(This will be an ongoing review, with installments added at least weekly for the next 4-6 weeks. Disclosure: The Prophet is provided by Airguns of Arizona and will be returned to them upon completion of the review. The MTC scope and ODB moderators are also supplied by AOA, specifically for use on any guns they provide for me to review. I do not receive any financial compensation for my opinions or time. The editorial I write is my own, unfiltered, and sometimes completely biased opinion.)
I'd like to extend a simple and heartfelt thank you to the Airguns of Arizona family. The reviews would not be happening if not for AOA.
Check out the gun on AOA's website for price and purchasing:
https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/precharged-pcp/rti-prophet-performance-.22-lr-black/
My general approach to doing these reviews is to try to answer any questions that someone interested in this gun might have. And I have a lot of fun learning the gun and sharing the experience and process.
There seems to be a sort of unwritten rule with many members of the forum that a guy can't share his initial thoughts on a piece of equipment, that he needs to have a specifically nebulous amount of time with an item before his opinion counts. I disagree. I think the initial impressions that someone has from a product can be make or break how pleased or displeased they are throughout their ownership of, or time with, said item. That first take on something often determines how we perceive it from then on. So, I like to share my initial thoughts and if they change I'll report that along the way.
Now that that's out of the way.......
It's only been nine days since I returned the last review gun, and I arrived home from work today to find that this had been delivered. My wife just smiled and shook her head as she watched me open it after we'd gone on our nightly walk. I'd seen the box prior to the walk and thought to myself, "dang, that's a long gun!" Ha ha was I ever so wrong.
a lot of box, not a lot of gun......turns out there was enough bubble wrap on each end of the hard case to keep a classroom of kindergartners happy for hours
I was getting excited as soon as I pulled this little case out of the box (the box big enough for a homeless person to sleep in). Until I saw the RTI logo I was thinking this little case maybe had a scope or something in it. I hadn't checked specs online so had no idea or expectations of what I was getting. I was really surprised and equally pleased to see how small it is. I've really come to like short overall length guns here in the last couple years, and this is just my style.
So just how big is the case?
Here is a tin of pellets and a regular tape measure for reference.
Yeah, not very big. Nice little compact package.
So,first big impression: MUCH shorter than I thought it would be. (actually only 30.5inches from buttplate to the end of the moderator threads)
The case is just sweet.
Four latches:
Heavy duty hinges:
Even with the short case, the short gun inside still leaves some room:
Scope isn't mounted int his pic but it's looking like this gun will fit back in the case, even after mounting the MTC 5-30x50 WITH a sunshade (just have to unthread the moderator each time).
Okay, so get it out of the case...."wow, solid feel but not too heavy." Shoulder it....."hmmmm nice, fits well."........Cock it....."MUCH easier and smoother to cock than I was expecting "(I'd heard bad things about the cocking on these guns). Okay, but the trigger, I bet it sucks..............."what the hell!?!!?!?! this trigger shouldn't be this light and crisp. No way does it really have this good of a trigger!" Okay......"I've got to put the trigger pull weight gauge on this thing."
10 shot average trigger pull weight:
Freaking A! Seriously?!?!? This thing has a 5ounce trigger. I dunno if Airguns of Arizona has been reading my reviews and set this dude up for me knowing that's where I really like em, or if it was just serendipity from whoever had this demo gun prior to me. Whatever it was, I'm ecstatic just at the trigger. SOOO much more enjoyable to shoot a gun with a good trigger. It's got a nice long first stage and then a crisp break, at around 5 ounces. "Nice! It's gonna be a good couple weeks with this one."
Second and third big impressions: Cocking is not nearly as objectionable as I was lead to believe, and trigger quality (based on feel) is up there with the good ones!
Overall the gun feels pretty solid, no rattles or cheesy feeling parts/areas. Thick plating around the butt area:
(this pic also shows the additional foster. I think this is where the gun can be tethered straight to a bottle).
Just a mostly random picture dump sort of post from here on out.................
This looks quite like a plenum to me..... (RTI website says 57cc plenum and also that it'll send a JSB Monster RD, 25.4gr at over 300 m/s, which should equal over 1000fps. RTI website also claims 85fpe as max for the .22. I'm no power hound, but the manufacturer's claims sure indicate the power is there).
It's got a pic rail tower system pretty much like lots of the other bullpups out there, (Veteran comes to mind cuz I've owned one for a few years now). RTI also says the pic rail has 20moa built in.
AR rubber grip that overall feels nice. Kinda tacky like serious mtn bike grips. (the little cap was kinda challenging to seat properly after opening it).
ORing is on the probe on this one, which is a little different. Usually through mag probe designs have the oring in the barrel to minimize damage to the oring. We'll see how that goes. Also has an extended probe, guessing that puts the pellet skirt ahead of the transfer port. Always seems to help a pellet fly correctly when they're not starting out with a big caved in skirt from the blast of air hitting the side rather than the rear of the pellet.
(And yes, there's some dust on this gun visible in this pic. The way this review thing works is that AOA has essentially demo guns. Once they're used, they can't be sold as new, so the demo gun makes the rounds. And that's totally my assumption, but it makes sense. People expect and deserve a new gun when that's what they're paying for. At this level of quality and price point, it'd get really expensive to send a new gun to every reviewer. Let one review gun make the rounds and get more advertising bang for your buck. Whoever was testing this one before me seems to live in a red dirt area. Heck, Dana may have had this one up in the mountains last week for all I know).
And no, that's not rust on the heads of the bolts, just weird lighting.
The moderator threads seem a little shorter than what I'm used to, by about half. Came with a thread protector.
Magazine. Seems straightforward, easily rotated with the knurling. I haven't gotten that far yet but RTI website says 12 for the mag capacity on the .22 version. Also advertised as an ambidextrous max, can be inserted from the right or left and function properly
Dual gauges, bottle pressure and reg pressure. On that note, this gun has an externally adjustable regulate, and RTI says it doesn't have to be degassed first.
.
500cc carbon fiber bottle. Website is saying 110 shots with the 320cc bottle but doesn't say what fpe shots. We'll see on actual shot count at a given fpe.
Here's the double-ended cocking lever. In one pic I'm pointing to the detent that keeps it closed. The ends of the knurled part of the cocking lever have little rubber pieces....for comfort? The rest is metal though.
(not rust, more red dust from whoever played with this gun last)
A little 16 second video showing cocking mechanics. No resistance is met until about half of the travel is used up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk0BMfZkKEo
The right side rear of the gun (butt stock area) have some adjustments. If these adjustments are addressed on the RTI website, I missed it. The graphics seem to suggest a port restriction and hammer tension adjustment
but the website mentions a hammer spring being adjusted through the buttplate, here on the left. So, that'll need figured out.
The RTI website also says the .22 Prophet has a LW barrel but it doesn't sound like just any old LW. Quoted from the website, "LW 24", 6 grooves, 32" twist rate, choked." The 6 groove is odd to me, as the standard rifled LWs are 12 land and groove. The twist rate is a little slower than most too. I think standard LW is about 1:18. Regardless of what's really in there, RTI is claiming pellet stability at 100 yards. We shall find out!
Check out the website for any features/specs I missed. Lots of cool stuff going on with the design of this gun.
https://www3.rtiarms.eu/prophet
I'd like to extend a simple and heartfelt thank you to the Airguns of Arizona family. The reviews would not be happening if not for AOA.
Check out the gun on AOA's website for price and purchasing:
https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/precharged-pcp/rti-prophet-performance-.22-lr-black/
My general approach to doing these reviews is to try to answer any questions that someone interested in this gun might have. And I have a lot of fun learning the gun and sharing the experience and process.
There seems to be a sort of unwritten rule with many members of the forum that a guy can't share his initial thoughts on a piece of equipment, that he needs to have a specifically nebulous amount of time with an item before his opinion counts. I disagree. I think the initial impressions that someone has from a product can be make or break how pleased or displeased they are throughout their ownership of, or time with, said item. That first take on something often determines how we perceive it from then on. So, I like to share my initial thoughts and if they change I'll report that along the way.
Now that that's out of the way.......
It's only been nine days since I returned the last review gun, and I arrived home from work today to find that this had been delivered. My wife just smiled and shook her head as she watched me open it after we'd gone on our nightly walk. I'd seen the box prior to the walk and thought to myself, "dang, that's a long gun!" Ha ha was I ever so wrong.
a lot of box, not a lot of gun......turns out there was enough bubble wrap on each end of the hard case to keep a classroom of kindergartners happy for hours
I was getting excited as soon as I pulled this little case out of the box (the box big enough for a homeless person to sleep in). Until I saw the RTI logo I was thinking this little case maybe had a scope or something in it. I hadn't checked specs online so had no idea or expectations of what I was getting. I was really surprised and equally pleased to see how small it is. I've really come to like short overall length guns here in the last couple years, and this is just my style.
So just how big is the case?
Here is a tin of pellets and a regular tape measure for reference.
Yeah, not very big. Nice little compact package.
So,first big impression: MUCH shorter than I thought it would be. (actually only 30.5inches from buttplate to the end of the moderator threads)
The case is just sweet.
Four latches:
Heavy duty hinges:
Even with the short case, the short gun inside still leaves some room:
Scope isn't mounted int his pic but it's looking like this gun will fit back in the case, even after mounting the MTC 5-30x50 WITH a sunshade (just have to unthread the moderator each time).
Okay, so get it out of the case...."wow, solid feel but not too heavy." Shoulder it....."hmmmm nice, fits well."........Cock it....."MUCH easier and smoother to cock than I was expecting "(I'd heard bad things about the cocking on these guns). Okay, but the trigger, I bet it sucks..............."what the hell!?!!?!?! this trigger shouldn't be this light and crisp. No way does it really have this good of a trigger!" Okay......"I've got to put the trigger pull weight gauge on this thing."
10 shot average trigger pull weight:
Freaking A! Seriously?!?!? This thing has a 5ounce trigger. I dunno if Airguns of Arizona has been reading my reviews and set this dude up for me knowing that's where I really like em, or if it was just serendipity from whoever had this demo gun prior to me. Whatever it was, I'm ecstatic just at the trigger. SOOO much more enjoyable to shoot a gun with a good trigger. It's got a nice long first stage and then a crisp break, at around 5 ounces. "Nice! It's gonna be a good couple weeks with this one."
Second and third big impressions: Cocking is not nearly as objectionable as I was lead to believe, and trigger quality (based on feel) is up there with the good ones!
Overall the gun feels pretty solid, no rattles or cheesy feeling parts/areas. Thick plating around the butt area:
(this pic also shows the additional foster. I think this is where the gun can be tethered straight to a bottle).
Just a mostly random picture dump sort of post from here on out.................
This looks quite like a plenum to me..... (RTI website says 57cc plenum and also that it'll send a JSB Monster RD, 25.4gr at over 300 m/s, which should equal over 1000fps. RTI website also claims 85fpe as max for the .22. I'm no power hound, but the manufacturer's claims sure indicate the power is there).
It's got a pic rail tower system pretty much like lots of the other bullpups out there, (Veteran comes to mind cuz I've owned one for a few years now). RTI also says the pic rail has 20moa built in.
AR rubber grip that overall feels nice. Kinda tacky like serious mtn bike grips. (the little cap was kinda challenging to seat properly after opening it).
ORing is on the probe on this one, which is a little different. Usually through mag probe designs have the oring in the barrel to minimize damage to the oring. We'll see how that goes. Also has an extended probe, guessing that puts the pellet skirt ahead of the transfer port. Always seems to help a pellet fly correctly when they're not starting out with a big caved in skirt from the blast of air hitting the side rather than the rear of the pellet.
(And yes, there's some dust on this gun visible in this pic. The way this review thing works is that AOA has essentially demo guns. Once they're used, they can't be sold as new, so the demo gun makes the rounds. And that's totally my assumption, but it makes sense. People expect and deserve a new gun when that's what they're paying for. At this level of quality and price point, it'd get really expensive to send a new gun to every reviewer. Let one review gun make the rounds and get more advertising bang for your buck. Whoever was testing this one before me seems to live in a red dirt area. Heck, Dana may have had this one up in the mountains last week for all I know).
And no, that's not rust on the heads of the bolts, just weird lighting.
The moderator threads seem a little shorter than what I'm used to, by about half. Came with a thread protector.
Magazine. Seems straightforward, easily rotated with the knurling. I haven't gotten that far yet but RTI website says 12 for the mag capacity on the .22 version. Also advertised as an ambidextrous max, can be inserted from the right or left and function properly
Dual gauges, bottle pressure and reg pressure. On that note, this gun has an externally adjustable regulate, and RTI says it doesn't have to be degassed first.
500cc carbon fiber bottle. Website is saying 110 shots with the 320cc bottle but doesn't say what fpe shots. We'll see on actual shot count at a given fpe.
Here's the double-ended cocking lever. In one pic I'm pointing to the detent that keeps it closed. The ends of the knurled part of the cocking lever have little rubber pieces....for comfort? The rest is metal though.
(not rust, more red dust from whoever played with this gun last)
A little 16 second video showing cocking mechanics. No resistance is met until about half of the travel is used up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk0BMfZkKEo
The right side rear of the gun (butt stock area) have some adjustments. If these adjustments are addressed on the RTI website, I missed it. The graphics seem to suggest a port restriction and hammer tension adjustment
but the website mentions a hammer spring being adjusted through the buttplate, here on the left. So, that'll need figured out.
The RTI website also says the .22 Prophet has a LW barrel but it doesn't sound like just any old LW. Quoted from the website, "LW 24", 6 grooves, 32" twist rate, choked." The 6 groove is odd to me, as the standard rifled LWs are 12 land and groove. The twist rate is a little slower than most too. I think standard LW is about 1:18. Regardless of what's really in there, RTI is claiming pellet stability at 100 yards. We shall find out!
Check out the website for any features/specs I missed. Lots of cool stuff going on with the design of this gun.
https://www3.rtiarms.eu/prophet
area. (Gotta love all the silly buzzwords we use). Whatever your favorite term, GOOD was my first impression. 
.
