RTI Priest lll (Somebody stop me)

I would like to add the building the transfer port adapter that allows the FX barrel to work with the 15mm RTI block was super time consuming. I had to build it so my stock probe would seat the pellet perfectly into the FX liner. I nailed it perfectly but had a massive headache when I was done. Had to take two ibuprofen. Nothing worse than spending hours building something only to have it be a couple thousandths off. 

No it’s a .25, hence the 26gr hybrids.

I just shot 3 JSB 25gr pellets at 50yrds. They are going 911fps so I lost 30fps with the Hybrids. They can’t be any more accurate so the next step is to see how fast the pellets can go until they get drunk. I will eventually move to 80 then 100yrds once I have a decent base tune. Baby steps. I try not to get ahead of myself. I’m getting older. 

If I can get the pellets to group at 930fps, that will put the Hybrids at 900fps. That will be my next goal but I’m a little burned out from two nights of working on this thing.

Might have to switch to tequila, the whiskey sours have been giving me indigestion lately. Getting old sucks sometimes.

Last night I bumped the reg up a little and found my max speed for the 25gr pellet was 965fps. I backed the HS off to 935fps. Shot 70yrd groups with pellets and slugs. I haven’t walked down there to take a pic but the pellets might be on the edge of their accuracy speed but the slugs seemed fine. I was tired so I am not going to be overly critical. The most important thing I noticed is how the gun behaves when I squeeze the trigger. I have spent my whole life being a long range shooter. I think that type of shooting has made me very sensitive to how a gun behaves when I squeeze the trigger. I really notice it with PCP’s. There is a threshold you cross with every gun when you start to push them. My RTI will go 1,000fps with a 25gr pellet but last night with just bumping it up 25fps, the harmonics of the gun are starting to change. The previously dead, completely easy to shoot gun is just a little more active. That has an effect on consistent accuracy. Most guys might not notice or even care when they are hammering their gun chasing big power but for some reason it gets in my head and bothers me. The bottom line is I am not going to lean on the gun for anymore speed. Yes it might produce better groups with slugs but at the cost of how easy the gun is to shoot. Maybe some of you guys understand where I’m coming from. 

Just got done shooting at 125yrds. Why not 100? Well that’s where the tree line is that I have to take out critters so that’s where my gun needs to be accurate to. The gun wants to shoot 1 inch but I always get a fling-bat. I need to do a shot string over the chronograph and see if I have the HS set for best shot to shot consistency. I may have set my speed a little too far under the max speed for my reg setting and my ES might not be long distance friendly.

I was able to put some pellets over the chrono tonight. The first thing I found interesting was my HS adjuster screw would move a little over the course of shots. That had me scratching my head for quite a few pellets. Some Teflon tape cured that. Then I had to find the velocity that my gun was going to be super consistent. I lowered my reg so my max velocity was 945fps and started shooting strings reducing the velocity 5fps at a time. Finally at 923fps my gun stayed within 1fps over 15 shots. I debated bumping the reg up a smidge and trying for that tight ES in the 930+ range but after shooting so much lead, I don't think I am going to sweat 10fps. If its calm in the morning, I will clean the barrel and do some shooting.

I have been busy with archery season approaching but still have time here and there for this project/experiment. Some things are becoming clear and some things need to be revisited because I got ahead of myself. First, when I had both pellets and slugs shooting accurately at modest distances, I didn't test them at long range. My dumb self, classic PCP guy behavior, thought the slugs were a little too slow so I upped the speed. The pellets definitely opened up but now the 29gr slugs are shining. The 26gr hybrids not quite as good. Here is my theory right now. My gun has a 500mm FX barrel. But its not a FX Dreamline or Impact. Maybe guys with FX guns can shoot a 25gr pellet accurately over 925fps and maybe a 26gr hybrid accurately 920+. Most are probably doing it with at least a 600mm barrel. I know for a fact that neither FX has as ridged barrel mounting as my Priest so it has to be in how the air is delivered to the projectile. My gun was very accurate with pellets at 911fps and hybrids at 880. If I find the time I am going to go back down to a nice flat 911 tune with the pellets and try everything at 125yrds. Right now the 29gr slugs are shockingly accurate but they are sub 900fps just like the hybrids were when they were really accurate. The bottom line I believe is this, and it goes beyond this project. Sometimes we believe that if we want faster, we just crank the gun up and yes that's true, the projectile goes faster. The question is if the projectile is happy. In some cases it is not all about cranking the gun up, its about increasing the barrel length. This allows you to keep your gun where it delivers its air and how it does it, think dwell, in its happy spot and you get the increased speed with additional barrel length.