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F Open vs FTR not much score difference anymore!

Fairchaser

Only 3 points and 8x difference between the 2024 SWN LR Open Champion and the FTR Champion after three days of shooting. Wow!
Congrats to Jay and Brad.

I’ve noticed the scores of these two different classes getting closer and closer especially in midrange. I’ve seen the TR guys even beating out the open guys on occasion in local matches. This is puzzling to me when there is so much advantage with the open set up with rifle weight, caliber and mechanical rests.

Look out open guys, the FTR shooters are coming for ya!
 
Fairchaser said:
Only 3 points and 8x difference between the 2024 SWN LR Open Champion and the FTR Champion after three days of shooting. Wow!
Congrats to Jay and Brad.

I’ve noticed the scores of these two different classes getting closer and closer especially in midrange. I’ve seen the TR guys even beating out the open guys on occasion in local matches. This is puzzling to me when there is so much advantage with the open set up with rifle weight, caliber and mechanical rests.

Look out open guys, the FTR shooters are coming for ya!
Click to expand...
More variability is the F open equipment setup if not done with extreme attention to detail. Much easier to setup the F-TR rifle consistently assuming the shooter is using a slide board and a quality front bipod. I know I have one rifle that just hates to shoot off of the 21st century hybrid front rest and shoots lights out off of an old Bald Eagle front rest with a Shadetree coaxial top.
Dave
 
Perhaps FClass is going through the same equipment evolution as Short Range Benchrest.

In Short Range Group, there are three Bag Gun Classes. LV, HV, and Sporter.

In theory, the Heavy Varmint Class should produce scores better than LV. But over the years, many Shooters don’t even bother building a HV Rifle because a 10.5 pound LV will shoot just as well.

Of course, the problem is the only difference in the Rifles is the weight.

So you would think that class Sporter, which has virtually no rules on stock design and barrel contour, would have an advantage. The facts speak different, I would venture a guess that at any typical NBRSA Match, 99.9 percent of the shooters who are signed up for the Sporter Class are simply shooting their Light Varmint. The culprit here of course is the 10.5 weight limit in Sporter.

Unlimited Class, where shooters can shoot true return to battery rifles, it is a different game. But surprisingly, not by much.
 
I've been noticing this for a while. For a few matches I took the top 5 scores in each class and compared total X count... Things were always too close to correlate anything.

I feel like a part of it is; New people start and shoot Open.

The FTR guys are a sub-cult. I feel like I see more "dedicated" shooters in TR than I do Open. That's not at all a knock on my Open friends. I feel like the TR guys know they have to grind to stay sharp, and they do.
 
urbanrifleman said:
It shows two things.

One. For the blustering about equipment, and calibers, and actions, and rests and whatnot, things really haven't advanced much.

Two. It's the shooter. Always has been the guy pulling the freaking trigger.
Click to expand...
THIS ^^^^ this is exactly the point I was trying to pull out of someone. The F-TR scores are getting better and better and closer and closer to the F open scores, and meanwhile everyone is bitching and moaning about F open rules and how it’s gotten so easy.
Dave
 
Dave M. said:
More variability is the F open equipment setup if not done with extreme attention to detail. Much easier to setup the F-TR rifle consistently assuming the shooter is using a slide board and a quality front bipod. I know I have one rifle that just hates to shoot off of the 21st century hybrid front rest and shoots lights out off of an old Bald Eagle front rest with a Shadetree coaxial top.
Dave
Click to expand...
Having shot both FO and FTR I'd say the exact opposite is true. Especially when running bullets in the 200gr + range in FTR. Very easy to shoulder a shot into the 8 ring.

Shooting open I'd be disappointed if a generic load and basic technique wouldn't hold 1moa elevation.

I feel that the .308 is a bit more inherently accurate than some of the more high performance FO calibres. Especially at mid range where some are using 155 and 185gr bullets. They take less to keep in tune and can gain some ground when the conditions are mild and the BC of the FO calibres is less of an advantage.
 
Those heavy bullets is definitely where the shooter comes into play with everything else being equal such as tune and setup.If you can't handle them you need to back down to a lighter projectile
 
X Count said:
Having shot both FO and FTR I'd say the exact opposite is true. Especially when running bullets in the 200gr + range in FTR. Very easy to shoulder a shot into the 8 ring.

Shooting open I'd be disappointed if a generic load and basic technique wouldn't hold 1moa elevation.

I feel that the .308 is a bit more inherently accurate than some of the more high performance FO calibres. Especially at mid range where some are using 155 and 185gr bullets. They take less to keep in tune and can gain some ground when the conditions are mild and the BC of the FO calibres is less of an advantage.
Click to expand...
Read what I said again. I didn’t say it was easier to shoot F TR than F-Open, what I said was it was easier to consistently set up the rifle in F-TR than F-open. Some F open guys I shoot with will take the same load, in the same weather conditions, with the same equipment and shoot a 200-15X in the first match and then 40 minutes later fire a 191-2X. I attribute a lot of this to poor setup routine.
 
With F/TR being naturally more restrictive, you end up with the entire field developing load, bullet, barrel, etm, just like service rifle. Any SR shooter can regurgitate the barrel, bullet, powder, sights, to clean a target. The top shooters at any given match will be shooting the same stuff, but its application of skill that determines the winner. I.e. he who shoots the least imperfect match, wins.

TL/DR, wind reading wins matches, not equipment
 
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