Recieved my TalonSS today. I followed an ad on Brad's classifieds last week to a fellow who wanted to sell his for a decent price, so I went with it. The gun came double boxed and in IMACULATE condition. Previous owner stated he had only charged and shot it twice about 3 years ago...I believe him, this gun is "like new" for sure. The gun came with a DIN adapter and some other adapter that I think mates to a scuba yoke, I have a hand pump, so it was the DIN adapter only for me! I connected everything and began pumping. The air resevoir on my B50 is 196cc's, the tank on the Talon is 490cc's...alot more volume means ALOT more pumping. I read on the Airforce website that it takes about 300 strokes to pump the tank up for the initial fill, once that is done and you shoot, then you just do 40 or so "top off" pumps, pretty much the same as the B50.
The gun is a very nicely engineered. The inline valve system is pretty simple, and just dying to be modded. There are 3/8" rails all over this thing, you could mount two scopes a red dot, a lazer and your kids Hot wheels cars to this gun and still have room for a pump stowage rack...ok, I'm exagerating, but there is alot of room. All of the machining is very clean and the finish, which is some sort of aluminum blacking, is also nice and dark.
The problem I've always had with these guns, and why I never purchased one before was the ergonomics. If you look at the top edge of the tank and look at how it aligns with the barrel bore, you'll soon see that the tank related to being a VERY high combed stock. Let''s not forget that you can't get that tank under your arm, so this gun sits with "just" a tiny bit of butt plate in your shoulder notch. I ordered Accushot medium rings with my scope to go with this gun.......wont work. I can mount the scope, but it is so low I have to lay my head sideways just to look through the thing...high/ULTRA high mounts and/or a riser is needed for any sort of comfort. I think with the ultra high scope mounting procedure and a butt plate "hook" I will be able to shoulder this gun comfortably, but I will still have some issues due to the acute angle formed by a high scope and a much lower barrel bore.
After alot of pumping I took it to the garage for an initial sight in. I set it up to shoot about 2" low, that gives me a decent start for when I take it out in the yard, and farther. I turned the power all of the way down, the shroud was baffled by the previous owner, but it still is a bit louder than my shrouded B50 on full power....I would say these are quiet as compared to most stock unshrouded PCP's, but I wont say they are totally quiet. I think I can shoot in the yard on low power without many problems from the neighbors. I think this trigger is stock, but isn't bad. Not a crisp trigger, but a clearly defined 2 stage at maybe 2-3 pounds. After a good trigger tune this thing should be pretty good. The 5 shot groups I did in my little 2 car garage are all one holers, can't complain about that, especially since I am having trouble seeing through the scope.
These are just initial impressions, when I get a decent scope mount on this and give it a go out in the yard I will write a more formal review. Oh yea, the grips are turds......replace them, you'll be happy you did.