Review: Rapid Compact P-Rod bullpup kit

As promised here’s a small review of the compact P-Rod bullpup kit being produced in Spain by our buddy Rapid..

Although I have built my own compact walnut stock for a P-rod I felt the urge for another one.. I figured one in .22 and one in .177 should cover all bases..
My first emails to Rapid were to satisfy my curiosity requesting pictures of the trigger set up etc but he did not share this with me.. I ended up placing an order anyway for his “Walnut look” compact kit and he kept me well informed of its build progress and shipping status once sent.

The kit in my opinion is very reasonably priced at $350 USD + postage. With the price you can pick up a Marauder pistol that makes for a very cheap little mid powered multi shot minipup. I will probably keep this one tuned at 13-14ftlbs but the P-rod can be wound up to about 20ftlbs if desired.
Realistically this is a 30-50 yard gun and a great back yard plinker so I dont see any point in tuning it so hot that your shot count crashes..

The package showed up well marked and the kit well packed. No damage and all complete.

The stock is made from Kiln dried (vaporized) European Beech Wood. This timber is stable, resistant to warping, lightweight and easy to work. There are no knots. As I said earlier I ordered the “walnut look” which means this stock has a light walnut coloured stain on it and has been finished with a satin varnish.
The stock is well made and shaped right but could benefit from a little more sanding work before finishing. My stock has a few signs tool burning and “blunt CNC tooling trauma” that tends to chip out some of the grain when tools are dull or the machine speed is to slow. I will fill them back to level with a clear resin and lightly sand the whole stock with 1200 grit paper then give it a coat or two of true oil or similar to satisfy the OCD in me. 😉

Once I had the kit in hand Rapid sent me a word document of instructions to fit it.
After a quick browse through I set to work and stripped the Maurauder pistol. The safety catch needs to be removed and pistol grip requires some major surgery that may not sit well with the guys that buy with “originality or re-sale value” in mind but with all parts including the complete pistol grip available from Crosman at a very reasonable price I soon found myself halfway through the pistol grip with a hacksaw… 😯 I had considered originally milling a new trigger block that was just big enough to retain the trigger components but the hacksaw dulled that urge.

With that job complete I moved onto fitting the small brass gauge extension that drops the gauge low enough to run the trigger linkage “wishbone” parts either side of it.
This is where my first problem came up… the thread on the Marauder gauge and cylinder is 1/8″BSP tapered but the thread on the brass extension is a 1/8″NPT tapered, a non tapered male 1/8″ BSP thread will thread loosely into a female 1/8″NPT but a Male NPT straight thread wont thread into a female BSP. Because the threads on the Marauder are tapered it will allow this extension to be fitted but no matter how much thread tape I put on it I couldn’t get it to seal! I tried 3 different loctite products and even a couple of O rings but it still leaked bad.

I soon worked out that it was bottoming out on the air tube before the “slightly loser” tapered NPT thread could lock up and seal on the female BSP..

I put the part in the lathe and removed about an 1/8″ from above the thread so more of the taper could screw into the cylinder..
With a small amount to thread sealant this did the trick and the “hiss” stopped.

The gauge does sit a little too recessed in its viewing port for my liking which shows a large void and will probably let crap into the trigger parts so I will eventually machine a new extension to bring the gauge almost flush with the stock.

From there I fitted the weaver rail and trigger linkage which as a whole is nicely designed and functions well.

Once the trigger was set up I wasnt happy with the heavy raspy feel to it, I tracked the grittiness down to where the threaded rod runs through the trigger block and washer held under load with the return spring.. the thread rod was grinding up and down the washer which felt and sounded terrible..

…back to the lathe I filed and polished the thread off the accused section and now it runs smooth.

With a bit of fine tuning I now have a very acceptable adjustable trigger. Just dont expect any miracle match triggers from it as it is only as good as the factory P-Rod trigger it mirrors.

The metal parts are well machined and the fit is great, the shroud remains floating within the new front riser mount but it does not have the internal Oring that the factory one has. Again a little more time taken on the polishing before anodising process would leave a better finish at least on the Weaver rail and riser that are visible.

The riser mount and weaver rail are machined from 7075 “alzintok 75”. (Duralumin with alloy aluminium and zinc) and the other parts are 6063-T5 “simagaltok 63”. (alloy: aluminium, magnesium and silicon.) Both materials are up to the job they carry out but the finish on the 7075 parts are a shade of steely blue which often happens when anodizing this harder 7000 series alloy.

Rapid, if you want to get a better finish on these parts you should bead blast them before the anodizing process, this will hide all the machining /de-buring marks and aid a more durable coating also match the matt black finish of the P- rod better.

The last small mod I made was to the rear stock mounting cap screws. The stock is countersunk for the smaller oddball factory dome head screws that hold the plastic pistol grips on but I saw no point in needing a Allen key to remove the front cap screws then a flat head screwdriver to remove the rear screws so I have drilled and tapped the pistol grip frame to 4mm and countersunk the stock with a 5/32″ piloted countersink tool, after a spot of touch up stain I fitted some countersunk cap screws to match the front.

So all in all I think its a great little product and makes a very compact little pup out of a relativity inexpensive pistol.
Well done to you Rapid for an all round nice product that will provide us with loads of fun and nice work on your great follow up service with your sales.
:thumb:

I am yet to sight it and shoot it as I ran out of light while trying to fix the leak but Ill do that tomorrow and group it with a bunch of different pellet to see what diet it prefers. Id imagine it will shoot like every other P-Rod out there and certainly not break any records but If anyone is interested in that I can post a few pics here too..
Here it is all mounted up with some compact Burris 4X glass.