Is .22 vs .25 and .30 accuracy settled?

The .22, .25,.30 have all proven to be very accurate in the 100 yard benchrest. I believe that Keith was shooting a .30 Impact that took the honors in the benchrest at RMAC this year and .25s have taken it before. So, I really think it is the shooter, rather than the caliber, that decides who wins the competition. A .22 did shoot highest overall but that does not, all of a sudden, make it the new norm for winning as we can plainly see.

That'a nice, but I want to shoot more than birds and small mammals. .30 for me because I like the flexibility.

all three calibers are accurate. The guns are accurate. It's all down to the shooter. I have .22 and .25 and both are extremely accurate in dead wind conditions. I wind, the .25 (.25 caliber - 34 grain heavies vs 18 grain .22's) don't get blown around as much. Simple weight more than anything else.

Doubt I'll ever buy a .30 as I shoot as economically as I can. 500 shots in .22 vs 300 shots in .25 vs 150 shots per tin in .30, .22 is a whole lot more economical.

It's all down to the shooter

i dont think callber has anything to do with it .. just how well the gun is set up .. and that said a .22 will have more shots, use less air, and keep the focus on tuning rather than reloading .. and finally why not .17 .. well again i think its more gun aetup than caliber but .17 is tiny .. its rather difficult to work on and do some machining operations on such a small hole ..

Tuning, luck, quality of gear, experience, expertise, ability, practice, knowledge. I don't see much of a difference between the three in terms of accuracy. 

With .22 taking the two top spots at recent benchrest comp. seems like the discussion over which is superior in outdoor competition is settled. 

Contrary to what many think, heavier .30 pellets are not more accurate in the wind. I wonder what most of the 100 yard shooters thinking opting to .30 caliber.

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Three out of the top four spots. With three different barrels. The Top Sportsman had second best score with a .22 Thomas HP-X with LW? barrel. Pro Winner shot .22 Daystate Red Wolf with A.R.T barrel. Second place Pro and 4th overall shot .22 with FX Superior liner barrel. I shot .22 RDMs from a Red Wolf HP - and I didn't make the finals due to a flyer on my third to last shot in the second 75 yard qualifier. 

One of my biggest problems with the RDMs is that unless you are SUPER scrupulous with sorting, weighing, cleaning, lubing, etc, you WILL get a flyer every now and then. That doesn't seem to happened with .30 cal. JSB Exact 44.75. And I don't think we can say just yet that the RDM in .22 are truly superior. Look at the top 20 in RMAC and EBR and the average scores for both aren't significantly different. With either, it boils down to the shooter and his ability to guess the wind shifts - and yes, a good bit of luck...

IMHO, I think if you want t o compare accuracy at 100 yards, you need to look more at the RMAC format. There we shoot two 100 yard qualifiers, so the best 100 yard Shooter/Gun/Ammo go to the 100 yard final. At EBR, we only shoot two 75 yard qualifiers, so the best 75 yard Shooter/Gun/Ammo go to the 100 yard final. Big difference...

Tuning, luck, quality of gear, experience, expertise, ability, practice, knowledge. I don't see much of a difference between the three in terms of accuracy.

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I agree with L_G_D.

I think it also depends on the gun to some extent. For example, in MY Impacts I get the best accuracy at every distance from 25 to 100 yards from my .30 cal barrels (as compared to my .22 and .25 barrels). In my Crowns, the .22 is clearly better than the .30 (the .25 is close to the .30). Like he says above, Tuning, luck, quality of gear, experience, expertise, ability, practice, knowledge.

Chris

There are two different realities:

Indoors.- Even the .177 at 100 yards can be in the competence.

Real world.- For a shot at 165 yards I would trust much more on a .30 Cal than on any other Cal.

For hunting under 100 yards (not big animals), .25 normally Is very adequate.

I fail to see how the diameter of a projectile has any bearing on it's inherent accuracy.

Far too many other factors come to play, and it's the science and alchemy of all those factors in combination and harmony that make anything more (or less) "accurate"

Available pellet designs in each caliber is a major factor. IMHO the RDMs in 22cal allow the 22cal rifles to complete with 25 and 30 caliber rifles. I would like to see RDMs available in 25cal (39-40grain). Could easily shack up the status quo. Could also end up with another 22 JSB Beast... I don't see it happening soon because of required testing, development, and production equipment costs (money & time). CAE tool set isn't there yet to analyze pellet accuracy in simulation.

Why would traits from this years tournaments be so conclusive either way?

Wouldnt "expertise" and "experience" of the shooter play a part in choosing the caliber? 

3 out of 4 top spots shooting .22, dont you think there is a reason behind it? 

Dont you think the trajectory difference between pellets makes a difference?

We are talking about paper here, not hunting. Every mm counts. 

Anyone knows how many .25 and .30 were competing in 100 yards?

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I think the short answer is no, I see no technical "reason behind it". Individual shooters, different rifles, personal preferences. Why would trajectory make a significant difference? When shooting at a known range, trajectory correction is simple. I think we sometimes look for a complex answer to a fundamentally simple question. These folks shot a .22 because they like it, and their rifles shoot well. The most compelling variable with any caliber is the shooter. 

And at EBR they have to shoot. .22 to be in the 1 gun competition 

Wouldnt "expertise" and "experience" of the shooter play a part in choosing the caliber? 

3 out of 4 top spots shooting .22, dont you think there is a reason behind it? 

Dont you think the trajectory difference between pellets makes a difference?

We are talking about paper here, not hunting. Every mm counts. 

Anyone knows how many .25 and .30 were competing in 100 yards?

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No I don't think there is a reason behind it other than the shooter on the day. If we were talking about 3-4 years of EBR all being dominated by .22 then yes there may be something there, but we are not. 

It ain't a caliber thing. It's a platform thing. Perhaps more specifically, a barrel thing. And even more specifically, an individual example of any given platform, caliber and barrel thing.

I've tested more airguns for accuracy at 100 yards than most anyone, and the best accuracy I've achieved was with a $500 .30 caliber Chinese bullpup. Three consecutive five-shot groups at 100 yards in still outdoor conditions averaged .85" c-t-c one night, and .81" the next.

 



Beat that with any airgun.

That’s pretty awesome Ron. But it really is only a minor factor in shooting a good score at 100 yards. Any of the guns in the finals was accurate enough to win, including your Chinese gun. But reading the wind and guessing the wind drift and aerodynamic jump, plus a good dose of luck, is what wins pellet Benchrest tournaments at 100 yards. 

And at EBR they have to shoot. .22 to be in the 1 gun competition

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While that statement above is true, do you really think if any of the top competitors had a gun in .25 or .30 that outperformed their .22 at 100 yards that they would have shot the .22 just for the one gun challenge?

If you could control for the firearm, I believe that there would be some difference with the calibers depending on environmental conditions. You still have issues like sectional density and ballistic coefficient to consider. But the wind acts different on projectiles that are traveling slower than the speed of sound. For example, bullets aren't blown around by the wind, they tend to weather vane into the wind and then the Magnus effect will impact how they travel within the trajectory. Pellets don't respond the same. I think there's some standard accepted concepts, like .22s may have a flatter trajectory than .25 but 30s May travel better farther because of their ballistic coefficient. Anyway, I'm just so impressed by how well those guys shoot.