Artemis pp700sa Pistol Review

[bthurman]

Always check

Evening, I picked up a PP700SA used a week ago, A bit about PP700SA. Came with Huma regulator, JSAR breach block, extra carbon fiber barrel with DonnyFL adapter.
Filled it up and while it shot good there was a leak that would drain the tank in an hour and it did not sound right. So did a break down, first off you can see tool marks on tank back were they screwed off before apparently to install regulator. Went thru changed all orings set huma, then I removed the constant valve as they call it. I was well surprised all of the Belleville washers were rusted along with rust on the valve stem and nut. The gun was directly imported in March from manufacture. 

Short of it is replaced the Belleville washers, cleaned valve assembly, set reg, changed o-rings, set up hammer spring. Now she shoots ok have not had a chance to chrony but it sounds much better than before. But I am still plagued with a slow leak, albeit it is taking about 2 hours now to leak down. All mating surfaces are good, the pistol fires fine just cant stop that slow leak. 

 

[MonsterMaxx]

I have two of these, one from Krale, one from Mrodair.



Break it down again and check the o-ring surface inside the breech. My breech was all buggered up. Got a hone from amazon and honed it, now it'll hold air for many months. Still not perfect, but a lot better than the gusher that arrived from mrodair.



Got Huma regs for mine too. And the Unlimited Engineering guided breech block.

LDC & adaptor from David.

They work pretty good.

 

[bthurman]

Did you leave the big o-ring out on the rear of the tank like Huma states, I have the Huma in but anm not sure about leaving that o-ring out and unscrewed a little.

Any thoughts or issues you are aware of?

 

[MonsterMaxx]

I did it according to Huma's instructions. No probs really. They do leak a little, by that I mean that if many months go by between fills they will be low on air. Nothing to really worry about, but both do leak a little. Not sure if this is huma related or just the nature of the beast.



My disappointment in them is just their nature, single shot, long and heavy, low quality. A friend has the Ataman AP16 and I really like it, but that's a $1k gun too. Sigh, get what you pay for I guess. My PP700sa pistols all have many times what the gun costs invested and that doesn't account for tunes or my own time. The Ataman shoots well right out of the box.

 

[mmahoney]

Apparently, you need to take the o-ring off to allow the regulator to breath. I too was skeptical about leaving the air cylinder unscrewed slightly, but as soon as the cylinder is pressurized, I can't tell the difference and there are no leaks.

 

[bthurman]

Thanks for the info, kinda one of those goes against everything you learned about high pressure things.

Monster Maxx nice setup, where did you get your ldc from? Looks good on the front, does it do a good job on calming down the bark?
I agree I bought mine used but unfortunately the mod they got into and did not complete and things were way out of wack. Getting them to a state were I can start getting numbers and making adjustments. Thank you for verify mmahoney on the air tank setup I will give it a try. I replaced all the friggin o-rings checked and rechecked surfaces, hoping this final setup will resolve my slow leak, Initially would drop in a an hour then got it down to 2 hours, then I managed to keep 100bar in it over night it has gone down but it seems to be holding at just above zero, So I am thinking with back oring in causing valve or seal to stay open and piss out air because regulator not venting?.

Mond boggling, spending more than I have into the pistol, but to far to turn back now. Thanks you folks for the insight

 

[MonsterMaxx]

Yes, that's David's LDC (Rocker1 on GTA). I think it works great and is very light. Fits right on the Ataman too and makes it totally quiet.

 

[mmahoney]

I've heard that guns that use fill probes have a tendency to get dirt or grime in the fill valve that can cause a leak. You'll know if the fill valve is leaking if you press your fingers over the two fill holes on the cylinder and keep them pressed there for several seconds. If you feel or hear air pushing out from under your fingers, you will have confirmed the leak.

I also took a look at the hammer spring setting I have my gun set to. It looks like it is screwed in so that only 1 - 1.5 threads is showing. Combined with a 105 BAR regulator setting, I'm getting roughly 35 shots on a 210 BAR fill at almost exactly 12 FPE.

 

[Clazy]

Nice review and very thorough! That will definitely help some folks who are skeptical of the low price point.



I’ve had the .177 version for about a year and a half and have been really lukewarm about it until recently and it was entirely due to the regulator creep. Accuracy was pretty good out of the box and wasn’t pellet picky at all, but it really blew me away after touching up the crown and giving the bore a little attention with J-B. I put a little 4x crossbow scope on it at first and it looked really well proportioned but because of how well it was grouping, I just had to see what it would do with a bigger 3-9x sitting on top. Shockingly it produced quite a few MoA groups at 25 yards with everything from JSB domes to Polymags and even RWS Supermag wadcutters. After some practice, anything larger than ½” at that distance (~2 MoA) was pretty unusual unless it was the wadcutters getting pushed by the wind.



However the reason I originally got it was to be a compact pesting rig and the regulator creep was a complete deal breaker. Meanwhile others began installing aftermarket regs to unleash its potential but I was too cheap and too stubborn to do it. I went back into the regulator a couple of times to study it and see if I could remedy the problem. Eventually I got it to stop creeping but the velocity had a gradual upward slope increasing by 50fps over the full string. I managed to get it down to about 20fps with very, very tiny adjustment of the hammer spring preload. On other regulated setups I’ve worked on, usually it’s really easy to find the velocity plateau and just back off until it’s about 95-97% of that maximum, and the result is a very stable velocity and a few useful shots below the regulator’s setpoint. Not so with this one for some reason. Then one Saturday I committed to spending some time at the chronograph and through trial and error I found a really fine hammer spring setting that helps it hold a good ES. Given how persnickety the adjustment was, I was concerned it might drift over time, even though the adjustment nut was threadlocked. But I’m pleased to say it’s been a few weeks now and about 2000 pellets through it and the string is rock solid.



Overall I’d rank it among the best values on the market. Certainly so for the tinkerers among us. For those expecting a great performer out of the box, you’re playing the lottery. That’s not really a knock against it. Anything that packs this many features into the price point will have similar issues on average.

 

[steve-l]

I have several thread comments in the archive on this pistol. I was attracted to this pistol by the similarity to the Thompson Contender and its forward balance. In that, I was not disappointed. I have bought two. They both had serious issues. The first was the regulator leaking and the second was numerous other leaks. However, once resolved these pistols are super. I have had mine for several years now. They are very accurate out to 100 meters. They have excellent triggers. I consistently shoot MOA or better. I did not have to replace the regulator. The factory design is excellent and does not need modification. The best part is that I get 40 shots per air charge. All of the issues I have had were quality related and once resolved their performance is unsurpassed and well worth their cost.

 

[steve-l]

Hi

How can I lubricate and clean my artemis pp700sa?

The only cleaning requirement is the barrel and then maybe once a year. Use only Ballistol and swabs, no brush. The only lube needed is a, very occasional, drop of silicon oil on the swinging door O ring. You should keep in stock on the shelf spare O rings for every one used in the gun and always lube every O ring upon changing them or at reassembly. Never use petroleum based lube on O rings.

 

[Dzn9829]

The only cleaning requirement is the barrel and then maybe once a year. Use only Ballistol and swabs, no brush. The only lube needed is a, very occasional, drop of silicon oil on the swinging door O ring. You should keep in stock on the shelf spare O rings for every one used in the gun and always lube every O ring upon changing them or at reassembly. Never use petroleum based lube on O rings.

Thank you

 

[Dzn9829]

The only cleaning requirement is the barrel and then maybe once a year. Use only Ballistol and swabs, no brush. The only lube needed is a, very occasional, drop of silicon oil on the swinging door O ring. You should keep in stock on the shelf spare O rings for every one used in the gun and always lube every O ring upon changing them or at reassembly. Never use petroleum based lube on O rings.

One other thing is that I use ballistol and swab for inside of the barrel right?

 

[steve-l]

One other thing is that I use ballistol and swab for inside of the barrel right?

Yes. Do not forget to swab dry. Anything left in the barrel will throw off the pellets for a few shots if you don't.

 

[Dzn9829]

Yes. Do not forget to swab dry. Anything left in the barrel will throw off the pellets for a few shots if you don't.

Got it thank you