30-Yard Challenge

[tommyb]

Tom, if I read your previous post correctly, you are selecting a "hold" point for your future shots based upon your previous impact point and continue to use it until it fails to provide hoped for results. My apologies if isn't the case.

I use the same procedures today as I did when I was competing in the 20 minute timed 25 meter HV Class benchrest competitions and will attempt to briefly explain. First of all, I consider every bull as a new challenge that has to be tackled under existing current conditions. The previous shot is history and useful if I see something that causes me to suspect a creeping trend in my poi or suspect a fowling issue which will cause me to go to the sighters before taking the next point shot. I utilize a combination of a rear bag and a mechanical joy-stick front rest which provides me with the ability to constantly move my aim point while I monitor the information provided by my two wind flags. Obviously, I shoot with both eyes open. Wind flags are an absolute necessity and the more sensitive, the better. I take my shots when I sense that I have made my best guess regarding adjusting for impact drift and the air movement conditions at that instant in time I tap the 2oz. trigger and hope to beat the next wind switch. I failed to mention that I shoot from a rock-solid heavy wood bench.

After expending vast amounts of both time and money, I still don't have the answer as to how to identify those erratic flying pellets as evidenced by the attached card I shot prior to the one I submitted on the 10th.
Marvin

View attachment 405469

Very helpful description of your shooting process and technique.

I do shoot from a solid concrete bench, but will admit the adjustable stools have a slight wobble. I am searching for one on Amazon ( or other ) to replace the ones that are used at my local outdoor range. Also use a rear Protektor rear bag filled with sand and an Accu-Tac front Bipod.

I have been using only one wind flag for the 30y challenge at about 6-8 yards from the muzzle. Two flags do confuse me if one flag has a tail that shifts in a different direction than my near flag. I normally do use two flags at 50y and beyond. I “try” to wait for a calm condition with little or no movement to take the next point shot.

Based on your description of ‘using each new bull as an existing challenge that has to be tackled under current conditions,” I think I am guessing where to hold and you are pretty sure of where to hold based on your excellent scores.

I honestly don’t always know if it’s a bad pellet or a wind shift that causes an 8 or a 7 sometimes. My mechanical triggers are normally set to 6-8 oz for 2nd stage release, and I try to maintain good follow through.

Anyway, thanks for your help!

Tom

 

[EPG]

Hi guys,

I shot two cards today- both 40 Yard Masters cards. Both with 18.13g FX pellets.

It appears the Prophet outshot the Power Pup tonight. Another great card with the Prophet.

Edit: I forgot to write 40 yards on these cards. It was freezing - about 39 degrees when I shot them and scored them, lol.

 

[EPG]

---

TYC Leaderboard Update​

---

It’s been an impressive amount of activity over the past two weeks since the last Leaderboard Update…

• mreynolds and ThomasT posted perfect 200 scores for 30 Yard Masters
• mreynolds continues his pursuit of perfection - shot a 200 19X 30-Yard Masters !
• ThomasT puts his 3rd rifle this year (2023) in the Hall of Aim !!
• oledawg got his Red Wolf on the 30 Yard Masters board with a 197
• TommyB joined me shooting 40 Yard Masters and posted an awesome 192 with his RAW
• Florida_Man shot a 196 with his .177 Revere using a Sightron 36x
• EPG keeps trying to get to 195 in the 40 Masters - best to date is 193

Most important is that the Masters cards and a new (40 yard) distance have kept folks getting lead down range to tackle these additional challenges - and thats what its all about…

… gettin’ out there and shootin’ !

 

[tommyb]

Ed

Did you create a PDF file for both the 40 yard challenge and the 40 yard Masters? I can cross out the 30 yard and label it, but just wanted to make sure I am using the latest 40Y cards.

Went out today, and it was a bit windy. 2-5 mph, almost always a direct head wind, and had two flags deployed at 40 yards. I will submit a new 40 yard Masters with the FX Royale, 185-7X. Two more submissions for the 30Y masters; 191-10X for Royale and 190-8X for HW100.

Both the 30Y and 40Y Masters are hard, without the mulligans. Even with the damn mulligans it's hard.

 

[ThomasT]

Ed

Did you create a PDF file for both the 40 yard challenge and the 40 yard Masters? I can cross out the 30 yard and label it, but just wanted to make sure I am using the latest 40Y cards.

Went out today, and it was a bit windy. 2-5 mph, almost always a direct head wind, and had two flags deployed at 40 yards. I will submit a new 40 yard Masters with the FX Royale, 185-7X. Two more submissions for the 30Y masters; 191-10X for Royale and 190-8X for HW100.

Both the 30Y and 40Y Masters are hard, without the mulligans. Even with the damn mulligans it's hard.

View attachment 405977

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Hello @tommyb

Some well shot targets .

I will add two pdf files to my next post. One will be a (40) Forty Yard Challenge and the second will be a (40) FORTY Yard Challenge Masters Class

ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

Here are two links to two new pdf files:
1) Forty Yard Challenge
2) FORTY Yard Challenge Masters Class

Hope this will help @EPD , Ed with his scoring for the Forum.

ThomasT

View attachment 40 Yard Challenge Target.pdf

View attachment FORTY Yard Challenge MASTER Class.pdf

 

[EPG]

TommyB - great shooting! Glad to see that you are hooked on the Masters cards! Yep, no mulligans makes you really concentrate. It also shows more accurately if your rifle is throwing flyers - they have no where to hide.

ThomasT - thanks for updating the 40 yard cards to reflect the longer distance.

Today I swapped my .177 barrel into my .25 Prophet. I posted about it on the PCP forum.

I had really polished the .177 barrel with Flitz before installing it. I love .177 and want to use it for 30 Yard Challenge and Masters this winter.

After 10 shots to settle the barrel, it started grouping really tight at 30 yards with 13.4g pellets. I even shot my favorite 10.3g for one group - it was a tight group despite being at 985 fps. Gonna stick with the 13.4g for now - would have to drop reg pressure to optimize for 10.3g.

Groups were so tight so fast that I figured it was ready for a few TYC cards. 1st card was a 198 12X - holy smokes. But my scores dropped each card - but they were 194 and 192 - so super nice results.

Scores may have dropped cause I was freezing - temps only hit 41 for a high here today.

Super excited about shooting .177 with a Prophet again. I never really used / tuned for the 13.4g pellets before - its nice that my .25 caliber settings for reg and hammer spring work so well with the .177 13.4s.

One final thing. I noticed on all 3 cards that my throw away pairs were always on the lower left hand side of the card. Gotta figure out why - maybe positioning behind rifle is slightly off .

 

[ThomasT]

TommyB - great shooting! Glad to see that you are hooked on the Masters cards! Yep, no mulligans makes you really concentrate. It also shows more accurately if your rifle is throwing flyers - they have no where to hide.

ThomasT - thanks for updating the 40 yard cards to reflect the longer distance.

Today I swapped my .177 barrel into my .25 Prophet. I posted about it on the PCP forum.

I had really polished the .177 barrel with Flitz before installing it. I love .177 and want to use it for 30 Yard Challenge and Masters this winter.

After 10 shots to settle the barrel, it started grouping really tight at 30 yards with 13.4g pellets. I even shot my favorite 10.3g for one group - it was a tight group despite being at 985 fps. Gonna stick with the 13.4g for now - would have to drop reg pressure to optimize for 10.3g.

Groups were so tight so fast that I figured it was ready for a few TYC cards. 1st card was a 198 12X - holy smokes. But my scores dropped each card - but they were 194 and 192 - so super nice results.

Scores may have dropped cause I was freezing - temps only hit 41 for a high here today.

Super excited about shooting .177 with a Prophet again. I never really used / tuned for the 13.4g pellets before - its nice that my .25 caliber settings for reg and hammer spring work so well with the .177 13.4s.

One final thing. I noticed on all 3 cards that my throw away pairs were always on the lower left hand side of the card. Gotta figure out why - maybe positioning behind rifle is slightly off .

View attachment 406022

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Hello @EPD

Well done ED, great cards for a "new" rifle, I love shooting .177.

ThomasT

 

[tommyb]

Hello @tommyb

Some well shot targets .

I will add two pdf files to my next post. One will be a (40) Forty Yard Challenge and the second will be a (40) FORTY Yard Challenge Masters Class

ThomasT

Thanks T!

 

[mreynolds]

I had decided to give the shooting a rest today, but after going out to retrieve the mail about 4:00 p.m. and seeing how light the air movement was, I couldn't resist testing my luck. Realizing that I was only going to have time to get in a couple of cards before low light would become a major factor, I set up the only gun I had readily available which was USFT #85. The gun has been gathering dust for the last six months, or more so. I had forgotten exactly which 14.35 gr. pellets the barrel preferred. I had three different pellet lots to try and took it from there. First lot provided a 197-11X, the second a 198-17X and the third a 200-17X. My concerns about the low-light situation proved correct as I had issues with figuring out which target I needed to shoot on the last two rows of the third card.

Specs are:
Gun - Mac-1 USFT
Barrel - Benchmark .22 cal., 2-groove
Scope - Bushnell 8 x 32 @ 32
Ammo. - JSB 14,35 gr. @840 fps
Wind - Light breeze both R-L & L-R

 

[tommyb]

I had decided to give the shooting a rest today, but after going out to retrieve the mail about 4:00 p.m. and seeing how light the air movement was, I couldn't resist testing my luck. Realizing that I was only going to have time to get in a couple of cards before low light would become a major factor, I set up the only gun I had readily available which was USFT #85. The gun has been gathering dust for the last six months, or more so. I had forgotten exactly which 14.35 gr. pellets the barrel preferred. I had three different pellet lots to try and took it from there. First lot provided a 197-11X, the second a 198-17X and the third a 200-17X. My concerns about the low-light situation proved correct as I had issues with figuring out which target I needed to shoot on the last two rows of the third card.

Specs are:
Gun - Mac-1 USFT
Barrel - Benchmark .22 cal., 2-groove
Scope - Bushnell 8 x 32 @ 32
Ammo. - JSB 14,35 gr. @840 fps
Wind - Light breeze both R-L & L-R

View attachment 406095

Very nice cards.

I typically shoot both JSB 15.89 and 18.1 in my three ( Revere, HW100, FX Royale ST) 28-30 FPE .22 rifles. Have not tried the 14.3g, and I have them all tuned around 840-900 FPS ranges with both pellets. All three shoot pretty accurately at 20-40 yards.

I would like to try the 14.3 gr., but would prefer to leave my tunes ‘as is.’ I suspect the 14.3 gr. will be too hot in those rifles, but it’s worth a try.

 

[tommyb]

TommyB - great shooting! Glad to see that you are hooked on the Masters cards! Yep, no mulligans makes you really concentrate. It also shows more accurately if your rifle is throwing flyers - they have no where to hide.

ThomasT - thanks for updating the 40 yard cards to reflect the longer distance.

Today I swapped my .177 barrel into my .25 Prophet. I posted about it on the PCP forum.

I had really polished the .177 barrel with Flitz before installing it. I love .177 and want to use it for 30 Yard Challenge and Masters this winter.

After 10 shots to settle the barrel, it started grouping really tight at 30 yards with 13.4g pellets. I even shot my favorite 10.3g for one group - it was a tight group despite being at 985 fps. Gonna stick with the 13.4g for now - would have to drop reg pressure to optimize for 10.3g.

Groups were so tight so fast that I figured it was ready for a few TYC cards. 1st card was a 198 12X - holy smokes. But my scores dropped each card - but they were 194 and 192 - so super nice results.

Scores may have dropped cause I was freezing - temps only hit 41 for a high here today.

Super excited about shooting .177 with a Prophet again. I never really used / tuned for the 13.4g pellets before - its nice that my .25 caliber settings for reg and hammer spring work so well with the .177 13.4s.

One final thing. I noticed on all 3 cards that my throw away pairs were always on the lower left hand side of the card. Gotta figure out why - maybe positioning behind rifle is slightly off .

View attachment 406022

View attachment 406023

View attachment 406024

View attachment 406025

Three cards in the 190’s ( and one of them a 198 ) makes for a rewarding session! Looks like the Prophet likes the newly polished .177 barrel.

 

[ThomasT]

I had decided to give the shooting a rest today, but after going out to retrieve the mail about 4:00 p.m. and seeing how light the air movement was, I couldn't resist testing my luck. Realizing that I was only going to have time to get in a couple of cards before low light would become a major factor, I set up the only gun I had readily available which was USFT #85. The gun has been gathering dust for the last six months, or more so. I had forgotten exactly which 14.35 gr. pellets the barrel preferred. I had three different pellet lots to try and took it from there. First lot provided a 197-11X, the second a 198-17X and the third a 200-17X. My concerns about the low-light situation proved correct as I had issues with figuring out which target I needed to shoot on the last two rows of the third card.

Specs are:
Gun - Mac-1 USFT
Barrel - Benchmark .22 cal., 2-groove
Scope - Bushnell 8 x 32 @ 32
Ammo. - JSB 14,35 gr. @840 fps
Wind - Light breeze both R-L & L-R

View attachment 406095

Hello @mreynolds

It appears that gun likes all three pellets, maybe one a bit more

ThomasT

 

[EPG]

My lunchtime card… wanted to get a 30 Masters shot with Prophet .177…

First sighter was a perfect X, then started the card… conditions were mild breeze… great start to card.

Then all heck broke loose, big wind gusts, flags were horizontal (see photo)… I actually thought my target cardboard was gonna get blown off the stand.

Wind makes it damn colder, my hand froze - turned that reddish frozen color. I waited out the gusts, got burned a few times by wind kicking up as I squeezed a shot off.

But I got on the Master’s board with the Prophet .177 - 190 9x - it’s shooting these JSB 13.4s real well. I’m done shooting today - it’s supposed to be fun and the last half of that card felt like punishment, lol.

-Ed

 

[ThomasT]

My lunchtime card… wanted to get a 30 Masters shot with Prophet .177…

First sighter was a perfect X, then started the card… conditions were mild breeze… great start to card.

Then all heck broke loose, big wind gusts, flags were horizontal (see photo)… I actually thought my target cardboard was gonna get blown off the stand.

Wind makes it damn colder, my hand froze - turned that reddish frozen color. I waited out the gusts, got burned a few times by wind kicking up as I squeezed a shot off.

But I got on the Master’s board with the Prophet .177 - 190 9x - it’s shooting these JSB 13.4s real well. I’m done shooting today - it’s supposed to be fun and the last half of that card felt like punishment, lol.

-Ed

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Hello @EPG

Ed this is supposed to be pure FUN, no need to punish yourself. However that is a real good card considering the conditions.

I would have shot a zero on the first bull then gone indoors.

ThomasT

 

[tommyb]

Hello @EPG

Ed this is supposed to be pure FUN, no need to punish yourself. However that is a real good card considering the conditions.

I would have shot a zero on the first bull then gone indoors.

ThomasT

Me too!

Read Greg’s post ( NAprof) on what happens to a pellet going from 30-50 yards. Extremely valuable for all of us trying to hit a .125” ‘10’ ring. Now we will better understand “technically” why it is so difficult.

 

[EPG]

Me too!

Read Greg’s post ( NAprof) on what happens to a pellet going from 30-50 yards. Extremely valuable for all of us trying to hit a .125” ‘10’ ring. Now we will better understand “technically” why it is so difficult.

I happened to see a post (in the TYC thread) from NAProf from January this year where he was talking about how hard it is to shoot 190. He took a mid-180 card he shot and superimposed all 25 shots on a US dime - so cool (attached pic of his post).

It shows how there are different interpretations of accuracy - a hunter with a high powered PCP would likely think 25 shots under a dime at 30 yards is really accurate. NAProf demonstrates that its a mid-180s score for precision target shooting in the TYC.

I’m always a bit in awe of the accuracy of these rifles. I dropped the .177 barrel into the Prophet yesterday. Kept the .25 cal reg and hammer spring settings the same. It shot nice groups with 13.4g .177 pellets at 897fps. I stuck an allen key into the back of the Prophet, turned 2/4 turn out and now the groups tightened even more at 880fps. Another 1/4 turn on allen key and groups tightened to fit INSIDE a 1/4” circle !

I picked up the rifle today and look at my 190 Masters card - the first 5 shots of today were 10s (counting the sighter) and 8 of the 1st 9 shots were 10s. When you think on that, it’s freaking astounding what these PCPs can do. Marvin Reynolds has rifles and skills where he basically can hit a 10 close to 20 out of 20 times (!).

Its the amazing accuracy that has me hooked on this sport - and of course meeting a lot of nice fellow shooters along the way.

When I show people our TYC target and tell them we shoot at the 10-ring at 30 and 40 yards, they shake their heads in disbelief.
Showed the target to a buddy who shoots powder burners in competition, and he immediately wanted the target to try, lol.

 

[ThomasT]

I happened to see a post (in the TYC thread) from NAProf from January this year where he was talking about how hard it is to shoot 190. He took a mid-180 card he shot and superimposed all 25 shots on a US dime - so cool (attached pic of his post).

It shows how there are different interpretations of accuracy - a hunter with a high powered PCP would likely think 25 shots under a dime at 30 yards is really accurate. NAProf demonstrates that its a mid-180s score for precision target shooting in the TYC.

I’m always a bit in awe of the accuracy of these rifles. I dropped the .177 barrel into the Prophet yesterday. Kept the .25 cal reg and hammer spring settings the same. It shot nice groups with 13.4g .177 pellets at 897fps. I stuck an allen key into the back of the Prophet, turned 2/4 turn out and now the groups tightened even more at 880fps. Another 1/4 turn on allen key and groups tightened to fit INSIDE a 1/4” circle !

I picked up the rifle today and look at my 190 Masters card - the first 5 shots of today were 10s (counting the sighter) and 8 of the 1st 9 shots were 10s. When you think on that, it’s freaking astounding what these PCPs can do. Marvin Reynolds has rifles and skills where he basically can hit a 10 close to 20 out of 20 times (!).

Its the amazing accuracy that has me hooked on this sport - and of course meeting a lot of nice fellow shooters along the way.

When I show people our TYC target and tell them we shoot at the 10-ring at 30 and 40 yards, they shake their heads in disbelief.
Showed the target to a buddy who shoots powder burners in competition, and he immediately wanted the target to try, lol.

View attachment 406334

Hello @EPG

Incredible

It's like I told @tommyb, a lot of good luck when one of us get a 200 score.

Like you, I really enjoy the challenge.

ThomasT

 

[tommyb]

I happened to see a post (in the TYC thread) from NAProf from January this year where he was talking about how hard it is to shoot 190. He took a mid-180 card he shot and superimposed all 25 shots on a US dime - so cool (attached pic of his post).

It shows how there are different interpretations of accuracy - a hunter with a high powered PCP would likely think 25 shots under a dime at 30 yards is really accurate. NAProf demonstrates that its a mid-180s score for precision target shooting in the TYC.

I’m always a bit in awe of the accuracy of these rifles. I dropped the .177 barrel into the Prophet yesterday. Kept the .25 cal reg and hammer spring settings the same. It shot nice groups with 13.4g .177 pellets at 897fps. I stuck an allen key into the back of the Prophet, turned 2/4 turn out and now the groups tightened even more at 880fps. Another 1/4 turn on allen key and groups tightened to fit INSIDE a 1/4” circle !

I picked up the rifle today and look at my 190 Masters card - the first 5 shots of today were 10s (counting the sighter) and 8 of the 1st 9 shots were 10s. When you think on that, it’s freaking astounding what these PCPs can do. Marvin Reynolds has rifles and skills where he basically can hit a 10 close to 20 out of 20 times (!).

Its the amazing accuracy that has me hooked on this sport - and of course meeting a lot of nice fellow shooters along the way.

When I show people our TYC target and tell them we shoot at the 10-ring at 30 and 40 yards, they shake their heads in disbelief.
Showed the target to a buddy who shoots powder burners in competition, and he immediately wanted the target to try, lol.

View attachment 406334

This puts the TYC in perspective. I had forgotten Greg posted this.

Given all of the variables that are in play as explained many times on the forum with pellets, it’s amazing how well our air rifles do shoot for the 30y and 40y targets.

 

[EPG]

This puts the TYC in perspective. I had forgotten Greg posted this.

Given all of the variables that are in play as explained many times on the forum with pellets, it’s amazing how well our air rifles do shoot for the 30y and 40y targets.

Here is the link to the page with Greg’s (NAProf) original post:

30-Yard Challenge

How do we see the leaderboard? Is there a link, or is it just updated throughout the threads, or maybe upon request? I'm trying to figure out when I make it on.

www.airgunnation.com

It would be cool to have the software that plots the shots like that.

-Ed