This rifle is not a trainer. This is a separate shooting system for a separate shooting discipline. It is false and conflated reasoning to suggest a 22lr is a substitute for a centrefire – especially in a 14 to 20lb rig.

The PRS rifles at the moment are tending to 25lb muzzle braked 6BRs. The only way to learn to shoot better with that type of is to shoot that type of rifle.

If you want to build muscle memory then dry firing exercises every few days is a good substitute for range time.

But we have to stop pretending these things are a training assister – if we want an excuse to buy another rifle we need to be more honest with ourselves.

EDITOR: I beg to differ. My experience is NOT PRS specific — but I think it’s relevant. I shoot a game with small steel targets shot from bipod at multiple distances from 400-600. Because the drive to the 600-yard range was 80 minutes each way, I started shooting rimfire every week. Mainly to work on hold, breathing, trigger control, and follow through. Guess what? After a half-dozen rimfire sessions, mostly at 50 yards, my centerfire “targets hit” scores went up dramatically — with no other change to my centerfire rifle or load. I was hitting about 7-8 out of 12 small silhouettes at 600. After the rimfire training, that average score went to 10-11 with the occasional “clean”. My confidence with the centerfire rig increased significantly. Again, this was NOT a move-and-shoot game like PRS. But for varmint matches on steel, the rimfire training paid off. No question about it. I encourage everyone to shoot at least once a week if you can. For most of us, that’s much easier to do close to home with a .22 LR rifle.

A major point behind training with a rimfire gun at distance is that the bullet is much slower and thus much more affected by wind. You have to get the wind calls right. A mistake in technique or position gets amplified with the rimfire gun.

My rule of thumb is that it’s about as difficult to make a good shot at 100 yards with a rimfire gun as it is to make that same good shot at 300 yards with my Palma gun. A 200 yard rimfire session has about the same training value as a 600+ yard session with the Palma gun. That’s an estimate but it seems to work pretty consistently.

It’s a lot easier to get that rimfire training done at my house. I run a suppressor on my .22 gun so it doesn’t bother my neighbors near as much as the Palma gun. Cheaper too.

Left or Right-Handed action MSRP $1320