Thomas Air, Inc.

Name: Thomas Air, Inc.
Address: 1817 5725 Road, Olathe, CO, 81425, US
Telephone: (970) 275-9247

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Thomas Air, Inc.

Thomas Air, Inc. custom builds competition benchrest and field target air rifles.

09/07/2026

Does this little lip matter?

I like to find out what matters on the target and what doesn't. You can spend unreal amounts of time working on "problems" that don't actually present themselves as problems on the target.

This slug is a good example of that. If you look at the back of this slug you will see that the ejection pin is set maybe a couple thou too deep so it's leaving a small lip around the base of the boattail. The last die I set up was perfectly flush. This one is also appears to be a thou or two off center of the slug body.

In a direct comparison with perfectly flat slugs....I actually averaged 1x more with the imperfect bases. This was over 6 cards each.

I don't think that's a significant difference and don't believe that the imperfect slug is actually better....but it's surely clear that it's not worse.

That's good information because a guy can wrap up a ton of time chasing perceived perfection on the components rather than actual perfection on the target.

09/06/2026

I've had people asking me about something they've noticed from Nationals.

Raton, NM is a similar elevation as my range...let's say 5500-6000 feet. I set up 2 slug guns for Raton using 50gr slugs at about 825fps. Other shooters with the same rifles noticed that their guns were set up for lighter slugs....like 44-46gr.

The difference is that their home ranges are near sea level and the barrel twist rate cannot support the same length slug as it can at higher density altitudes.

Could they have switched to heavier slugs for the Nationals...of course. The problem is that they couldn't have properly evaluated them until they got away from their sea level ranges.

If they had switched....is there a big difference? No, there isn't. Does anyone actually believe me when I tell them that....no, they don't. 😂

In a 6 mph full value cross wind I see 2 rings of drift with the 50gr. With 45gr I might see another .020" or .030" in the same wind. Is that a game changer? No, it's obviously not. But if you can choose between the two everyone is going to choose the 50gr. 😀

I shot 4 cards yesterday with 50s. My best card was a 250 21x as scored by targetiq. That card was shown as ARA 2400 16x.

Today my high card with 45gr at the same velocity of 825 was 250 23x using targetiq. That was also a 2400 16x in ARA.

Both weights produced nearly identical averages. 😀

09/05/2026

Here are 3 N50 targets from today where I used Adobe Scan on my iPhone to obtain JPEG images. The scanned images are supposed to be a step or two better than just a phone picture for the TargetIQ scoring program. They scored 250 18x, 250 19x, and 250 21x in the program.

50gr slugs at 825.

They scored 2250, 2300, and 2300 on ARA unlimited. I don't actually recall the x count but it was something like 15x, 10x, and 16x.

09/03/2026

I've been trying out this scoring program.

www.targetiq.pro

It has some cool features. You can score N50cards, ARA, USBR, PSL and others with just a phone pic....then it will also create group data for all 25 shots. Plus....if you would like to see how your card would score on any off the other formats you can use the "What IF" feature to see those as well.

I have initially found the accuracy to be 100% when I used my flatbed scanner to input slug cards.

Interesting 😀

09/01/2026

Over the years I've actually learned a lot of valuable things from people with no experience. I recall watching my daughter equal my indoor scores with absolutely no care in the world for how she operated the trigger. It wasn't a heavy trigger and the rifle was a very low powered air rifle....probably 2 ounce trigger....but I learned I didn't need to be anywhere near as careful about its operation as I was being.

08/31/2026

In a conventional p*p air rifle valve...it's the valve stem diameter that provides the dynamic valve closing force once the valve is knocked off its seat and the pressure equalizes on both sides of the poppet.

Since the valve stem is exposed to the atmosphere....its area is removed from the underside of the poppet and that creates a pressure differential that pushes the valve closed.

The bigger the stem....the more closing force.

08/30/2026

Impromptu N100 card with slugs. .224" plug scored like N50 Pro Class. The bottom row and part of the 4th row were obscured by fence wire...but I think I was arcing over it easy enough.

08/29/2026

The 50y Unlimited air rifles I'm building today are capable of beating the average Unllimited Rimfire. They still can't beat the best Unlimited Rimfires....but I've been hearing that they are unfair from the mid level unlimited Rimfire guys for a long time. Are the best unlimited Rimfire rifles unfair by that same standard? 😀

Can someone explain that logic to me in a way that's not full of holes? 😀

08/28/2026

The muzzle pattern of this bore rider is strange to me. I would have guessed the markings would have aligned with the grooves.

08/27/2026

If you've been competing for multiple years with little success....you need to step back and reevaluate everything you think you know. The reality is that most all successful competitors were successful from the start. They didn't take ten years to slowly figure things out.

If you always do what you've always done....you'll always get what you've always got.

To improve you must be able to clearly identify your greatest weaknesses and relentlessly push yourself to overcome them. If you practice every day without a specific plan to cure a specific problem....you're just wasting your time.

Address

1817 5725 Road
Olathe, CO
81425

Telephone

(970) 275-9247

Website

http://thomasrifles.com/

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