I know the not available to the public yet Red Panda took first with a great shooter behind the trigger, what were the next 9 placers shooting?
This is pleasant to hear. A "new comer" to the stables placing but not totally outclassing a bunch of production rifles. I dig it.Only results I saw were in the Saber Tactical post.
1, 5, 7, 11 were Red Pandas.
Yes. I’d really like to see them in the tricky winds at EBR. Not sure if they are coming….That's pretty exciting to see the Red Panda doing so well in the 2nd competition! Makes people think twice now.
We are of the same thought then. All this talk of 1 rifle winning, winning , winning is imo taking away from the fantastic job the shooter has done, albeit on a small scale.IMO, the current crop of air rifles including the Panda, FX, RAW, Daystate, Thomas, and others are perfectly capable of winning matches. All it takes is the practice and perseverance of the shooter to hone his marksmanship and make it work. I'm not about to sell all my guns every time a new one shows up on the range.
I agree. But, and there is a logical but. Thayne is a great shooter., usually near the top. But that SAME shooter with the Karma Red Panda all of a sudden wins two big 100Y BR events in a row? Not taking anything away from Thayne. I’ve shot with him and I know how good both he and his Dad Val are. But the new gun is just enough better than his FXs to put him over the top.We are of the same thought then. All this talk of 1 rifle winning, winning , winning is imo taking away from the fantastic job the shooter has done, albeit on a small scale.
You can tell the shooter played a huge part by those day 1 cards and the drop off with wind. Not all those guys were shooting Pandas. Thomas Cox killed it with whatever he was shooting (sorry, I don’t know everyone). Talk about impressive. I’ll be shocked if he wasn’t near the top on day two. John Bagakis and his Daystate had an excellent day 1, and I trust he shot his trusty Red Wolf. Nikolai has a steady day 1 as well, probably shooting a FX.IMO, the current crop of air rifles including the Panda, FX, RAW, Daystate, Thomas, and others are perfectly capable of winning matches. All it takes is the practice and perseverance of the shooter to hone his marksmanship and make it work. I'm not about to sell all my guns every time a new one shows up on the range.
He sure is. He had the highest X count of 8X posted in the top 15 finalists.Don’t get me wrong I’m not taking anything away from Thayne he is very good at steering the pellet into the “X” ring!
Thanks for the excellent description Donny, much appreciated!I've competed in pretty much all the big BR matches in the US. Northeast, RMAC, PAC and EBR. The wind conditions in all of these places are way different than in Florida. To be totally honest it's very stressful because the wind is never consistent in any direction. It feels like you're shooting through a mini cyclone. There were a few times at PAC where I shot the bullseye of one sighter and it hits the bullseye of the sighter next to it. I heard others experience the same thing. For those that were not at PAC, the 100 yd benchrest was divided into 3 groups. Group 1 started at 9:15am. The wind condition was very calm hence the high scores. Starting around 9:30am the wind started to pick up and for those who did not complete their targets within 10mins, the conditions became challenging real quick. When Group 2 started at 10:15am, wind was blowing even harder and you could tell by the lower scores. Group 3 started at 11:15am and they got the worst of it. Unlike RMAC and EBR where you shoot both of your qualifying cards on different days, PAC you shoot them both on the same day. People asked me what happened to my second card, well Group 1 went again at 12:15pm and we're now experiencing what Group 2 and 3 did. Even though I placed 2nd in the first card, I did so bad my second card that I didn't think I would qualify for the finals but I did. Other shooters were experiencing the same thing. The Saber team stayed in the same house and every night we would weigh, roll and measure the heads on each pellet until 2am, woke up at 5:30am to get breakfast and be at the sight ins by 7am. I learned a lot from Thayne and Val, true champs for sure. They put a lot of time into getting to know their Red Pandas. Overall we had a blast and Pyramydair did a great job. There were some hiccups with scoring but it was resolved when brought to their attention. Their staff worked so hard and I applaud them. Until next year PAC