I’m an F’er, 
. Also called belly Benchrest back when I started in it. I don’t know that I have ever seen much explanation of the motivation behind bias against F-Class by a few, or more, in sling, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some accurate suppositions.
My best read on what is maybe being unconsciously “telegraphed”, and my thoughts in response would be:
1) F -Class was implicitly for “when” we couldn’t shoot otherwise, and most of us jumped the gun.
Response, indeed, F-Class as started by George Farquharson was one, elaborate set of physical accommodations, an unpretentious purpose if there ever was one, not expected to overshadow anything, or draw, or be credited, with the mantle of premier shooting, in any way.
Acknowledged, always, but as it stands right now, it’s harder to come away with a win in an F-Class match than just about anything else in shooting; case in point, myself, I won last year’s points race in Texas (3rd US) in a division of .22 RF but get clobbered in F-Open.
2) We compound this by starting youth in F-Class.
Response, Sling guys, if there wasn’t FClass, the honest truth is we probably wouldn’t have picked sling to throw ourselves into and shoot, anyway. If you shoot sling, and you also compete in polar biathlons in the wintertime, raise your hand. I love rimfire insanely, but I don’t want to work that hard to shoot that big, I’m just more equipment oriented than those that want to ski cross county, pause, and shoot offhand. Sling doesn’t want that, either. We all draw the line of optimal fun, somewhere.
Our own kids yes, we participate with them of course; but each discipline must ultimately draw and secure its next shooters.
3) We took your ranges.
Response: I don’t think any range ever limited the number of sling shooters that want to enter. If your numbers weren’t going to stay large, you might have lost some of those ranges for matches.
4) We tended to call ourselves High Power while Sling certainly didn’t consider itself F-Class.
Response: take it as a compliment. I don’t disagree. I have thought F-Class was a bit harsh in saying we were in no way, Benchrest, while stretching to align with a disciple that shoots standing up, unsupported.
From the outside world, everybody that thinks about shooting, everyday that goes by, probably every hour that goes by, has more in common with each other, than even with some of their own extended family members. I guarantee that. We are drawing distinctions that are too fine, to ever overcome the commonalities of those that share our rare and peculiar priorities.
. Also called belly Benchrest back when I started in it. I don’t know that I have ever seen much explanation of the motivation behind bias against F-Class by a few, or more, in sling, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some accurate suppositions. My best read on what is maybe being unconsciously “telegraphed”, and my thoughts in response would be:
1) F -Class was implicitly for “when” we couldn’t shoot otherwise, and most of us jumped the gun.
Response, indeed, F-Class as started by George Farquharson was one, elaborate set of physical accommodations, an unpretentious purpose if there ever was one, not expected to overshadow anything, or draw, or be credited, with the mantle of premier shooting, in any way.
Acknowledged, always, but as it stands right now, it’s harder to come away with a win in an F-Class match than just about anything else in shooting; case in point, myself, I won last year’s points race in Texas (3rd US) in a division of .22 RF but get clobbered in F-Open.
2) We compound this by starting youth in F-Class.
Response, Sling guys, if there wasn’t FClass, the honest truth is we probably wouldn’t have picked sling to throw ourselves into and shoot, anyway. If you shoot sling, and you also compete in polar biathlons in the wintertime, raise your hand. I love rimfire insanely, but I don’t want to work that hard to shoot that big, I’m just more equipment oriented than those that want to ski cross county, pause, and shoot offhand. Sling doesn’t want that, either. We all draw the line of optimal fun, somewhere.
Our own kids yes, we participate with them of course; but each discipline must ultimately draw and secure its next shooters.
3) We took your ranges.
Response: I don’t think any range ever limited the number of sling shooters that want to enter. If your numbers weren’t going to stay large, you might have lost some of those ranges for matches.
4) We tended to call ourselves High Power while Sling certainly didn’t consider itself F-Class.
Response: take it as a compliment. I don’t disagree. I have thought F-Class was a bit harsh in saying we were in no way, Benchrest, while stretching to align with a disciple that shoots standing up, unsupported.
From the outside world, everybody that thinks about shooting, everyday that goes by, probably every hour that goes by, has more in common with each other, than even with some of their own extended family members. I guarantee that. We are drawing distinctions that are too fine, to ever overcome the commonalities of those that share our rare and peculiar priorities.
