30-Yard Challenge

[tommyb]

Prepping for an August 9th tournament

Rifle: FX Panthera 700mm Superior Heavy Liner
Scope: Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56
Pellets: WS (Warren Sumaylo) 22.3+gr unsorted @965fps
Bipod: ACCU-TAC FC-4 G2 Arca Spec
Rear rest: Protektor rabbot ear rear bag
Wind: 20-40mph according to the weather app

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Nice card Ricky!

Ironically, I too shot a 199-17x 30Y Masters yesterday with my RAW HM1000x .22. But my winds were 5-7 mph. Looks like your heavier pellets bucked the wind pretty well.

Interesting that your Panthera also likes those 22.3g at 965 fps and mine likes the JTS 22.07g at 995 fps. Similar pellet weights and high velocities. The .22 cal rifles seem to do as good or better than the 18.1g with the JTS and AEA 21.9 and 22.07g weights.

Tell us a bit more about the upcoming tournament. I.e., target distance, venue, etc.

Tom

 

[TheAirgunnero]

Nice card Ricky!

Ironically, I too shot a 199-17x 30Y Masters yesterday with my RAW HM1000x .22. But my winds were 5-7 mph. Looks like your heavier pellets bucked the wind pretty well.

Interesting that your Panthera also likes those 22.3g at 965 fps and mine likes the JTS 22.07g at 995 fps. Similar pellet weights and high velocities. The .22 cal rifles seem to do as good or better than the 18.1g with the JTS and AEA 21.9 and 22.07g weights.

Tell us a bit more about the upcoming tournament. I.e., target distance, venue, etc.

Tom

Thanks Tom!

My Panthera with the STX Heavy liner loves a certain batch of JSB 25.39gr MRD (#67540023 5 5.52) @980-1008fps depending on the density altitude at my location which is only 43ft above sea level.

The Philippine made WS 22.3gr that I was using was delivered to me today for testing purposes and an alternative for the last few remaining JSB redesigned tins that I have left in stock.

Our tournament on August 9 will be held at another island and will consist of WRABF BR25 and BR50 meter Open Category (only .177 and .22 pellets allowed).

Ricky

 

[tommyb]

Thanks Tom!

My Panthera with the STX Heavy liner loves a certain batch of JSB 25.39gr MRD (#67540023 5 5.52) @980-1008fps depending on the density altitude at my location which is only 43ft above sea level.

The Philippine made WS 22.3gr that I was using was delivered to me today for testing purposes and an alternative for the last few remaining JSB redesigned tins that I have left in stock.

Our tournament on August 9 will be held at another island and will consist of WRABF BR25 and BR50 meter Open Category (only .177 and .22 pellets allowed).

Ricky

Thanks for the insight.

Let us know how you make out on August 9th.

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:

Date: 7/23/24
Target: 40-Masters: 198 11X
Rifle: RTI Prophet Performance V1 - .22 Long Range (1:32 twist LW) barrel
Scope: Sightron SIII 36X ED
Pellet: JSB 20.83 MRD Lights @ 933fps
Moderator: Neil Clague

I own 2 RTI Prophet Performance V1s. I love these rifles. Super simple, minimalistic designs. Super accurate. Great triggers (without a trigger job). Super solid builds and super short without a moderator. As you may have seen in the Benchrest thread, I've been having great results lately at 100 yards with one Prophet set up with .25 Long Range barrel shooting AEA 29.5g pellets.

I few years ago I had Neil Clague make a moderator for my Prophet when set up as .25 caliber - I wanted it to be quiet enough to shoot in the backyard as I was practicing for a competition. When Neil sent me the .25 moderator, he also sent me a .22 cal moderator that he had laying around to try. Super nice guy. I never actually used the .22 moderator on the Prophet, probably because his mods are long, and I didn't like the look - which is weird because you guys know I'm a function over form guy - don't care how something looks if it performs.

On the 22nd I put the .22 moderator on my .22 Prophet, turned up the hammer spring a bit and shot a 197 13X 40-Masters! To make sure it wasn't total luck, I immediately shot another 40-Masters in dim light and shot a 193. I was really happy with the 197 - didn't think I would top it easily...

Yesterday I shot just one card with the Prophet, and it was this 198 40-Masters. The sun was beating on the rifle so the velocity was actually about 8fps higher than the 197 card the day before.

Note that I was shooting at 933fps. The history of the Prophet Performance V1 was that in .22 caliber it had a proprietary slow twist 1:32 barrel designed by RTI and machined by Lothar Walther. This barrel was designed to win 100 yard benchrest competitions - it was designed to keep the JSB 25.39 "MRD" pellet stable at velocities exceeding 1,000fps. (the .25 Long Range 1:32 barrel came later - in the last year of production of the PP V1 - prior to that year the Prophet came with a CZ barrel in .25 caliber).

In the years I've owned these Prophets, I've never cranked them up past say 920fps in velocity. Even though I knew the design parameters, I always kept to the "880fps to a max of 900fps provides the most stability and the least wind drift" mantra.

So I attribute these 197 and 198 40-Masters to my buddy TommyB (the B must be for "Blaster") - as Tommy has shown that you can achieve some great scores on our Challenges "blasting" pellets as high as almost 1,000fps with his RAW .22. I think that upping my velocity on the 20.83s with the Prophet has improved accuracy - especially as I wasn't shooting in ideal wind conditions. Its also possible that the Neil Clague .22 moderator has helped accuracy - so I'm leaving both Prophets with Clague mods - despite the length, lol.

Picture below of both Prophets - the .25 has the fatter mod. I also have .177 and .30 barrels for the Prophet - those calibers also shoot well.

Sadly, RTI has gone the way of slug shooting with the .22 and .25 barrels in the Prophet 2, Prophet 3 and now the Mora. Those .22 and .25 barrels still shoot pellets well, but they have faster twist rates optimized for shooting slugs. I've got one .22 LR barrel and two .25 LR barrels (the .25 LR is rare as only one year of production - so I stockpiled one, lol). IMHO, the Prophet Performance V1 with the LR barrels is destined to become a "classic" air rifle. I highly recommend trying one if you haven't yet - they come up in the AGN Classifieds at a reasonable (sub $1k) price point.

Of the 20+ PCPs that I own (most "higher end"), I'd say the Prophet V1s and the Crown Mk2s are the last ones I'd sell. The Prophet has a much better trigger than the Crown and much easier adjustability. Caliber swaps are about the same - super simple and quick on both.

-Ed

 

[DaleR]

I shot another 30 yard challenge target today. I got better paper at 65 lbs and it worked in my printer. There was a slight cross wind, but I played the dead wind condition on most shots. I had my best groups last week in testing with the AEA 25.3 grain pellets. I shot a horrible target last week with them and wrote them off. I shot another 5 shot group and it was great, so I gave them a "shot" today. I am glad I did. I broke the 190 goal I had!!! New to me BRK Sniper Sahara .25/ Athlon Heras 15-60x56 AEA 25.3gr pellets at 870 fps. I used 60 power on the scope and played the mirage too. I re-ranged the target and I am closer to 32 yards..ohh well.

What should my next goal be???

Dale R.

 

[EPG]

I shot another 30 yard challenge target today. I got better paper at 65 lbs and it worked in my printer. There was a slight cross wind, but I played the dead wind condition on most shots. I had my best groups last week in testing with the AEA 25.3 grain pellets. I shot a horrible target last week with them and wrote them off. I shot another 5 shot group and it was great, so I gave them a "shot" today. I am glad I did. I broke the 190 goal I had!!! New to me BRK Sniper Sahara .25/ Athlon Heras 15-60x56 AEA 25.3gr pellets at 870 fps. I used 60 power on the scope and played the mirage too. I re-ranged the target and I am closer to 32 yards..ohh well.

What should my next goal be???

Dale R.
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Awesome card - 194 is an excellent score - good shooting!

Brocock/BRKs have posted excellent scores on these Challenges over the past few years.

Suggestion for next goal: see if you can shoot an entire (24 target) 30-Challenge card with no “8s” - all targets scored 9 or better.

Once you do that, move on to 30-Masters cards - trying for 190+

-Ed

 

[DaleR]

Awesome card - 194 is an excellent score - good shooting!

Brocock/BRKs have posted excellent scores on these Challenges over the past few years.

Suggestion for next goal: see if you can shoot an entire (24 target) 30-Challenge card with no “8s” - all targets scored 9 or better.

Once you do that, move on to 30-Masters cards - trying for 190+

-Ed

Darn 8's..but no 7's for me. That was killing me!
I will read up on the masters rules. I need to keep shooting the regular challenge so I can confirm this target was not just a fluke. I have more pellets coming for testing. Just like powder burners, I was ALWAYS testing the next "great idea".

I might need to sort pellets. I had 2 8's. I can't blame wind...I might have had a slight slip with the round bottle in my bag (I have a post in benchrest asking about a front flat fore-end attachment). I will try to search out the best way to sort pellets. I have too many hobbies....

 

[NAProf]

Darn 8's..but no 7's for me. That was killing me!
I will read up on the masters rules. I need to keep shooting the regular challenge so I can confirm this target was not just a fluke. I have more pellets coming for testing. Just like powder burners, I was ALWAYS testing the next "great idea".

I might need to sort pellets. I had 2 8's. I can't blame wind...I might have had a slight slip with the round bottle in my bag (I have a post in benchrest asking about a front flat fore-end attachment). I will try to search out the best way to sort pellets. I have too many hobbies....

Hi Dale,
If you get a chance to read some of my older posts, you will see that I make the argument that sorting pellets really doesn't make much difference. I did some extensive testing of several .177, .22, and 25 pellets in several different riffles and really didn't find any case where the results of sorting were statistically significant. I will put a small caveat on that. In all cases I did get rid of the pellets with obviously damaged skirts or heads.

The above statement needs to be taken with a grain of salt - I was only talking about sorting pellets of the same brand and size. Lots of difference between pellet brands, weights, and shapes. For instance, I found that my Crowns saw a significant (statistically speaking) improvement using the FX (and JSB) 13.4 gr Monster pellets of the old "trash can" shape over the newer JSB 13.4 Redesigned Monster pellets. Also, my .22 Crown liked the AEA 21.9gr pellets a lot more than the similarly sized JTS or JSN pellets. So that sort of search still goes on.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:

Date: Jul 25th
Target: 30-Challenge: 200 17X
Rifle: Reximex Daystar .177 (unregulated - 2.6" hammer spring)
Pellet: JSB 10.3g @ 840fps
Scope: Athlon Argos 10-40x56 SFP Gen2 @ 38X

Hope you guys don't mind my stories, this card has an interesting one - I'll bet its happened to a few of you...

I hadn't shot the Rexi .177 in a while. This thing is laser accurate. I polished it up so that its silky smooth to operate - always beings a smile to my face. It also has a very mild tune - around 840fps at the 180bar mark (unregged) with a very smooth, flat bell curve. Its especially docile with its very long 24" barrel - long barrel for a .177 and shooting at a mild velocity. I'd turn it up, but its so dang accurate in the 830-850 range.

The story:
I shot a 195 with the 1st card. Thought I'd shoot another. Wind conditions got good - becase a big Thunderstorm was rolling in - and it was the "calm before the storm"...

... Shooting from the top rows down, I had what I thought were 3 targets left to complete a Masters (20 targets) card and the thunder and lightning hit and skies started to open. I felt like the Priest in Caddyshack - I was sitting out in a storm trying to complete my "round", lol. Anyway, I grabbed all my gear and ran it into the house...

... but I didn't want my card to go to waste - I knew it had one 9 and the rest 10s or Xs. I ran out, grabbed the card, held it face down so it wouldn't get wet and threw it into the gazebo to protect it. Grabbed my rear shooting rest (last piece of gear outside) and ran into the house.

I was doing a video chat with TommyB during the storm - showed him the pouring rain and that I saved my card - he was laughing...

Anyways, later the rain stopped and the sun even started to come out. I went out and set up again. Grabbed the card out of the gazebo and realized I needed 7 targets to complete 20 for a Masters - not just 3 targets left. I took some sighters, my hold was now completely different (left of 10 ring instead of right of 10 before the storm) but I was hitting my sighters so I started shooting and finished 20 targets. I was pretty sure that it was a 199 and high X count. ..

... If I stopped at 20 targets, I had a leaderboard submission of a 199 30-Masters - a really great score on a Masters. But since I was using a Challenge card (gotta print more Masters cards) I thought... keep shooting and get a 200...

So I drop down to the last row - shooting it right to left - so I'm starting at 12B. I barely shot an 8! I got burned by what I'll call "flag lag". I checked my flag (streamer on a bottle) and it wasn't moving, but after I released the shot I looked at it and it was straight out pointing to the right. There is like a delay between when the wind kicks up and when the flags actually move. I heard more thunder - another storm cloud moved in. I quickly shot 12A and it was still way right. I'm thinking "should have stuck with the Masters card" - now I'm gonna get struck by lightening like the Caddyshack Priest trying to complete the dang card, lol..

The wind slowed down, I took a sighter - it looked good so I finished out the 11 A&B targets. I was holding my breath - I was almost certain that I wouldn't get a 20, lol - but fortunately it was.

7A was the closest 10. It actually looked much closer before I checked it with scoring plug. The card warped a bit after the 1st thunder storm and the pellet hole seems to angle away from the ring - so I was a bit suprised that it just touched the ring instead of covering the ring.

I'm sure you guys have some entertaining storied of crazy things happening while you have a good card going. My Rexi Daystar is really pretty. Attaching an pic from last year with a different scope than I've currently got on the rifle. Couldn't take a picture on Friday with the crazy storms going on.

-Ed

 

[tommyb]

Leaderboard Submission:

Date: Jul 25th
Target: 30-Challenge: 200 17X
Rifle: Reximex Daystar .177 (unregulated - 2.6" hammer spring)
Pellet: JSB 10.3g @ 840fps
Scope: Athlon Argos 10-40x56 SFP Gen2 @ 38X

Hope you guys don't mind my stories, this card has an interesting one - I'll bet its happened to a few of you...

I hadn't shot the Rexi .177 in a while. This thing is laser accurate. I polished it up so that its silky smooth to operate - always beings a smile to my face. It also has a very mild tune - around 840fps at the 180bar mark (unregged) with a very smooth, flat bell curve. Its especially docile with its very long 24" barrel - long barrel for a .177 and shooting at a mild velocity. I'd turn it up, but its so dang accurate in the 830-850 range.

The story:
I shot a 195 with the 1st card. Thought I'd shoot another. Wind conditions got good - becase a big Thunderstorm was rolling in - and it was the "calm before the storm"...

... Shooting from the top rows down, I had what I thought were 3 targets left to complete a Masters (20 targets) card and the thunder and lightning hit and skies started to open. I felt like the Priest in Caddyshack - I was sitting out in a storm trying to complete my "round", lol. Anyway, I grabbed all my gear and ran it into the house...

... but I didn't want my card to go to waste - I knew it had one 9 and the rest 10s or Xs. I ran out, grabbed the card, held it face down so it wouldn't get wet and threw it into the gazebo to protect it. Grabbed my rear shooting rest (last piece of gear outside) and ran into the house.

I was doing a video chat with TommyB during the storm - showed him the pouring rain and that I saved my card - he was laughing...

Anyways, later the rain stopped and the sun even started to come out. I went out and set up again. Grabbed the card out of the gazebo and realized I needed 7 targets to complete 20 for a Masters - not just 3 targets left. I took some sighters, my hold was now completely different (left of 10 ring instead of right of 10 before the storm) but I was hitting my sighters so I started shooting and finished 20 targets. I was pretty sure that it was a 199 and high X count. ..

... If I stopped at 20 targets, I had a leaderboard submission of a 199 30-Masters - a really great score on a Masters. But since I was using a Challenge card (gotta print more Masters cards) I thought... keep shooting and get a 200...

So I drop down to the last row - shooting it right to left - so I'm starting at 12B. I barely shot an 8! I got burned by what I'll call "flag lag". I checked my flag (streamer on a bottle) and it wasn't moving, but after I released the shot I looked at it and it was straight out pointing to the right. There is like a delay between when the wind kicks up and when the flags actually move. I heard more thunder - another storm cloud moved in. I quickly shot 12A and it was still way right. I'm thinking "should have stuck with the Masters card" - now I'm gonna get struck by lightening like the Caddyshack Priest trying to complete the dang card, lol..

The wind slowed down, I took a sighter - it looked good so I finished out the 11 A&B targets. I was holding my breath - I was almost certain that I wouldn't get a 20, lol - but fortunately it was.

7A was the closest 10. It actually looked much closer before I checked it with scoring plug. The card warped a bit after the 1st thunder storm and the pellet hole seems to angle away from the ring - so I was a bit suprised that it just touched the ring instead of covering the ring.

I'm sure you guys have some entertaining storied of crazy things happening while you have a good card going. My Rexi Daystar is really pretty. Attaching an pic from last year with a different scope than I've currently got on the rifle. Couldn't take a picture on Friday with the crazy storms going on.

-Ed

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Your patience paid off Ed.

Congrats on the 200-17x 30Y card.

 

[tommyb]

Shot 5 cards this morning with Vet2.

Solid head wind and some R-L at times. I figured out a good hold on a head wind and did pretty well.

Found a new velocity for the 21.9g AEA at 929 fps. Or, 920-930 range. Lot of ‘X’s today and only ONE eight.

I included some scoring plug photos for the 200 - 13X Master card.

Taipan Vet 2 .22 cal 700 mm barrel
DNT Optics 7X35X56nm at 35 X
Randolph front mechanical rest
Protector rear bag
AEA 21.9g pellets, no sorting

30Y Masters:

194-10X
197-16X
196-13X
198-15X

200-14X ( Leader board for August )

 

[EPG]

@tommyb - Contratulations - awesome shooting! It’s so tough to get a 200 Masters card - so many variables to manage. Plus shooting straight from the tin puts you at the mercy of the pellet manufacturer, lol.

-Ed

 

[tommyb]

@tommyb - Contratulations - awesome shooting! It’s so tough to get a 200 Masters card - so many variables to manage. Plus shooting straight from the tin puts you at the mercy of the pellet manufacturer, lol.

-Ed

Thanks guys!

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:
Date: 7/29/25
Target: 30-Challenge 197 14X
Rifle: Daystate Huntsman Regal (Huma reg installed)
Pellet: AEA 15.9g @ 812fps
Scope: Athlon Midas Tac FFP 6x24 @ 24X

I did some pellet testing with the Regal this morning: JSB 13.43g, JSB 14.35g, FX 15.9g and AEA 15.9g.

The Regal always does great with JSB/FX 15.89 and 18.13. During the testing I noted that the AEA was slightly better - especially less vertical dispersion.

I chronoed 40 shots with the AEA 15.9. All shots were between 810 and 814 fps - a 4 fps extreme spread. That's likely the reason for the very tight vertical.

So far the only AEA pellet that I haven't found to perform as well as JSB/FX or better is the .22 caliber 21.9g. Perhaps I'll try it at a few different velocities - mostly been at 900fps with various barrels with the 21.9s.

This 197 slightly betters my previous 196 15X with this rifle.

-Ed

 

[tommyb]

Leaderboard Submission:
Date: 7/29/25
Target: 30-Challenge 197 14X
Rifle: Daystate Huntsman Regal (Huma reg installed)
Pellet: AEA 15.9g @ 812fps
Scope: Athlon Midas Tac FFP 6x24 @ 24X

I did some pellet testing with the Regal this morning: JSB 13.43g, JSB 14.35g, FX 15.9g and AEA 15.9g.

The Regal always does great with JSB/FX 15.89 and 18.13. During the testing I noted that the AEA was slightly better - especially less vertical dispersion.

I chronoed 40 shots with the AEA 15.9. All shots were between 810 and 814 fps - a 4 fps extreme spread. That's likely the reason for the very tight vertical.

So far the only AEA pellet that I haven't found to perform as well as JSB/FX or better is the .22 caliber 21.9g. Perhaps I'll try it at a few different velocities - mostly been at 900fps with various barrels with the 21.9s.

This 197 slightly betters my previous 196 15X with this rifle.

-Ed

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Ed

Other than 1B and 7A ( both 9’s ), you really don’t have any low placed shots, using the hours on a clock as a unit of measure. An ES of 4 puts a smile on my face.

Ironically, the AEA Center punch 21.9g is quickly becoming my .22 Taipan Vet 2’s favorite pellet. Have it flying at 910-915 fps, but coincidentally the other day I was testing at 925-930 range with the speed dialer, and it was really solid in windy conditions. This was done in my recent post for 30Y Masters.

I really wish Daystate would ‘get with the times’ and make their rifles easier to adjust reg and HS. For me, it’s time consuming and not a precise way to adjust in the current design.

Two examples: The speed dialer on the Vet is my favorite for tuning just HS. RAW is equally easy using a metric screw driver turning the HS ( without a set screw ) with a nice cut out in the stock to tweak velocities. Many other brands have recognized the benefit of making more tunable guns, so should DS.

I realize it’s a Sporter designed for the UK, Scottish, Ireland and other European markets for pesting and small game hunting, but many owners also like target shooting and FT.

Anyway, yours is doing great with the 15.89g pellets at 810 fps. My Revere .22 is at 870 fps with the 15.89 and it has not been able to shoot these high 195+ scores.

I know, it’s the Indian not the arrow.

 

[EPG]

Yesterday late I shot another 30-Challenge card with the Regal and bettered the 197 I submitted yesterday with this 199. It has less Xs though.

Leaderboard Submission:
Date: 7/29/25
Target: 30-Challenge 199 11X
Rifle: Daystate Huntsman Regal (Huma reg installed)
Pellet: AEA 15.9g @ 812fps
Scope: Athlon Midas Tac FFP 6x24 @ 24X

 

[EPG]

---

To Air or not to Air...​

---

This morning I shot a couple 30-Masters cards with the Regal.

The 1st card was a 195 10X - it looked so nice - 18 of the 20 shots chronoed at 807fps.

The 2nd card was also a 195 10X. I shoot row by row, top to bottom - alternating right to left, then drop down a row and go left to right.

When I finished target pair 8, I noticed that I was losing velocity - falling off the regulator. Chrono velocity for each target is on the card.

At that point, I thought I had a perfect 200 going - I didn't realize that 4B was just a tiny bit low of a 10.

Would you have stopped and put air in the rifle at this point? Would you have kept shooting and tried to adjust to the velocity drop by holding higher?

I kept shooting... cost me a 30-Masters leaderboard submission, lol. Too lazy to Air up.

-Ed

 

[EPG]

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Leaderboard Update: Submissions through July 29, 2025​

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Hi Challenge Shooters, this is our 6th Leaderboard update of 2025...

First I'd like to welcome our new shooters this month: @daddypaddy @Jonnes @DaleR . Please help spread the word about our 30 and 40 yard Challenges - we always love to see new shooters...

July was an active month on our leaderboards... and July 3rd perhaps had the most high scoring submissions of any day to date. It's likely most of our top shooters wanted to get a few cards in before they headed out to drinking and picnics on July 4th...

Notables - lets start with the 200s:

30-Challenge: Congrats to @Jonnes for his perfect 200 20X with his well tuned .22 FX Dreamline GRS (that's one heck of a first submission. Congrats also to that @EPG guy - for his 200 14X with new new (3rd) .22 FX Crown (600mm Synthetic stock) and for his 200 17X "adventure card" with his unregulated .177 Reximex Daystar.

30-Masters: A Masters 200 is such a difficult achievement. I've only done it once myself - last year. Congratulations to @tommyb on his 200 13X with his .22 Taipan Vet2 Classic Long (700mm). "Taipan Tommy" also submitted 198 15X and 199 17X 30-Masters cards with his Vet2 earlier in July - I'd say he's got that rifle dialed in.

Congratulations to @thomasair (Mike) on his perfect 200 20X with his .177 Thomas Air Strike rifle that he plans to take to the world championships. That's a perfect 200 20X with a 12 ft/lb rifle at 30 yards outdoors - awesome shooting !

Congratulations to that @tommyb guy again on his 200 16X with his .22 FX Royale 400 back on July 3rd. That's two 200 30-Masters submissions in one month - with two different rifles - from a guy who had never shot a 200 30-Masters previously. That's why you keep shooting these Challenges - you WILL keep improving!

Special Mention to @nomojo65 (Joe) on his incredible 30-Masters day on July 3rd. He shot 199 19X with his .177 RAW BM (Ole Red) and also shot a 199 17X with his .177 RAW TM (Ole Yellar). Do any of you guys name your rifles like Joe?

40-Challenge:
Congratulations to @EPG on his 200 18X with his .22 FX Crown Mk2 (500mm) Green Laminate. This is the rifle that he's had his highest scores with over the past few years. Look out @mreynolds (Marvin) - he's coming for ya. A second congratulation to EPG for his 200 12X with his .22 FX Dreamline PowerPup - one of many rifles that seem to love the new AEA 18.3g pellets. The PowerPup is coasting shooting 18 grain pellets - but externally adjustable rifles make is easy to dial down the power for lighter pellets.

40-Masters:
There were no 200s this month. Actually, there have only been two since the 40-Masters Challenge started. EPG had the 2023 high score of 198 with his Crown. Marvin had the lone 2024 200 with his Thomas. Thomasair has the lone 200 so far in 2025 - a 200 19X shooting slugs with a Thomas Slug rifle.

EPG did have three 40-Masters submission this past month. A 198 16X with his .22 Crown, a 198 10X with his new .22 Crown Synthetic, and a 198 11X with his trusty .22 RTI Prophet P1 (also a 197 13X with his Prophet).

I encourage you all to give the 40-Masters a try. I shoot at 40 more than I do at 30 throughout the year. I definitely see improvement over time. I achieved my "Crowning stat" ever this past month... while shooting 40 yard cards with my Crown, I had 178 straight shots of 9 or better. No way I could have done that back in 2023 - its shooting at our tiny 10-ring that has helped me improve - even more than my new $39 shooting stool from Costco, lol.


Final Thoughts:
It starts to get tougher this time of year to keep advancing up the leaderboard. So many of you have already posted top scores that are going to be tough to beat. I encourage you to try the 40 yard Challenge and Masters if 40 yards is available to you. If you are only shooting 30-Challenge cards, try the 30-Masters. Another thing you can do is buy another rifle, lol. If not another rifle, perhaps a better target scope. I've been really impressed with the Athlon Argos 10-40 SFP scope. It seems almost designed for our 30 and 40 yard challenges - and can be found at a modest price point (I picked up 2 of the AGN classifieds for $200 each).

Enough admiring your scores on these leaderboards... its Summer Shootin' Season... get out there and...

GET SOME LEAD DOWNRANGE !

-Ed

 

[tommyb]

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Leaderboard Update: Submissions through July 29, 2025​

---

Hi Challenge Shooters, this is our 6th Leaderboard update of 2025...

First I'd like to welcome our new shooters this month: @daddypaddy @Jonnes @DaleR . Please help spread the word about our 30 and 40 yard Challenges - we always love to see new shooters...

July was an active month on our leaderboards... and July 3rd perhaps had the most high scoring submissions of any day to date. It's likely most of our top shooters wanted to get a few cards in before they headed out to drinking and picnics on July 4th...

Notables - lets start with the 200s:

30-Challenge: Congrats to @Jonnes for his perfect 200 20X with his well tuned .22 FX Dreamline GRS (that's one heck of a first submission. Congrats also to that @EPG guy - for his 200 14X with new new (3rd) .22 FX Crown (600mm Synthetic stock) and for his 200 17X "adventure card" with his unregulated .177 Reximex Daystar.

30-Masters: A Masters 200 is such a difficult achievement. I've only done it once myself - last year. Congratulations to @tommyb on his 200 13X with his .22 Taipan Vet2 Classic Long (700mm). "Taipan Tommy" also submitted 198 15X and 199 17X 30-Masters cards with his Vet2 earlier in July - I'd say he's got that rifle dialed in.

Congratulations to @thomasair (Mike) on his perfect 200 20X with his .177 Thomas Air Strike rifle that he plans to take to the world championships. That's a perfect 200 20X with a 12 ft/lb rifle at 30 yards outdoors - awesome shooting !

Congratulations to that @tommyb guy again on his 200 16X with his .22 FX Royale 400 back on July 3rd. That's two 200 30-Masters submissions in one month - with two different rifles - from a guy who had never shot a 200 30-Masters previously. That's why you keep shooting these Challenges - you WILL keep improving!

Special Mention to @nomojo65 (Joe) on his incredible 30-Masters day on July 3rd. He shot 199 19X with his .177 RAW BM (Ole Red) and also shot a 199 17X with his .177 RAW TM (Ole Yellar). Do any of you guys name your rifles like Joe?

40-Challenge:
Congratulations to @EPG on his 200 18X with his .22 FX Crown Mk2 (500mm) Green Laminate. This is the rifle that he's had his highest scores with over the past few years. Look out @mreynolds (Marvin) - he's coming for ya. A second congratulation to EPG for his 200 12X with his .22 FX Dreamline PowerPup - one of many rifles that seem to love the new AEA 18.3g pellets. The PowerPup is coasting shooting 18 grain pellets - but externally adjustable rifles make is easy to dial down the power for lighter pellets.

40-Masters:
There were no 200s this month. Actually, there have only been two since the 40-Masters Challenge started. EPG had the 2023 high score of 198 with his Crown. Marvin had the lone 2024 200 with his Thomas. Thomasair has the lone 200 so far in 2025 - a 200 19X shooting slugs with a Thomas Slug rifle.

EPG did have three 40-Masters submission this past month. A 198 16X with his .22 Crown, a 198 10X with his new .22 Crown Synthetic, and a 198 11X with his trusty .22 RTI Prophet P1 (also a 197 13X with his Prophet).

I encourage you all to give the 40-Masters a try. I shoot at 40 more than I do at 30 throughout the year. I definitely see improvement over time. I achieved my "Crowning stat" ever this past month... while shooting 40 yard cards with my Crown, I had 178 straight shots of 9 or better. No way I could have done that back in 2023 - its shooting at our tiny 10-ring that has helped me improve - even more than my new $39 shooting stool from Costco, lol.


Final Thoughts:
It starts to get tougher this time of year to keep advancing up the leaderboard. So many of you have already posted top scores that are going to be tough to beat. I encourage you to try the 40 yard Challenge and Masters if 40 yards is available to you. If you are only shooting 30-Challenge cards, try the 30-Masters. Another thing you can do is buy another rifle, lol. If not another rifle, perhaps a better target scope. I've been really impressed with the Athlon Argos 10-40 SFP scope. It seems almost designed for our 30 and 40 yard challenges - and can be found at a modest price point (I picked up 2 of the AGN classifieds for $200 each).

Enough admiring your scores on these leaderboards... its Summer Shootin' Season... get out there and...

GET SOME LEAD DOWNRANGE !

-Ed

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Yeah, going to focus on 40Y a bit more in the next few months. Can”t let you, Joe, Mike and Marvin have all the fun!

Great write up Ed, and like having the new shooters.

Some day for kicks, we should show a leaderboard from a couple years ago vs. now. That really tells the story.

 

[Jonnes]

30-Challenge: Congrats to @Jonnes for his perfect 200 20X with his well tuned .22 FX Dreamline GRS (that's one heck of a first submission.

Oh, that's a big surprise! Thanks @EPG, also congrats to the other winners. I must admit that I also sorted and weighed my pellets for this one. And the conditions outside were perfect, like zero wind.