Shooters' equipment at the IPRF World Championship - PR22

At the end of the summer of 2023, the first IPRF World Championship - PR22 was held in Italy. This is Dynamic Precision Shooting with a rimfire rifles. 179 shooters from all over the world participated and the targets were at distances from 45 to 200 meters. Time on situations was 90 seconds and shots on situations between 8 and 12 (magazines limited to a maximum of 10 shots). And what equipment did these top shooters from around the world use? Here is the answer…

Unfortunately, the only thing we don't know is which equipment ended up in which position in the ranking - because this questionnaire was anonymous. Also, not everyone filled it in, so an error of up to 5% can be expected...

Rifle / action

The predominance of the CZ457 is certainly not a coincidence - it is an excellent system in terms of price / performance... What is interesting, however, is the relatively large number of Anschütz that dominated the "Factory" category. And also a relatively large representation of really expensive specials - Vudoo, RimX, MPA, Deuce (20% in total), which were not represented in the Factory, but only in the Open...

Barrels and muzzle devices

Like most other graphs, this one is affected by the fact that there were quite a lot of shooters in the Factory division (specifically 43 out of a total of 179). However, even so, it is clear that very few factory barrels were exchanged. Because most of those who have listed a non-factory barrel simply have a custom-built rifle from components from various manufacturers... Even barrel lengths over 22" are not really standard for rimfires, and their longer length is mainly due to better balance of the weapon (unlike for center-fire rifles, a longer rimfire barrel does not affect the muzzle velocity). Longer barrels are mostly custom.

It is also quite interesting how many shooters had no muzzle device. I would have expected a greater use of tuners for rimfire - because they really have an effect... Moreover, in this comparison, there are no silencers at all - because they are not legal in Italy. Otherwise, I believe that there would be quite a few of them.

Stocks and chassis

In this chart, once again, the Factory weapons are playing a role. Mainly because some Factories actually use chassis manufactured by a specialized company. First of all, it is MDT, which produces chassis for example for CZUB, or even Anschütz (in this case it is an ACC model). In this light, the great superiority of the MDT ACC chassis (and the newer Elite version) over the others is quite obvious.

Scope mounts and leveling devices

In the case of rimfires, the predominance of canted riflescope mounts is really clear - whether it is a scope rail directly on the action or a one-piece mount. This is logical, since the rimfire projectile has a fairly large drop at the distances we shoot... The ratio between the rings and the one-piece mount is quite balanced.

What is rather surprising - 11% of the shooters did not use any leveling device... Here I would really like to know how they ranked - because for a rimfire at those distances and such small targets it is, let's say... ..."brave". The predominance of electronic levels is clear and there will certainly be more of them. The manufacturer can barely cover the orders (that is, they don't...). Among the top scorers, it was primarily electronic levels.

Riflescopes

Riflescopes for rimfire and centerfire rifles in the same discipline can differ quite a bit - because with rimfire the distances are up to 250 meters, so many shooters will be able to find cheaper and optically less powerful ones. That much is evident from this list. However, the requirements for mechanical quality and function or reticle are essentially the same.

The most represented were Kahles 525i and Zero Compromise ZC527, which are among the more expensive ones. But there were more Vortex scopes altogether than these two combined. And there were almost as many cheaper scopes overall as the really expensive ones... This does not happen with centerfire rifles.

Bipods and tripods

Among bipods, MDT dominates with its CKYE model. By the way - this also applies to centerfire rifles. However, I can say that I only used the bipod in two situations out of 18, and that was only for a few shots. This competition was mainly shot from positions where its use was not possible, or it was faster without it.

There was no need to use a tripod for shooting at all... It is true that some people helped themselves with a tripod in several situations, but they were not the top shooters. But of course we used the tripod for an spotting scope or binoculars. The great superiority of Leofoto is no accident - they are top in their price range.

Rings and scope mounts

The superiority of Spuhr one-piece mounts and Vortex rings is obvious. I am rather surprised by how many different manufacturers there are in this chart. The truth is that there is almost no recoil with rimfire rifles, so the mounting solution is not as stressed as with centerfire rifles.

Shooting bags

Bags are essential equipment for Dynamic Precision Shooting. And I'm not surprised by the overwhelming superiority of Armageddon Gear. It is a fact, however, that these are bags intended primarily for experienced shooters and are also very difficult to find and expensive in our country. Fortunately, we also have decent alternatives in Europe...

Ballistic device or app

Another basic thing that can be solved in two different ways. It is either a device with ballistic software (Kestrel, Garmin) or a smartphone application (Strelok and others). Unfortunately, the most used Strelok has a major flaw - it can no longer be purchased... Sadly so far no one else has released a similarly good and user-friendly application.

Binocular / rangefinder / spotting scope

Unfortunately, this graph is heavily influenced by several factors...

1. devices with reticle (spotting scopes or even binoculars) were not allowed. The reason for this was the ability to cheat (more on that another time) because it really helps. But it is better to prevent cheating in another way. This matter was discussed a lot during the championship and at the IPRF council, it is also discussed a lot in the PRS in the USA and we still do not have a satisfactory solution. It will certainly be discussed for some time to come. Unfortunately, cheating has become a big problem…

2. some binoculars are also rangefinders.

Overall, Vortex dominated here, followed by Sig Sauer and Leica.

Ammo

A key factor for rimfire. The problem is that it is impossible to say which cartridges are the best. Because they just behave differently in each weapon. It can be countered a bit by using a tuner, but even that won't do wonders...

Anyway, the superiority of SK Long Range is quite clear. They are suitable for this discipline and at a really good price. Then follow Lapua, RWS and Eley. It is good to note that SK is sibling to Lapua. And Lapua has its own Long Range (and Super Long Range) as well, but those have been on the market for so short a time that they can't see much use yet - however, the overall winner used these cartridges.

Thanks to the IPRF board for this data and to all the shooters who provided their equipment data.