F-Class Boards

[gaboon]

I'm in Florida. I shoot in Florida and Georgia.

 

[dannyjbiggs]

I'm in Florida. I shoot in Florida and Georgia.

Might run your idea about F-Open boards by Kenny Adams, Malabar, next time that you see him at a match down around there.

Dan

 

[ScottyB]

One thing to be mindful of is that under the ICFRA F-Class rules the feet or spikes on any bipod or front rest must "cause no significant permanent harm or indentation to the firing point". I've shot with several guys who pound spikes/feet in on grass mounds and you could definitely tell they'd been there.

Scott

 

[dannyjbiggs]

One thing to be mindful of is that under the ICFRA F-Class rules the feet or spikes on any bipod or front rest must "cause no significant permanent harm or indentation to the firing point". I've shot with several guys who pound spikes/feet in on grass mounds and you could definitely tell they'd been there.

Scott

Scott...you can hold gaboon harmless there. He's proposing to lay down a "board" and put his front rest atop it. Won't hurt the firing point at all...in this configuration the rules won't allow him anchor his "board" to the firing point with spikes, etc. (He can't claim the "board" as "base", where spikes would be allowed, in this configuration.) He will have to put up with that competitive inconvenience. If he is using a SEB though, he might help himself a little by removing the "feet" allowing the needle-sharp points of the legs to rest on the "board" (like the bench-resters do). Then, at least, his rest can "hold the board" without threat of challenge.

Dan

 

[gaboon]

I don't have a problem with rest being unstable. I just want to keep in the same position. The feet points are putting indentations in it . Every time I set up. I like to keep things neat and good looking.

 

[dannyjbiggs]

I don't have a problem with rest being unstable. I just want to keep in the same position. The feet points are putting indentations in it . Every time I set up. I like to keep things neat and good looking.

??? You're shooting 6mm, aren't you???

Dan

 

[gaboon]

Nope a Savage 308. Rest is heavy and I use 3m slick material. Everything is works nice and smooth.

 

[savageshooter86]

so you're shooting 308 in Fopen??

 

[gaboon]

Yes, why not. I'm thinking about building a 6.5x47 this summer.

 

[ScottyB]

While I'm certainly not a match referee I would suggest that the proposed pilot holes in the board under the front rest would find the OP in a "protestable" position given the wording of the rule. While I don't shoot F-Open my thinking is that using the weight of the rest directly into the ground with appropriate feet would be pretty hard to beat for grass covered mounds. Certainly gravel/coal slag is less ideal but is manageable from what I saw in Raton last summer.

Scott

 

[dannyjbiggs]

Yes, why not. I'm thinking about building a 6.5x47 this summer.

You can't build it too soon. It takes a dreamer to take on the 6mm boys at the mid-ranges (even the long ranges), the 6.5 boys (where you are heading), the .280 boys, the Win .284 boys with their derivatives from straight .284 to Shehane, all the 7mm short magnum boys, and the emerging .300 short magnum boys with a .308 in F-Open...yes sir. You MIGHT out shoot a few of them though.

But, I've narrowed it down that basically you want to use a board under your front rest in order to keep dust off the rest, and you want to drill holes in three corners of your board to rest your feet points in order to not scar up the board and keep it looking neat on top. Have you considered what is going on at the underside of your board? It's gathering grass and clay soil stains and scratches. If you stick with the board, you are just about going to have to refinish the wood both sides after a weekend match to keep it looking good? Why not just throw the damn board away set the rest on the front of your mat, on a towel, or on a piece of carpet...any ground cloth...all of these items will keep the dust off your rest much better than a board, because they can be up to firing point wide/long; your rest's feet will dig slightly in and stay in place; you need not be concerned with a board's dimensional restrictions for any of the latter items.

Dan

 

[ARshuter]

Sounds like the firing lines at Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, but I see Reade range on your signature block? Although I carried my first SEB with me for the FCN held at SVSC back in 2010, knowledge of those firing lines drove me to shoot F-Open with a bipod!! A 1/4 inch thick piece of plyable rubber glued/sewn full width/length under my el-cheapo Midway prone mat front flap had already passed the F-TR "challenge test" up at the FCN held in Lodi in 2008, that I was not using a "board". On the SVSC firing lines, it performed for me as if it were a "board"...a hardwood floor! Laid out on the chat/gravel, when the reinforced flap was tapped in place with a rubber mallet, this simple, flexible load spreader became as concrete. Barrel torque was tearing up the front rest people; with every shot, rests were wallowing all over the place, and loosing their level. Should I go back to shoot F-Open at SVSC again, I'll bring the same rig. But, also I'll also consider bringing my NEO-SEB w/Pastour brass feet, a large piece of carpet (the wider, the better) with 3 holes up front for the "feet" ground penetrators to push thru and into the chat. With the carpet tapped down about the front rest area.....................................................................you get the picture?

Dan
[/quote]

What if you would just put the rubber on the back of a piece of carpet?

 

[dannyjbiggs]

Sounds like the firing lines at Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, but I see Reade range on your signature block? Although I carried my first SEB with me for the FCN held at SVSC back in 2010, knowledge of those firing lines drove me to shoot F-Open with a bipod!! A 1/4 inch thick piece of plyable rubber glued/sewn full width/length under my el-cheapo Midway prone mat front flap had already passed the F-TR "challenge test" up at the FCN held in Lodi in 2008, that I was not using a "board". On the SVSC firing lines, it performed for me as if it were a "board"...a hardwood floor! Laid out on the chat/gravel, when the reinforced flap was tapped in place with a rubber mallet, this simple, flexible load spreader became as concrete. Barrel torque was tearing up the front rest people; with every shot, rests were wallowing all over the place, and loosing their level. Should I go back to shoot F-Open at SVSC again, I'll bring the same rig. But, also I'll also consider bringing my NEO-SEB w/Pastour brass feet, a large piece of carpet (the wider, the better) with 3 holes up front for the "feet" ground penetrators to push thru and into the chat. With the carpet tapped down about the front rest area.....................................................................you get the picture?

Dan

What if you would just put the rubber on the back of a piece of carpet?
[/quote]

Should not be any practical problem at all in view of para 3.4.1, (a), (2) and (6)...but!! The rules seem to allow us to use "boards/plates" at whim in (2)...and, separately in (6) just about anything else to compensate for "firing point elevations" or the "rolling of either rest", when used. There is silence on the combined/concurrent use of the items at (2) and (6); but, by definitions of purpose, they surely may? The writers did not bother to define "boards/plates", just as they did not bother to add any size dimensions for the variety of "anything else" items. So, the well worn phrase "stiff as a board" may be key here...at least by common practice, and by the ruling of at least one referee at a NFCC. If the combination of the rubber affixed to the bottom of your carpet causes its complete dimensions to be "stiff as a board" while held up OFF THE GROUND, you're probably subject to the "board/plate" dimensional rules, as well as the flatness of your carpet!? (Depends on just how far your shooting buddies want to take it----equipment protests emanate from one shooter eyeballing the equipment of another.)

Dan