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Review: Talon SS out for an Early Fall Squirrel Hunt     Jim Chapman

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The Airforce Talon SS is the only American manufactured PCP air rifle. With a futuristic design and a load of features such as adjustable power settings, multiple accessory rails, and a detachable high volume airtank/buttstock this gun is worth a look. Lining up a shot, the Talon is the center piece of my travelling hunting rig

I had been looking for a gun I could break down, throw into my pack, and take off with on my motorcycle for the local squirrel woods. I’d shot a Talon previously, and thought it would be the perfect gun. At the SHOT Show I’d met with several of the key players over at the Air Force Booth, and begged a rifle to run through its paces. A couple of months later I was sent a Talon SS to review on the bench and in the field, along with a 4-16x Air Force scope. Taking the rifle down to my basement range I zeroed in and got used to it by sending a couple hundred pellets at a target ten meters away, then made some minor adjustments to the two stage trigger until it was fine tuned for my shooting style. I then started shooting groups with a variety of pellets including; Beeman Crow Magnum, Kodiaks, Ram Jets, Eu Jin, RWS Superdomes, Field & Trophy, Predator Hollow Points, Polymer Tipped, Crosman CPs, and a few others to get a handle on what the gun liked. After narrowing down the field a bit, I next started shooting at low, mid, and high power settings; in the end I found that the three pellets offering the best all around results for various applications were the Superdomes, the Polymer Tipped Predators, and at high power the Eu Jins. Moving outside a couple days later I set up to shoot at 40, 50, or 60 yards. At 50 yards I found that I could get sub half inch groups shooting off a sand bag, and shooting offhand I could consistently throw pellets into the kill zone of a squirrel. Even though it took me a while to find a consistent cheek placement on the combined bottle/butt, the pistol grip and fore stock offered an ergonomic package that was very shootable from either a standing or prone position.

Thick folliage makes for pleasent, but difficult conditions.

Once I felt confident in the gun and my ability to shoot it well, I started to take the gun out to hunt rabbits, squirrels, pigeons, and starlings and found it to be just what I hoped for …. a compact full power takedown carbine that allowed me to tune the performance for various hunting conditions. The utility of this compact package was underscored on a recent hunt; I put the Talon SS, my camo, some pellets, binoculars, and a bottle of water into my pack, jumped on my bike and rode out to a friends farm about an hour south of town. It was a nice fall day, beautiful weather with blue skies and cool enough to be comfortable. The foliage was heavy on the trees, which always makes for a challenging hunt. Dressing up and putting the gun together, I slowly worked my way through the forest until I heard nuts crashing down to earth. Scanning the ground, I located a spot with fresh cuttings and started looking through the canopy until I saw a branch shaking in a manner inconsistent with wind motion. After a few minutes, I say a bushy tail swinging over the side of a large horizontal branch, then a squirrelly little head peering over the side. Bringing the Talon up, I zoomed the scope to 12x and centered him in the crosshairs. When the pellet made contact, the squirrel back flipped of the limb and came crashing down a few yards away stone dead. I worked my away along for another hour before bagging a second squirrel, filling my self imposed limit. On several of the small properties I shoot over, I keep my bag down to 2-3 squirrels as I’d rather have several short hunts per season than a couple outings with big numbers. At the end of my morning shoot, I peeled off the camo insect suit, broke down the gun, packed everything away and stopped by the farmhouse for a cup of coffee before the ride home. The Talon SS is an accurate and powerful rifle, which due to the high volume reservoir is a very handy rig to travel with. Fill it once and you good for a weekend hunt. To date I’ve used this compact carbine to take many rabbits and squirrels, but have found it effective on larger game such as raccoon and turkey. I personally appreciate a traditional rifle with beautiful wood; but for a gun that is accurate, powerful, versatile, and an excellent value it is hard to deny that this gun has a lot going for it.

Look for cuttings to steer you to your quarry.

The combination of accuarcy, power, compactness, and low report make this an excellent squirrel gun!

But this gun is also strong medicine for larger game as this gobbler found out.