30-Yard Challenge

Just a 192 12x. I got my hopes up after the first 8 shots, crosman's got me. I took a break from the Crosmans and tuned it for JSB 10.3's, to the 880 fps they say FX designed the rifle to shoot (harmonics.) Well it wasn't shooting JSB brands great at those speeds, so I decided to try the Crosmans. I'm still on the path.

My 3 cards from a single fill to 200 bar with unregulated Reximex Daystar .177:

197 14X 200 16X 197 13X

Max fill is 230 bar.

Starting velocity on 3rd (last) card was 865 - ending was 851 fps.

Love this rifle, won’t be sticking a regulator in it, lol !

---

---

This week’s submissions were both by EPG (that’s me, lol)…

• 200 16X with Reximex Daystar .177 unregulated
• 198 16X with FX Dreamline Classic .177

The 198 with the Dreamline ties my previous high with the rifle - but has more Xs.




Today I took apart the Dreamline and polished the hammer and trigger components - thinking maybe that will help get it to 200…

Florida_Man continues his pursuit of 200 shooting Crosman pellets…

Keep shooting those 30 Yard Challenge targets, 200 is within everyone’s grasp!!

191 9x Hurricane Idalia card. I try not to post too many of my lower score, but today is unique. I have a lot of wind from Idalia, but I still wanted to get a card in. I found out the rifle likes a lighter hold. All my X's were shot while I tried that. I had to make a target holder out of foam core to keep the targets in place. At one point a gust blew the baby monitor off my bench.

Florida_Man said:

191 9x Hurricane Idalia card. I try not to post too many of my lower score, but today is unique. I have a lot of wind from Idalia, but I still wanted to get a card in. I found out the rifle likes a lighter hold. All my X's were shot while I tried that. I had to make a target holder out of foam core to keep the targets in place. At one point a gust blew the baby monitor off my bench.

Click to expand...

191 9X - Damn good shootin’ in a Hurricane, Florida_Man !

So this target gets printed on a standard 8.5" X 11" paper set at 100% ? The Bulls-eye is only 1/8th of an inch when I printed 1 off.

HeyU said:

So this target gets printed on a standard 8.5" X 11" paper set at 100% ? The Bulls-eye is only 1/8th of an inch when I printed 1 off.

Click to expand...

Hi HeyU,

Actually its the 10-ring measures 1/8” (.125”)…

… the X (bulls-eye) measures .02” (2/100”).

Yes, print the PDF at 100% on 8.5x11 paper.

Its precision target shooting at 30 yards - a score over 180 your first few times trying it is a good score.

We use a .22 caliber scoring gauge - it even’s things up between the .177 and .22 calibers:


This is the one that I use:


Happy shooting - post your results here - many excellent shooters here willing to offer helpful advice.

-Ed

Thought I’d share my recent Benjamin Cayden tuning experience - perhaps it can help others…

I’ve shot as high as 198 with this Cayden. It likes H&N Baracuda pellets more than JSB.

Current mild tune has the rifle shooting Baracuda 15s at 835fps, 18s at 785fps and Baraduda 21.14g at 735fps. All three pellet weights will group consistently around 1/4” at 30 yards.

I recently tore down the Cayden to polish the hammer - polished it to a gleam as well as polished inside the hammer where the hammer spring slides, polished the hammer spring itself, etc. The velocity is very consistent shot to shot. I’m using a 2.75” hammer spring (rifle is massively oversprung with 3.5” factory-length spring).

Even after polishing, rifle was still shooting 190 (4 190s and 2 186s across six TYC cards).

Interestingly, the vertical on these 190 cards was very good- the misses were all horizontal left and right of the bull.

So, I thought I recalled that I used to use a different moderator on the Cayden… I swapped on a Huma Mod30 (using just 3 sections) and PRESTO - 195 12X on the 1st card with this moderator!

Has anyone else experienced something like this - where the moderator appears to have a significant impact on a rifle’s accuracy?

-Ed

Florida_Man said:

191 9x Hurricane Idalia card. I try not to post too many of my lower score, but today is unique. I have a lot of wind from Idalia, but I still wanted to get a card in. I found out the rifle likes a lighter hold. All my X's were shot while I tried that. I had to make a target holder out of foam core to keep the targets in place. At one point a gust blew the baby monitor off my bench.

Click to expand...

i love it when someone knows the odd are stacked against them but go's right ahead and shoots anyway .

ok todays target , this time scored with new Gehmann gauge .

beerthief said:

ok todays target , this time scored with new Gehmann gauge .View attachment 385920

Click to expand...

I think the closest I have gotten since Tom Carlson started the thread in March 2022 was 17 X’s. 20X’s is still amazing to me, and still is a goal. Your two throwaway’s are better than most of my keepers.

tommyb said:

I think the closest I have gotten since Tom Carlson started the thread in March 2022 was 17 X’s. 20X’s is still amazing to me, and still is a goal. Your two throwaway’s are better than most of my keepers.

Click to expand...

your shooting is what inspired me to do this ! keep it up .

Thank you! Very kind.

P.S - Now you inspire many.

Quick story - I find it interesting that not every day at my local outdoor range, gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. I know we all share in this same experience after many range sessions and practice. Today was unique, but for a different reason. Rather than focus on my session goals, the shooter on my immediate right was having difficulty getting his shots on paper at 50 yards. I could see he was struggling, and I wanted to help. We have all been there. We introduced ourselves and in the course of conversation, he mentioned he was a Viet Nam vet. He was really frustrated but also calm and patient.

He was shooting a savage 308 with a cheap Crossfire 4X12 scope. He had a spotting scope and a couple of his shots were sailing over his target stand into the berm. We tried to zero his scope based on where his bullets were landing, and he was behind the gun. He wanted to try my zero suggestions. I showed him how to lower his POI with my preferred zero technique. He was still shooting over his stand. I was stymied, as he should have been lower and on paper. We tried a few different POAs to try and get him on paper. I checked his rings, mounts, elevation, etc. I’m not a powder burner guy, but he mentioned his muzzle break, which I noticed was canted and not level.

At the same time some other guys ( Afghan Vets) came over. I saw that one of them had “shooting
instructor” on the back of his shirt. We started discussing his muzzle break and I went to see if it was tight. Very loose, and we learned he didn’t tighten it down. We removed the muzzle break and that was his accuracy issue.

Then the Afghanistan Vets took over, moved him up to 25 yards and the shooting instructor quickly zero’d and hit the X dot. Moved him to 50y, same thing. Then on to 100 yards and one shot hit the bull.

Then we sat my new friend down and he shot three pretty darn close to the Sniper’s first shot at 100 yards. To say this guy w as ecstatic is an understatement.

We all sat around his bench and the guy was ready to buy everyone drinks. He got everyone’s contact information and all were happy and they were talking about their military experiences.

I realized that this experience made us all feel good. He mentioned he liked the real sense of community and was very appreciative.

Not every day at the range has to result in great scores, tight groups and superb accuracy. I am finding some of my better more fulfilling days are helping others, just as they help me.

A lesson I won’t forget

I can't top that story, or even come close, but I do have a score to post to the leaderboard from my Prod (Benjamin Marauder Pistol). It wears a Hawke Vantage 2-7 scope and I can't really see the bullseyes on the target at 30 yards with it. But I decided to move my highest magnification scope, my Vector 8-32 to the little Prod. I had to get some high dovetail rings and mount it further back than I really wanted it but I got set up. I decided to use 30 yard challenge targets to decide on the right tune going forward. My first couple were below 180. Not terrible but not what I was hoping for. Then I decreased the hammer spring to about 5.5 turns and shot a 185. But the velocity was a little lower than I wanted so I increased the hammer throw to 1.4 from 1.25. I shot that this morning with the sun in my eyes bad. I shot a 181. Hard to tell how much was my poor placement but I decided to turn the hammer spring down to about 1.3 and shot this 193 12X. I was using H&N FTTs, copper plated but decided to try a target with the Cromans some of you like. About 4 shots in I jambed a pellet half in the chamber, half in the magazine and had to tap the magazine out. I took the scope off to take the upper part of the action off first but couldn't clear it that way. When I put it back together I could not adjust the Vector scope far enough right to sight the gun in. Impacts were way left. So I put the little Hawke back on and it sighted in fine. Vector may have chosen that moment to die. Long way of saying no Crosman score and probably won't be, at least any time soon.

But the good news is I am confident I have a good tune on the Prod and that it is a pretty accurate little gun.

tommyb said:

Thank you! Very kind.

P.S - Now you inspire many.

Quick story - I find it interesting that not every day at my local outdoor range, gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. I know we all share in this same experience after many range sessions and practice. Today was unique, but for a different reason. Rather than focus on my session goals, the shooter on my immediate right was having difficulty getting his shots on paper at 50 yards. I could see he was struggling, and I wanted to help. We have all been there. We introduced ourselves and in the course of conversation, he mentioned he was a Viet Nam vet. He was really frustrated but also calm and patient.

He was shooting a savage 308 with a cheap Crossfire 4X12 scope. He had a spotting scope and a couple of his shots were sailing over his target stand into the berm. We tried to zero his scope based on where his bullets were landing, and he was behind the gun. He wanted to try my zero suggestions. I showed him how to lower his POI with my preferred zero technique. He was still shooting over his stand. I was stymied, as he should have been lower and on paper. We tried a few different POAs to try and get him on paper. I checked his rings, mounts, elevation, etc. I’m not a powder burner guy, but he mentioned his muzzle break, which I noticed was canted and not level.

At the same time some other guys ( Afghan Vets) came over. I saw that one of them had “shooting
instructor” on the back of his shirt. We started discussing his muzzle break and I went to see if it was tight. Very loose, and we learned he didn’t tighten it down. We removed the muzzle break and that was his accuracy issue.

Then the Afghanistan Vets took over, moved him up to 25 yards and the shooting instructor quickly zero’d and hit the X dot. Moved him to 50y, same thing. Then on to 100 yards and one shot hit the bull.

Then we sat my new friend down and he shot three pretty darn close to the Sniper’s first shot at 100 yards. To say this guy w as ecstatic is an understatement.

We all sat around his bench and the guy was ready to buy everyone drinks. He got everyone’s contact information and all were happy and they were talking about their military experiences.

I realized that this experience made us all feel good. He mentioned he liked the real sense of community and was very appreciative.

Not every day at the range has to result in great scores, tight groups and superb accuracy. I am finding some of my better more fulfilling days are helping others, just as they help me.

A lesson I won’t forget

Click to expand...

Hello @tommyb

Kudos to you and the other fellows

To me that is a heck of a lot better than a 200 20X card any day

ThomasT

getting a gun to shoot POA is always fun to me

Shot moments ago in dim, fading light…

Leaderboard submission:

200 16X with my Daystate Wolverine R HP
FX 18.13g @ 1,025 fps
Sightron SII 36x target scope

This is my first 200 with a regulated rifle, lol - the other two 200s were with unregulated rifles.

Note the typical EPG lost concentration on the last target pair #12 - I was pretty certain that I’d already shot a 200. I’ve had 4 199s and a 198 with the Wolverine on about 12 challenge cards - the thing is incredible.

I think I can get 200 20X eventually with this rifle, its that consistent. I had not shot it in at least a week, took 3 sighters to confirm zero and then these 24 shots for a 200.

Gonna treat myself to a work night bourbon now !!

JimD said:

I can't top that story, or even come close, but I do have a score to post to the leaderboard from my Prod (Benjamin Marauder Pistol). It wears a Hawke Vantage 2-7 scope and I can't really see the bullseyes on the target at 30 yards with it. But I decided to move my highest magnification scope, my Vector 8-32 to the little Prod. I had to get some high dovetail rings and mount it further back than I really wanted it but I got set up. I decided to use 30 yard challenge targets to decide on the right tune going forward. My first couple were below 180. Not terrible but not what I was hoping for. Then I decreased the hammer spring to about 5.5 turns and shot a 185. But the velocity was a little lower than I wanted so I increased the hammer throw to 1.4 from 1.25. I shot that this morning with the sun in my eyes bad. I shot a 181. Hard to tell how much was my poor placement but I decided to turn the hammer spring down to about 1.3 and shot this 193 12X. I was using H&N FTTs, copper plated but decided to try a target with the Cromans some of you like. About 4 shots in I jambed a pellet half in the chamber, half in the magazine and had to tap the magazine out. I took the scope off to take the upper part of the action off first but couldn't clear it that way. When I put it back together I could not adjust the Vector scope far enough right to sight the gun in. Impacts were way left. So I put the little Hawke back on and it sighted in fine. Vector may have chosen that moment to die. Long way of saying no Crosman score and probably won't be, at least any time soon.

But the good news is I am confident I have a good tune on the Prod and that it is a pretty accurate little gun.

View attachment 386177

Click to expand...

JimD,

What was the weight and velocity of the H&N FTT pellets that you used on this card?

-Ed

In the same spirit as Florida_Man, who was out shooting this challenge in a hurricane, I thought you guys would enjoy my story from yesterday…

First card of the day was a 199 15X with the Wolverine. This was the 1st card since I shot 200 with it the day before. I took 5 sight in shots (mostly just to get comfortable) and then my usual 24 straight shots. So, on a single fill to 250bar, the Wolverine shot 200 and 199 back-to-back.
Including the total 8 sight-in shots, the Wolverine took 56 shots across the two cards. Only 5 9’s, zero 8’s and a whole lot of X’s !

The 198 13X with the Dreamline is the story. I had been experimenting with the Dreamline at 12 ft/lbs (720fps with 10.3g). It could shoot very small groups at 12 ft/lbs but scored 187-190 in the TYC. I was getting vertical up & down misses. I think you really need to weigh your pellets if shooting low power like 12 ft/lbs.

So, then I took the stock off, turned in the hammer spring two full turns. Velocity was 901 fps. Thought I’d try that -higher than I’d been using the Dreamline.

Zeroed and started shooting a card. I had 15 pellets left in the tin - 1st 15 targets were all 10 or X…

… now I had to open another tin. A thunderstorm rolled in nearby. Visibility dropped very low, thunder was smashing, lightning was visible in the distance…

… I had a 200 going, no way I’m stopping. I’m sure my girl thought I was nuts, but I finished the card. The new tin of pellets screwed me - definitely not as consistent as the previous tin was. Had a few drop low and damn - another 198 with the Dreamline. Then I hurried to get all my shooting gear back inside before it got too soaked.

I’m not an “addict”, but if you had a 200 card going, wouldn’t you stay out in a thunderstorm, lol?

-Ed

---

---

This week’s submissions and notables…

• 200 16X - EPG with his Daystate Wolverine R HP .22
• 193 12X - JimD his Benjamin Marauder Pistol
• 200 20X - Beerthief does it again - another perfect card with his ancient Feinwerkbau SSP rifle (which he needs to sell to me when he gets bored with it)
• 191 9X - Florida_Man braves the wind shooting during Hurricane Idaila
• 198 13X - EPG stays out in a thunderstorm to finish a card he thought could might be a 200 with his Dreamline…

Keep up the good shooting !

Not rain, sleet, heat, wind or lightning should get in the way of our relentless pursuit of 200!!

-Ed