F Class Question

[K22]

Never shot this competition and know very little about it. A fellow shooter is interested in starting some competition center fire rifle shooting at one of the clubs where I belong. The maximum range available at this club is 200 yards.

Is there an F Class Target available that is sized for 200 yard center fire rifle competition?

If so, can you advise where such a target can be purchased.

Thanks

 

[davidjoe]

There’s not. There has never been “short” range F-Class. In fact the the midrange F-Class matches (300-600) have gravitated to only 600 yards and the long range (800-1,000 yard) matches have likewise largely eliminated the 800 and 900 distance. The distances and targets are rather set in stone by the rules.

The main challenge in F-Class is calling the wind so as to stay within a minute of angle for full value score on compensated targets. (The prescribed targets were designed to appear the same size from the firing line regardless of distance).

Unfortunately, wind drift is a nonlinear function and at a distance like 200 yards it just wouldn’t be challenging enough with centerfire to make a go of that, in my opinion. (There is Rimfre F-Class but that’s outside your question.) That distance is perfectly fine for “group size” matches, but not really for F-Class matches.

 

[rardoin]

F-class official NRA target centers start at 300yds. I don't know of any 'non-official' targets based on a MOA ring spacing/ 1/2 MOA bull but easy enough to make up. I do know there are rimfire f-class style comps that may have what you are looking for though. I can't remember what they are called.

 

[rardoin]

Maybe this will help:

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/rimfire-f-class-target.3799995/

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/rules-for-rimfire-f-class.3861865/

 

[Terry]

Checkout UBR. It's shot at 100/200 for score. Even if you want to shoot prone, I think you will like the targets.

 

[BronzeArcher]

There’s not. There has never been “short” range F-Class. In fact the the midrange F-Class matches (300-600) have gravitated to only 600 yards

There's a 300 yard F-Class event each month at Polk County Gun Club in North Carolina and a 500 yard F-Class event several times each year at Chatanooga in TN. Manatee also has a 300 yard F-Class event. There are probably others.

and the long range (800-1,000 yard) matches have likewise largely eliminated the 800 and 900 distance.

There's an 800 yard F-Class event several times a year in South Carolina - Palmetto. They also have 300 and 500 yard mid range events.

 

[K22]

Thanks to all who responded - I knew I get the straight scoop from you guys. I now see the point of the distances being so unique with F Class - wind reading, etc.

Thanks again - Myself I'm a varmint hunting and only shoot off shooting sticks at the range unless I'm doing load development or sighting in a new scope, neither of which I do much of these days at my age since I've been using the same loads for years and don't need any new scopes. But I'll relay all this info to the guy at the club

One thought I had is maybe use a 50 foot slow fire pistol target at 200 yards for his competition set up. The 10 rings is about 7/8" which would be plenty of challenge for club matches I would think for average guys shooting from the prone off a bipod.

A few years ago a buddy and me shot against each other using this target for something to do in the winter but we shot off the bench with a bipod with no back support to make it more challenging. It wasn't my thing but it was fun even though I rarely beat him however I enjoyed his company. Unfortunately he passed away like a lot of my old shooting buddies.

 

[Ringostar]

If he’s only shooting for fun or practice. The 10 ring would be roughly 2” for 200yds, to equal standard F class targets. You can look for a target with that size bullseye, or get the 2” round orange target stickers. Hang a couple plain pieces of paper, with a sticker on each. Shoot 10 rounds at each, then score all 20 shots. If you’re outside the orange, you’re Losing points.

 

[Erud]

The nra 100 yard smallbore target would be about right, dimensionally. It has a 1” x-ring for sling shooters at 100 yards, so should translate perfectly to f-class at 200. It’s a tall target with 3 bulls on it; top one for sighters, then 2 for record below that. If I get a chance I’ll look at one and get back with the official target designation.

 

[DE-F-Open]

Check out the NRA Smallbore Rifle Rule Book for Smallbore F-Class Rifle Rules.
Look at Section 23 beginning on page 65. I think you will find everything you need there.
You can look it up on line.

Lots of clubs are now shooting Smallbore F-Class.

Good luck, hope this helps.

John

 

[1813benny]

K22,
If you are interested in clubs in the central and eastern PA region that hold F-SBR matches, let me know and I can send you a list.

Regards,
ken
ASSA Secretary/Treasurer

 

[kzin]

We've been shooting 200 yard f-class for 2 years. We've only had two people clean and zero complaints that it's too easy.

The rules make it very clear what the target should be - mr52fc, an mr52 with an addded x-ring and the other rings renumbered. Just nobody makes one commercially.

Here are a couple options I've made and we get printed up in bulk. These fit on 8.5 by 11

White is particularly good for seeing shots in a 200 yard 'walk and paste'.

 

[ronsatspokane]

The trouble with a 200 yard F Class targets would be that you'd need to replace the target face half way through a 20 shot string. Given a decent shooting rifle and an experienced operator at the trigger, the center would be gone quickly which means that the lines would be gone. We already have that problem at 300 yards. We cut the pasters in half and often need to tear those in half to permit as much of the lines to remain visible as possible. At three hundred yards it is rare that the face does not need to be replaced following every string of fire. Imagine a good shooting F Class rifle in 30 caliber, wouldn't take long to blow the center out and not be able to see the lines even if pasters were not used following each shot.

 

[davidjoe]

That, too. I looked at a sample drift chart:

The reason it would be so hard to drop a point at 200 yards is that for a given load of mine, a 10 MPH full value wind only has a .7 moa drift impact.

That same load is pushed 2.3 moa at 600 yards and 4.2 at 1,000.

A 10 mph full value change is BIG in F-Class and not all that common, and means even it will barely blow that sample bullet to the edge of 10 ring with no correction. You could devise exceedingly close rings, but truly either the spindle every shot, or the region of the aim point on scored paper or an etarget is going to be gone, inside a few shots.

F-class at its heart is about correcting onto center, with real prospects of dropping points, from a displayed last shot. Making judgment calls on what touches or doesn’t touch very close, fine, rings, especially after they were all shot out wouldn’t be fun.

But measuring group size on other hand is easy, just measure the widest point.

 

[DE-F-Open]

That, too. I looked at a sample drift chart:

The reason it would be so hard to drop a point at 200 yards is that for a given load of mine, a 10 MPH full value wind only has a .7 moa drift impact.

That same load is pushed 2.3 moa at 600 yards and 4.2 at 1,000.

A 10 mph full value change is BIG in F-Class and not all that common, and means even it will barely blow that sample bullet to the edge of 10 ring with no correction. You could devise exceedingly close rings, but truly either the spindle every shot, or the region of the aim point on scored paper or an etarget is going to be gone, inside a few shots.

F-class at its heart is about correcting onto center, with real prospects of dropping points, from a displayed last shot. Making judgment calls on what touches or doesn’t touch very close, fine, rings, especially after they were all shot out wouldn’t be fun.

But measuring group size on other hand is easy, just measure the widest point.

Yes, exactly - hence the value of converting to Smallbore F-Class for range facilities with limited space.

 

[kzin]

The trouble with a 200 yard F Class targets would be that you'd need to replace the target face half way through a 20 shot string. Given a decent shooting rifle and an experienced operator at the trigger, the center would be gone quickly which means that the lines would be gone. We already have that problem at 300 yards. We cut the pasters in half and often need to tear those in half to permit as much of the lines to remain visible as possible. At three hundred yards it is rare that the face does not need to be replaced following every string of fire. Imagine a good shooting F Class rifle in 30 caliber, wouldn't take long to blow the center out and not be able to see the lines even if pasters were not used following each shot.

You need to shoot 200 yard f-class more like smallbore shooting than normal high-power. A smallbore 20 shot 100 yd stage is 4 separate bulls with 5 shots on each. We shoot 10 shots on each target for 200 yd f-class. 4 targets on the backer at once. No pasting, score it and discard after 10 shots. The targets are small(8.5x11) so several can fit on one reasonable size backer. We could even go to 5 shots per target bull but it hasn't seemed worth it yet. I would guess that most ranges that only have 200 yards also don't have pits, like us.

It really depends on your shooters. Yes 200 yard f-class would be silly with a field of high-masters with 10k custom rifles. When your field is mostly RPRs on folding bipods and hunting rifles on cheap non-windage rests then 200 is a lot of fun and challenging enough for most of the entrants. Any serious f-class shooters that show up can use it for a little match condition practice. I get comments that the target is tiny, none yet that it's too easy. I don't think putting all your shots in a .9 inch x-ring at 200 is -quite- as easy as people are implying, either.

 

[kzin]

Another club near me shoots 200 yard score bench on very similar targets.
Also 10 shots on each target. Scoring -can- get quite difficult but usually isn't.
Their field is stronger than ours so 400 points is expected and 40x/40 shots is most shooter's goal from the start.
It still isn't done every month, much less by every shooter.

In my experience, it's amazing how seldom even good shooters complain about scores being TOO HIGH. At the match, I mean, not on the internet.

 

[kzin]

My support for 200 yard f-class also comes from the choice being that or driving for 5+ hours each way to shoot at 600. We'd shoot 300 or 600 in a hearbeat if we could.
We already shoot 100 and 200 yd smallbore.

 

[ronsatspokane]

Yeah, that works with multiple bulls per target. Wish it were that way for 300 F Class. You could put 4 bulls on each sheet with 5 rounds per. Maybe even 5 bulls with one dedicated to sighters. Bench rest targets work this way only they have 6 bulls with one for sighters. 200 yard benchrest targets would work well for a 200 yard F Class albeit that dot in the middle being the x could be problematic.

 

[danny]

Never shot this competition and know very little about it. A fellow shooter is interested in starting some competition center fire rifle shooting at one of the clubs where I belong. The maximum range available at this club is 200 yards.

Is there an F Class Target available that is sized for 200 yard center fire rifle competition?

If so, can you advise where such a target can be purchased.

Thanks

Have him try Highpower Rifle. It can be shot at short range.

Danny