30-Yard Challenge

Went to the range today. Nice warm temps, keep em' coming.

I had the RAW TM1000X .177 ( just cleaned barrel ) with me this morning. Wind was light and I just had my Randolph front mechanical rest cleaned and now have the horizontal windage knob actually 'working.' This is good because before it would not work and I would constantly pick up my rear Protektor bag and move horizontally from bull to bull. I knew this was inefficient but underestimated how problematic it is for getting adjusted for each shot. Now, I just use the knob and can move left or right across the row I am shooting.

Shot three 40Y Masters Cards and four 30Y Masters cards:

40Y Masters:

189-5X
192-8X
193-8X ( Will submit this for leaderboard in March )

30Y Masters

191-12X
194-12X
198-11X
199-15X ( Will submit this for leaderboard in March )

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Holy Smokes Tommy !

GREAT SHOOTING with that RAW .177 !!
 
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Thank you guys.

I believe the Randolph front mechanical rest really helps with my shooting technique. It does feel like ‘cheating’ because I really have the rifle locked down, but the Bench rest discipline is always evolving with new technology and accessories to enhance accuracy. All the major competition matches have adopted these technologies to improve their hand. Just look at the pics of equipment used at N50, RMAC, EBR, PA, etc.

At the same time, I have tremendous admiration for offhand, PRS, FT skills needed to be competitive. It’s all good and the variety is healthy for these hobbies.
 
Not a high score, but I shot a card today!

I’m trying to make the time to shoot the 30y challenge again a few times a week. I can’t wait for favorable conditions having a full time job, wife, and toddler.
I had a little time today so I went at it. I need to adjust the scope back a little, and getting a zero was not easy haha

Daystate Huntsman Revere Safari 177
Sightron 36x Vector adjustable rings
JSB Exact Monster 13.43gr mki
18ish FPE if I remember correctly
Bag front and rear
Wind SE 24mph 32mph gust

I’m happy all things considered

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Not a high score, but I shot a card today!

I’m trying to make the time to shoot the 30y challenge again a few times a week. I can’t wait for favorable conditions having a full time job, wife, and toddler.
I had a little time today so I went at it. I need to adjust the scope back a little, and getting a zero was not easy haha

Daystate Huntsman Revere Safari 177
Sightron 36x Vector adjustable rings
JSB Exact Monster 13.43gr mki
18ish FPE if I remember correctly
Bag front and rear
Wind SE 24mph 32mph gust

I’m happy all things considered

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Chris - I can’t believe you would even shoot a card in 23 mph winds gusting to 32 mph. That’s like a hurricane for these tiny 10 rings.

Great score. Show us a pic of that Revere when you get a chance.
 
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Chris - I can’t believe you would even shoot a card in 23 mph winds gusting to 32 mph. That’s like a hurricane for these tiny 10 rings.

Great score. Show us a pic of that Revere when you get a chance.
My house did a decent job of sheltering me from the wind for about 18 yards of the travel. It took me awhile waiting out the gusts that came from other directions.
A squirrel made the mistake of raiding my bird feeder while I shot the target. It wasn’t phased by the shooting until it was the target.
 
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Nice Shooting Florida_Man. Good to see that Safari getting some range time before you sell it.

I promise to get leaderboard update out on Monday or Tuesday - forecast is rain. So, I'll stop tearing apart air guns for a bit and get the March Update posted.

Here are my leaderboard submissions from the past two days. I wanted to get a few rifles that I had not shot yet in 2025 on the leaderboard.
So, I shot 40-Masters - its quick, lol - you know my game by now - take 2 or 3 sighters and then 20 straight for a Masters card.

These are some kick_ss rifles - so I figured I'd give em a true 1st 2025 test - one card each at 40-Masters. It was very breezy, so I wasn't expecting any 195+ scores... I was also trying the JTS 22.07g in the Wolverine and Taipan for the 1st time.

40-Masters: 189 8X
Rifle: Daystate Wolverine R HP .22
Pellet: JTS 22.08 @ 918fps
Scope: Sightron SII 36x

40-Masters: 195 12X
Rifle: FX Dreamline PowerPup .22 - using 600mm superlight barrel
Pellet: JSB 20.83g MRD Lights
Scope: Sightron SII 36x

On 3/13 I also shot a 40-Masters of 186 7X with the Taipan Vet 2 - but not submitting as I know the Taipan will do over 190 with JSB 25.4g. It seemed to like the JTS 22.08g - as 186 7X is a pretty good 40-Masters in the wind. I was texting TommyB these cards as I was shootin' em, lol.

Its a good idea to keep notes on your rifles. I shot a 189 8X with the PowerPup on 3/13. I used 18.13g. Something felt a bit off. On 3/14, I shot two 40-Masters cards with it using the 20.83g. It shot a 190 5X in some very windy conditions. Then the wind got milder and it shot the awesome 195 12X. The last three rows of the 195 card were really incredible. I was playing around with different holds on the 1st two rows. That 189 card with the 18.13s was using the 20.83g tune. Those 18.13s were flying at over 950fps, lol.

The 40-Masters is my only card with the Wolverine since I rebuilt it - installed a new regulator, a bigger carbon bottle etc. It is running at original factory specifications for reg pressure. The hammer spring is factory. I have resisted the urge to "EPG" the Wolverine to date. Glad I did because I was going to tune it down ... and then JTS released the 22.08g pellets. Initial testing is that Wolfie LOVES these pellets.

Keep getting that lead downrange - the shooting weather is getting better. Looking forward to seeing some great cards from you guys.

-Ed

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@EPG Thanks. I’ve dedicated myself back to the Revere. And I have a good stock of pellets, so why not haha. Now that I’ve been able to make the time and put other hobbies aside, I have rejuvenated my interest. And frankly, it’s not even properly broken in yet. I think a 200 or few would be even more of a selling/trading point when I can achieve it. 😂
 
Chris - I can’t believe you would even shoot a card in 23 mph winds gusting to 32 mph. That’s like a hurricane for these tiny 10 rings.

Great score. Show us a pic of that Revere when you get a chance.
My friend has my Tanto right now and I’m swapping it with a Huma mod 30 tomorrow. This revere seemed to shoot better with the Tanto.

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My friend has my Tanto right now and I’m swapping it with a Huma mod 30 tomorrow. This revere seemed to shoot better with the Tanto.

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Yeah, hold on to that .177 Revere. The Safari stock feels great and when I had my .22 Red Wolf, I really liked the feel of the stock.

You are shooting those 13.4 pellets currently at 777 fps ( 18 FPE), and you really need to cherry pick a light wind day to see how it does. My RAW TM1000x .177 likes 810-820 fps range with the FX 13.4’s ( non redesigned) older ‘trash can’ pellets. You can also try the 10.3 g pellets.

If you shot a 193 in 23 mph+++ wind, I think you can score even better with some experimenting.
 
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Yeah, hold on to that .177 Revere. The Safari stock feels great and when I had my .22 Red Wolf, I really liked the feel of the stock.

You are shooting those 13.4 pellets currently at 777 fps ( 18 FPE), and you really need to cherry pick a light wind day to see how it does. My RAW TM1000x .177 likes 810-820 fps range with the FX 13.4’s ( non redesigned) older ‘trash can’ pellets. You can also try the 10.3 g pellets.

If you shot a 193 in 23 mph+++ wind, I think you can score even better with some experimenting.
I have a 197 with Air Arms 10.3’s with this rifle in 2023. So I feel I can get there. I’ve worked on my benching stability of the rifle. I’m on a budget and prefer bags, and think I figured that out. In my opinion that’s the most critical aspect aside from my human factors.
 
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Leaderboard Update - March 17, 2025


Shooters, this is our 2nd leaderboard update of 2025...

Its still the cold weather season up here in Connecticut, but we have had some really good submissions as the 1st quarter of 2025 winds down.

Notables:

30-Challenge:

TommyB shot a 200 17X in the 30-Challenge with his RAW HW1000X blasting JTS pellets at 983fps!

EPG shot a 200 30-Challenge with his unregulated Benjamin Akela .177 and Arken EPL-4 scope (a "budget" 200)

JimmyD keeps inching up the leaderboard about 1 point each week. He most recently shot a 198-13X with his Snowpeak P-35 .22

Greg (NAProf) is closing in on his "mulligan" card of 198 17X... Greg shot a 195 9X with his field target setup Crown Mk2 Green Mountain .177

Rick Cope shot a 192 with a SPRINGER - FWB 150 with little 7.33g JSBs

Florida_Man is back in the game - shooting a 193 11X with his Daystate Revere Safari

30-Masters:
TommyB posted a 199 15X with his RAW TM1000X .177

EPG posted a 199 15X with his .177 Akela - using a new single shot loader

Greg and EPG posted 197s - Greg with his .177 Green Mountain Crown Mk2 and Ed with his Reximex Daystar .177

40-Challenge:
EPG posted a 197 10X at 40 yards with his .177 Benji Akela... but he's not braggin' being on the top of the leaderboard with an Akela

TommyB blasted a 194 13X with his .22 RAW HM1000X @ 984fps - that card is still hot..

NAProf is working out the tune on his .22 Crown Mk2 Nordic Wolf - posting a 192 10X with JSB 18.13s

40-Masters:
EPG, Greg and TommyB shot 195, 194 and 193 respectively as the 40-Masters Challenge is getting some attention in 2025!


Congratulations on the 200s !

Keep getting that lead downrange!

-Ed


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Shot some 30y Challenge and Master cards this afternoon. Nothing for the leaderboard, but this was a ‘wind reading’ session for me.

The 30Y Masters were humbling. 184-6X ( not shown) and a 191 card.

But, I am finding out that the 22g JTS and JSB 20.83g Lights are shooting good in the Royale and the RAW HM1000x .22

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I have a couple for the leader board. Not because I shot really well but I have a slightly better target for the Caiman X with slugs - 186 6X still with the Arken at 24X - from early February. I noticed when Ed sent out the spreadsheet I had not sent it in. I think I was hoping for better but I've shot a bunch of groups at different speeds and it just won't give me 1/4 inch groups with slugs. They are more like half inch which pretty much rules out great targets at this. I will probably turn the reg up one more time. Today I shot three with my P35-177. I am attaching the 191 7X which was with H&N Baracuda FTs going about 900 fps. Still using my Athlon Talos 6-24 set at 24. The first two were with H&N Baracuda Match. I got better targets from the FTs last year too but stopped using them on squirrels after finding them wandering more on the first shot of the day. So Match for pesting and FT for targets. The match targets were a 174 and a 184. Noticeably worse. But the Match 177 pellets work great on squirrels so I expect the Caiman would too with slugs.

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Hi Guys,
A really nice day here near the beach and for a change light winds. Decided to try out the NW Crown with some new pellets. I shot the AEA 21.9 gr .22 pellets (because I ordered them by mistake instead of the 18.3 gr). I had shot a lot of H&N Barracuda Match 21.4gr in my Maverick with the 500mm STX Superior barrel with a lot of good results. So, what the heck.

For the leader board -
30 Yard Challenge - 200-15x. I think that is only my third 200 in the almost 3 years of this challenge. So I guess I found a good tune for the Crown with the 500mm .22 barrel. It's the same tune I was shooting the 18.1's, but at 820fps instead of 870fps. The cool part is that it was giving me an ES of 7 and an SD of 1,9 for the 30 or so shots for this target (including sighters).

Not quite that good, but also for the Leader Board - 40 Yard Masters - 192-8x. After shooting the 30 yard card the breeze had not really picked up so I thought I would give it a go. Really only 2 bad shots (the two 8's). The pellets seem to be really consistent. I am going to do my 200 shot analysis of these to see how good the numbers really are.

I also got some 13.4gr .177 AEA pellets of the JSB "trash can" shape I am going to try. It would be nice to have another source of really good .177 pellets.

Cheers,
Greg

30yd Challange NW 3-19-25.jpg


NW 40 yd Masters 3-19-25.jpg
 
Hi Guys,
A really nice day here near the beach and for a change light winds. Decided to try out the NW Crown with some new pellets. I shot the AEA 21.9 gr .22 pellets (because I ordered them by mistake instead of the 18.3 gr). I had shot a lot of H&N Barracuda Match 21.4gr in my Maverick with the 500mm STX Superior barrel with a lot of good results. So, what the heck.

For the leader board -
30 Yard Challenge - 200-15x. I think that is only my third 200 in the almost 3 years of this challenge. So I guess I found a good tune for the Crown with the 500mm .22 barrel. It's the same tune I was shooting the 18.1's, but at 820fps instead of 870fps. The cool part is that it was giving me an ES of 7 and an SD of 1,9 for the 30 or so shots for this target (including sighters).

Not quite that good, but also for the Leader Board - 40 Yard Masters - 192-8x. After shooting the 30 yard card the breeze had not really picked up so I thought I would give it a go. Really only 2 bad shots (the two 8's). The pellets seem to be really consistent. I am going to do my 200 shot analysis of these to see how good the numbers really are.

I also got some 13.4gr .177 AEA pellets of the JSB "trash can" shape I am going to try. It would be nice to have another source of really good .177 pellets.

Cheers,
Greg

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Fantastic Greg!

Those 200 scores are hard to come by!

Nice shooting.
 
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