Taipan Mutant

"Verve"Could one of your guys please share the picture(s) of the mutant's baffles?
This guy posted pics of them in his review:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/thread/1432336761/Taipan+Review

I was looking for a pic too to save me opening my shroud. I was dying to see what made it so much quieter than my other air guns. I'm not sure if that guy's pics are the latest version though. I was suprised at how ordinary they look but there is at least one piece missing. When I look through the hole at the back, I can see a silver perforated disk as if it has large vent holes. I couldn't see that in his photos so it might be an older version or something.

If anyone has opened their mutant shroud and taken pics, I'd like to see them too. If nobody has them, I will open mine and post pics. 

I think there might be more to it than just a good shroud for making the Mutant quiet. A Career 707 is louder even when the power wheel is turned to the minimum (so less power is being put out than the Mutant) and an 8" x 1.5" LDC is attached which suggests that valve efficiency and breach design plays a part too. 
 
Wild West got back to me on the stock screw hole thing and said that the manufacturer told them it is "within tolerance" (or something) and won't effect accuracy. I beg to differ on that. I've seen first hand how even turning a screw slightly too tight will shift the poi. If screws are boring away the wood on day one, well it's fairly obvious what comes next... There is a reason why people pillar bed their stocks....

Either way, Wild West said they would exchange it for a stock with round screw holes for me if I like. I'm going to take them up on their kind offer as non-round screw holes make me feel dirty and ashamed. 

I report on how the replacement stock measures up but it is good to see them fixing my issue despite the manufacturers less enthusiastic approach... 

The original Mutant / Raptor 3 stock design looks identical to the current Vulcan stock. I wonder why they changed it... The Vulcan stock shape is clearly easier on the eye.

 
I only adjusted my trigger stages and switched the cocking lever to the opposite side (thanks to Ernest's video) so far, but there is a really outstanding post on another forum under bullpups and "Taipan" that had these photos of the baffles. I am also very curious what makes the Mutant so silent compared to the Vulcan .25 or the FX Impact .22 or even my Daystate Airwolf. I can literally shoot it (without a pellet) in my living room. I think the sound pitch is very different to others and may sound quieter. To me if I would place a value, I would say the Mutant is a 60, the Airwolf .22 is a 70, the FX Impact .22 is an 80, and the Vulcan .25 is an 80 as well as far as sound levels.







 
fe7565 said:
I am also very curious what makes the Mutant so silent compared to the Vulcan .25 or the FX Impact .22 or even my Daystate Airwolf.

Does that Airwolf have a Huggett? If it does you have peaked my interest. A Huggett equipped electronic daystate .22 is the quietest I have personally witnessed. That Mutant would be ridiculously silent if quieter......
 
"Does that Airwolf have a Huggett? If it does you have peaked my interest. A Huggett equipped electronic daystate .22 is the quietest I have personally witnessed. That Mutant would be ridiculously silent if quieter……"

No, the Airwolf has the factory shroud, it's the MVT model with the chrono inside. But there is certainly something to the Mutant's shroud design. The Vulcan (based on photos because I did not take it apart yet) seems to have very similar shroud internals but much less effective...at least when I compared the .25 Vulcan with the .22 Mutant. 
 
It is ridiculously silent... especially since we are talking about it the way it comes (I.e. no aftermarket ldc). With an additional ldc, people that have that set-up, seem to think of it as the benchmark for quiet air guns. 

The design of the baffles doesn't look to be anything special. It looks different to what I've seen in other shrouds but nothing radical like the Edgun Lelya square shroud design. It has the vent holes already in place I guess. Perhaps it is simply the volume of expansion space. The tube diameter is noticeably wider than my 25 Cricket but then again, the Shorty shroud is...um.... short.

I think there is a lot a I don't really understand about air gun noise. It is clearly more complicated than the size of the shroud and the barrel length. The more efficient guns seem to be generally quieter. 

It would be interesting to test the Mutant shroud on a 22 Vulcan or Wildcat. I think they might use the same threads. That way, we'd know if it's the shroud design or something else. All three guns have comparable power in 22 cal. 


 
"zebra"

I think there is a lot a I don't really understand about air gun noise. It is clearly more complicated than the size of the shroud and the barrel length. The more efficient guns seem to be generally quieter. 


With the Taipan I think the Valve/hammer design has a LOT to do with it. Take notice to how you don't hear the hammer strike like with other guns.
 
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"BigTinBoat"
"zebra"

I think there is a lot a I don't really understand about air gun noise. It is clearly more complicated than the size of the shroud and the barrel length. The more efficient guns seem to be generally quieter. 


With the Taipan I think the Valve/hammer design has a LOT to do with it. Take notice to how you don't hear the hammer strike like with other guns.
I did notice that. No ping, snap or thud. It also gets more shots with the volume of air than my other guns. Inefficient guns are always louder. The Korean guns like the Evanix Max ML get 20 shots per fill in small calibers and are noticeably louder than FX and Kalibrgun etc, even with shrouded barrels. That's the valve design. 

I hope it stays quiet. Some of my other guns seemed to get louder over time. 

 
"Erik"The Vulcan shroud design has changed, your generation Vulcan might not have the same as on the picture you found.

The ones pictured on this thread are Mutant shrouds. Haven't seen pics of Vulcan baffles except what you just posted. 

The new Vulcan baffles look kinda similar though. I wonder why it's louder. Do you know what diameter the tube is?
 
I have both the Vulcan and the Mutant. Vulcan in 25 and the Mutant of course is in 22. I have LDC's for both of them, one from Neil Clague and the other from Talon Tunes. I originally bought the TT LDC for my Vulcan but I still felt like it was a bit loud for my backyard. I figured I'd give Neil a call and sure enough his LDC actually made my Vulcan backyard friendly now.

Since I had the extra LDC, I had Neil make me an adapter end piece for the Mutant so I could rock the TT LDC on it. To be honest, the Mutant stock form was pretty quiet, a lot more quiet than the Vulcan in 25 stock (obviously with more air going through the 25), but with the LDC added to the Mutant, this thing is QUIET! First couple times I thought I had a misfire or something stuck. It IS that quiet! I think the Mutant does a better job of keeping the hammer sound down as well, cuz I don't seem to hear much of that compared to my Vulcan. But man, the addition of the LDC with the already quiet Mutant, it is really mouse fart quiet though.


 
Wild West kindly exchanged my Mutant stock for the black one. I have to say that I think it looks a lot better in black to me:





It's still not going to win any design awards and the inletting is badly cut but it feels better to hold (smoother grip) and you don't have to look at that wood and think "why!" anymore. Strangely, I think the styling might even be growing on me. 

They are are both made out of wood btw. The black is just painted. 
 
I agree with your choice. But, in any case, it is a matter of personal taste...
WWAG know what good customer service is all about! Two weeks ago I ordered two magazines for my Shorty from another vendor and my emails, simply asking for an order update, have not been answered! Even an email telling me it will take the mags two more months to be delivered would be better than no answer at all!
 
"cilami"I agree with your choice. But, in any case, it is a matter of personal taste...
WWAG know what good customer service is all about! Two weeks ago I ordered two magazines for my Shorty from another vendor and my emails, simply asking for an order update, have not been answered! Even an email telling me it will take the mags two more months to be delivered would be better than no answer at all!
I would agree with that. WW were good to me with this purchase. I would recommend them to a friend.

It's definitely not good when you order something, give someone your hard earned money and then get radio silence. If they are too busy to deal with customers, they should stop taking their money. 
 
"iride"Big tin boat gets a big A+
Its not the baffles of the mutant that makes it so QUIET, Its the way the hammer is designed in the gun.
I went over this on TAG list , Thinking how can this gun be so quiet, I also took the baffles out looking for the secret design.....
Its the gun,
Mike 

Do you mean like an air efficiency thing?

It would make sense as the most efficient guns are usually the quietest. Similarly, the least efficient guns sometimes seem like they are impossible to quiet down. 

When you shoot those foam cleaning pellets, the noise sounds like there is no shroud, even on guns with usually effective baffles like the Cricket. I assume this is because the air is not used efficiently. 

Still, it has to be the shroud on the Mutant that makes it quiet because it is way louder if you remove it. 
 
Baffles look similar to my Colibri (which is also a very quiet gun)

My Vulcan has the newer baffles (like my colibri) but it's a lot louder. I think the Vulcan action is very noisy compared to other guns.

I guess the Mutant having a really quiet action and this style of baffle makes for a super quiet gun.

How does the hammer chamber look on the Mutant? The action on my Colibri is very quiet but the hammer is effectively sealed in a chamber in the action (to the point if you block the vent holes on the hammer adjuster it will slow the FPS due to the vacuum slowing the hammer). The Vulcan has a very open hammer setup and is super noisy.

I wouldn't mind trying a Mutant but don't think there's a place for it in my line up. Can't see me ever selling my Colibri and another .22 bullpup may be a waste (he says with a .177 cricket, Colibri and a .25 Vulcan lol)