Artemis pp700sa Pistol Review

 



Artemis pp700sa

Compared to other PCPs I’ve owned.

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Aesthetics: 4 / 5 The Artemis is one of the better looking pistols out there.

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Fit and Finish: 2 / 5 The pistol has several blemishes. The blemishes had been touched up before I received the pistol. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest as I’ve added a few scuffs myself that I’ve needed to touch up as the gun has gained experience in the field. Aside from a cheap feeling plastic grip, the materials of the gun feel quality.

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Accuracy: 3 / 5 I mounted my March 3-24x42 to the dovetails on the top of the gun and fired 10 different pellets that were all 14.3 grains or less in weight. Here are the results:

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There isn’t any real significant difference between the top pellers of Predator GTO, JSB Express, Air Arms Falcon, or JSB RS. When zeroed at 11 yards (10 m) at 10 FPE, each pellet gives a nice predictable trajectory with ½ inch drop at 23 yards, 1 inch at 26 yards, and 1.75 inchs at 30 yards which is the max pesting distance I use.



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Trigger: 3 / 5 The trigger is adjustable and came to me very stiff and with a lot of creep. I was able to adjust the first stage to my personal preference (short) and remove the second stage creep by tweaking the adjustment screws. The trigger was still way too stiff for my liking. I was able to easily take the trigger mechanism apart using this YouTube video:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2C_dSnCHZQ



and replace the two seer springs with lighter ones I had left over from a project on another gun. The result is a trigger I am proud of.



Efficiency: 4 / 5 This is a great pistol to pair up with a cheap $40 hand pump from ebay. The cylinder can be filled from totally empty to 200 BAR with only 85 pumps! If tuned to 10 FPE, the pistol uses a hair more than 2 BAR of air per shot. It takes roughly one pump for each shot to fill. It becomes less efficient as the power is increased, but maintains good efficiency for the power output it gives with it’s short barrel.

Reliability/Maintenance: 5 / 5 I’ve had my pistol for nearly 6 months and have had no problems with reliability. I’m confident that I’ll be able to fix any leak that does eventually appear on my own with the extra o-rings provided with gun. The gun is very easy to take apart and work on. My compliments to the engineers at SPA for designing a simple yet highly adjustable gun.

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Unique Features: +1 Adjustability. I still find it hard to believe that SPA has been able to make a $230 pistol with an externally adjustable regulator, hammer spring adjustment, transfer port adjustment and adjustable 2 stage trigger. These features are often not found on rifles costing $1,000+. In fact, I prefer the Artemis pp700sa to the Edgun Leshiy.

Overall impression:

Of all the PCP guns I’ve owned, the Artemis pp700sa pistol is the best value. It is a simple pistol to work on and get experience with PCPs with. It allows for the owner to tune it for a variety of power settings. There are many modifications that can be done to the pistol. I honestly believe it has been the wisest PCP purchase I’ve made to date.

Pro:

Value - For $230 this little guy can’t be beat. I added $140 to the cost of my gun to buy an adapter to add a suppressor (a must in my opinion) and another $100 for a Huma regulator to eliminate the stock regulators creep (a nice modification but definitely not a must).

Ease of adjustability - This gun can be tuned to shoot any way you want it to.

Accuracy - It takes a scope and a bench rest to see how accurate this pistol is. It matches the accuracy of some PCP rifles I’ve owned.

Easy to own- Hand pump friendly and easy to maintain.

Con:

Loud - An adapter to add a suppressor is a must in my opinion. I bought mine for $40 here: Adapter

Regulator- The regulator creeps. On my 10 FPE power tune, the first shot or two were always much lower powered. This wouldn’t be an issue if I only shot paper targets, but my intended use for the pistol is for pesting and the inconsistency of the first couple shots was unacceptable. I purchased a Huma Regulator for about $100 (my preferred regulator provider Altaros doesn’t made one for the Artemis) and eliminated the creep.

Buy this gun if: You are interested in owning an air pistol. Seriously, if you are reading this buy one. You can’t go wrong for the price of admission.

Don’t buy this gun if: You want a quiet pistol out of the box. You’ll have to spend about $40 for an adapter to attach a sound suppressor to the gun.
 
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.
 
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I can't believe I missed this thread until' just now..

Killer review! Thank you! Long story short, I've been following SPA / Artemis P10s, P12s, and P15s for quite some time, 
but it wasn't until' I saw a PP700 kit pop up in the member classifieds did I find out about these pistols.. They're too cool!

I'd been wanting to get a .22 cal PCP pistol forever and a day.. Over the years, checked out a LOT - mostly 10m styles..
Anyways, your comparisons are fantastic, and the info and opinions you gave really gave me a sigh-of-relief..

I have both an Artemis P15 and a PP700S-A heading my way! *Thanks Again Krale*

I figured that if I was going to pull the trigger on the P15, I better throw in a PP700S-A w/ folding-stock also..
I didn't have a clue about them, just that they might make for a cool 'mini-bullpup' if I end up taking on that project.

Anyways.. Thanks again, and I'll be sure to keep following this thread, 
to keep up with Your thoughts, as well as everyone elses'.

I'm sure that 'eventually', I'll end up doing a few of my own reviews for my hand full of rifles - and this pistol too..

Till then..

🙂👍 

Sam -
 
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I just talked to Chris at Krale.. 
My order has been shipped, and it's expected to be here on Monday 2/18/2K19 
I'm soooo stoked! I also chatted with Donny, and he confirmed his suppressor adapter will work, 
so, that's in route to me now too.. The countdown has begun! 😃 

Guys, a few of you have brought up the pressure gauges..

When filling, I don't think I've ever looked at the gauge on my tank..
I always watch the needle on the gun gauge instead. I assumed that this was the 'better' way to go..
Now, I'm starting to have my doubts..

I'll have to double check the gauge reading differences between my tank and a few rifles now..
You guys really have me curious now..

Thanks for that heads up! [One more good thing to inspect / keep in mind]

👍 

Sam -
 
Mine was right on, if you get a bad one can probably fit a huma gauge in there if wanted.


I"m not sure of that. The gun comes with a special socket wrench that turns the gauge for disassembly. I think it is pretty special. The gauge was one of my complaints when I sent it back for repair. I was told last week to expect its return this week..........well, it didn't happen. Still waiting.
 
Mine was right on, if you get a bad one can probably fit a huma gauge in there if wanted.


I"m not sure of that. The gun comes with a special socket wrench that turns the gauge for disassembly. I think it is pretty special. The gauge was one of my complaints when I sent it back for repair. I was told last week to expect its return this week..........well, it didn't happen. Still waiting.


Yeah you may have a point there, but also could be the same as this one? https://www.huma-air.com/huma-pressure-gauge
 
I haven't tested slugs through the barrel, but have my doubts about shooting slugs through it well. Most rifles struggle to shoot slugs accurately. I'm no expert but it seems that shooting slugs requires high velocity and maybe just the right amount of spin. The short barrel of the pistol would seem to make achieving either criteria pretty tough. I'd love someone to jump in who has tested them and show my hypothesis to be wrong, though.