Jeffrey Hernández wins 2 years in a row!

Congrats Jeff!

Buying good equipment, putting in the time for practice, and taking advice from one of the best BR shooters around, has "literally" paid off for you.
Agree, but the most important thing is what Mike N constantly emphasizes - using wind flags and LEARNING from experience how to read them in varying conditions. Jeffrey is a MASTER of judging the wind from his flags, as is Nicolay, who finished second...
 
How about Nickolay? He has won or placed at the top in the last 3 years and I THINK, could be wrong, he shoots the same air rifle.
He has gone 1st in 2019, 2nd Pro (4th overall - the top two Sportsman beat him) in 2021, and 2nd Pro in 2022. But he shot a custom single shot .22 rifle starts with a J? in 2019, a .22 Impact in 2021, and a .22 Crown this year. All three shot the .22 RD Monsters (2017 shallow cavity version).

This is the second year in a row that Jeffrey has beaten Nicolay. Last year Jeffrey won Sportsman with a higher score than the 2nd place Pro (Nicolay), and obviously Jeffrey beat him this year...
 
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Agree, but the most important thing is what Mike N constantly emphasizes - using wind flags and LEARNING from experience how to read them in varying conditions. Jeffrey is a MASTER of judging the wind from his flags, as is Nicolay, who finished second...
I liked when Jeff said, (in his video ) "sometimes he just sets up the flags in his yard and observes the wind and flags, when he can't drive to the range."

As an aside, I would love to see more AGN posts (or related bench rest articles) as to how experienced BR air gun enthusiasts describe how they are using the flags, and interpreting good wind conditions, while shooting. I have searched on both GTA and AGN, and I can't seem to locate good descriptive 'how to' flag reading posts. Sort of like an instructional YouTube video would be most helpful. i.e., how to handle left to right, right to left at different angles, tail winds, head winds, some do's and don'ts, when to defer to your near flag vs. far flag, and visa-versa, which winds to avoid, etc....

Practicing by yourself (without a knowledgeable mentor watching you ) and accidentally doing things wrong with your flag reading, is a slow process for learning. I have been using flags for about a year by myself, and honestly, I'm still not comfortable with what I know vs. what I don't know.
 
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I liked when Jeff said, (in his video ) "sometimes he just sets up the flags in his yard and observes the wind and flags, when he can't drive to the range."

As an aside, I would love to see more AGN posts (or related bench rest articles) as to how experienced BR air gun enthusiasts describe how they are using the flags, and interpreting good wind conditions, while shooting. I have searched on both GTA and AGN, and I can't seem to locate good descriptive 'how to' flag reading posts. Sort of like an instructional YouTube video would be most helpful. i.e., how to handle left to right, right to left at different angles, tail winds, head winds, some do's and don'ts, when to defer to your near flag vs. far flag, and visa-versa, which winds to avoid, etc....

Practicing by yourself (without a knowledgeable mentor watching you ) and accidentally doing things wrong with your flag reading, is a slow process for learning. I have been using flags for about a year by myself, and honestly, I'm still not comfortable with what I know vs. what I don't know.
Without wind flags, I wouldn't have done well. I am LEARNING to read them, but honestly I mainly just used them to let me know of changes in speed and direction. #2 Sportsman finisher Barb P @5Power shot a 213 first 75Y qualifier, and then used flags on the second 75Y, and shot 234. Conditions not much different. I let her borrow my Graham flags, and just went over the basics prior to her bench time. She qualified, and then came in 2nd in the 100Y finals using wind flags - and won $3K.
 
Without wind flags, I wouldn't have done well. I am LEARNING to read them, but honestly I mainly just used them to let me know of changes in speed and direction. #2 Sportsman finisher Barb P @5Power shot a 213 first 75Y qualifier, and then used flags on the second 75Y, and shot 234. Conditions not much different. I let her borrow my Graham flags, and just went over the basics prior to her bench time. She qualified, and then came in 2nd in the 100Y finals using wind flags - and won $3K.
Devil is in the detail, I know Mike. :)

Barb clearly did much better in the 2nd 75 yard relay, with the use of flags. No question as to their benefits, just wish there was more available 'how to' documentation, videos/information vs. the "baptism by fire" self taught learning approach. Almost seems like this is the 'best kept secret' of learning to shoot bench rest competitively.
 
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