As far as caliber, the only one in the top ten was the Sportsman class 100Y winner, who shot a .25 FX Bobcat. Everyone else that finished top ten in both classes shot .30. The runner up in the Sportsman shot a .30 FX Bobcat (yes, I know it says .25, but I know for a fact it was .30).
My take away from this, if that if the best airgun shooters in the world chose .30, when they could have shot .22 or .25, there must be a valid reason. They all chose what shot best for them in the wind. Funny, I was there, and didn't see or feel much of a difference at all on Sunday between the Sportsman and Pro classes... The wind was truly brutal the first two days in qualifying for most of the flights. A few flights lucked out and shot in fairly calm conditions, but since you were scored against shooters in your own flight, it was as fair as possible.
This is the first time I've shot 100 yards where a bit of luck factored in more than usual. Let me explain. The wind was so variable, and not at all consistent, and changed every 5 to 10 seconds. So, when shooting sighters, you could shoot 3 or 4, get your sighter group tight, then go up to the target and shoot and be off by two inches (or more). I watched previous EBR winners get burned by this time and time again. Shoot 3 or 4, (or 25) sighters, be certain you know where the pellet will go, no change in visible wind indication, take your target shot and have it go in the 4, or 5, or even off the target. There were some VERY good shooters that missed some targets entirely... And some just timed (guessed?) it correctly and shot a good score. IMHO, the best shooters at RMAC were the ones that finished near the top in the Precision Marksman Challenge, which was much more of a detailed test of shooting skills that the 100 yard event. Matt D, John T, Justin W, and Thayne S were the best performers at RMAC from a strictly shooting skills perspective...I also wanted to mention the very impressive performance in all events by Jayson B, truly a great performance at RMAC, and a super friendly guy!
A large number of the Impacts in .30 had the Ernest Rowe power mods, or they were the newer Impact Mk2 with the larger plenum. I'm not sure what speed, but certainly not the "usual" 880 to 890 FPS with the 44.75 grain pellets. Probably 950 FPS and up...Claudio shot a new DS Grey Wolf in .25, shooting the 34 grain heavies at 1070 FPS, but he didn't qualify for the finals...
) shooters. Seems like a very nice competition, if I ever have the option I'll definitely try to join it at least once
