30-Yard Challenge

[EPG]

That’s superb shooting at 40y.

Every time I move my target stand back from 30-40y, I start quietly talking ( cursing really) to myself. I start thinking, “Tom, why don’t you just shoot some tight groups and be content with that.”

thomasair showed how much shooters are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with competition grade rifles and top notch trigger pulling…

… see post# 3222 where he submitted a 198 13X Masters card at 50 meters (55 Yards) !

Definitely need some good scope magnification at 55 yards, lol .

-Ed

 

[Florida_Man]

More of a practice day for me, trying to knock off some rust. I started with 13gr pellets on another target, but the rifle wasn’t liking them today.
I used a 177 scoring plug

 

[tommyb]

Shot a few 30Y Challenge and Masters cards on Friday.

Revere .22
Midas Tac 6X 24 x 50mm
Very windy, switching directional changes
FX 15.89g Atomic
Velocity: 875 FPS range


194-13X (30Y Leaderboard )

 

[tommyb]

More of a practice day for me, trying to knock off some rust. I started with 13gr pellets on another target, but the rifle wasn’t liking them today.
I used a 177 scoring plug
View attachment 572137

Chris, fwiw

You can use the .22 caliber plug for this informal competition. But, I get it too with using the .177 gauge.

Tom

 

[Florida_Man]

Chris, fwiw

You can use the .22 caliber plug for this informal competition. But, I get it too with using the .177 gauge.

Tom

Yeah, it’s something I’ve always done. Just my personal rule.
edit
Just out of curiosity I went over the target with a 22 plug. With that it is scored as a 196 10x.

 

[tommyb]

Got out today early. Shot a total of eight cards. Wind was light early at 8:40, picked up over the next three hours. Hot and humid.

HW100 .22 caliber
30 Y Challenge

189-6X ( photo not shown)
190-12X
191-8X
194-11X ( LEADERBOARD) Finally got a good 190ish score with the HW100. EPG tuned this baby for the 15.89 FX Atomic and it shoots great.

Taipan Vet 2 .22 Long 700mm
30 Y Masters
197-14X

40Y Challenge:
193-13X
194-10X

 

[EPG]

Hi Guys,

So immediately after installing the 500mm barrel back onto my green Crown Mk2, I shot and submitted the 197 40-Challenge with it on 6/18.

Today is the 1st time I shot it since. I figured I'd shot a 40-Masters in the sweltering 95 degrees and humid heat we have in Connecticut today. I wound up shooting four 40-Masters cards of:
193 6X
196 11X
197 10X (Leaderboard submission for 40-Masters)
194 12X

I believe the 197 10X is a Leaderboard submission - besting my 196 that I shot back in March with the 700mm barrel and 20.83g.

OK, I wanna take this opportunity to brag... I shot the four 40-Masters cards today without a single "8" !!

That is 80 straight shots - unsorted FX 18.13g straight from the tin - of 9 or better from 40 yards !

That is beyond my expectations for my level of shooting. I never thought when I started shooting this Challenge that I would be able to achieve that level of consistent accuracy at 40 yards. There was a breeze for all four cards. I was patient (for me), read the breeze pretty good and did a pretty good job pulling the trigger and following through. Something about this Crown makes it easy for me to hit the target - not sure exactly why.

Anyways, that's my brag - 80 straight shots of 9 or better from 40 yards today - and I'm gonna celebrate with a bourbon.

-Ed

 

[Florida_Man]

Great shooting!

 

[NAProf]

Ed said, "OK, I wanna take this opportunity to brag... I shot the four 40-Masters cards today without a single "8" !!

That is 80 straight shots - unsorted FX 18.13g straight from the tin - of 9 or better from 40 yards !"

And Greg replies, " Love those Crowns !!!"

Cheers,
Greg

P.S. - Awesome Ed!

 

[tommyb]

Hi Guys,

So immediately after installing the 500mm barrel back onto my green Crown Mk2, I shot and submitted the 197 40-Challenge with it on 6/18.

Today is the 1st time I shot it since. I figured I'd shot a 40-Masters in the sweltering 95 degrees and humid heat we have in Connecticut today. I wound up shooting four 40-Masters cards of:
193 6X
196 11X
197 10X (Leaderboard submission for 40-Masters)
194 12X

I believe the 197 10X is a Leaderboard submission - besting my 196 that I shot back in March with the 700mm barrel and 20.83g.

OK, I wanna take this opportunity to brag... I shot the four 40-Masters cards today without a single "8" !!

That is 80 straight shots - unsorted FX 18.13g straight from the tin - of 9 or better from 40 yards !

That is beyond my expectations for my level of shooting. I never thought when I started shooting this Challenge that I would be able to achieve that level of consistent accuracy at 40 yards. There was a breeze for all four cards. I was patient (for me), read the breeze pretty good and did a pretty good job pulling the trigger and following through. Something about this Crown makes it easy for me to hit the target - not sure exactly why.

Anyways, that's my brag - 80 straight shots of 9 or better from 40 yards today - and I'm gonna celebrate with a bourbon.

-Ed

View attachment 572843

View attachment 572844

View attachment 572845

View attachment 572846

It has to be the new ‘drum stool seat’ you bought.

The .22 Crown likes the 18.1g JSB/FX pellets at 900 FPS. Awesome!

 

[EPG]

---

Leaderboard Update: Submissions through June 23, 2025​

---

Challenge Shooters, this is our 5th leaderboard update of 2025....

Notables:

30-Challenge:
We had many new 30-Challenge submissions and with new rifles since our last leader board update.

Shout out to new 200s shot: EPG with his Crown (200 20X), TommyB with his RAW TM (200 18X with a perfect 240 over 24 targets), Marvin with his unregulated CZ200S (200 17X) and EPG with his Dreamline Classic (200 17X).

It’s great to see new rifles like RCope’s Black Wolf and JimD’s Stoeger Bullshark hitting our leaderboard.


30-Masters:
Congratulations to thomasair for his perfect 200 20X using a .177 Thomas Field Target rifle in a benchrest stock. [We had just three 200 20X 30-Masters submitted all of last year (two from Ricky – both calibers with his GCMAG and one from ThomasT – god bless)]. That last target has got to have you a bit nervous after 19 straight Xs, lol.

Shout outs to TheAirgunnero (Ricky) for his 199 17X with his WS Airguntech BR25 and to TommyB for his 199 15X with his FX Royale 400.

Also, watch out for nomojo65 (Joe) with Ole’ Red – as he reacquired his old .177 RAW BM500 recently and immediately posted a 198 16X.


40-Challenge:
Congratulations to mreynolds (Marvin) on his 200 19X at 40 yards with his .177 Thomas. Working his way towards 20X at 40 yards.

Shout out to EPG for his 197 with his Crown as soon as installing the 500mm barrel back on it – also to getting his RTI Prophet out of mothballs and up on the 40-Challenge leaderboard with a 196.


40-Masters:
The 40-Masters board continues to be getting a lot of attention from shooters this year – we must be getting a lot of young guys with good eyesight…

Congratulations to thomasair on his awesome 200 19X using a .22 Thomas SRT slug rifle shooting 38.2g projectiles! To further showcase the capabilities of the Thomas SRT, thomasair submitted a 55-Masters of 198 13X – yep, you are reading that correctly – 198 at 55 yards with no mulligans!

Shout outs to Joe (nomojo65) for his 197 14X with a .177 Thomas FT and to EPG for a 197 10X with his .22 Crown shooting 18.13g. EPG also broke 190 with a 193 9X with his .177 Benjamin Akela at 40-Masters – not bad for a rifle costing less than most of the scopes on these leaderboards.


As always, I have just one request from you guys…
…Keep getting that lead downrange – its “Shootin’ Season”!!

-Ed (EPG)

 

[Florida_Man]

My new Beeman R7 has gotten most of my attention lately. I was done shooting my Revere at 30YC targets, I had two up so I could get my zero after not shooting the Revere for months. The practice target was still up so I took a break from shooting my R7 at a target 20 yards out and let 5 fly at 30. This was with the rifle balanced on a wiebad range cube with my shoulder as rear support. I had to say, not terrible. I want to try a whole card now. I hope some 7.33gr or 7.8 JSBs are better with this rifle. I’m still going through my wear in routine and am close to 1000 pellets through it. This was with CPHP.
6x Discovery Scope.

 

[EPG]

My new Beeman R7 has gotten most of my attention lately. I was done shooting my Revere at 30YC targets, I had two up so I could get my zero after not shooting the Revere for months. The practice target was still up so I took a break from shooting my R7 at a target 20 yards out and let 5 fly at 30. This was with the rifle balanced on a wiebad range cube with my shoulder as rear support. I had to say, not terrible. I want to try a whole card now. I hope some 7.33gr or 7.8 JSBs are better with this rifle. I’m still going through my wear in routine and am close to 1000 pellets through it. This was with CPHP.
6x Discovery Scope.

View attachment 573149

View attachment 573150

I’ve got just one springer - a Weihrauch HW97. It’s very accurate, but you need to practice with it often - as springer technique is different than PCP.

RCope has a 192 up on the 30-Challenge leaderboard with his FWB150 - so it’s possible to shoot our target well with a spring piston rifle.

 

[tommyb]

Got out to the range today. Hot, humid and started at 8:45am. Wind was 2-5 mph, pretty nice L-R at 8-9 o’clock clock.

Had the Taipan Vet 2 .22 700 mm barrel with me and my Annie .22 LR 1907, but my N50 match partner didn’t make it today. I was sort of happy as he has a Begara .22 LR custom and that rifle is an N50 killer.

Had the range all to myself. Shot a total of seven Challenge cards. I did well at reading wind, waiting for my condition, and slowly squeezing trigger and following thru. It all came together today.

40Y Challenge:

192-12X
194-10X
198-14X ( Leaderboard )
***This is the best I ever shot/scored at 40 Yards. Pass the Old Forrester 1920 tonight. ***

30Y Masters:

195-10X
196-12X
198-15X ( Ed, can I also submit this for July, as I have no 198 scores so far??)

199-17X ( ***Leaderboard for July***) This replaces a prior 199-15X

I have reached a conclusion that the AEA pellets are really good shooting projectiles.

 

[EPG]

Tommy - Great shooting with that 700mm Vet2 Taipan !

You can submit both the 198 and 199 30-Masters, but only the 199 will show on the 30-Masters leaderboard.

Sometimes I leave two scores for the same rifle on the same leaderboard if the pellets used are significantly different weights - like a 16.2g and 10.3g .177.

I'd suggest submitting the 198 30-Masters score for the 30-Challenge Leaderboard... but you already shot a 30-Challenge score of 200 18X with your Taipan.

Basically, you are getting too good with that rifle at 30 and 40 yards.... time to move that target out to 45 yards...

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:
40-Challenge: 200 18X
Rifle: .22 FX Crown Mk2 (500mm superlight barrel)
Scope: Sightron SII 36X fixed power
Pellet: FX 18.13g @ 900fps

My first card of today. I was not expecting this as a bit hung over. Breeze kicked up as soon as I walked outside to set up my target - doesn't this always happen. However, the breeze stayed mild and consistent direction - right to left.

I was going to shoot it as a 40-Masters and stop after 20 targets... but I saw that I had a shot at 200, so I kept going.

I really just wanted to keep my "9s or better" streak going with the .22 Crown 500mm. I shot this card from top to bottom. Rows alternated right to left and then left to right as I dropped down. I missed the wind pick up on 8A (shot 8b first) and it almost cost me my streak of "9s or better" - which now stands at 104 straight shots!

Since this is a 200, I scored carefully and zoomed in with the iPhone Magnify app. I attached proof on the close targets: the 10 on 10A and the X on 12A. I even attached the "near 8" on 8A - for the sake of proof of my "streak" - even though target pair 8 was not used. I'm also showing all my sighters on the cardboard - you can see that the wind was pushing them left. I aimed at the right edge of the 9-ring for most all of the card.

... And after a card like this... I'm still behind Marvin on the 40-Challenge Leaderboard, lol.

@tommyb - I'm telling ya, the new $39 Costco "shooting" stool is the biggest difference maker that I've purchased in some time, lol.

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:
Date: 6/25/25
Target: 40-Masters
Score: 195 10X
Rifle: RTI Prophet Performance v1 - .22LR barrel
Pellet: JSB 20.83g @ 914-924fps (most at 918)
Scope: Sightron SIII 45X fixed power

Shot this yesterday with my .22 Prophet. It likes the AEA 21.9g, but likes the JSB 20.83g slightly more. I think I can score even higher if I bump the speed up even higher - the slow twist 1:32 barrel likes velocity - but I tend to not crank up velocity when shooting in my backyard.

Not as exciting as the 200 with the Crown, but I figured I better get it submitted before I forget. I shot a 199 30-Challenge with my Daystate Regal and forgot to submit it for the last leaderboard. Heck, maybe I can beat that before the July board, lol.

-Ed

 

[EPG]

Leaderboard Submission:

40-Masters: 198 16X
Rifle: .22 FX Crown Mk2 - 500mm superlight barrel
Pellet: FX 18.13g @ 900fps
Scope: Sightron SII 36x fixed power

After the 200-18X 40-Challenge, I went after the 40-Masters with the Crown today.

I shot these four 40-Masters cards:
198 15X
198 16X (leaderboard)
195 13X
192 10X

After the first 14 targets on the 192 card, I thought I had a good shot at a 199 - then all the wheels fell off, lol. Target 7B broke my streak of 178 consecutive shots with the Crown at 40 yards of 9 points or better - no "8s".

In any case, this must be a very good tin of FX 18.13g. I felt 7B was a flier, came right back with an X on 7A. Then the last row went completely off. Perhaps it is time to pull a few patches through the barrel...

I got attacked by the bees in the nest shown while moving around my deck. Gotta get that cleared out tonight.

It was an amazing day shooting the .22 Crown. Can't recall a day when I shot 5 cards with the same rifle. I really should spend more time shooting my most accurate rifles. I'm used to spending the most time with the rifles that I'm trying to improve to shoot better.

-Ed

 

[tommyb]

Tommy - Great shooting with that 700mm Vet2 Taipan !

You can submit both the 198 and 199 30-Masters, but only the 199 will show on the 30-Masters leaderboard.

Sometimes I leave two scores for the same rifle on the same leaderboard if the pellets used are significantly different weights - like a 16.2g and 10.3g .177.

I'd suggest submitting the 198 30-Masters score for the 30-Challenge Leaderboard... but you already shot a 30-Challenge score of 200 18X with your Taipan.

Basically, you are getting too good with that rifle at 30 and 40 yards.... time to move that target out to 45 yards...

Ha ha. As Mike says, you have to have a good air rifle.

Mike N shot a 55Y 198-18X. Now that’s some shooting. How in the world can anyone even hit that small 10 ring at 55Y? Never mind hitting it that many times! Amazing!

Gotta love this hobby. Very addictive.

 

[tommyb]

Leaderboard Submission:
40-Challenge: 200 18X
Rifle: .22 FX Crown Mk2 (500mm superlight barrel)
Scope: Sightron SII 36X fixed power
Pellet: FX 18.13g @ 900fps

My first card of today. I was not expecting this as a bit hung over. Breeze kicked up as soon as I walked outside to set up my target - doesn't this always happen. However, the breeze stayed mild and consistent direction - right to left.

I was going to shoot it as a 40-Masters and stop after 20 targets... but I saw that I had a shot at 200, so I kept going.

I really just wanted to keep my "9s or better" streak going with the .22 Crown 500mm. I shot this card from top to bottom. Rows alternated right to left and then left to right as I dropped down. I missed the wind pick up on 8A (shot 8b first) and it almost cost me my streak of "9s or better" - which now stands at 104 straight shots!

Since this is a 200, I scored carefully and zoomed in with the iPhone Magnify app. I attached proof on the close targets: the 10 on 10A and the X on 12A. I even attached the "near 8" on 8A - for the sake of proof of my "streak" - even though target pair 8 was not used. I'm also showing all my sighters on the cardboard - you can see that the wind was pushing them left. I aimed at the right edge of the 9-ring for most all of the card.

... And after a card like this... I'm still behind Marvin on the 40-Challenge Leaderboard, lol.

@tommyb - I'm telling ya, the new $39 Costco "shooting" stool is the biggest difference maker that I've purchased in some time, lol.

View attachment 573878
View attachment 573879
View attachment 573880
View attachment 573881

Wonderful Ed.

A 40Y 200! We never expected this When the challenge began in February 2022.