Airguns Beating Rimfires

jps2486

Sergeant of the Hide
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Nov 25, 2020
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Onalaska, WI
The development of airguns and projectiles are to the point now that airguns are beating rimfires in many competitions. The Karma Red Panda, FX Impact, Evol and Brocock Sonoran are phenominal guns and will outshoot rimfires regularly. What's the point of buying a custom rimfire and spending $3-4000 and maybe, maybe it will shoot provided you test hundreds of dollars worth of ammo to find the right lot number.
 
I never had the opportunity to shoot a real precision air rifle until it was featured on a stage at a sniper match I attended. I have to admit, it was pretty fun to shoot and surprisingly accurate at 50 yards. I can see myself getting one soon. Can’t beat getting good practice in a small amount of space.

The Miles to Matches podcast did a good episode on air rifles (EP 150).
 
The development of airguns and projectiles are to the point now that airguns are beating rimfires in many competitions. The Karma Red Panda, FX Impact, Evol and Brocock Sonoran are phenominal guns and will outshoot rimfires regularly. What's the point of buying a custom rimfire and spending $3-4000 and maybe, maybe it will shoot provided you test hundreds of dollars worth of ammo to find the right lot number.
What types of competitions?
 
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It looks like 11 PRS airgun competitors total in the U.S. Not more than one in any single state.

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Lets not forget that 22lrs are just fun to shoot
and putting up with their zany behaviour....
Lets us say...builds character...:LOL::ROFLMAO::love:
Man if you think 22rf's are zany then just own a pcp air rifle for a while and you'll learn what finicky really is. Though some pcp's are just about trouble free and others can be a PITA.

It's mostly the match 22rf ammo cost that drove me away from shooting mine more often but also I can shoot the pcp's on my property.

One pcp I have I swage 4400, 22 cal, 42gr, slugs for $165 and it'll outshoot my Anschutz 22rf at 50Y using match ammo. I shot my best 100Y group with this air rifle slug gun vs my Anschutz.
 
It looks like 11 PRS airgun competitors total in the U.S. Not more than one in any single state.

View attachment 8747969
I doubt popularity of pcp's in PRS or NRL will ever catch up to that of rimfire.

What I'd really like to see is how well the very best 22rf shooters in these sports would do with a well tuned good running pcp vs there own 22rf in a bigger match.
 
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Man if you think 22rf's are zany then just own a pcp air rifle for a while and you'll learn what finicky really is. Though some pcp's are just about trouble free and others can be a PITA.

It's mostly the match 22rf ammo cost that drove me away from shooting mine more often but also I can shoot the pcp's on my property.

One pcp I have I swage 4400, 22 cal, 42gr, slugs for $165 and it'll outshoot my Anschutz 22rf at 50Y using match ammo. I shot my best 100Y group with this air rifle slug gun vs my Anschutz.
What is this particular rifle, please?
 
What is this particular rifle, please?
It's my 4 year old Thomas HPX custom and set up for 65-ish fpe.
This is when it's in it's benchrest configuration.
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This in it's normally used configuration, aka
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bipod and rear bag, but I don't shoot it prone much anymore.

A 87Y group and that 100Y group with it.

One time I hit our 100Y 1" spinner 9 times in a row before I missed but I'd fallen off the reg or I might of done more.
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It's my 4 year old Thomas HPX custom and set up for 65-ish fpe.
This is when it's in it's benchrest configuration.
View attachment 8749101
This in it's normally used configuration, aka View attachment 8749103bipod and rear bag, but I don't shoot it prone much anymore.

A 87Y group and that 100Y group with it.

One time I hit out 100Y 1" spinner 9 times in a row before I missed but I'd fallen off the reg or I might of done more.
View attachment 8749105View attachment 8749106
That is a pretty stock, in a very utilitarian modern style.

And the groups don’t suck either. 👍🏻
 
That is a pretty stock, in a very utilitarian modern style.

And the groups don’t suck either. 👍🏻
Thanks Lash.

I let the woodsmith have free rein on the stock so it's all his design. A hybrid design to be used in different ways. I'd done things a little differently but to be fair the communication between us wasn't the best and I'm to blame for my part in this. Plus this was his first attempt at such and the poor guy was battling cancer.
If there is ever a next time......
But not that it doesn't work well.

Thomasair's/Mike Nisch latest iteration slug guns are really stout guns, much more than mine is, and he's made quite a few improvements over the years including heavy match barrels with special rifling.
He's texted me 100Y groups he's shot where 25 shots would fit under a quarter and many 250/mostly X's at 50Y on N50 cards, one had 24x which is in the region of 1/8th" precision.

I tried to get him to design a repeater but he's got no time or desire since he has a 1.2 year backlog as is.
 
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Air is hobbled by the rules in NRL22. Don't think you'll be seeing air dominance in that organization.
Actually the NRL have updated the air rifle rules to make air rifles competitive with rimfire rifles. .30 caliber or less slugs or pellets, 110 FPE muzzle energy or less.

PRS still has a 49 grain weight limit on .22 or .25, and pellets only in .30. A regional PRS rimfire director told me that the Air Rifle division may be going away for PRS.
 
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PRS rimfire will change their mind once ammo has gotten so expensive to enough people that attendance has dropped significantly.

Only a matter of time until that happens, heck it's partially why I stopped, and definitely why I didn't buy another case of lot tested Polar Biathlon.

Logical choice at that point is pcp and by then I bet they'll be even better than now.
 
PRS rimfire will change their mind once ammo has gotten so expensive to enough people that attendance has dropped significantly.

Yep. I need to do some testing of my own, but I’m debating if I should buy another case of low-grade match ammo (Wolf MT/ME, SK+, etc.) or throw that money into a compressor. I’ve got enough match .22LR to last me ~two years at a brick a month (WAY more than I currently shoot, I’m afraid), but enough pellets to last me well over a decade. So do I stock up on more .22 because it’s only going to go up in price, or make my life easier by becoming self sufficient with air? I’m kinda leaning towards the compressor, honestly. Quality pellets are still about half as expensive as low-grade .22LR, and about a quarter the cost of higher-grade stuff. If I focus mostly on airguns, I should be good for a long, long time. Decisions, decisions… :)
 
How many rounds do they typically get before velocity goes down and a recharge is required?

I’ve not seen any of them in person, other than the other day. A guy had one at the range and I loaned him my Garmin to check velocity. His started losing velocity before he got to ten rounds.

ETA: his was obviously not a high end rifle.
 
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How many rounds do they typically get before velocity goes down and a recharge is required?

I’ve not seen any of them in person, other than the other day. A guy had one at the range and I loaned him my Garmin to check velocity. His started losing velocity before he got to ten rounds.

ETA: his was obviously not a high end rifle.

That depends on the size of the air reservoir, what pressure you fill it to, the caliber, the projectile weight, the velocity it’s tuned for, and somewhat on whether it’s regulated or not.

The standard Benjamin Marauder is a good benchmark for quality at a good price, and it has a robust aftermarket as well. For an average tune shooting 18gr .22 pellets at around 900fps, you should expect 40-50 shots from its 215cc air tube. Bump up to a bottle gun and you could easily make that 80+ shots per fill.

If you want to push the pellets faster, or want to push a heavier (higher BC) pellet or slug at the same or higher velocity, your air consumption goes up and thus shot count goes down. The 25.4gr pellets in .22 that are quite popular now will probably drop you back down to about 40-50 shots per fill if pushed at that same 900fps as the 18gr pellets.

These are rough numbers, of course. Lots of variables in tuning an air rifle, but that should get you started. Whatever the gentleman at the range was shooting either had a small reservoir, was pushing slugs at high velocity, or he was pushing pellets much faster than would generally be considered ideal.
 
That depends on the size of the air reservoir, what pressure you fill it to, the caliber, the projectile weight, the velocity it’s tuned for, and somewhat on whether it’s regulated or not.

The standard Benjamin Marauder is a good benchmark for quality at a good price, and it has a robust aftermarket as well. For an average tune shooting 18gr .22 pellets at around 900fps, you should expect 40-50 shots from its 215cc air tube. Bump up to a bottle gun and you could easily make that 80+ shots per fill.

If you want to push the pellets faster, or want to push a heavier (higher BC) pellet or slug at the same or higher velocity, your air consumption goes up and thus shot count goes down. The 25.4gr pellets in .22 that are quite popular now will probably drop you back down to about 40-50 shots per fill if pushed at that same 900fps as the 18gr pellets.

These are rough numbers, of course. Lots of variables in tuning an air rifle, but that should get you started. Whatever the gentleman at the range was shooting either had a small reservoir, was pushing slugs at high velocity, or he was pushing pellets much faster than would generally be considered ideal.
That makes complete sense. He did not have a large reservoir and was around 900fps. I think it was his first time out and it seemed he didn’t know how to zero, but by the time I asked his velocities were already going down. He did not have a compressor or a tank, so he went home.