RTI Priest II : Any experience / opinions about it.

The priest is on my list too for a first rifle.

Not much out on YouTube. Gregor is the man. I messaged asking his view on veteran vs priest. Price and flexibility goes to priest.

I was looking at pricing over seas too. If the dealer used FedEx I would hope they know who works and who doesn't.

Rwc123, I sent a email to rti. Trying to see if they would sell directly to me. They did reply promptly. That said only sold by local dealer there, and export fee would be too expensive. Also even tho priest is cheaper, they would recommend priest ii.

May I have the name of the company who didn't know they use the wrong delivery service for the u.s. ? Msg is fine if you rather do that. Thanks.

Till I have all the funds still comparing models.

I know RichB on here has one. He got a Priest and was able to buy parts from RTI to upgrade it to a Priest II. Been awhile since I talked to him but he loved it. He was also interested in the Veteran but he seemed very happy to have gone with the Priest. 

My Priest should be here late this week or early next week. Sadly you will have to wait a good month before I would report anything on how I feel about it. I am not the type of guy who buys a gun and jumps right on the Internet and brags about it. Most of those guys are usually back in a month complaining about something. If I buy a problem child, I openly admit it. I was on a waiting list years ago for the original Priest and I believe barrel availability was the issue. Either way things never panned out and I bought Edguns and Taipans. Glad it went that way. I am a lot more confident in my purchase of the Priest 2 with its updates. I purchased the base model because I have a gut feeling RTI already has it tuned to the max for the masses. Sometimes not having all kinds of screws and knobs to adjust and second guess is a really good thing. I learned my lesson on my Impact. I was never satisfied, was always chasing a better setting. And leak.

I have been shooting mine for a couple days now. This is what I can report so far. Velocity is great. In .25 it is set right on the edge of loosing control of a 25gr pellet. Trigger, once adjusted is nice. The gun hates the two different slugs I have tried. Barrel removal is a snap. My gun shoots a 25gr pellet at 930fps more accurately than a 33gr pellet going 820fps out to and including 100yrds. The gun is accurate but a little tricky being accurate with. Like other bullpups, there is activity right by your ear. This guns hammer hitting the valve is very annoying. Its loud. I never had an issue with any of my other shrouded guns but this one required me to screw a mod onto the shroud. There is room in the shroud for baffles so I am working on that now. I don't like a can on a shroud. Why have a shroud at all. Compact gun becomes not so compact. The magazine can be used on either side of the gun in case you are a lefty. Mag functions great with JSB 33.9's and slugs but not so good with JSB 25's. I was finding lead shavings so I switched to single loading all ammo for accuracy testing. I did a little work on the barrel tonight and will test a mag of 25gr pellets in the morning. So far it seems like a well built gun but its a little odd ergonomically. Cocking it is simple but you wont have to worry about a child cocking your gun. A single shot tray would be real nice. Having the bipod mid gun sucks but its better than not having one at all. When I switched to a Caldwell bag to cradle the bottle, my 100yrd groups shrunk. I think that's about it for now.

I decided to take off the butt plate and have a look at the hammer, spring, and cocking system. This gun is well built with good attention to detail. The hammer is a work of art and the spring already has the ends sanded flat to aid in wear and smoothness. I beveled the barrel just a little more to aid chambering pellets. No more lead shavings but the 25gr pellets still don’t load as smooth at the 33gr pellets. I went with the base model mainly because of the tank. I have other 25cal guns and they can be jumpy because you are pushing more lead. I figured the heavier aluminum tank would help. Making adjustments for me, as of now, is not necessary. It’s at max power with any hope of accuracy and if it was slower I would have no need for it. I have an idea for a baffle system and I will get to it on Tuesday. The only advice I can give to you is shooting, liking and being comfortable with this style of gun might take some patience. My first gun that was not a normal rifle was an Impact. $2,000 forced me to temporarily live with the ergonomics. I then switched to bullpups. There was a learning curve getting used to and comfortable with them. The Priest has me out of my comfort zone again, but after a couple hundred shots, I am starting to figure things out and adapt. I was shooting objects at 168yrds this morning. I think I am finally starting to jive with the guns harmonics, ie shot cycle. I will say this, if you are a dedicated long bomber, get a rifle. Guys can develop the skills to shoot odd guns at long distances but it’s just so much easier with a traditional style rifle. 

Today I installed Marauder baffles in my shroud. The Mrod baffles come with a spring. I installed it first to leave a space before the first of 4 baffles. Reason being is to hopefully still make use of the factory shroud for silencing. The baffles are too small but exactly 6 wraps of electrical tape makes each one a perfect fit. It made a considerable difference in the sound output. If the shroud was long enough to use the remaining 3 baffles for a total of 7, I think it would be perfect. The noise level the way I have the gun now is acceptable for a short powerful .25. When I screwed the mod back on it is now very quiet. With the baffles in and the mod on, it doesn't appear that my POI changed. I was still hitting my 2" spinner at 100yrds. I will do more accuracy testing Wednesday to see if the baffles messed with anything.

Where do you guys order the Priest II? Also RWC123 I don't know if you have seen the Raptor mini that the guys at JSAR are delivering... That's the one I'm leaning toward, I think eventually I'll sell my Veteran to buy one of these 2.... Mini Raptor Priest II

I am really starting to like my Priest II, it’s a good gun. But I would toss it off a bridge before I give up my Taipan Veteran. As far as the Raptor goes, I hope it’s a good durable gun but there is nothing mini about a 37” gun.

Vetmx my Taipan Veteran is 36'' with the LDC, the mini is 37'' with the LDC... the Raptor full is huge IMO. My only complain with the Veteran is that I'm limited with the external adjustability but that's my favorite gun... maybe I should keep it and own Taipan Plus one between Raptor mini and PriestII

Where did you order that Priest II ?

Yes, the .22 would naturally be more quiet out of the box. Depending on just how quiet your gun “needs” to be, the $25 baffle mod might keep the gun nice and tight. I know you are trying to make the absolute best choice before you commit but I am going to make an observation. The fact that you have been scrutinizing this purchase, you are going to find fault with any gun you buy. Lots of us do. Is there a perfect gun? I don’t know. Some are closer than others. The bad thing about owning a bunch of pcp’s is you discover traits in each gun that you would like to put all into one gun. My favorite shooting out the window gun is a highly modded P15. The ergonomics and weight suited me perfect but it was junk. I spared no expense at making it perform. It now shoots right with my expensive guns but it cost me as much or more than my better guns. But sadly every time I cock it, I am reminded that it’s not a Taipan. When I take it apart, it’s not an Edgun. Would a .22 Priest make you happy? Yes. Would a Taipan or Edgun make you happier? Maybe. The only way to find out is to start buying guns and find out what you like and what you need in a gun. Good luck.