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Air Shootist's NRL22 Season So Far - A Mid-season Write-up

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Time will tell. When Dubber won Airgun Division at NRL-22 Nationals the year prior he was 28th overall. And he won the RMAC this year. What was the overall finish of the top Airgunner this year at the NRL22 Championship?
I think you both know what I mean, no disrespect intended. I hope you both do well this next year against the shooters that competed this year.
 
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Dubber is an automated robotic killer behind a rifle, he will certainly be hard to beat. So will Gerhard. So will Justin Welch.

Competition has gotten a ton tougher in just 1 year. Scores are higher than ever, and attendance is higher than ever at locals and at nationals. Erik finished around 150 out of like 300ish at 2024 nationals (IIRC) and I shat the bed by whacking my rifle barrel tip harder than I've ever done before on a tank trap which netted me extreme POI shift and like 222nd place or something like that. Not my day. In any case, it's all about the shooter on the day of the match - and if Erik and I both happen to have a good day at RMAC then we are a major threat to every other competitor out there - doesn't matter who they are. That I am confident in.
 
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Great videos, you're a natural at this!

Sorry to be OT but what do you think of the DRS Pro vs the Panthera for these types of comps? Specifics of....

To me that's the thing that is the most concerning with these rifles - banging the shroud against something causing a POI shift, otherwise I would have bought one by now because you guys do so well with them.
 
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steve123 said:
Great videos, you're a natural at this!

Sorry to be OT but what do you think of the DRS Pro vs the Panthera for these types of comps? Specifics of....

To me that's the thing that is the most concerning with these rifles - banging the shroud against something causing a POI shift, otherwise I would have bought one by now because you guys do so well with them.
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Thanks, king.

In my personal opinion - the Panthera / Dynamic block rifles are the absolute pinnacle of what today's airgun market has to offer. They are definitely the best platform for almost anything due to their power potential, versatility, and infinite configurability. You can have it be a .177 peashooter or a .357 deer dropper, and anything in between. I personally prefer the Panthera/Dynamic over the DRS (as of today, this could change!) for NRL22 due to the finger-adjustable and excellently designed precise hammer spring adjustment plus having more on-board air to chuck heavy slugs and not worry about efficiency much. I am just starting to dabble with the DRS and don't have very much time behind the rifle, for what it's worth. But my Pantheras have been 100% reliable and they don't just sit in their cases - I use the bejesus out of them and compete 2-3 times per month in addition to hunting (with my Hunter Compacts), etc etc etc...

POI shift isn't really something that should deter you from buying one. That will happen with any airgun, and most firearms even - especially if you absolutely SMASH it against something as hard as I did at nationals. It was the full weight of the 15lb+ gun plus me falling into it. Yea.... it was bad. Haha. Hopefully I never do that again, especially during a match. I have learned to be very careful and deliberate with my movement due to the PTSD of that incident!
 
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AirShootist said:
Thanks, king.

In my personal opinion - the Panthera / Dynamic block rifles are the absolute pinnacle of what today's airgun market has to offer. They are definitely the best platform for almost anything due to their power potential, versatility, and infinite configurability. You can have it be a .177 peashooter or a .357 deer dropper, and anything in between. I personally prefer the Panthera/Dynamic over the DRS (as of today, this could change!) for NRL22 due to the finger-adjustable and excellently designed precise hammer spring adjustment plus having more on-board air to chuck heavy slugs and not worry about efficiency much. I am just starting to dabble with the DRS and don't have very much time behind the rifle, for what it's worth. But my Pantheras have been 100% reliable and they don't just sit in their cases - I use the bejesus out of them and compete 2-3 times per month in addition to hunting (with my Hunter Compacts), etc etc etc...

POI shift isn't really something that should deter you from buying one. That will happen with any airgun, and most firearms even - especially if you absolutely SMASH it against something as hard as I did at nationals. It was the full weight of the 15lb+ gun plus me falling into it. Yea.... it was bad. Haha. Hopefully I never do that again, especially during a match. I have learned to be very careful and deliberate with my movement due to the PTSD of that incident!
Click to expand...

Thanks for commenting.
 
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steve123 said:
Do what Warren mentioned then try the Altaros 32.3gr Smooth. .18 BC but I don't know how fast you can push these and have them shoot well though.

Been getting some 5 shot groups off sticks in the .8" range at 100Y with those slugs out of my Thomas at a sedate 840 fps. They shot just as good at 885 fps.

Didn't BallisticBoy say the best velocity window for least wind drift was 950 or so fps??
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According to Bob Sterne's work using my slug drag law, slugs are better at higher speeds than pellets, around 1050 ft/sec for the lowest downwind drift. That assumes they are still stable.

Because of their shape, the Altaros slugs may prefer slower speeds if their stability gets marginal as the speeds approach sound speed. It will depend on barrel twist rates as well as different types of stability.
 
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And just like that, I'm back in 2nd and have upgraded my class to Sharpshooter (finally!)

1730985775033.png


Think I can snag a W for the December COF and pull off a 3-Peat? (God I hope so!) 🤞🤞🤞🤞
 
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Update: Tomax & Xamot take 1st and 2nd again for the December COF in Beloit!

1733630530321.jpeg


I missed 7, he missed 5 and busted up my 3-peat attempt! Haha. We also encountered another airgun, an FX Panthera .25 shooting Zan slugs. That dude came in like 7th I think. Nonetheless - airguns in the top two spots again! Cool to see another one show up to a match for once, every time it's just Erik and I as the only airgun guys in a sea of rimfires.

Congrats to Erik for murdering this one. The top secret shed-based training program is working!
 
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Good lord, here are the Air Rifle rules for NRL22, 2025 season:

Air Rifle division is for competitors using a rifle that operates with compressed air to fire a pellet or slug.
Projectiles must be a minimum of 32 grains and must be .30 caliber or smaller. Tethered tanks are not
allowed. Alternatively, competitors using air rifles may voluntarily sign up to compete in any other
division as long as they meet the requirements of that division.

The important part is the 32 grain minimum.
 
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scotton said:
Good lord, here are the Air Rifle rules for NRL22, 2025 season:

Air Rifle division is for competitors using a rifle that operates with compressed air to fire a pellet or slug.
Projectiles must be a minimum of 32 grains and must be .30 caliber or smaller. Tethered tanks are not
allowed. Alternatively, competitors using air rifles may voluntarily sign up to compete in any other
division as long as they meet the requirements of that division.

The important part is the 32 grain minimum.
Click to expand...

Probably to make it easier to spot the steel moving for impact identification.

However on the other end of it I'm surprised there wasn't a cap put on FPE or projectile weight. Example 100gr at 1000 fps = 222 fpe. More than twice 22rf standard velocity. NRL probably never considered bringing out a chrongraph I bet.

I remember a stage when once you got a large spinner going you got extra points for how many times you could spin it within the time limit so a guy won that stage using his 10-22 with high velocity ammo.
I did well on that stage with my 1827F biathlon using Polar at 1107 fps.
 
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If you could get 12 rounds from a competition capable .30 cal, shooting 100 gr projectiles going 1000 fps... I'd almost want to see it. If you show up with your 3 shot big bore just to break a target... kick rocks.

PRS rules are a bit better here, they limit everything to "standard velocity" and have projectile weight limits per caliber.
 
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zer0dev said:
If you could get 12 rounds from a competition capable .30 cal, shooting 100 gr projectiles going 1000 fps... I'd almost want to see it. If you show up with your 3 shot big bore just to break a target... kick rocks.

PRS rules are a bit better here, they limit everything to "standard velocity" and have projectile weight limits per caliber.
Click to expand...

The air rifle platform is fairly self-limiting when it comes to the velocity/accuracy ratio and shot count. Which makes it frustrating when PRS adds arbitrary weight limits that make the more popular .25 slugs illegal.
 
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I doubt the organizers know of or were targeting particular manufacturers, but I would be curious how they came to certain thresholds.

In the current environment, I'm a bit surprised they allow slugs above .22 cal, or over 40 gr. The width does give a small advantage, all other things being equal. There's probably a power factor calculation in there somewhere.
 
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zer0dev said:
If you could get 12 rounds from a competition capable .30 cal, shooting 100 gr projectiles going 1000 fps... I'd almost want to see it. If you show up with your 3 shot big bore just to break a target... kick rocks.

PRS rules are a bit better here, they limit everything to "standard velocity" and have projectile weight limits per caliber.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was just coming out with a extreme example but same here that it'd be funny hearing the commentary from the peanut gallery using a more poweful airgun.

I do know that those 25 cal 60gr Altaros slugs at 99 fpe/862 fps slam our heavy UFT targets down really hard. It's the momentum of 60gr vs 40gr of my 22rf. One can't help but notice how apperent it is and a friend I was shooting with one day was chuckling as he observed this. The V3 High Power could probably get the 60's going 100 fps faster/120 fpe. Wouldn't be a great PRS/NRL gun though.

There's been a few times when I know I barely missed some KYL's with my 22rf and I think I would have wiggled the spinner had I a 25 cal instead and definitely a spin with a 30 cal. Of course missing that last 1/4"er can be the difference between being #1 or not. The pain is real, LOL!
 
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