September 19th, 2021 SunDay Gunday – N50 Nationals & the Modern Precision Airgun
Air Rifles and.22 LR Rimfire Rifles are side by side — Same Match, Similar Targets Air Rifles and.22 LR Rimfires Compete Together
A new game is in town: a 50-yard benchrest discipline in which.22 LR shooters compete against Air Rifle aces. The National 50 Benchrest League, also known as “N50”), created this new Rimfire+Airgun sport. There are now 16 clubs registered in ten U.S. States. The N50 League held its inaugural National Championship at NRA Whittington Center, Raton, NM, earlier this month. This new organization features air rifles as well as rimfire rifles. Notably, at N50 Nationals, a purpose built.22-caliber slug rifle won against unlimited benchrest.22 LR rifles. This may be the first ever airgun victory in a 50-yard benchrest match against serious rimfire competition. Lou Fontana, Top Guns in Inaugural N50 Match, won the overall match with a 2961 score. Lou shot both rimfire and air rifles in the match. This proves that he is a master of both types. Ardey Vad came in second place with 2957 while Mike Niksch (Thomas Rifles), came third with 2952. Below is Mike’s advanced Thomas air rifle with electronic trigger. CLICK HERE to view the complete N50 Nationals Results. Lou, a Californian, enjoyed the match and noted: “I have an excellent mentor and a superior air rifle than I — my Thomas #33?” Lou said, “Thank you to all who attended and special thanks to those who helped in any way to make the inaugural event a success.” We had good weather, good temperatures and tricky wind. There was also a little rain. The states represented were Washington, Colorado and Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico (Arizona), Arizona, and California. Lou also praised Joseph Friedrich as one of the founding fathers for N50. Joe worked tirelessly to score the targets with the help of Mike Niksch’s spouse Matti.
Beautiful ranges are available at the NRA Whittington Centre. More match photos are HERE. About N50 — The National 50 Benchrest League Commentary By Joe Friedrich, Open Grove Benchrest
The National 50 Benchrest League (N50), is a new shooting experience. We shoot air rifles with pellets, slugs, and.22 LR Rimfires. There are currently sanctioned clubs across the USA that offer competition and good fellowship. There are three classes in N50: Pellet, Sportsman and PRO. The first Pellet Class is for pellet airguns with calibers between.177 and.30. It uses Diabolo-style pellets made by various manufacturers. The Sportsman Slug/Rimfire is the second class. This combined class allows any factory air rifle that shoots commercially-made slugs between.177 and.30 to compete with any factory rimfire using a factory-barreled action without attachments to the barrel. This class may also be open to pellet air rifles. The PRO Class is the third and final class. You don’t need to have a magic card that says “Professional” in order to compete. This class allows purpose-built air rifles and what we call “unlimited rimfire rifles” to compete. PRO Class allows three types of loads:.177 slug,.22 slug, and any.22 LR ammunition. Another point is that competitors in N50 are allowed to move up in their class. You are not restricted to the “lower” division. Pellet Class shooters, for example, can move up to Sportsman or Pro. Factory rimfires can be used in Pro Class. Shooters with less-expensive rifles will be able to shoot more relays and see how they compare with unlimited rigs. It’s all about having a lot of fun. We wanted N50 to be as easy as possible. This meant that N50 could be combined with air-rifles and rimfire so people who don’t have factory rimfires can still participate. We didn’t want to have too many classes so we combined the two gun types. We were concerned that the rimfires would outpace the air rifles. However, that was not the case at the Nationals.
Rules and Course of Fire for the National 50 Benchrest League The official N50 website, National50.org lists N50 rules, classes and courses of fire as well as membership requirements. There are 16 clubs currently affiliated to the league, with more in the pipeline. General Rules — These are the most notable N50 General Rules applicable to N50 matches. Target Distance: 50 meters
Match Times: 20 minutes per target
Targets: Official targets produced by N50 and distributed by N50
Aggregate Score: Sum of 3 consecutive targets shot on the same day
Scoring: Competitors cannot score their own targets. Hardware is open to all. All 3 classes allow any scope and any trigger. Stocks are not restricted, rifle weight is unlimited, and stocks can be bedded. The Sportsman Class must keep the factory barrel and action. N50 competitors may use 1-piece rests or 2-piece rests, bags or bipods in any class. Click HERE to download a printable version of the N50 practice goal. The Official N50 11 can also be purchased. x 17? Print Match Targets at $25 per 100 plus shipping Thomas PRO Class Air Rifle With Electronic Trigger Quite possibly the Most Accurate Air Rifle Ever Produced Mike Niksch (owner of Thomas Rifles) won the PRO class with a strong performance. It is amazing and possibly even historic that Mike won the PRO class with an air rifle. He defeated all high-end unlimited-type.22 LR rimfire guns in the process. This is the first time that an air rifle has outperformed high-end, rimfire rigs in head to head competition. They shot the same targets in the match. Lou Fontana, Overall Match Winner and PRO-Class runner-up, observed: “The true significance of this weekend was that Mike Niksch’s brand new Thomas Slug air rifle outshot many unlimited.22 LRs within PRO class. This should be a paradigm-shifting event for most. This may be the first time this has been done in competition. It was done at the NRA Whittington Centre, where it was monitored by a NRA Range officer. Take a look at that photo. Notice that Mike’s right hand is not on a conventional trigger, but a black box. Mike designed an electronic trigger for the wood-stocked air rifle he shot at Raton. Mike pushes a button to fire a shot. A wire acts as a wire and sends an electrical impulse. This triggers a mechanism in the rifle’s action that releases the pressurized gas. This system works well and makes Thomas air rifles much easier to build. The rifle is free from any movement. Thomas Air Rifle with Steel Stock
Mike Niksch shot a Raton wood-stocked rig, but Mike also makes a version with an alloy stock. See the video above of Mike using this gun at California’s Open Grove Range. Mike builds air rifles using the stock of the buyer’s choice. Both the metal and wood versions are his favorites. Mike even drilled a 10-shot group at Open Grove. Mike is a brilliant innovator and has created a rifle that sets new standards in airgun accuracy. Below is a 10-shot group Mike shot from 50 yards at Open Grove Range using the rifle in the video. That accuracy is something few centerfire rifles can match. Mike was asked to show us his rifle’s accuracy. We were impressed! Custom.22-Caliber Slugs
Mike forms his own slugs using strings of lead, just like many top N50 airgun competitions. The lead is cut into short sections and then formed in special bullet-making tools. The finished.22 caliber slugs are very similar to rebated centerfire match bullets with boat-tail tails. They shoot well! Mike has tried a wide variety of commercially-available slug designs in his sophisticated air rifles. He has never had a better result than the slugs that he makes. Mike may have used.22 LR barrels that were originally made for.22 LR rimfire rigs. This could be because commercially-made smallbore barrel slugs are not optimized for them. Mike’s homemade slugs outperform any he can purchase, regardless of the reason. He showed us 100-yard groups that would be a envy to centerfire shooters. Similar Posts: Tags: Air Rifle, Airgun Benchrest, Joe Friedrich, Lou Fontana, Mike Niksch, N50, Pellet Gun
