My First PCP: RTI Prophet

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Mr_Spock

Member
Sep 7, 2020
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WA, United States
I thought I'd give a quick review of my new Prophet. This is my first PCP so I've got nothing to compare it to, please keep that in mind. New to PCP but have shot firearms for 30 years, I'm 37 already! Yeesh...

Requirements I had: 

High shot count, reliability and easy to maintain/work on and adjust. Bullpup if possible. 

Things I considered:

I'm left handed and my wife is right so whatever I went with had to work for us both.

Of course FX Impact. Had one on pre-order. Read about problems, complexity and that it wasn't really a beginner gun. Still love it, especially the compact. I have a thing for bullpups.

Others I researched: Wildcat, Dreamline, Crown, Brocock Sniper XR, Edgun, Taipan, Uragan and just about every other bullpup out there. It came down to shot count, forward cooking lever, and ambidextrous. That really narrowed it down for us.

Terrible time to get into airguns, everything was backorder! I stumbled upon this Prophet and jumped on it.

It is a .22 cal with the Walther barrel, 500cc carbon tank, plenum and i just added a DonnyFL. Been using a cheap green dot until my Hawke gets here. Still considering a red dot or something similar. Really interested in the 3x and 4x prisims out there. I like small and light. 

Gun is set at 140 bar and hammer spring is in 1.75 turns from flush with the stock. Shooting Crossman Premier rounds. 

I've put about 250 pellets through it so far just breaking it in. Gun shoots great so far. The trigger is fantastic from my point of view coming from firearms. I've shot alot of guns and I havent touched a trigger this good in a long time, if ever. A little take up, solid wall and then a snap, its wonderful and especially considering its a bullpup. The gun is a little heavy at 7.2 pounds without a bipod or scope but you can't expect much from an all metal gun. The check weld definately leaves alot to be desired, there basically isn't a rest, just the metal frame. Maybe something will come up in the aftermarket. Holding the gun is a bit awkward for me with one hand under the fill port or bottle for support. This is not ergonomic when compared to the firearms im used to but I guess its pretty standard for a pcp. Cocking lever works great and is easy to manipulate. Butt plate is square and uncomfortable. Odd design. Make it round RTI! Ive only shot it standing up, i think once on a bench it will be even better but I'm not a huge bench guy.

I've shout about 250 bar worth of air so far. Here is my shout count. 

Started off a little over 300 bar. 

42 shots down to 258 bar ish.

42 shots down to 208 ish.

42 shots down to 170.

18 more took it down to 140 bar. 144 shots from 300 to 140 bar. I took another 12 more shots took and it down to 126 bar. 

So I got 168 shots from 300 bar to 126. Pretty good. I do not have a chronograph so I have no idea what velocity the gun is shooting at. When I received the gun it was at 160 bar and loud as hell. I emailed RTI and they recommended 140 bar and 1.5 turns in for the hammer spring. I did that and noticed a little flutter sound so I tightened it up a bit and wound up at the 1.75 turns in from flush. The note did change a bit once I was off the regulator (louder) and I could hear a slight hiss after each shot. Guessing the plenum was filling back up. It was literally 2 shots after I hit 140 bar. 

Overall pretty darn pleased with the gun. Yeah I wanted something shorter and lighter but with my requirements it doesn't really exist right now. Could it be more comfortable to shoot off hand? Absolutely. I think I got the right gun, at least thats what I'm telling myself! Also picked up a cheap Tuxing compressor. It filled the gun from 150 bar to just over 300 bar in 14 minutes. Maybe I will do another post on it.

Anyway, thanks for reading. There isn't a ton out there about this gun so I thought I'd share my experience thus far.

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So that looks like you got the Prophet Performance model with the externally adjustable reg? 

I recently picked up a used standard model Prophet. Well made, well designed and powerful guns in my short experience with mine. I have also found that they are not the easiest guns to shoot accurately, even with their excellent triggers (although I'm fairly new back into air rifles - something to do in my back yard during all this COVID stay-at-home stuff).

I was fortunate to have found a demo model FX Dreamline Classic (black pepper) for my wife to shoot. She is having a heck of a good time with that rifle, but I know that she wouldn't like shooting the Prophet all that much.

You've shot your Prophet off hand, and that is really where I see using mine (squirrels at the range). I've shot mine off the bench and have generally found that there are much better tools out there for bench rest (paper punching) rifles.

Don't discount the Brocock Sniper XR you mentioned when they come back into stock - they are fantastic guns. Was shooting mine out at the range when a friend came by and asked if I would help her sight in her new Gamo break-barrel. We did that (what a hassle it was!), then I let her shoot the Brocock. All of a sudden she was hitting everything she aimed at, and she immediately had her friend get on the phone to AOA to order her one. That Gamo was an Amazon purchase, and was immediately going back!

I haven't found my Prophet to be pellet fussy at all, or maybe I just lucked out with the first pellet I tested when I got it. The JSB 18.1's I first tested were accurate, but zipping along at a pretty quick (too fast to ensure accuracy) clip. And I actually haven't tested the recommended (by guys on this site) 25.39's I had to order.

Although this is also kind of difficult at this time (due to poor inventory levels) but do yourself a favor and shoot high quality pellets out of your high quality gun. It will reward you!

Welcome to AGN and have a great time with your new gun.
 
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TMH yea I was kinda set on that Sniper XR. Couldn't find one though. I was going to wait it out but the Prophet revealed itself to me.... I'm hoping the wife and can get out and shoot together this weekend. One big reason I went the PCP route was because we have a 7 month old boy, now we can all hang out and shoot and not worry about loud guns.

Thanks Romy! I hope it serves us well. 
 
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Hey mate! Welcome aboard! I have the same setup as you. I suspect that you're shooting the 14g pelets super sonic. I'm tuned at 120 bar with the hammer spring flush with the but pad and shooting 18g jsb's at 950. EACH GUN IS DIFFERENT, so i could be all wet. do me a favor, have some one else shoot the gun and be down range a bit, 5 yards, and well out of the line of fire. Listen for the shot. If you hear a crack, the pellet is too fast for accuracy. Without a chronograph, you're guessing on speed and energy, but we all do the best we can with what we got.

this gun will compete as far as accuracy with a .22 LR. With the money you spent, we all want the best experience for ya.

Prophet gurues out there correct me if im wrong please. im learning this gun too




 
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Hey thanks Ding! Funny you mention Eddie, I got one of his magazines already. He's a stand up guy! 

Kevlang interesting you mention super sonic..... I was shooting today and thought to myself, huh that sounds like a .22lr hitting the sound barrier. But I thought no way, no way it could be hitting those speeds. Super sonic is like 1260 fps? Could be why it is a bit loud still. It is a light pellet. That's insane. Maybe next time out I will try 125 bar. How many shots are you getting at 120 bar from 300 bar?

Do you know how sentive the hammer spring is? I'm curious how much it affects fps. At a set reg pressure how much does a quarter turn in or out affect the pellet? Also what sounds do you listen for? I mentioned a flutter, I think it was bouncing back and wasting air, that sound went away when I screwed it ina quarter turn and the gun got louder too. Complicated but the physics of it all is really interesting. 
 
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im shooting from 250 to 120 and i need to get a hard count, but 8-9 mags i think... I need a fill on my tank lol. don't go faster than 1050fps just as a rule of thumb. My 18 jsb's like the 950 range. tomorrow i'm going to try to cut a card at 50 yds. (yeah right, but i'll try). it's almost a gimme at 13, (my back yard), so i'll go to work and stretch it out to 50 and 100. last week i was whacking the top 3rd of a traffic cone at 190 yds... It's rewarding to hear the smack almost a second after the shot... download chair gun on your phone, and if you haven't already, clean the barrel :)



with a 14 grain pellet, i'd drop the reg to 110 and run the hammer spring bolt to flush with the butt pad let me know what it does to the accuracy vs what your current tune is... (aim at the same spot and shoot 5 rounds) :)

and get a tin of jsb 18 grain heavy diablos and a tin of the 25 grain monster redesigns.... you'll love em
 
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Got out and shot again today. I put the gun away yesterday with 300 bar in the tank, today it was down to 280 bar. Everything seems tight. Would this indicate a bad regulator? While is was shooting there was also some creep, reg pressure would go up about 20 bar while I was reloading magazines. Is this normal? 

Started at 280 bar and shot 234 pellets and ended up at 225 bar. I adjusted the regulator pressure down to 120-125 and the hammer spring was flush for the majority of shots. The gun was much quieter, no more sonic cracks. I wish I had a chrono to see what speeds the gun is pushing at the 120 bar. If its in the 900 fps range that is absolutely crazy. I think 400+ shots is totally possible with 300 bar fill shooting down to 120.


 
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I have one also and like most of us am still learning it. ( .25 cal ) I like slugs though - I really like slugs. I go after a lot of critters - mostly woodchucks and they can be anywhere from 30 to 150+ yards out. The longest I've gotten one with this gun is at 134 yards ( according to my rangefinder ). Using strelok thats what I dialed the scope too and . . . chuckie went off to chuckie heaven. ;-)

@mr_spock - the reg's on these things, mine included, do have a relatively known issue with creep. It is kind of irritating. First shot will almost always be "off" - I've taken to just dry firing it to "settle" ( re-settle? ) the reg.

Uncomfortable to shoot - yeah. I've found a 3rd party "FX style" buttplate that I've ordered off of ebay thanks to one of the guys in this forum that pm'd me a link to it. In the meantime I've got a really special, high tech solution going on with it - yeah - that's a cut down piece of 2x4. It works - surprisingly well though. ( lol )

Gregor's the man for this gun.

As others have alluded to - this thing has ridiculous power to spare. I purchased a .25 cal sample pack from NSA and ~think~ I've found a tune that ( at my 40 yard zero anyway ) had me putting slug nearly on slug - two out of 5 were damn close to same hole - the other three were all right there touching one another. In a nutshell - reg just shy of 160, HS dialed in ( I don't know how many turns - I measured using Gregor's methodology - 5.6mm in ) and 36.2g slugs running around 910 fps. I ran out of ( the 36.2's today ) but have a box of them on order that is supposed to be here Wed. The sample kit comes with two other weights that are even heavier BUT . . . the heavier you go the more air will be required, less shot count, etc . . . .

It's getting there, I'm getting there with it ( used to it / more comfortable with it ) etc . . . .

rti_prophet_woodblock_buttend.1600566024.jpg

 
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Got out and shot again today. I put the gun away yesterday with 300 bar in the tank, today it was down to 280 bar. Everything seems tight. Would this indicate a bad regulator? While is was shooting there was also some creep, reg pressure would go up about 20 bar while I was reloading magazines. Is this normal? 

Started at 280 bar and shot 234 pellets and ended up at 225 bar. I adjusted the regulator pressure down to 120-125 and the hammer spring was flush for the majority of shots. The gun was much quieter, no more sonic cracks. I wish I had a chrono to see what speeds the gun is pushing at the 120 bar. If its in the 900 fps range that is absolutely crazy. I think 400+ shots is totally possible with 300 bar fill shooting down to 120.

Click to expand...

Changes in temperatures can give you changes in pressure, if you filled the gun with your tank, and if was fast, the air will heat and read 300 bars but when it cools down overnight you will see a different reading, that dropping is normal, however, if you have more pressure lost then that’s a leak, not regulator creeping.

one advice, the gun is new and the regulator needs time to settle, do not fill to 300 bars yet, go 250 and shoot it more, after few tins of pellet see if the regulator is doing better, I’m not seeing any creep on mine, but I’m not filling at 300bars. 
 
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Orion! That magazine you sent is working great. How's the redesigned cover coming? 

Thanks for the heads up on the reguulator, I had no idea you should break them in easy. I will fill to 250 for a while. And temperature, the bottle was a barely warm after filling. I wonder if cooling was the reason it dropped 20 bar over night. Its been at 225 for a couple days now and holding steady.

Scope will be here on Wednesday, excited to get it mounted and sighted in. I've run a tin of pellets, im going to clean with a brass brush and hopefully it will be a tack driver. Taking an airgun to the gun range..... Hope I don't get laughed at too much.

Whats the consensus on a zero for airguns? Using a simple ballistics calculator, 14.3 gr bullet, BC of .05, at 950 fps guessing and a scope height of 2 inches. If i zero at 25 yards, a 100 yard shot will drop about 28 inches? Thats a ton of drop. My 22lr will drop about 6 inches but it is traveling quite a bit faster. Zero at 50 yards and I get 25 inches of drop at 100. I have alot of messing around with. My scope is only 7x so a 25 yard zero is probably going to be it.


 
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