TalonDor .257 takes it's 3rd Coyote @ 120 yards!

I've said it before and I will continue to say it, the .257 caliber is such a accurate, fun and devastating round for target shooting and hunting.  Short or long range.  In this story, I will introduce not only the TD257's 3rd coyote but also a new Swage Bullet maker named Nick at Nielson Specialty Ammo.

THE GUN (TD257):  For those not familiar already with this air gun, the TD 257 started life as a Airforce Talon .22 caliber airgun.  I then bought a 24" .22 cal barrel then switched it shortly thereafter to a .25 cal pellet shooter.  Now this is back when the .25 wasn't even popular or in the hands of the general public.  After converting to a 24" barrel 25 caliber air gun, I soon bought a Condor valve from Air Force and thoroughly enjoyed the boost in power.  Many years later, the gun sat on the garage shelves for many reasons.  The main reason being the accuracy was not consistent enough for me.  In comes Doug Noble over on the TAG forum and he custom machined my guns internal parts along with the installation of a TJ Enterprises 26-5/8" barrel in .257 caliber.  Put all of the above info together and VOILA, I now have what I call the TD .257 (TalonDor .257).  Talon frame with a custom "Condor" valve by Mr. Noble with a .257 barrel.

Now, on to the highest praises.  With this kill, my absolute love for my air gun confirms why I think the 257 is such a accurate, devastating and fun round while using air power.  This rifle has hit a coke can at 446 yards (over a quarter mile) and was what I believe the FIRST to do this.  It has scrambled raw eggs sitting on golf tees at 175 yards.  It has decimated small colonies of ground squirrels and jack rabbits.  It has VIDEO posted half MOA groups at 160 yards.  And with this kill, it has now taken 3 coyotes.  The 257 continues to impress me after all these years and there is no other small bore air powered round quite like it!

THE AMMO, THE MAN:  Now, for those of you that follow me and my AIRVENTURES, you know that with this gun I shoot a variety of self cast slugs.  One being the very popular Lyman 257420 which is custom hollow pointed.  Every now and again, I get to test new slugs.  As of lately, I've had the pleasure of shooting some new to me, SWAGED slugs by Nick at Nielson Specialty Ammo or http://nielsenspecialtyammo.com/.  Nick contacted me via one of my favorite air gun forums and offered to send me quantities of .357 and .257 custom swaged slugs.  Being a sucker for new ammo, I could not and would not say no.  Nick owns a trapping company out of CA and has always been a shooter of various powder burners and used to reload most ammunition he shot. He got into PCP's when he needed a solution for putting down animals he trapped. As he got further into Air guns, Nick noted a serious lack in accuracy with over the counter lead ammo for big bore airguns.  He started out casting and then learned about the swagging process which he liked a lot.  Diving right in, he purchased a Corbin hand press to learn the process.  Shortly after he bought a hydraulic press and many dies, punches and related equipment.  Nick spent over a year developing his craft and doing research and testing on various slug designs.  I have recently been giving Nick feedback and evaluating his slugs.  Which leads me to this kill.  Nick recently sent me some 77.3 gr Rebated Boat Tail HP's that I found to have some serious potential and asked him to remake them at 79 gr instead.  Being a swagged projectile, the maker quickly has the ability to make the projectiles heavier or lighter by simply adjusting a die.  Longer per caliber makes it heavy and the reverse for a shorter bullet.  Nick has some pretty exciting ideas for projectiles that show great promise and will be available for retail.  I won't let all the cats out of the bag and save future info on his slugs for future post.  Lets take a pictorial look at some of the slugs and targets from previous test sessions.  These pics show how much time and detail goes into the testing sessions to find out what works.  These are not all but just a few:

THE SHOT:  I arrived at a location that I haven't been too in over a year but driving by frequently, I had seen a coyote or two and rabbits in the distance before.  When I parked my truck, my wife called me as she usually does 1st thing in the morning.  As we talked, I exited the truck to start setting up to target shoot.  I gathered paper targets and other miscellaneous items I use to target shoot.  I hung up with my wife and went to grab one of the 1st Airguns to shoot for the day.  On the way around my truck, I quickly spotted 2 coyotes trotting by in the distance.  I grabbed the TD257 from the gun case in the back seat and both of the yotes heard me rustling around in my truck and decided to STOP and see what I was doing.  When I removed the gun from its case, I adjusted the power wheel up to 4-12 (REALLY HIGH FOR MY GUN.  NORMALLY IT SITS ON PW 4-4 USING THE LYMAN 257420's at 1010 fps).  As my heart was racing, I grabbed one of the NEW 79 gr RBT/HP's and quickly slammed it in the gun.  I visually ranged the coyote at 100-110+ yards and decided to hold the cross hairs on top of the bigger coyotes spine and the 1st lower mil-dot (120 +- yards) on his chest.  The 2 coyotes started trotting off aimlessly and I soon gave them a loud bark!  The bigger one stopped and looked in my direction PERFECTLY broadside.  I lost sight on the other yote due to the nearby shrubbery.  At this moment, I squeezed the trigger and quickly heard the muzzle bark then the infamous THWACK which sounded like it hit a little bone.  At the point of the shot, I could see the 79 gr RBT HP slug fly and curve right into the coyote in slow motion.  The coyote yelped, spun twice and bit at his shoulder.  He then ran up the nearby hillside and at this point, I thought it was a bad hit and the coyote was going to get away.  I was so extactic to see the whole thing unfold like a movie, in slow motion.  As the coyote ran up the hill, it stumbled twice and at that point, I knew the coyote had been hit well and it started struggling to keep pace.  Soon after, the coyote fell and tumbled and when it fell, it completely stopped moving RIGHT at the moment it dropped.  It was dead while running.  I grabbed my Leupold range finder and ranged the exact bush the coyote was standing right next to at the shot and when I saw "120 yards", I just about yelped as loud as the coyote did......lol!  I kept ranging the shot and every time it read, "120".  This was the very 1st shot with Nick's 79 gr RBT/HP slugs and at that point, I hadn't even tested them yet.  I just loaded and kept the faith that basically, 2 grains heavier would somewhat still have the same trajectory as the lighter ones.  Needless to say, the shot hit the coyote in the lungs/heart on its RIGHT shoulder and exited the LEFT one.  The entrance was a very small hole and the exit was about 3/8".  The entrance hole was perfectly placed and square in the shoulder and the exit shoulder had a exit hole lower than centered due to me shooting slightly downward.  I was hoping the slug stayed in the coyote but it did not.  I was planning on recovering it.  To this day, I have yet to recover many slugs from game animals. Most completely penetrate as this one did.

Later, I set up my new Caldwell chrony and began to test the same exact bullet for muzzle speed.  I was amazed that the slug was traveling 910 fps with the chrony set up 6 feet from the muzzle for 145 FPE!  BC is still untested as of yet because the slugs are in their infant state but, being a RBT projectile with a pretty slick ogive, they retained enough downrange fps/fpe to totally penetrate a large male coyotes chest 120 yards away and cause massive trauma!  More info on these slugs to come!

Stay Tuned!

Tofazfou