LEFT OF CENTRE

The editor discovers that the Priest II from RTI Arms will have southpaws cheering

Some rifles offer frills, finesse and add-ons aplenty, whereas others are built around the absolute essentials, and their resources are concentrated on what’s needed, rather than what’s handy. The Priest II belongs to the latter group. Its features are comparatively few, but what’s included is designed and produced to work, perform well, and to keep on doing so for years. Include a couple of remarkable options in that formula, and in the case of this latest version of The Priest, the result is truly special.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES

To perform at the highest level, a pre-charged pneumatic sporter needs a good barrel, a consistent air-delivery system, a predictable trigger mechanism and a stock that offers a high level of control over the shot. Once these high-performance basics are brought together, the process of refinement usually completes the deal. Refinement is a wonderful process and there’s nothing better to eke out the full potential of a rifle, but without those basic essentials doing what they need to do, no amount of tweaks will save the day.

THE PRIEST II

Let’s first establish where this rifle sits in terms of price, and at a mere five pence shy of a grand, it perches just under the top shelf occupied by today’s ever-growing array of bullpups. For your £999.95, you get a fullyregulated action, operated by a straight-pull bolt which actuates a rear-mounted, removable, rotary magazine, which for the .177 on test, holds an impressive 16 pellets. The .22 version holds 12 pellets, and there’s also a 10-shot .25 calibre option available from RTI Arms’ main UK agent, City Airweapons in Birmingham.