I have not read all the posts, but let me give you my thoughts. I'm a sling shooter, primarily XTC, shoot Mid and Long Range too. I think high power people think that able bodied shooters should be shooting with a sling....and find it difficult to understand why younger people don't shoot common high power. Further I believe that was the origin of F Class....and older person trying to stay shooting and being relevant.
I also think most high power shooter think FCLASS or its sub categories is part of high power....IMO its not. That's where the "dislike" F Class comes from.
F Class is different in so many ways and as it has evolved its further away from high power than ever...also the talent and skills are in many way miles apart too.
We all shoot rifles, but the differences in small bore, silhouette, long range, XTC, F Class, FTR etc require related but real differences.
The talent required to be at the top of F Class is no less than a top shooter with a sling.
There are a lot of posts but you captured and echoed my thoughts, in supposing what your (collective) thoughts were, above.
There are a few reasons why shooting sling isn’t appealing to many F-Class shooters (Less than 10% discipline overlap).
If we go back to the 1990’s, the first decade I and others could start buying guns, very accurate bullets and guns were trending upward in magazines and stores. This is the decade I believe I started seeing yellow bullet boxes in stores; they started and fanned the flame of ultra high BC.
Take for example the 700 Police, the Winchester Coyote and the Stainless Sendero Fluted. These are “gateway” rifles that will find one’s dormant accuracy addiction string, and start pulling on it. Barrels only thickened from this factory floor.
A level of incredible, huge, expensive scopes were coming onto the scene that tripled existing power, best represented by the Nighforce NSX.
Sling didn’t have much if any use for any of this, and scopes weren’t even allowed if pictures tell the story back then. A true bull barrel’s accuracy advantage was offset by holding up its extra weight, which I think was rule limited anyhow.
So, the confluence of all this emerging great gear was not just lost on sling, but in some cases, advances in heavy new bullets were specifically ruled out.
Then there is the elephant in the room, … why would a shooter intentionally forgo the method of shooting that would minimize any given rifle’s group size (especially when it is harder) like using a sling instead of a ruck sack.
This question is like the DOD color blindness eye test. A true F-Class guy can stare at your hot jacket, the sling that is not actually part of your natural body, skinny barrel and your big rings, but “seeing” maximum fun in that setup is as elusive to us as those numbers that a colorblind guy cannot see within the pattern of dots.
I say “maximum” fun, because sling remains a form of shooting guns, which is inherently a fun activity (and I for one do like it), except arctic biathlons, that still doesn’t look fun at all.
