Novice needs advice F-tr

[savagedasher]

... cross fires are painful.
Tom

Judging by your username, how would you know?

He is a retired dentist and doesn't shoot a Savage. 8)

Have him tell you about a 10 year first time total novice shooter that kicked his fanny with a Savage at 1018 yd gong shoot Saturday. Larry

 

[Jay Christopherson]

First, have fun! F class is a great, simple, discipline, and very rewarding.

Second, your AR is not a 1/4 minute gun, and you are not shooting 1/4 MOA - at least not in the context of F Class. 1/4 MOA wins many benchrest matches. The only way that is possible is if you are cherry picking your best groups, disregarding flyers, etc. In F Class, you have to shoot 20 shots (depending on the course of fire) in a row under 1 MOA to clean the target. That bar is a lot higher than a three shot group. A lot of 1/4 MOA rifles turn out to be 1 1/4 MOA rifles when the shots pile up. The reason I mention this is to keep you from getting discouraged. It's just statistics, not you.
...

This quote should somehow be immortalized into a permanent forum banner or something...

In the context of the original post, you've been given some very good advice. Go to a match and let 'er rip. I think everyone's needs at the line are a bit different and if you load up on something someone else thinks is important, you'll end up changing it anyhow. My setup has evolved over a lot of matches. I look at a video of my setup at the line from 4 years ago and I think the only things that have survived are my rest (which has changed itself a bit) and my mat. Even my position on the mat is completely different.

 

[jimcasey01]

I would like to thank all of those who responded with positive input and much needed information. Hopefully I have gathered enough good information from the responses to keep my simple mind busy for the near future. I will check back in after my first match. Again, thank you all very much.
Jim