PRS vs F-Class Competitors

[bgris]

Just cause I love a good debate....

Who do you think would have an easier time transitioning disciplines, an F-class shooter transitioning to PRS or a PRS shooter transitioning to F-class.

My thoughts are that the top level competitors (top 1%) can probably transition between the two disciplines and remain at the top because I truly believe that at that level alot of it is mental. I do think that the top level PRS shooter will have a slight advantage over the top level F-Class shooter. As the rankings fall down I think the advantage will grow in the favor of PRS competitor.

I have dabbled in F-class and I compete in PRS. I love it when people in the F-class series think that a gun that shoots half MOA is satisfactory for PRS shooters. You ask any of the top competitors and they arent shooting anything that cant produce a 1/4 MOA. Even prone shooting the rifle is significantly less stable than an F-Class set up not to mention positional shooting. PRS seems to be getting closer and closer to positional f-class.

I say all this and still have mad respect for the top F-Class shooters holding a 20shot string to roughly a 5/8 MOA gun is super impressive.

 

[Dgd6mm]

PRS to F Class

 

[One Eye Pete]

I shoot F- open club matches and have had a fair amount of success. I’m in my early 70s and many of the guys I shoot with at these matches are 60+. I can tune my rifle as well or better than most PRS shooters. Shooting prone off a bipod or a barricade is no problem. Hitting steel targets at different distances isn’t too problematic. However, moving fast and getting into all sorts of cramped positions is starting to get increasingly more difficult. Although I have a PRS style rifle that I built for fun, I’ll leave PRS competition to the younger generation. I simply couldn’t transition to PRS as easily as a younger guy could transition to F-class.
My general take on it is that PRS requires somewhat more shooting skill and less rifle tuning skill than F-class. Both require good wind reading skill but wind is probably slightly more of a factor in F-class since the target is smaller. Now if you throw benchrest shooting into the mix that requires the ultimate in rifle tuning and you better have good technique in getting rounds down range fast. I still believe the ultimate rifle shooting discipline is metallic silhouette I don’t participate in it because it is just too humbling an experience!!!!!

 

[tmwinds]

Old fat people can’t shoot PRS. They can still shoot F class if someone helps them up.

 

[davidjoe]

NFL players will lose a baseball game against a major league team, but the baseball players will physically break and die on the field, playing an NFL team in football.

Both disciplines adhere to the philosophy that a shooter will never be without something nearby to put their rifle on, but the Fclass guys have figured out how to set up guns just one time, so that they can devote full attention to getting up and down as many as three times during the course of a shooting match day.

The dang f-Class awards podium almost took out our best shooters.

 

[60723]

Nowhere near pro class events, but I have shot 2 f-class 600 yard matches and 2 PRS matches. I shoot midrange Benchrest regularly. The PRS guys do real well shooting Benchrest. Not the other way around. I think PRS is the best game around. The good PRS guys are athletes! Wish I thought I could do it but age, clumsiness and fatness are holding me back.

 

[tvaught]

@Derek Webster won a 60 shot 1000 yard Bayou match in FOpen.

Aaron Smith has shown up at the Bayou 600 match with his PRS rig and shot a 200-18 and ended 599 with a pile of Xs.

There's no doubt the challenge to be at the Top 1% in either discipline is a giant mountain of work. The PRS work will be more positional skill based practice and shooting problem oriented, the FOpen work will be oriented to being perfectly in tune and having great skills reading conditions.

If physically able, I think the two disciplines compliment each other. FOpen shooters become complacent with sighters, having a good zero, and shooting fundamentals. PRS will put a spotlight on that. PRS rifles often aren't even 75% tuned due to target size, but the 1% guys have tight guns. Fopen will put a spotlight on that.

It's a $1.50 a trigger press either way, get your fun on.

 

[dgeesaman]

PRS shooters do have courses of fire that are prone rested long range shooting.

F-Class shooters do not dabble in the vast majority of skills required for PRS.

So without discussing the physical abilities/limitations of the shooters, the PRS shooter needs to sharpen skills they have vs. a F-Class shooter who has to learn a range of skills where they are generally starting as a complete beginner.

So really I don't see much debate.

 

[Will Henry]

I started shooting "F" class quite early on. At that time, there were three types of "F" class shooters. The first type were former fullbore shooters who wanted to extend their shooting careers or who simply wanted to work on rifle accuracy. The second type consisted of benchrest shooters who wanted to bring their skill set to long range shooting. The third consisted of accuracy minded shooters who were mostly interested in practical field rifles and shooting. As "F" class moved more to belly benchrest and away from "Target rifle with a rest" or "Long range hunting rifle", some were attracted to other sports or some adapted to "F" as it was becoming. Some chose FTR as being more in line with what they wanted, some went to PRS, some started shooting their scoped prone rifles with a sling.
I think any good shooter from any discipline can do reasonably well in "F". I think PRS is a little more challenging, physically, than F and many "F" class shooters would have trouble with the transition. WH

 

[Rob01]

PRS to F class would definitely be the easiest transition.

 

[mgunderson]

Not really a helpful conversation. We have many options to shoot the equipment we love. Let's encourage the shooting sports.

300m position shooters are the most adaptable. 3 position smallbore like has some of the best shooters, but might have issues adapting to higher recoil. PRS isn't know for its off hand shooters.

None of this would be possible without high power or the early creedmoor matches.

Added some gas and tossing in the match.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Old fat people can’t shoot PRS. They can still shoot F class if someone helps them up.

I’m old, (78), but not fat. I am in pretty good shape for my age.

That being said, I would look pretty silly trying to navigate a typical PRS Course.

 

[CA_Shooter]

NFL players will lose a baseball game against a major league team, but the baseball players will physically break and die on the field, playing an NFL team in football.

Both disciplines adhere to the philosophy that a shooter will never be without something nearby to put their rifle on, but the Fclass guys have figured out how to set up guns just one time, so that they can devote full attention to getting up and down as many as three times during the course of a shooting match day.

The dang f-Class awards podium almost took out our best shooters.

I like where you're going using pro sports.

I think another way to look at this is with pro golf. Who's going to win - players on the PGA tour or Senior PGA tour? Clearly the younger PGA tour guys

Or who's going to win a game today: the 1990s Yankees being anywhere from 55 to 75 years old OR the current Yankees? Clearly the younger team, the current Yankees.

If you threw in age brackets, and both competitors used proper equipment AND had to do their own loading, then things get interesting.

Having a 28 year old go against a 65 year old in the Crossfit Games is a pretty dumb competition.

Also - the whole .25 MOA thing for a top PRS shooter is BS - the last Applied Ballistics book showed group data for a top PRS shooter and it wasn't. 25 MOA and he will own 99% of PRS shooters.

 

[Rob01]

I’m old, (78), but not fat. I am in pretty good shape for my age.

That being said, I would look pretty silly trying to navigate a typical PRS Course.

No you wouldn’t. Been people that old doing it. My buddy is 71 and missing his leg from the knee down and is still out there doing it. Get out and try it.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

Top of F-class to PRS? Did that. Spent the first year trying to understand the game. Second year yielded some improvement. Still a mid-pack PRS competitor...

 

[Derek Webster]

I would call myself a high level PRS competitor and a new to Fclass guy. I have had pretty good luck with Fclass considering not knowing the “Fclass process”…. Won my first match and highmastered everything else.
Yes I have heard from many Fclass guys, PRS doesn’t need a super accurate rifle. I think old PRS matches this might have been the case. However new matches require a very small rifle to be at the top.
Reason being we shoot at 1 MOA targets very often and in order to hit them with high hit %, rifles need to shoot within a .1 of vertical to keep groups in the largest wind bracket, as most targets are round or diamond shaped.
Add this to time restraint of building a position and sending it within 10-12 seconds makes things challenging.
I love the methodical side of Fclass and slowing this process down. I would definitely agree PRS to Fclass is a much easier transition.

 

[BP1]

I’m old, (78), but not fat. I am in pretty good shape for my age.

That being said, I would look pretty silly trying to navigate a typical PRS Course.

Don’t sell yourself short Jackie I can remember one time in my early 40s I was still in damn good shape and was shooting a prs class down at RiflesOnly and we were in line doing a stage called the mouse trap. The gentleman that was in front of me had to be in his 70s rolled right through it..I was thinking to myself hell this can’t be too hard..sheeet i made it about 3/4s of the way through and ran out of time..Humbled to say the least!

 

[Rob01]

Ah the old mouse trap. LOL I remember when he built that and running through it at matches. Not sure how anyone climbs up the roof now as no one has slings anymore. LOL

 

[DR1586]

In my opinion one of the hardest skills to learn as a shooter is being able to shoot while the rifle is moving. This is why you will see Silhouette shooters and Bullseye pistol shooters adapt to other sports relatively quickly. So any time a good shooter moves from a less stable situation to a more stable situation, the results will be better than if the inverse occurred. This is assuming that the distances and equipment are somewhat close together, which in F-class and PRS there are similarities in equipment, distances, need for reading wind, etc.

I would put money on the PRS shooter moving to F-class every time.

 

[deadidarren]

Just cause I love a good debate....

Who do you think would have an easier time transitioning disciplines, an F-class shooter transitioning to PRS or a PRS shooter transitioning to F-class.

My thoughts are that the top level competitors (top 1%) can probably transition between the two disciplines and remain at the top because I truly believe that at that level alot of it is mental. I do think that the top level PRS shooter will have a slight advantage over the top level F-Class shooter. As the rankings fall down I think the advantage will grow in the favor of PRS competitor.

I have dabbled in F-class and I compete in PRS. I love it when people in the F-class series think that a gun that shoots half MOA is satisfactory for PRS shooters. You ask any of the top competitors and they arent shooting anything that cant produce a 1/4 MOA. Even prone shooting the rifle is significantly less stable than an F-Class set up not to mention positional shooting. PRS seems to be getting closer and closer to positional f-class.

I say all this and still have mad respect for the top F-Class shooters holding a 20shot string to roughly a 5/8 MOA gun is super impressive.

F class to prs as its the same a pistol shooting and going from issf or Bullseye to ipsc you don't learn bad habits there where you do in the faster Action Sports .