The Best Common Sense Air Rifle for 100 Yard Benchrest
Amidst a sea of expensive air rifles, the Umarex Gauntlet is the one that stood out at the 2019 Pyramyd Air Cup that took place August 23rd through 25th at the Cardinal Shooting Center just outside of Columbus, Ohio. The Gauntlet was the least expensive pellet rifle on the benchrest firing line, yet it and its shooter, Eydin Hansen the @TXHogDude, advanced to the final round.
The Basics of 100 Yard Airgun Benchrest
The 100-yard benchrest competition started on Friday morning. 91 shooters spread among three heats (A, B & C) lined up to sling airgun pellets at big boards plastered with small ringed targets downrange. Those panels contained five “sighter” targets located at the bottom with a line separating 25 competition targets above. Each competitor engaged their targets throughout a 30-minute time span. They were allowed to shoot the sighters as many times as they desired, but only 25 rounds were to be placed above the line or a penalty of 10 points for every pellet hole over 25 would result.
Unleash The Gauntlet
As shooters prepared the various components of their airgun gear, the custom dipped Umarex Gauntlet took the stage. This never before seen Gauntlet had a modern red and black pattern coated with a polyurethane sheen. A 24 cubic inch carbon fiber bottle slated for use on the .50 caliber Umarex Hammer complemented the attractive stock and black hardware.
There was more than one Gauntlet on the line at the Pyramyd Benchrest shoot. To the competitive and more experienced airgun benchrest shooters that were equipped with the various air rifle “Cadillacs” the fact that a Gauntlet was on the line wasn’t much of a surprise. It was the fact that a stock .25 caliber Gauntlet with its original barrel and simple user-friendly mods from Hajimoto Productions and Jefferson State Air Rifles put pellets in the 10-ring during two qualifying heats sending it to the final round.
The Umarex Gauntlet Versus Air Rifles that Cost Six Times as Much
While the Gauntlet did not make it in the top 10, Eydin Hansen, its shooter, confidently said, “I managed to put two pellets in the X (10-ring), but the wind just got me. I missed two targets completely because of it. Those misses hurt a score. I think if I spend more time with this Gauntlet in the wind I can get us in the Top 10 and in the money. The Gauntlet is capable and I had an awesome pit crew and support from Brandon, James, and Rick and JB and Brad from Umarex. The guys at Pyramyd put on a fun event!”
Of the 27 finalists on the line, the air guns used by the shooters that took the top 10 spots had a gun price tag over $1,825, not including the optic. If you chop that up by the 25 shots it takes to participate in 100-yard benchrest, that’s $73.00 a round. The Gauntlet with a base price of $299 combined with $100 worth of mod parts competes at just $16.00 a round. That’s 78% less!
Just Send Pellets Down Range
The performance of the Gauntlet at the 2019 Pyramyd 100 yard Benchrest Competition just goes to show that you don’t have to spend a boatload of money to get in the game. #UnleashTheGauntlet and spend time putting pellets downrange. I’d love to see you on the range next year wearing an Umarex Gauntlet shirt.
Written by JB who enjoys time alone with God, is a husband and dad, looks forward to spending time outside, loves trigger time and enjoys going to work every day as Director of Marketing at Umarex USA, a family-owned company.