AirForce Airguns TalonP .25 Carbine: Full Review

Whether you’re looking for an airgun for plinking, target shooting or hunting, AirForce Airguns manufactures it. The company produces high-­performance, pre-­charged pneumatic, single-­shot air rifles. Aesthetically, AirForce products have a sci-­fi-­like appearance that sets them apart. Calibers range from .177 to .50, and the brand enjoys an enthusastic community of hunters due to the accuracy and lethality of its airguns. The TalonP Carbine was introduced in 2020 with many of the core features found in other models, but the package is smaller and quick to set up and use.

Size & Weight

The TalonP Carbine is a pre-­charged pneumatic (PCP) single-­shot air rifle. Lothar Walther makes the 12-inch barrel that is fitted with a 3.675-­inch removable moderator. It only weighs only 2 pounds, 4 ounces, which is light given that result included the weight of the reservoir. The aluminum receiver, moderator housing, and air reservoir contribute to its light weight. The buttpad and triggerguard, however, are steel. The forend and pistol grips are polymer. No sights are included, but an optic can be mounted to the 11mm dovetail rail. The frame’s lower also features an 11mm dovetail for mounting a bipod. An adjustable stock is attached to the reservoir, which gives the TalonP Carbine 4.25 ­inches of length-of-pull flexibility. The overall length of the airgun measured 321/4 inches with the buttstock extended. When collapsed, it was 273/4 inches.

Air power

The TalonP Carbine includes a high-­pressure 213cc reservoir postitioned at the rear of the receiver. The reservoir is held to the rifle’s receiver with a specially designed collar nut that AirForce Airguns’ calls “Spin-­Loc.” The benefit of Spin-­Loc is that the air reservoir can be removed from the airgun without having to de-gas it. Swapping out a low or full tank is as easy as loosening a set screw and the Spin-­Loc collar using the supplied wrenches.

Another smart design feature is the air pressure gauge, which is located on the tank and not on the body of the airgun. You’ll always know how much pressure is in the tank, even if it is not attached to the rifle.

Non-­regulated

The TalonP Carbine is not ­regulated. This is important to consider because the Power Adjustment Wheel is used to adjust the hammer spring tension. In a non-­regulated airgun, the burst of air comes from the air reservoir. When the hammer is released, it hits the valve to release the shot of air. The longer the valve stays open, the more air is released, resulting in increased pellet velocity. By adjusting the Power Adjustment Wheel, you can experiment to find the velocity that achieves the best pellet performance. Generally, a heavy grainweight of pellet will need more air than a lightweight grain of pellet to travel at the same velocity; therefore, a higher setting is needed. The wheel is beneficial for smaller-caliber pellets and lighter grainweights; it’s best to keep these below transonic velocities.

Power Curve

An unintuitive aspect of a non-­regulated PCP airgun is that velocity will increase the more you shoot, despite the reservoir’s air pressure decreasing. The reason is that the hammer continues to strike the valve with the same force, even as the air pressure in the reservoir decreases. Since the pressure is lower in the tank, the strike at the same setting will cause the valve to stay open longer, thereby releasing a greater volume of air and increasing the pellet’s speed. The power curve from a full reservoir of a non-­regulated PCP slowly climbs for about 10 to 15 shots before it steadily comes down. The difference between the starting velocity and its peak velocity can be as much as 100 feet per second (fps).

Modular Components 

What adds a little special sauce to the TalonP Carbine is its modularity. The barrel and air tank are swappable to other calibers and air tank sizes. This allows the shooter to have multiple configurations with one rifle. A longer barrel of the same caliber can improve a pellet’s performance, while a larger-volume tank will increase the quantity of shots you can get out of a single fill. Removal and installation of the barrel is straightforward.

Sound Moderator

While there’s no gunpowder involved, air guns can get as noisy as some rimfires. To reduce the audible signature of the shot, a removable sound moderator is threaded to the barrel. The moderator housing is made of aluminum and consists of foam clover-­leafed baffles, as well as a blast-deflection disc. The barrel is aligned to the same piece of metal as the .30-caiber-size hole of the baffle, so there is almost no chance a pellet could clip the moderator while exiting.

Getting Air

PCP airguns use high-­pressure tanks that require high-­pressure compressors, tanks, or hand pumps to fill. An Air Venturi HPA Compressor was used to fill an Air Venturi Wingman 74 carbon-fiber tank, and then the Wingman 74 was used to fill the airgun reservoir. Using a high-­pressure hand pump to fill this size of air reservoir is doable, but by the 100th pump you will sour on the manual labor. Using a tank like the Wingman 74 has many advantages: It is lightweight and will give you a long day of shooting; it’s top-­off pressure is 4,500 psi, while the top-­off pressure of the TalonP Carbine air reservoir is 3,000 psi. Even when shooting a lot, rarely did we go below 2,000 psi in the Wingman 74. Small, portable, high-­pressure compressors are helpful but are designed to fill on-­board air reservoirs only and not tanks such as the Wingman. They work well when you only fill a reservoir occasionally.

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Airgun Shooting Tips

Airguns are unique and require different handling and maintenance than firearms. Do not dryfire an air gun; slamming the hammer onto the plunger with a pellet in it is harsh on the airgun. The system relies on the pressure created with a pellet in the bore to tame the violent jarring of the hammer hitting the valve.

Do not use gun oil as a lubricant; use only dry lubricants or those designed for airguns. Gun oils can destroy seals. Unlike firearms, only a small dab of dry lube on the valve and on the top of the barrel near the breech is needed. Airguns need very little cleaning because carbon is not mucking everything up. Finally, only use pellets designed for air rifles, and no copper jacketed projectiles.

For a pellet’s best performance, keep the velocity below the transonic speeds. When a pellet hits transonic, it becomes destabilized. This may affect its accuracy and make it more susceptible to the effects of wind.

Performance

The TalonP Carbine has the ergonomics and feel of a super lightweight short-­barreled AR-­15, thanks to its adjustable buttstock. The rifle was quick to deploy, maneuver and get on target. It’s also easy to shoot standing, kneeling or seated. The angled grip is thin, but is still a comfortable width. It has enough texture for a non-­slip hold. The trigger is grooved, which gives it a platform for the user’s trigger finger pad. The pull weight measured at a predictable 2 pounds.

The trigger safety resets with each shot, so when firing a quick string of shots you’ll have to find the rhythm of pushing the safety lever forward. G&A’s only gripe with the TalonP Carbine was that the safety could have been a little larger. It would give a trigger finger more surface area to push it forward. If you have larger fingers, however, this would most likely not be an issue.

Since there is no magazine, pellets are loaded individually by pushing the cocking handle forward, shoving a pellet in the chamber, and pulling the handle rearward into the left or right notch. The handle is centered over the chamber and accessed with either hand. The ergonomics and functionality of the TalonP Carbine are well thought out and make its operation with either hand easy without needing to change your shooting grip or having to pull your eye from behind the optic. The port is plenty wide to feed the pellet with two fingers.

Velocity & Accuracy

For testing, an EOTech Vudu 1-­6x24mm first focal plane (FFP) scope, featuring the SR1 MRAD reticle, was mounted. This was accomplished with a UTG Universal Dovetail to Picatinny/Weaver Adapter.

The first experiements with the hammer-spring tension were done by firing 10 shots of the H&N Slug HP at max setting 13 on the horizontal window, and then dropping the spring rate every three lines. We found the usable settings were 13 through 7. On setting 6, the chronograph couldn’t register the first few pellets because the velocity was too low. The velocity average for setting 13 was 873 feet per second (fps); setting 10 was 697 fps; and setting 7 was 639 fps. The difference between levels 13 and 7 was 303 fps, a rather large gap.

Group size varied by power setting. Setting 10 to 13 was the sweet spot and provided the best groups. On setting 7, the groups opened considerably with a point of impact shift 2 ­inches to the right and 1 ­inch low.

Shooting 10 shots for velocity data highlighted the power curve that is indicative of an unregulated airgun. The first shot was 100 fps slower than the last. Despite the difference, the point of impact remained similar and didn’t shift until the 20th shot. Then, it dropped considerably below the group. It’s always good to know how many repeatable shots a PCP airgun is capable of before accuracy is lost.

When testing accuracy with the three pellet types, the dial was turned to setting 10. Five, five-­shot groups were fired. Groups were shot at 25 yards and the air reservoir was filled to 3,000 psi after five shots. All pellets performed equally with this setting and returned an average group size close to 1-­inch. The H&N Slug was the most consistent; all but four groups were 1-­inch and one was .9 ­inch. Other pellets’ groups varied by .6 inch.

Sound

The moderator worked well. Without the moderator, the shot sounded more like a subsonic .22 LR round. With the moderator, noise dropped to suppressed subsonic .22 LR levels. (It sounded akin to a wimpy nail gun.)

Summary

G&A has tested several PCP airguns, but the TalonP Carbine is a great blend of size, weight and caliber for a utility airgun. Its compact length and slim width is beneficial for keeping it close by in a home or stowed in a small space. You won’t be tripping over it or having to move it around due to it’s length, weight, or bulk, but it works great for hunting or dispatching small pests. Aside from being a handy tool, it’s a lot of fun to shoot.

Airforce TalonP Carbine

• Type: Single shot, PCP
• Cartridge: .25
• Capacity: 1
• Barrel: Lothar Walther, 12 in.
• Overall Length: Adj. LOP, 27 to 32.25 in.
• Weight: 2 lbs. 4 oz.
• Finish: Black
• Trigger: 2 lbs. 4 oz.
• Sights: None
• Air Tank Volume: 213 cc
• MSRP: $840
• Manufacturer: AirForce Airguns, 877-247-4867, airforceairguns.com