TargetTalk

The National Rifle Association Board of Directors has approved a Smallbore Rifle F- Class National Championship to be conducted concurrent with the 2018 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships to be held at the Wa-Ke'De Rifle Range, Bristol, Indiana.

F-Class is the brain child of the late Canadian rifleman George “Farky” Farquharson, for whom the discipline is named. Farquharson developed the sport in the early 1990s as an outlet for high power shooters, ”of a certain age,” who were facing the challenges of diminished eyesight, reflexes, and strength in sling shooting, yet wished to continue competing. Farquharson’s idea was to use scopes and bipods to shoot at a smaller target than the sling shooters at long range. It caught on with all segments of the shooting community and is a rapidly growing discipline.

Details of the new national championship are being made final, but the concept is several daily aggregates of 40 shots each at 50 yards, a Dewar (Dew-er) course of fir – 20 shots at 50 yards and 20 at 100 yards, and 100 yards. The target will be the NRA A-50/A-51 at short range and the NRA A-33 at 100 yards. The minutiae of the match such as rifle requirements, rests, and sights may be found in the Provisional F-Class Smallbore Rifle Rules, found on page 65 of the current NRA Smallbore Rifle Rules.

No elaborate equipment is need for competition, any rifle chambered of the .22 Long Rifle Cartridge mounting either metallic or telescopic sights and a bipod will do. A shooting mat and a spotting scope would round out the basic equipment. If you have been shooting smallbore rifle for any time you probably have all the equipment that you need to be competitive.

While equipment is important, the real test will be a shooter’s ability to read the wind, and keep up with the changes, and squeeze the trigger that will determine the champion.

A match program will be available in the spring.

Hap your post says a "bipod" is required. In the limited smallbore F class matches I have seen shooters are using benchrest style support in the front. This link, which claims to be the NRA rules for F class smallbore seems to allow rests and not just bipods. I assume you meant that bipods are the minimum needed.

http://compete.nra.org/documents/pdf/co ... sbr_14.pdf

I think this is a great option for those of us who, when we shot at Perry on the grass open to the sky back in the 70s, thought nothing would ever change and here we are in our 60s or 70s and can barely remember how to load the dang rifle.

gwsb wrote:Hap your post says a "bipod" is required. In the limited smallbore F class matches I have seen shooters are using benchrest style support in the front. This link, which claims to be the NRA rules for F class smallbore seems to allow rests and not just bipods. I assume you meant that bipods are the minimum needed.

http://compete.nra.org/documents/pdf/co ... sbr_14.pdf

I think this is a great option for those of us who, when we shot at Perry on the grass open to the sky back in the 70s, thought nothing would ever change and here we are in our 60s or 70s and can barely remember how to load the dang rifle.

There are two classes - Open and Target Rifle. Open can use 2 rests while TR requires a bipod in front.

That's the short summary.

ASSA announced on December 28th that F-Class smallbore is being conducted at our championships at the new 200 firing point range being constructed at The Cardinal Center in Marengo, OH. Official rules will be released within the next 2 weeks.

Regards
ken