Taipan Worth the trouble

Picked up this used Taipan Veteran Long .22 for a good price a week back.
20240418_164329.jpg

Had some issues with accuracy. First I noticed there was clipping, turns out the shroud was bent. Cut the shroud off and modified it to work as an LDC, no more clipping.
20240420_211944.jpg

Thought cool problem solved. Nope still terrible accuracy and looks like spiraling. Pulled barrel and pushed a pellet through and wow terrible burrs at the crown.
20240421_203612.jpg

Got convinced to try out recrowning it myself instead of sending it out. Turns out it was well worth the effort and trying it!
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Before "accuracy"
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After accuracy
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So today I finalized everything with my tune. Averaging around 37fpe with 18gr and 22gr. The guns not picky now. Tried slugs but not worth trying further.
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4 different pellets and 4 consecutive sub MOA groups at 50yds. Gotta say don't think I've had a gun be not pellet picky as this besides my Evol Mini. Anyways, even after the stress and frustration of what looked to be a new gun with no marks and a Taipan with these troubles, in the end it was worth it. And actually really satisfying to be able to say I made it this way from being a turd to start off with lol now to get back to just shooting and enjoying airguns instead of the tuning and tinkering.
 
Nice job Dillon.

I agree, for a solid and dependable pellet shooter, the first gen Veterans are near the top. Add in the trigger, and the short oal, and the shot cycle, and the OEM hushing, and the never shifting poi, and the non-mechanical magazines, and the anti-double feed, and the ease of maintenance and the reasonable price for all that...the Veteran, for what it is, can't be beat.

Yours came with problems that are rare in a Vet, but you got it shooting like they usually do now.
 
Picked up this used Taipan Veteran Long .22 for a good price a week back.
View attachment 458636
Had some issues with accuracy. First I noticed there was clipping, turns out the shroud was bent. Cut the shroud off and modified it to work as an LDC, no more clipping.
View attachment 458629
Thought cool problem solved. Nope still terrible accuracy and looks like spiraling. Pulled barrel and pushed a pellet through and wow terrible burrs at the crown.
View attachment 458630
Got convinced to try out recrowning it myself instead of sending it out. Turns out it was well worth the effort and trying it!
View attachment 458631
Before "accuracy"
View attachment 458632
After accuracy
View attachment 458635
So today I finalized everything with my tune. Averaging around 37fpe with 18gr and 22gr. The guns not picky now. Tried slugs but not worth trying further.
View attachment 458637
4 different pellets and 4 consecutive sub MOA groups at 50yds. Gotta say don't think I've had a gun be not pellet picky as this besides my Evol Mini. Anyways, even after the stress and frustration of what looked to be a new gun with no marks and a Taipan with these troubles, in the end it was worth it. And actually really satisfying to be able to say I made it this way from being a turd to start off with lol now to get back to just shooting and enjoying airguns instead of the tuning and tinkering.
that crown sure turned out nice, how did you fix it?
 
Picked up this used Taipan Veteran Long .22 for a good price a week back.
View attachment 458636
Had some issues with accuracy. First I noticed there was clipping, turns out the shroud was bent. Cut the shroud off and modified it to work as an LDC, no more clipping.
View attachment 458629
Thought cool problem solved. Nope still terrible accuracy and looks like spiraling. Pulled barrel and pushed a pellet through and wow terrible burrs at the crown.
View attachment 458630
Got convinced to try out recrowning it myself instead of sending it out. Turns out it was well worth the effort and trying it!
View attachment 458631
Before "accuracy"
View attachment 458632
After accuracy
View attachment 458635
So today I finalized everything with my tune. Averaging around 37fpe with 18gr and 22gr. The guns not picky now. Tried slugs but not worth trying further.
View attachment 458637
4 different pellets and 4 consecutive sub MOA groups at 50yds. Gotta say don't think I've had a gun be not pellet picky as this besides my Evol Mini. Anyways, even after the stress and frustration of what looked to be a new gun with no marks and a Taipan with these troubles, in the end it was worth it. And actually really satisfying to be able to say I made it this way from being a turd to start off with lol now to get back to just shooting and enjoying airguns instead of the tuning and tinkering.
Love the way you stuck with it and made it right… 🙏
 
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Nice job Dillon.

I agree, for a solid and dependable pellet shooter, the first gen Veterans are near the top. Add in the trigger, and the short oal, and the shot cycle, and the OEM hushing, and the never shifting poi, and the non-mechanical magazines, and the anti-double feed, and the ease of maintenance and the reasonable price for all that...the Veteran, for what it is, can't be beat.

Yours came with problems that are rare in a Vet, but you got it shooting like they usually do now.
Thanks Cole, yes they are. Even with all the new guns with fancy features and all that the Taipans have stood the test of time against them all. I'd been looking for a higher powered gun for awhile off and on nothing serious. Knew when I would see it I would know. And I did. I'm glad to have one again. This one will be staying and paired with my Evol Mini I should be set for a very long time. And yeah definitely wasn't expecting these issues whatsoever, but was able to fix them and now I have more of a sense of pride in it.
 
I have yet to find a slug that will work worth a darn in my CZ barreled guns.
H&N 21gr .218 do ok in it but not worth the time and effort to further explore for how well the pellets are shooting. I'm sure if I tried a bunch of different ones I'd find one as there is essentially no choke on this barrel but don't think I want to do that
 
I have yet to find a slug that will work worth a darn in my CZ barreled guns.
I don't think that is indicative of any inherent problem with the CZ barrel. When you consider how different the ballistic features are between slugs and pellets, it is not surprising that many great pellet barrels do not handle slugs well.
 
Picked up this used Taipan Veteran Long .22 for a good price a week back.
View attachment 458636
Had some issues with accuracy. First I noticed there was clipping, turns out the shroud was bent. Cut the shroud off and modified it to work as an LDC, no more clipping.
View attachment 458629
Thought cool problem solved. Nope still terrible accuracy and looks like spiraling. Pulled barrel and pushed a pellet through and wow terrible burrs at the crown.
View attachment 458630
Got convinced to try out recrowning it myself instead of sending it out. Turns out it was well worth the effort and trying it!
View attachment 458631
Before "accuracy"
View attachment 458632
After accuracy
View attachment 458635
So today I finalized everything with my tune. Averaging around 37fpe with 18gr and 22gr. The guns not picky now. Tried slugs but not worth trying further.
View attachment 458637
4 different pellets and 4 consecutive sub MOA groups at 50yds. Gotta say don't think I've had a gun be not pellet picky as this besides my Evol Mini. Anyways, even after the stress and frustration of what looked to be a new gun with no marks and a Taipan with these troubles, in the end it was worth it. And actually really satisfying to be able to say I made it this way from being a turd to start off with lol now to get back to just shooting and enjoying airguns instead of the tuning and tinkering.
Nice job on the crown. Like the look with out the shroud, might do that to the Mutant.
,
 
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Amazing work Dillon! I'm surprised you cleaned that up that nice with just the crowning trick. I for sure thought you'd need to use some small files to cut those burrs out of there. They looked so folded back
Thanks man! Trust me I was shocked also. It took me at least 15-20min of it actually on the barrel with at least 10 times changing it the polish. I did expect to try a pick or small file of some sort to try to do it but just kept at it and lucked put lol
 
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