I currently have a gen 1 Texan 45. I want a Texan SS with the Carbon bottle. medium game. is the 357 the best all around Texan for power and accuracy?
Texan 75 yard accuracy for hunting not target shooting
- Thread starter BayStYat
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Your FPE is going to suffer a bit from the short barrel but not much until you start shooting the heavier slugs.
That being said I get better accuracy with the 308 than 357 I think it might have something to do with the cg of the bullets, in my limited experience the 357 heavies seem to have a hard time getting good groups where as the 308 doesn't seem to be an issue that being said it was still within kill zone groups at 75 yards
I was not shooting off the carbon bottle and it was an older version of the 357
That being said I get better accuracy with the 308 than 357 I think it might have something to do with the cg of the bullets, in my limited experience the 357 heavies seem to have a hard time getting good groups where as the 308 doesn't seem to be an issue that being said it was still within kill zone groups at 75 yards
I was not shooting off the carbon bottle and it was an older version of the 357
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When you say medium game, could you be more specific?
I have Texans in several calibers, .257, .357, .457 and used to have .308 but got rid of it because it was bullet finicky.
One thing I did was rent a rifling lead reamer and make my chambers deeper for the midweight or heavier bullets. I found the factory AirForce chambers are MOST of the problem with the Texans. The chambers are simply too short and if too much of the bullet hangs out in the loading tray accuracy is lost. Note that I got rid of the .308 before I discovered the short chamber issue - reaming it deeper might have fixed it too.
I've found that the .257 with a 85gr NSA BTHP is very accurate and I would comfortable use it on game weighing up to 100 pounds. It shoots 1000 FPS n around 190 FPE and is a tack driver. I also use the NOE cast 72gr and it also is excellent http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=26_603
For .357 I have found the Texan likes the NSA 130gr or a lot of people's favorite the 142gr BTHP. These shot well in my .357 Texan prior to the chamber mod and still shoot well. A friend used this bullet to take a nice 100 lb spike day before yesterday at 50 yards with a lung/heart shot.
But what really shines are either of these two cast bullets in the .357.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=35_578
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=35_590
Both these bullets have delivered smashing performance on 40 pound and up through 200 pound and have been used to take coyote, hogs and deer.
I would note that all my rifles came with the aluminum bottle and long before AF came out with theirs I had bought changed to carbon fiber bottles. So I can shoot at higher pressures if I want but it also requires a hammer spring change. Dyotat100 sells a much better spring than anyone else. The African spring caused me problems and I had to pull them out.
My .457 Texan was reworked by Doug / Dyotat100 and he is the guy that did all the development that AirForce copied in their new system. I will say that it's a monster of an air rifle and loves bullets in the 250 to 300 gr range and I get over 600 FPE but also with accuracy... I have found that if I push up the power above that the accuracy falls off a bit.... But 600 FPE where I can put 4 shots into 1-1/4 at 100 yards is satisfactory for hunting for me.
Note Doug is shooting a 50 cal Texan he built and getting 1 MOA at 200 and 300 yards!
So back again to 'medium game', just what did you have in mind?
I have Texans in several calibers, .257, .357, .457 and used to have .308 but got rid of it because it was bullet finicky.
One thing I did was rent a rifling lead reamer and make my chambers deeper for the midweight or heavier bullets. I found the factory AirForce chambers are MOST of the problem with the Texans. The chambers are simply too short and if too much of the bullet hangs out in the loading tray accuracy is lost. Note that I got rid of the .308 before I discovered the short chamber issue - reaming it deeper might have fixed it too.
I've found that the .257 with a 85gr NSA BTHP is very accurate and I would comfortable use it on game weighing up to 100 pounds. It shoots 1000 FPS n around 190 FPE and is a tack driver. I also use the NOE cast 72gr and it also is excellent http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=26_603
For .357 I have found the Texan likes the NSA 130gr or a lot of people's favorite the 142gr BTHP. These shot well in my .357 Texan prior to the chamber mod and still shoot well. A friend used this bullet to take a nice 100 lb spike day before yesterday at 50 yards with a lung/heart shot.
But what really shines are either of these two cast bullets in the .357.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=35_578
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=35_590
Both these bullets have delivered smashing performance on 40 pound and up through 200 pound and have been used to take coyote, hogs and deer.
I would note that all my rifles came with the aluminum bottle and long before AF came out with theirs I had bought changed to carbon fiber bottles. So I can shoot at higher pressures if I want but it also requires a hammer spring change. Dyotat100 sells a much better spring than anyone else. The African spring caused me problems and I had to pull them out.
My .457 Texan was reworked by Doug / Dyotat100 and he is the guy that did all the development that AirForce copied in their new system. I will say that it's a monster of an air rifle and loves bullets in the 250 to 300 gr range and I get over 600 FPE but also with accuracy... I have found that if I push up the power above that the accuracy falls off a bit.... But 600 FPE where I can put 4 shots into 1-1/4 at 100 yards is satisfactory for hunting for me.
Note Doug is shooting a 50 cal Texan he built and getting 1 MOA at 200 and 300 yards!
So back again to 'medium game', just what did you have in mind?
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great info. I want to get coyotes and hogs. I really want the quieter version. I want to hunt at night.
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What influences me is that even the .357 Texan is really just getting up to the power of a 38 Special. And few hunters would consider that a good game cartridge, they would want at least a .357 Magnum or even better going up to one of the larger Magnums. But we airgunners consider hunting with 'insanely low' power. Honestly, I personally have brain shot hogs with a .25 Marauder and 33.85 pellets - - - at 20 yards. Would I do it ever again? No and I would discourage anyone from doing it too. But I believe you should hunt with the most powerful gun you can and that was why I first bought my .457 Texan. Strangely, after a while for some smaller LESS TOUGH game I went to smaller calibers. There are guys out there who are harvesting deer with .30 pellets (where legal) but I would not, ever as the fine line of not enough lethality on a bad shot is very very high with this. I consider not for the best shot I might hope to get but if I make a bad, slightly off shot that has to do enough to anchor the game. Hogs are tough and I have seen even a .357 Magnum not penetrate the chest gristle of a 190 pound feral hog. And we expect to take them with air rifles? So I would have no problem with a .308 being used for coyotes and similar game but for hogs, the minimum I want is .357 and use it for a head or side heart/lung shot. Just my opinion, and there are others who feel confident with hunting with less FPE from smaller calibers.... My lifetime of hog hunting experience has shown me what works satisfactory
But bigger caliber gives me more flexibility (larger wound cavity, deeper penetration, more chance of exit wound and faster bleed out leading to easier tracking and quicker exsanguination)
One thing I've learned, there is no 'universal best in all situations', especially with our weak airguns.
But bigger caliber gives me more flexibility (larger wound cavity, deeper penetration, more chance of exit wound and faster bleed out leading to easier tracking and quicker exsanguination)
One thing I've learned, there is no 'universal best in all situations', especially with our weak airguns.
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My Texan shooting my cast 286gr HP boolit from a NOE mold at 75yds I cut 4 inches off the barrel and frame using a R&L shroud and a Doug Noble spring and a AAO Gen1 valve and tank first shot at 930fps 2-845 3-816on a 3600psi fill. 
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For me I want the flattest trajectory with adequate fpe. I've been shooting hogs with a .257 condor that produces 190 fpe at the muzzle for the past two years. I have killed 150+ pound hogs at 100+ yards because of the accuracy the gun allows. In all that time I have only failed to recover two. The key is understanding the anatomy of what your aiming at and being able to shoot it there accurately. I am moving up to a .30 caliber because our laws in Texas, i just hope I can find a bullet that will be as accurate as my .257 is.
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And then again a wild hog/bore is just that, wild!
Then time to die is of little to no consequence?
Just like rats?
Not that i oppose to varmint hunting at all! Not by far! Keep the pigs down anyway you can!
It's just that when the switch from powder burners to airguns arrive then somehow "standards" waters way down.
When 357MAG levels are in play with powderburners then something like 25ACP-32ACP is suddenly quite acceptable in airgun power.
Does ehtical hunting gets nulled when an airgun is the veapon?
Then time to die is of little to no consequence?
Just like rats?
Not that i oppose to varmint hunting at all! Not by far! Keep the pigs down anyway you can!
It's just that when the switch from powder burners to airguns arrive then somehow "standards" waters way down.
When 357MAG levels are in play with powderburners then something like 25ACP-32ACP is suddenly quite acceptable in airgun power.
Does ehtical hunting gets nulled when an airgun is the veapon?
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Not in my book. I hunt for food and tradition. I come from a family of hunters. It is a part of who we are. Responsibility comes with the privilege. There are thousands of hunters using sub-sonic loads in PB's. For me, I never did find a load that was anything close to accurate or consistent. That may have changed but I bet you can't google up a sub-moa group using a factory sub-sonic load. I look at it this way, I'm shooting sub-sonics regardless if it is from air, or gunpowder or peanut butter and I want it to be as quite and accurate as possible. That matched up with the BS you have to go through to buy a silencer makes using air a no-brainer to me.
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well for me i live on 4 acres cleared with a few neighbors around. I feel more comfortable shooting my Texan45 at varmit/hogs from my balcony/porch than my powder rifles. Much safer/quieter with air. Im in line for the new ZEUS 72mm. My shooting distance is right at 65 yards.
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