A historical first in the airgun world!

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"Mike Niksch, owner of Thomas Rifles, won the PRO class with a very strong performance. What is remarkable, and perhaps even historic, is that Mike won with an air rifle, defeating all the high-end unlimited-type .22 LR rimfire rifles in the process. This may be the first time an air rifle out-performed high-end rimfire rigs in head-to-head competition, shooting the same targets in the same match. Overall Match Winner and PRO Class runner-up Lou Fontana observed: “The real significance of this weekend is that Mike Niksch and his brand new Thomas Slug air rifle outshot several unlimited .22 LRs in PRO class. This should be a paradigm shift for most. That may have never been done in competition before. I’ll add it was done at the NRA Whittington Center monitored by a NRA Range Officer.”

Great article of this achievement!

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2021/09/sunday-gunday-n50-nationals-and-the-modern-precision-airgun/?fbclid=IwAR23HLbMBYi5-f1iDxDA1NsxPbsnxAx0p9jic_o1X0qxqJUBVGtETxq8Wa0
 
Congrats to Mike, but I have some questions being ignorant of the rules of this competition.

Is that a remote trigger release? And the gun is in a rest that is fully adjustable, so... does the shooter *simply* (chuckle) sight in the target and then, without even touching the gun, *pull* the trigger using a remote device?

Again, excuse my ignorance, but it seems that the shooter has been taken almost completely out of the equation if what I said above is true and all that is really being tested is the accuracy of the gun, not the shooter?

Once again, please excuse my ignorance. I am not trying to start anything negative here or dump on this thread.

I am simply curious and ignorant.

Thanks!
 
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Congrats to Mike, but I have some questions being ignorant of the rules of this competition.

Is that a remote trigger release? And the gun is in a rest that is fully adjustable, so... does the shooter *simply* (chuckle) sight in the target and then, without even touching the gun, *pull* the trigger using a remote device?

Again, excuse my ignorance, but it seems that the shooter has been taken almost completely out of the equation if what I said above is true and all that is really being tested is the accuracy of the gun, not the shooter?

Once again, please excuse my ignorance. I am not trying to start anything negative here or dump on this thread.

I am simply curious and ignorant.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Exactly! That was my first impression as well it sure looks that way. More like launch control than marksmanship. While it is a milestone in Airgun power I just don’t get the execution as a milestone in marksmanship
 
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Thanks everyone! I appreciate the kind words.

I’ll answer the last question as well as I can.

There is often a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to Benchrest competition. Benchrest is about achieving ultimate accuracy of equipment and the shooters ability to read the wind and make as perfect as possible use of the equipment. Many people believe that the only reason an accurate rifle misses its mark is because it wasn’t held steady. This could be true if the target was large enough or the gun was shot in a completely windless environment. These rifles are capable of hitting a .030” dot nearly every time at 50y with no air movement, but once the wind is blowing it becomes very difficult and It’s the shooters job to “see” the air movement in his flags and compensate properly by holding off so the wind will blow the bullet into the center. As for equipment…It’s one thing to get a gun to shoot well for a time…but it’s an entirely different matter to get a gun to shoot well all the time. It’s far more difficult than most people think to make 25 good shots in the wind. Benchrest is not a test of anyone’s ability to hold still or pull the trigger properly….It’s about getting machine and man as close to perfection as possible and as often as possible.

Thanks again, 

Mike 
 
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