS was delivered a few days ago, and the MP .25/47grain mold was delivered yesterday.
Found a guy on AGN who tried this combination and was saying he thought he got about 750-760fps. He was only testing at short distances indoors, whereas I'm looking for long range love.
Supposedly these MP slugs are tolerant of chokes, and slow speeds. I don't care if they only go 600fps, as long as they're accurate and track true.
I've got about 15 years worth of lead pellets saved up from my traps. About 8 of that has been fairly heavy usage, practicing for field target. I'm guessing I've got 60-80 pounds of once-fired, mostly JSB lead, and really hoping this will be a good way to reuse the lead.
In online digging I read various claims on BC for this cast slug, the highest of which was 0.251. I suspect something more like 0.15 will be more likely. Guess I'll see. If the accuracy isn't there, don't care about the BC so they have to be accurate, first and foremost.
Sure seems an awful lot like Altaros liked the look of this slug, copying it for their popular "lathe-turned" slugs. I can find mention of this MP mold online as early as 2020.
Upon initial visual inspection of the mold, it looks pretty good. I like that there's a third handle, for the sprue plate, versus just whacking it like I've had to do with other molds.
Click to enlarge...
Black Condor SS was delivered a few days ago, and the MP .25/47grain mold was delivered yesterday.
Found a guy on AGN who tried this combination and was saying he thought he got about 750-760fps. He was only testing at short distances indoors, whereas I'm looking for long range love.
Supposedly these MP slugs are tolerant of chokes, and slow speeds. I don't care if they only go 600fps, as long as they're accurate and track true.
I've got about 15 years worth of lead pellets saved up from my traps. About 8 of that has been fairly heavy usage, practicing for field target. I'm guessing I've got 60-80 pounds of once-fired, mostly JSB lead, and really hoping this will be a good way to reuse the lead.
In online digging I read various claims on BC for this cast slug, the highest of which was 0.251. I suspect something more like 0.15 will be more likely. Guess I'll see. If the accuracy isn't there, don't care about the BC so they have to be accurate, first and foremost.
Sure seems an awful lot like Altaros liked the look of this slug, copying it for their popular "lathe-turned" slugs. I can find mention of this MP mold online as early as 2020.
Upon initial visual inspection of the mold, it looks pretty good. I like that there's a third handle, for the sprue plate, versus just whacking it like I've had to do with other molds.
Click to enlarge...
- Original poster
- #3
Sure cranks out the slugs!
Shot about 50 of them, unweighed unsorted and not any sort of tune....an inch at 45 yards, and 4-5inches at 100 yards.
Some were tight, and I think I even loaded some backwards. Ran out of daylight.
Haven't touched the barrel yet. Not even a basic clean.
Prelim chrono work was showing 14 shots within about 35fps. 2200-1900psi
Averaging 72fpe(47.7grains @ 826fps) , with the hammer spring tension dialed down as far as it will go.
Way too much for me. And thats without any hammer spring tension! I'm hoping it has a hammer weight I can take out like the Condor does.
And also hoping it'll be accurate down around 700-725, instead of current 825. If not, I'll be swapping to a smaller jet.
And it's surprisingly not very loud!!!
Anybody know if the Condor SS has the same hammer weight as the plain Condor?
Pretty pleased with the MP mold. 8 cavities produce lots of slugs relatively quickly. Weighed/sorted them this evening after the kids went to bed and didn't have to cull very many.
Of that box, I culled maybe 50. They were the ones where the mold didn't fill out, determined over the course of weighing them as anything less than 47grains. I kept everything from 47.1-48.1 grains, further divided them into slight visuals defects (wrinkles mostly) or without visual flaws. I also had about 25 that we visually unflawed, but weighed from 48.2-48.8grains. Not sure if one of the cavities is slightly big or had a slightly different allow early versus late into he casting session.
Overall, the mold throws pretty consistent slugs. I'd estimate that 85% of even the 47.1-48.1grain groups were between 47.5 and 47.8 grains.
Plan is to see if those correct weighing, but slightly flawed shoot worse than the visually perfect ones. Cuz if they shoot the same, I don't care if they're wrinkled, and I won't go through the sorting misery again.
Work over the barrel, actually sight the gun in and figure out a tune, and I might have something here.
If I can get some accuracy out of this combo, I'm excited to see how it does on prairie dogs this summer. Many of my areas aren't safe to use this kind of energy, but couple of them sure are.
Shot about 50 of them, unweighed unsorted and not any sort of tune....an inch at 45 yards, and 4-5inches at 100 yards.
Some were tight, and I think I even loaded some backwards. Ran out of daylight.
Haven't touched the barrel yet. Not even a basic clean.
Prelim chrono work was showing 14 shots within about 35fps. 2200-1900psi
Averaging 72fpe(47.7grains @ 826fps) , with the hammer spring tension dialed down as far as it will go.
Way too much for me. And thats without any hammer spring tension! I'm hoping it has a hammer weight I can take out like the Condor does.
And also hoping it'll be accurate down around 700-725, instead of current 825. If not, I'll be swapping to a smaller jet.
And it's surprisingly not very loud!!!
Anybody know if the Condor SS has the same hammer weight as the plain Condor?
Pretty pleased with the MP mold. 8 cavities produce lots of slugs relatively quickly. Weighed/sorted them this evening after the kids went to bed and didn't have to cull very many.
Of that box, I culled maybe 50. They were the ones where the mold didn't fill out, determined over the course of weighing them as anything less than 47grains. I kept everything from 47.1-48.1 grains, further divided them into slight visuals defects (wrinkles mostly) or without visual flaws. I also had about 25 that we visually unflawed, but weighed from 48.2-48.8grains. Not sure if one of the cavities is slightly big or had a slightly different allow early versus late into he casting session.
Overall, the mold throws pretty consistent slugs. I'd estimate that 85% of even the 47.1-48.1grain groups were between 47.5 and 47.8 grains.
Plan is to see if those correct weighing, but slightly flawed shoot worse than the visually perfect ones. Cuz if they shoot the same, I don't care if they're wrinkled, and I won't go through the sorting misery again.
Work over the barrel, actually sight the gun in and figure out a tune, and I might have something here.
If I can get some accuracy out of this combo, I'm excited to see how it does on prairie dogs this summer. Many of my areas aren't safe to use this kind of energy, but couple of them sure are.
Danman
Grand HAMster
Here's hoping they'll work out for ya! Sure look nice anyways
.....What would you say about the report of the SS you have now vs your other non SS condor vs old condor with silencer?
.....What would you say about the report of the SS you have now vs your other non SS condor vs old condor with silencer?- Original poster
- #5
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Here's hoping they'll work out for ya! Sure look nice anyways
Shooting a Condor without adding an adaptor and moderator is just not doable, even at modest 30fpe power levels and on two acres with only one neighbor. And it becomes a 48+ inch long broomstick. Think Kentucky long rifle or world war one with a bayonet.
Shooting a Condor SS @ 72 fpe as stock is not a problem. As I commented, I'm quite surprised at how quiet it is. And at only 38.? Inches long, still in my sweet spot for manageable length. Yes, a bit long, but acceptable and doable.
And I imagine the report will come down even more as I tame this beast and reduce the fpe.
- Original poster
- #6
Slugs are working out well. On paper they're printing nice round holes, so no signs of instability or any of that ugliness.
I've taken them to 225 yards and they're still tracking relatively well.
Here is one next to a .177/10.34.
I've figure out that any of them that weigh less than 47.5 grains are undersized and they're going back in the lead-to-melt pile. The 47.5grain and up ones though, are printing groups on paper at 100 yards of about 2 inches wide and 5-6 inches tall. That vertical dispersion appears to relate to how some are loose and some are tight, when loading them. So, sizer in the mail.
I've also got one of the spouted ladels on the way, ben reading about how "pressure pours" help alot on these smaller airgun projectile molds. Hoping the pressure pour method will reduce the culls. I can make a couple hundred slugs in about an hour, at a bout a 75% "keepers" rate. I'd like that to be more like 90-95% keepers.
If I can shrink the vertical down and get 2x2" groups at 100 yards I'll be quite pleased.
The BC that I'm needing in the ballistics app for actual to match predicted is skepticalness inducingly high. (May have made up a few words there). Since there's still some vertical dispersion I'll hold off on a BC report until after the sizing step.
As for how the Condor SS handles them, with the OEM transfer port, they were averaging 825-830fp, for about 72 fpe. That was without any hammer spring tension dialed in. I suspect faster wouldn't be an issue. It was good for about 16-18 shots at that 72fpe. But I didn't like it so swapped out transfer ports to a smaller one and I'm really liking 700-730fps, for about 25 shots, from 2200-1800 psi. The muzzle report here is quite manageable. Mostly action noise, not muzzle noise. As they often say, the slug hitting the target is louder than the gun.
So far I'm enjoying the process, little by little making improvements and getting things figured out.
I've taken them to 225 yards and they're still tracking relatively well.
Here is one next to a .177/10.34.
I've figure out that any of them that weigh less than 47.5 grains are undersized and they're going back in the lead-to-melt pile. The 47.5grain and up ones though, are printing groups on paper at 100 yards of about 2 inches wide and 5-6 inches tall. That vertical dispersion appears to relate to how some are loose and some are tight, when loading them. So, sizer in the mail.
I've also got one of the spouted ladels on the way, ben reading about how "pressure pours" help alot on these smaller airgun projectile molds. Hoping the pressure pour method will reduce the culls. I can make a couple hundred slugs in about an hour, at a bout a 75% "keepers" rate. I'd like that to be more like 90-95% keepers.
If I can shrink the vertical down and get 2x2" groups at 100 yards I'll be quite pleased.
The BC that I'm needing in the ballistics app for actual to match predicted is skepticalness inducingly high. (May have made up a few words there). Since there's still some vertical dispersion I'll hold off on a BC report until after the sizing step.
As for how the Condor SS handles them, with the OEM transfer port, they were averaging 825-830fp, for about 72 fpe. That was without any hammer spring tension dialed in. I suspect faster wouldn't be an issue. It was good for about 16-18 shots at that 72fpe. But I didn't like it so swapped out transfer ports to a smaller one and I'm really liking 700-730fps, for about 25 shots, from 2200-1800 psi. The muzzle report here is quite manageable. Mostly action noise, not muzzle noise. As they often say, the slug hitting the target is louder than the gun.
So far I'm enjoying the process, little by little making improvements and getting things figured out.
- Original poster
- #8
Last edited:
I realized that I should probably add that those trigger gauge measurements were after I removed that damned little anti-decocker/auto-safety part.
With the very simple removal of that little bastard, the gun can be de-cocked, AND the safety is no longer automatic....both of which are how it should come. (Safety is fully functional and can be put on and removed from safety manually...as it should be).
WITH that infernal little cam-shaped piece in place, the ONLY way to render the gun safe after it has been cocked is to shoot it, which is just plain stupid. You gotta shoot the gun to make it safe?!?!? Logic me through that please!!!!!?
With the very simple removal of that little bastard, the gun can be de-cocked, AND the safety is no longer automatic....both of which are how it should come. (Safety is fully functional and can be put on and removed from safety manually...as it should be).
WITH that infernal little cam-shaped piece in place, the ONLY way to render the gun safe after it has been cocked is to shoot it, which is just plain stupid. You gotta shoot the gun to make it safe?!?!? Logic me through that please!!!!!?
The pressure pour method really helps when casting. It makes up for a lot of beginner mistakes. One of the most important things IMHO with the MP mold or any aluminum mold for that matter the keeping the mold temp even. Aluminum expands and contracts with Temp. For the size of the MP mold you need to use a hot plate to get the mold to temp and keep it there. I find that setting the temp to around 350f works very well. Do you know the groove diameter of the barrel? That's an important piece of information to have when shooting slugs. Pellets are way more forgiving.
- Original poster
- #10
Last edited:
A couple weeks ago I measured a couple slugs that I pushed through as 0.245. This is the choke for sure, as it is noticeably tight when it gets there. Ive since opened it up a bit with some lapping.
LW reports a bore of 0.248 and grooves of 0.254. if that's anything close to accurate, they're not including any specs for what the choke does to a projectile.
My cast slugs are dropping at 0.249-0.252, depending on technique and temp. Room for improvement all around.
Sizer is here, and so is the nippled ladle. Got some big matches coming up that I'll be practicing for, so the cast .25s in the Condor SS project might get put on the back burner for the next 4-5 weeks.
Billm
Grand HAMster
I already asked in the video comments, but I’ll ask here too? What scope are you using? Did you cast the slugs yourself? Nice shooting. Nvm, I guess I should’ve realized it was the last post in an existing thread. I’ll go back and read the thread. Sorry
Billm
Grand HAMster
Judging by the video, the slugs were lethal. I’m thinking about a swaging press, but maybe casting would be fun. Years ago I did some reloading, but never tried casting.
Nice shots!! The LRF is like cheating
Billm
Grand HAMster
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Nahh not really, it’s only as good as the data in and you still have to be able to make the shot. lol.
- Original poster
- #17
The all-in-one nature of the PARD is pretty convenient. Hit the record button, hit the laser rangefinder button, hold over where it says to, pull the trigger.
But yes, it does take some prior time and trial and error to plug in the ballistic parameters.
But yes, it does take some prior time and trial and error to plug in the ballistic parameters.
Billm
Grand HAMster
I say that, because I’m using a DNT 225R at night in my backyard. I picked up a 2” mouse on thermal, switched to night vision, hit the laser annd measured 62yds. It was sighted in at 103yds. and it gave me a holdover. Using the scopes calculated holdover I missed. I shot high, but I saw the impact and held under using the reticle and nailed it. The scope was on my Sonoran and I had taken the time to calculate the BC at near and far etc.., but it was still off just enough. I’ve moved it to my ghost and will spend a little more time in the ballistics. I do keep forgetting to hit record though and agree that the convenience of these all-in-one scopes is pretty amazing.
SILENT SQUIRREL
HAM Sharp Shooter
@Billm
Granted that good ballistics input and an excellent program are very important.
But is accuracy like you have described, essentially minute of mouse at 60 yards, something we can expect from the DNT 225R?
Very curious as I continually consider one.
Thanks
Edward
Billm
Grand HAMster
I’ll start another thread on the DNT. I don’t want to hijack Franklink’s thread
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