I feel like the PRS air rifle rules came about in part because some range owners think that an air rifle slug at 80-100 fpe will blow their targets apart.
Here are the pertinent PRS rules, with some commentary from me-
2.4.1 Airguns MUST follow all projectile speed restrictions as other rimfire divisions.
Since the only speed restriction is "Commercially available standard velocity .22lr ammunition", this leaves a lot of wiggle room. I mean, since air rifle slugs don't have their own power source, you could say that all pellets and slugs have a velocity of zero. I have never seen ammunition checked at a PRS rimfire match. And I saw (and heard) someone at a regional finale that was clearly shooting supersonic ammo. Maybe no one cared because he finished towards the bottom, but I guess if you have a poorly written, ambiguous rule then you don't have a strong desire to enforce it.
2.4.2 Projectiles must be mass produced. 22 and 25 caliber airguns can use pellets or slugs and cannot exceed a weight limit of 49 grains
So if you want to shoot Altaros ATP smooths at 49.5 grs, you better buy some sandpaper. And Altaros now lists those slugs as 50 grs. I wonder if anyone that shoots big PRS Rimfire matches with an air rifle has ever had their slugs weighed?
2.4.3 Projectiles must be mass produced. 30 caliber airguns are limited to ONLY pellets and cannot exceed a weight limit of 50 grains. NO slugs.
Can't cast your own slugs. Can't shoot .30 slugs (even if they fall under 49.5 gr), can't shoot my beloved 56 gr Zan pellets. So what they are really saying here is "Don't shoot a .30".
I think PRS could simplify this a lot by saying "All rimfire and air rifle ammo shall not exceed 128 fpe." To save you doing the math, that is a 40 gr bullet going 1200 fps, which feels like the high end of "standard velocity". Then the air rifle rules could be 1) No tether tanks, and 2) Mass produced projectiles. I guess you could future proof it by saying 55 gr maximum for air rifle projectiles, since someone might make a rifle that can accurately shoot a 60 grain slug at 980 fps while still balancing on a barricade and getting 12 shots per fill.
Wow, I just did the math while looking some stuff up. I have shot 36 PRS rimfire and NRL22 matches this year. And I think 2 of them were with an air rifle. On the one hand, I am clearly not any kind of expert when it comes to shooting these types of matches with an air rifle. On the other hand, there's a couple of reasons why I'm not shooting these matches with an air rifle, and the PRS rules are a pretty big part of those reasons. I still maintain that the monthly NRL22 matches are the best place for air rifles, but I'm worried that I might accidentally qualify for the NRL22 championships and get my butt handed to me from the rimfire shooters.
Here are the pertinent PRS rules, with some commentary from me-
2.4.1 Airguns MUST follow all projectile speed restrictions as other rimfire divisions.
Since the only speed restriction is "Commercially available standard velocity .22lr ammunition", this leaves a lot of wiggle room. I mean, since air rifle slugs don't have their own power source, you could say that all pellets and slugs have a velocity of zero. I have never seen ammunition checked at a PRS rimfire match. And I saw (and heard) someone at a regional finale that was clearly shooting supersonic ammo. Maybe no one cared because he finished towards the bottom, but I guess if you have a poorly written, ambiguous rule then you don't have a strong desire to enforce it.
2.4.2 Projectiles must be mass produced. 22 and 25 caliber airguns can use pellets or slugs and cannot exceed a weight limit of 49 grains
So if you want to shoot Altaros ATP smooths at 49.5 grs, you better buy some sandpaper. And Altaros now lists those slugs as 50 grs. I wonder if anyone that shoots big PRS Rimfire matches with an air rifle has ever had their slugs weighed?
2.4.3 Projectiles must be mass produced. 30 caliber airguns are limited to ONLY pellets and cannot exceed a weight limit of 50 grains. NO slugs.
Can't cast your own slugs. Can't shoot .30 slugs (even if they fall under 49.5 gr), can't shoot my beloved 56 gr Zan pellets. So what they are really saying here is "Don't shoot a .30".
I think PRS could simplify this a lot by saying "All rimfire and air rifle ammo shall not exceed 128 fpe." To save you doing the math, that is a 40 gr bullet going 1200 fps, which feels like the high end of "standard velocity". Then the air rifle rules could be 1) No tether tanks, and 2) Mass produced projectiles. I guess you could future proof it by saying 55 gr maximum for air rifle projectiles, since someone might make a rifle that can accurately shoot a 60 grain slug at 980 fps while still balancing on a barricade and getting 12 shots per fill.
Wow, I just did the math while looking some stuff up. I have shot 36 PRS rimfire and NRL22 matches this year. And I think 2 of them were with an air rifle. On the one hand, I am clearly not any kind of expert when it comes to shooting these types of matches with an air rifle. On the other hand, there's a couple of reasons why I'm not shooting these matches with an air rifle, and the PRS rules are a pretty big part of those reasons. I still maintain that the monthly NRL22 matches are the best place for air rifles, but I'm worried that I might accidentally qualify for the NRL22 championships and get my butt handed to me from the rimfire shooters.
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