RTI Appreciation for an older design, Gen 1 Prophet Performance 22 LR

I owned a RTI Prophet Performance Gen 1 .22 LR which was the most accurate rifle I have ever owned, up until I got my Thomas HPX. Sadly I have owned and sold way to many air guns and none of them could beat the prophet for accuracy so they were sold. After I got my HPX the Prophet began collecting dust and I eventually sold it to one of the guys who shoots with us in our N50 matches. He kept after me to sell it so I did sell it to him on one condition, that if he ever decided to sell it that I would get first chance to buy it back. Looking back, I regretted selling the Prophet and it’s one rifle I wish I still owned. Recently I found another one here in the AGN classifieds and bought it just to see if my first one was just a fluke or if there really is something special about those rifles?

I received my Prophet #2 a few days ago so I scoped it and took it to the range today to see how it shot. I still had my notes from my first Prophet so I set the tune to shoot the same as my #1. To my surprise this one is a shooter, a very VERY good shooter which brought a sigh of relief and an afternoon of smiles.

I wasn't expecting too much because it was pretty windy, 12 MPH with gusts to 22. I was paitient and watched my flags and chose my shots carefully. I shot a selection of .22 MRDs from JSB, FX, Rangemaster, AEA and JTS And also the JSB Grands. All of the JSB variants shot very well but the rifle did not like the AEA and JTS offerings.

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I used an FX tuner on my previous Prophet and it worked quite well. It takes a lot of time to find its happy place but once you do find it the results speak for themselves. Here is an example where the group on the left was shot and then I moved the tuner two hash marks and the right target shows the results. Its crazy how the groups shrink and expand as you search for the best anti-node that the barrel is happy with.
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These are 5 shot groups all shot at 50 yards.
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This is just one example that some of the older rifle designs are just as good or perhaps even better than the newest shiny designs with all the extra knobs, buttons, bells and whistles. Although YMMV…
 
I owned a RTI Prophet Performance Gen 1 .22 LR which was the most accurate rifle I have ever owned, up until I got my Thomas HPX. Sadly I have owned and sold way to many air guns and none of them could beat the prophet for accuracy so they were sold. After I got my HPX the Prophet began collecting dust and I eventually sold it to one of the guys who shoots with us in our N50 matches. He kept after me to sell it so I did sell it to him on one condition, that if he ever decided to sell it that I would get first chance to buy it back. Looking back, I regretted selling the Prophet and it’s one rifle I wish I still owned. Recently I found another one here in the AGN classifieds and bought it just to see if my first one was just a fluke or if there really is something special about those rifles?

I received my Prophet #2 a few days ago so I scoped it and took it to the range today to see how it shot. I still had my notes from my first Prophet so I set the tune to shoot the same as my #1. To my surprise this one is a shooter, a very VERY good shooter which brought a sigh of relief and an afternoon of smiles.

I wasn't expecting too much because it was pretty windy, 12 MPH with gusts to 22. I was paitient and watched my flags and chose my shots carefully. I shot a selection of .22 MRDs from JSB, FX, Rangemaster, AEA and JTS And also the JSB Grands. All of the JSB variants shot very well but the rifle did not like the AEA and JTS offerings.

View attachment 507403



I used an FX tuner on my previous Prophet and it worked quite well. It takes a lot of time to find its happy place but once you do find it the results speak for themselves. Here is an example where the group on the left was shot and then I moved the tuner two hash marks and the right target shows the results. Its crazy how the groups shrink and expand as you search for the best anti-node that the barrel is happy with.
View attachment 507404View attachment 507405View attachment 507406






These are 5 shot groups all shot at 50 yards.
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This is just one example that some of the older rifle designs are just as good or perhaps even better than the newest shiny designs with all the extra knobs, buttons, bells and whistles. Although YMMV…
I am really enjoying mine that I picked up this year as well. Like you, mine likes the JSB MRD variants but not not really the JTS or AEA. It definitely prefers the shallow base as well.

Curious… what speed are you running them at what reg setting? I think mine are around 965 and the Reg is just under 150 for me.

Side note: in only a very brief test and haven’t gone back to them yet, it really liked the JTS 22 semi domed around 1000 FPS. I didn’t change the setting from when I was shooting MRDs one day and they were even tighter than the MRDs.
 
I am really enjoying mine that I picked up this year as well. Like you, mine likes the JSB MRD variants but not not really the JTS or AEA. It definitely prefers the shallow base as well.

Curious… what speed are you running them at what reg setting? I think mine are around 965 and the Reg is just under 150 for me.

Side note: in only a very brief test and haven’t gone back to them yet, it really liked the JTS 22 semi domed around 1000 FPS. I didn’t change the setting from when I was shooting MRDs one day and they were even tighter than the MRDs.
Welcome to the club @Smok3y . 150 bar, 970 and shallows for sure.
 
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Nice set up! I just got a P1 Compact myself. Pretty freaking awesome. I’ve only shot it on paper at 25 yards to sight in. It’ll shoot way better than me. See what it does at 50 yards soon. I expect it’ll stack em! 💪 🤘

Rob

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My compact likes the AA18s at 860. I’ll have to try the JTS though. That’s an impressive group.
 
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That was an enjoyable story to read
Very cool that you found another P1 with an LR barrel ...And that is a performer!!! That's Fantastic!

The Range you shoot at is AMAZING with all the fall colors! What a place!

The LR barrel is in the line up again. RTI needs to get that out to the public and on their wesite. Rok said they are working on it
They can still be found at Airgun Heaven in the Netherlands .. 1/2 the price of the one's on the RTI shop's website which is ridiculous

It's great that you can look at your notes and find your tunes you used in the past, and they still work.

Which pellet shot the diagonal line on card #2?
Mike
 
Nice set up! I just got a P1 Compact myself. Pretty freaking awesome. I’ve only shot it on paper at 25 yards to sight in. It’ll shoot way better than me. See what it does at 50 yards soon. I expect it’ll stack em! 💪 🤘

Rob

View attachment 507433
That’s impressive
 
My compact likes the AA18s at 860. I’ll have to try the JTS though. That’s an impressive group.
Thanks. Mines set up about the same, 18s @ about 870fps. The Jsbs 18s shot great to but not quite as good as the jts. To be fair my jsbs tin I grabbed looked a little beat up. I’m going to try jsb 20.83 next. Shoots so good I don’t want to touch anything haha.
 
Which pellet shot the diagonal line on card #2?
Mike
Hi Mike. I’m pretty sure that row was Rangemaster pellets. I’ll check my range log notes tomorrow and correct if necessary? The one hole at 2:00 in the 8 ring was a wind gust. Most of my holds were on the left outside edge of the 7 ring with todays wind.
 
I have a Prophet 2.1 that came with the RPB barrel, which is supposed to shoot pellets and slugs. I promptly purchased a LR barrel with the new RTI shop (Spain) transfer port. I tested the function and put it away as I was planning to move (which did not happen). I only hope when I get to testing that it shoots like yours.
 
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I certainly would not carry a full size Prophet in the field. My Compact Prophet is my dedicated squirrel gitter and has never let me down. However, Prophets are built very robustly and there’s no need to worry about bumping the barrel and knocking the POI off.

Keep in mind that I am an old geezer and if you’re a young whipper snapper then you probably wouldn’t mind carrying the bigger P1?
 
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