Brocock/BRK BRK Ghost long term

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Franklink

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Sep 3, 2017
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Added another box of slugs to the empty pile this morning and decided to lay these out for a photo.

This is since Sept of 2022. It represents entire tins or boxes shot solely by the Ghost. Shots taken when experimenting with other possible pellets are not here.

There are...
4x500 of the FX .177/10.34
8x200 of the JSB .22/25.4 Monster RD
11x300 of the NSA .20/18.9 slugs
8x500 of the JSB .20/15.89
13x500 of the JSB .20/13.73
I'm totaling that out to 17,400. I'd guess that the testing of various other pellets and slugs would get it closer to 18,000.

I've enjoyed every shot.
PXL_20240403_161759395.jpg
 
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Michael said:
That's fantastic!

Reliability ranks very high on many shooters lists. Have you had to perform any minor maintenance like o-rings/etc?
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Yes, kinda.

The first valve leaked. I was told by the importer that they had a couple leaky valves from the first shipment. I messed up the second valve by monkeying with the valve stem return spring, so it leaked too. The third valve I left as OEM and it has been in the gun since....I dunno, maybe last year around this time? Which is also about when I got the .20 barrel. The vast majority of shots have been with the .20 and this current valve has been good for all that.

I did go into the regulator once, mostly curiosity. I flipped the delrin disc while in there. It didn't change anything about how the regulator performed. It was fine prior and fine after flipping the disc.

No orings have been replaced (other than those that are part of the valve assembly when the whole valve was replaced). Although I noticed that the shroud centering oring seems a bit stretched out the last time I pulled the shroud to do a deep clean on the barrel. That oring doesn't hold air, just centers the shroud.

The Ghost design has very few places to leak, the plenum through the chassis is just a long cylinder, roughly 7/8" in diameter. It COULD leak at the front of the plenum, where the gauges and fill port and regulator all intersect and supply/measure the air in the plenum. The other potential leak point is at the rear of the plenum, where the valve resides. The Ultra Valve in the Ghost is kinda like a faucet cartridge.....in the case of a leak, pull the old valve and put a new one in. Scope doesn't even have to be removed to access the valve.

After the first two valves, it's been a solid and dependable gun. I wouldn't have shot it as much as I have if I didn't enjoy it and trust it.

Edit: just thought to add that it has been shot in some pretty dusty and dirty environments. It has spent hours at the dairy, at my family's feedlots, in the prairie dog fields, and at dry and dusty field target matches. It has not been babied, I really should hit it with some compressed air. A close inspection shows dust buildup all in the cracks and crevices.
 
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This is what I love to see. Fantastic gun and the reliability. How has the POI been on the gun the time you've owned it? Besides pulling gun the barrel and such have you ever had the POI be off? I'm assuming not as I know you don't play games with that also. I wish they had a TP adjuster like all the other BRKs. If so I'd have one probably. I'd have to sell my Evol Mini to do so but don't think I could do that.
 
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Dairyboy said:
This is what I love to see. Fantastic gun and the reliability. How has the POI been on the gun the time you've owned it? Besides pulling gun the barrel and such have you ever had the POI be off? I'm assuming not as I know you don't play games with that also. I wish they had a TP adjuster like all the other BRKs. If so I'd have one probably. I'd have to sell my Evol Mini to do so but don't think I could do that.
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Don’t need a tp adjuster you have the power wheel which probably gives you more than a tp would. My 177 hp👻will go from 19.5 fpe with 13’s to 26 fpe by adjusting the power wheel you could probably do the same with a 22 and 18’s
 
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Dairyboy said:
This is what I love to see. Fantastic gun and the reliability. How has the POI been on the gun the time you've owned it? Besides pulling gun the barrel and such have you ever had the POI be off? I'm assuming not as I know you don't play games with that also. I wish they had a TP adjuster like all the other BRKs. If so I'd have one probably. I'd have to sell my Evol Mini to do so but don't think I could do that.
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It maintains the impact point/scope zero as good as my Vets or my USFT (read PERFECTLY).

Up until last week it had the same scope zero for about a year, since I first got the .20 barrel. It was the same scope zero I'd used for sub20fpe field target all last year. And the only reason I changed it last week was b/c I was tired of utilizing hold UNDERS for the .20 NSA slugs when the hammer wheel was dialed up for them.

So, changed the scope zero to be 30 yards with the .20/18.9 NSA at 910-915 instead of the prior 30 yard zero for .20/13.73 @ 805fps. Shot it with the new zero in a couple sessions, verifying and acquiring dope data for 10-100 yards. This was all in prep for a Ultimate FT match this past Saturday. Realized on Friday night that I hadn't cleaned the barrel in quite a while, so pulled the barrel and disassembled the shroud to make a deep barrel clean easier. This was when I noticed the front centering oring is a bit stretched. Anyway, put it back together on Friday night and drove down to Phoenix and shot the match on Sat afternoon. My score was the second highest overall score (14 shooters), at 32-33fpe using 18.9grain slugs. The highest score was with 34grain slugs, at 980fps, for 72.5fpe. So, less than half the fpe....but I digress. The point I was trying to make is that the Ghost maintained its zero, even after a barrel pull, shroud disassembly, and then reassembly. And that's representative of my experience throughout the entire 19months I've been shooting it.

You mention the Evol Mini. I don't mean this as a comprehensive "EVOL versus Ghost" but generally, the EVOL is a very solid gun, doing what it does, and being completely reliable in that. The common comments about the EVOL not really being a tuner's or tinkerer's rifle seem accurate to me. Heck, I saw an ad recently for one BECAUSE the guy wanted a tinker/tuner gun. With the external adjustments and easy barrel swaps, the Ghost is much more of a chameleon than the EVOL. That doesn't make one of them "better" than the other, just different. Ghost is more apt to please a tinkerer/tuner. EVOL for the "set it and forget it" type of user.
 
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Bud-sc said:
Where did you get the 20cal barrel?? Thanks..
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A good friend machined it for me. So unfortunately the .20 cal barrel for the Ghost/Alpha/Delta Wolf platform is not a commercially available option. I've tried hard to persuade my industry contacts to consider it though. Maybe we'll get the "azrover/franklink" special edition Ghost if they decide to release a .20, lol. (ala Fady Ghost)
 
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Franklink said:
It maintains the impact point/scope zero as good as my Vets or my USFT (read PERFECTLY).

Up until last week it had the same scope zero for about a year, since I first got the .20 barrel. It was the same scope zero I'd used for sub20fpe field target all last year. And the only reason I changed it last week was b/c I was tired of utilizing hold UNDERS for the .20 NSA slugs when the hammer wheel was dialed up for them.

So, changed the scope zero to be 30 yards with the .20/18.9 NSA at 910-915 instead of the prior 30 yard zero for .20/13.73 @ 805fps. Shot it with the new zero in a couple sessions, verifying and acquiring dope data for 10-100 yards. This was all in prep for a Ultimate FT match this past Saturday. Realized on Friday night that I hadn't cleaned the barrel in quite a while, so pulled the barrel and disassembled the shroud to make a deep barrel clean easier. This was when I noticed the front centering oring is a bit stretched. Anyway, put it back together on Friday night and drove down to Phoenix and shot the match on Sat afternoon. My score was the second highest overall score (14 shooters), at 32-33fpe using 18.9grain slugs. The highest score was with 34grain slugs, at 980fps, for 72.5fpe. So, less than half the fpe....but I digress. The point I was trying to make is that the Ghost maintained its zero, even after a barrel pull, shroud disassembly, and then reassembly. And that's representative of my experience throughout the entire 19months I've been shooting it.

You mention the Evol Mini. I don't mean this as a comprehensive "EVOL versus Ghost" but generally, the EVOL is a very solid gun, doing what it does, and being completely reliable in that. The common comments about the EVOL not really being a tuner's or tinkerer's rifle seem accurate to me. Heck, I saw an ad recently for one BECAUSE the guy wanted a tinker/tuner gun. With the external adjustments and easy barrel swaps, the Ghost is much more of a chameleon than the EVOL. That doesn't make one of them "better" than the other, just different. Ghost is more apt to please a tinkerer/tuner. EVOL for the "set it and forget it" type of user.
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Thats awesome to know! Yeah I used to enjoy tinkering and tuning and all that stuff, I now have gotten to the point where I'm a set it and forget it guy. 30fpe on my Evol Mini and my recently acquired Uragan compact I set at 13fpe and both fulfill their roles perfectly. Having one gun do both roles would be nice but then would need to deal with holdover/under for different zeros. Also think that range would be too much for just the hammer wheel. But with your review and others this is the only other airgun I would ever consider getting as they really seem to have nailed this gun. I don't miss the tinkering really but at the same time a gun as simple as the ghost to change things on wouldn't be so much work and rather simple.
 
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Durability wise….

Mine has travelled to New Mexico, Oklahoma, then down into Texas in a soft case. When I got to Textreme it took 5 shots to confirm yardage turret and after the 2 days, in hot, humidity, and rain it got me 1st place.

Off to Utah after that for RMAC and again at sight in it was right on.

Back home to Arizona and another competition…No POI change. ..Off to shoot P dogs in snowflake and longest confirmed DRT was 185 yards.

‘Durable? Hell yes….I love the platform. Very easy to tune, durable, and both of mine shoot great.

We are currently bouncing one again through New Mexico, Texas, and to Louisian…

Tony P
 
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...it has not turned out to be quite what I wanted but I am not getting rid of it, and I keep buying more parts for it...

...I kind of knew this before I even fired it and could send it back for free, but it is just too nice to send back...

...so far, I have spent like $2200 on stuff for it...it makes paying $2200 for the Ghost seem less radical, eh...LoL...

...I guess one could say the Ghost is the FX I have been waiting for...

...maybe the Huben GK1 is what I want...???... :unsure:
 
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Franklink said:
A good friend machined it for me. So unfortunately the .20 cal barrel for the Ghost/Alpha/Delta Wolf platform is not a commercially available option. I've tried hard to persuade my industry contacts to consider it though. Maybe we'll get the "azrover/franklink" special edition Ghost if they decide to release a .20, lol. (ala Fady Ghost)
Click to expand...

...you could add me to a list of people who would buy a .20 cal. barrel kit...my pile of unused Ghost parts is not especially impressive yet...
 
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