30-Yard Challenge

Updated Leaderboard:

leaders.1651767363.png

 
Holy smokes Mike. I’m pretty sure that card moves you to the top with a 200, 20X? Congrats on great shooting!

Hey Tom C…

Did you forget to add Mike’s 200-20X card to the Leaderboard?

Mike N - spectacular! It doesn’t appear that the mild wind impeded your efforts, especially with no rest. Glad to see this challenge is attracting other BR shooters. 
 
Thanks

The wind drift per mph at 30 on these monsters is pretty similar to the drift of my slugs at 50….but the pellets don’t move up and down. I had some nice, readable wind yesterday (for a short window of time). The lack of a front rest doesn’t make any significant difference on a pellet gun….other than just being inconvenient. Whole different story with slugs. Its quite a bit easier to get a 10 or x on this card than the 25m international card….even with the extra 8 feet of distance. Plus… getting to use unlimited power and a pellet that’s about twice as good in the wind is a big upgrade. I think Joe and Bob shot a 20fpe 177. That’s twice as hard as what I shot.

Mike
 
Hi Tommy, I shot my .22 RAW today but I decided to try 18 gr pellets. I've never shot them before and I didn't have a chrony set up so I have no clue how fast they were going. I'll post the card later but I wasn't impressed. If you have an fps you like for 18gr would you mind passing that on to me? I've never shot 100yds. Our club (Open Grove in Oxnard, CA) has 25m and 50yd targets lines. I haven't put a lot of time into 50yd yet. Mostly 25m HV and if I can get the .22 raw to shoot well I shoot open with that rifle. To be honest my Thomas and Raw are great rifles at 25m. I may even try the 16gr with my Thomas for open class. I'll try and get out Friday/Sat and test it. Bob

Bob

I shot the JSB 18.1 in my RAW once or twice only. I can’t recall the exact velocity at 100 yards, but I think it was up over 1000 FPS. I do remember it did not group well, but at 100 yards and with some wind, I wasn’t banking on much either. I have a feeling that if I played with the HST and turned it way down, it might do ok at 30-50 yards with the 18g. 
Tom 
 
I shot this morning with my RAW.177 - Looking at the posts I'm not sure if I'm scoring correctly. Someone please let me know. I have been using a 22 plug but today I used a 22 jsp rd. I pushed the head in the hole to center it and wherever the skirt ended up touching gave me my score. ie If it touched the grey line it was a 10 if it touch the black it was an X. I think the skirts are a little more forgiving than the plug - maybe a little more diameter. I shot outside at 27.34 yds (25m) - If I'm scoring correctly then it was a 200 w/ 13 X' - but again I'm not sure how to score with a pellet skirt so correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks, Bob

Challenge 5-6-2022.1651865287.jpg

 
Allen,

I wouldn’t say it’s easy…but it is within the range of achievable with my equipment and wind reading ability at this particular distance. After initially looking at the card, I was relatively sure I could shoot a 200 20x if the wind was light. I shoot well over 100,000 shots per year over my wind flags outdoors….and have been doing this for many years. I can narrow down wind strength to around 1 mph or less if the wind is under 4-5 mph based on the angle of my wind flag tails. At this distance that puts my lateral wind reading error to probably around .070” with the pellets I used. My rifle will reliably shoot a round group of about .125” ctc for 25 shots at 30y. That means if the group size and wind error are at their worst….I can be up to almost .140” away from center. That is still going to give you an X. Sometimes the group size and your wind error will combine to give you a perfect shot even though you actually did not read the wind perfectly. I’m a numbers kind of person and every shot is a calculation for me. I’m always trying to figure the absolute least amount the wind may move my pellet and the absolute greatest and then hedge my bet to maximize my odds of catching the ten (or x on this card). I don’t care about trying for the center. If they go there, great….but it’s just as good to be off center just enough to catch the x. The distance from catching the x on one side and catching it on the other is your margin of wind error minus 1/2 your average group size of however many shots the card is. Once the wind speed gets over about 5….my wind velocity estimate error will increase quite a bit. 2-3 mph is the sweet spot. There is a lot more to it than that, but just knowing exactly what you have to work with is very helpful in making wind decisions that will maximize your percentage. Trying for the center will always yield more misses for me.

Not easy….but doable at this distance.

Mike
 
As I mentioned before….The guys that shot the 200s with the .177 20fpe guns had to estimate the wind hold with twice as much precision. That’s much harder.

Mike

I was thinking along the same lines looking at the .177 “200” cards. Using Lighter pellets and wind navigation is harder than with .22 HP as an example.

Bob S - meant to say congrats on your 200 card. 👏
 
Thanks Tom. I love this sport and out about five mornings a week shooting at our club (Open Grove). I really settled in about a year ago when I got my Raw 177 and then recently my Thomas HV. Both are great rifles to shoot and both are good shooters. Wind practice in my case is key to improving. Sometime we go out to practice and get too score conscious and forget to really concentrate on the different condition and how to shoot them with the rifle that's in your hands. That's the challenge. This challenge is a kick. Love the mulligans. Bob
 
Thanks Tom. I love this sport and out about five mornings a week shooting at our club (Open Grove). I really settled in about a year ago when I got my Raw 177 and then recently my Thomas HV. Both are great rifles to shoot and both are good shooters. Wind practice in my case is key to improving. Sometime we go out to practice and get too score conscious and forget to really concentrate on the different condition and how to shoot them with the rifle that's in your hands. That's the challenge. This challenge is a kick. Love the mulligans. Bob

“Wind practice in my case is key to improving.”

Bob, I think many of the average and especially the competition bench rest shooters feel the same. Also, I do get too ‘score focused’ at times and that can and will distract you in concentrating on favorable wind conditions and ‘when’ to shoot, or when to ‘wait and be patient.’ Successful and enjoyable days at the range are now measured in how well I adjusted to the wind and hit a few consecutive 10’s with my holds. A great day is when the two come together; good wind reading and a good score.

However, I actually get a bigger kick when I hit some 10’s with a 3 o’clock hold on my 6 ring with a right to left wind as an example. Or, I get an unexpected wind flyer that hits the six ring and I can adjust for wind and shoot a few 10’s in a row based on a correct read. Or, I hit a few 10’s, then get one or two consecutive 7’s and subsequently shoot a sighter to validate the wind shift and adjust with the right hold and hit some 10’s again. Some of these alleged wind flyers are also me making a mistake or a bad pellet.

Certainly, a perpetual challenge to figure it all out. 

Tom 
 
Hey Tom, yeah, I think you've got it right. And it does feel good to holdover in some decent wind and take out the x. But between pellets, wind and shooting air a little luck doesn't hurt occasionally. Mark B let me know when I got into air gauging and weighing pellets for matches that it won't prevent the flyer (and it doesn't) The QC on pellet mfg isn't designed for target competition. It's more for pesting, hunting.

Do you know if any 25m national matches still exist? I can't seem to find anything. We we're going to hold a regional at our club but hardly anyone applied so it was cancelled. I'd like to test myself. Bob