The early 2024 update to the PRS Skills Stage fundamentally reset competitor expectations, replacing the single, familiar 8-shot, 4-position format with three new standard options, each requiring 10 shots from 5 positions. This shift eradicated the established benchmarks, including Francis Colon's notable 25.92-second clean run on the older stage design, leaving a void for what constituted a 'fast' time in the new era.
Among the new stage options, the "Big/Small target setup," known as Option #1, has quickly become the most prevalent choice for match directors, with the "Near/Far" and "Wide-Pan" variants also in rotation. Initially, competitors lacked clear performance metrics for these new designs, questioning whether a 65-second clean, for instance, would be competitive or merely average for Option #2.
To address this, precisionrifleblog.com undertook an extensive analysis, compiling stage data from four major PRS pro matches, each drawing over 175 shooters. The deep dive examined clean runs, one-miss runs, and overall time distributions to establish new performance benchmarks across different shooter classes. While specific numerical charts were not detailed, the analysis provided crucial qualitative context.
Key findings from this data offer invaluable insight: cleaning Option #1 in under 60 seconds places a shooter firmly within the top 25% of competitors. Achieving a clean run in under 45 seconds is considered elite performance. Exemplifying this top-tier execution, Ben Gossett's 37-second run at K&M was highlighted, demonstrating exceptional movement efficiency and target retention between shots, a hallmark of pro-level precision.
This drive for speed on the Skills Stage is not merely for bragging rights; it carries significant competitive weight. Often the sole timed stage in a two-day match, it frequently serves as a tiebreaker for overall match standings. Last season alone, seven PRS pro matches saw their winners decided by Skills Stage times after overall scores were tied. Further sweetening the pot, Nightforce donates an ATACR 7-35x56 scope, valued at approximately $3,600, to the shooter with the fastest clean run at every PRS pro match.
Despite the format changes, fundamental techniques remain vital. Insights shared by Francis Colon from the previous Skills Stage design, focusing on efficient movement and rifle handling, are still highly applicable. As competitors continually push the envelope, match directors and the community, as first reported by precisionrifleblog.com, are keen to track new record-setting performances on these standardized stages.
