When I was shooting the Remington regional match and I got to talking with one of the Marine shooters, he was telling me that the Marine Corp is going to start shooting F/class, I'm guessing F/TR, since the snipers already do the bipod thing. My question is, has anyone else heard this?
I was wondering if this might mean the NRA will start F/class matches at the nationals again.
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Dear ARshuter,
I am assuming that by "the nationals" you are referring to the NRA's High Power Rifle National Championships? And I assume that you are referring to Camp Perry?
The reason I assume that is because the NRA's F-Class National Championships, both Mid-Range and Long Range, were held at Lodi, WI in 2016 and will be held there again in 2017.
Several years ago NRA conducted the first F-Class Mid-Range Nationals as a part of the "conventional" Mid-Range National Championships during the "National Matches" at Camp Perry - it was not at all well attended. In conjunction with those same matches and for several subsequent years, NRA conducted an F-Class Long Range Regional Tournament called the Great Lakes Regional in conjunction with the NRA's "conventional" Long Range Nationals - two separate events conducted simultaneously. (Obviously, you can't have two F-Class National Championships).
During that same time period the F-Class Community made it very clear that: (1) the majority did not want to shoot at Camp Perry if that meant shooting the same program as the "sling shooters", especially the shoot-off format (some don't want to shoot there at all); (2) that F-Class should have its own, distinct national championship program separate and apart from the sling shooters; and (3) that the F-Class nationals should continue to move around the country as opposed to being at one location on a permanent basis.
Unfortunately, at that time, even if the F-Class community wanted to shoot its separate national championship program at Camp Perry (which the majority did not) the available range dates would not allow for the addition of the separate program - simply not enough range days available. Remember, Camp Perry is a National Guard base with its own training schedule and its own range needs and requirements.
As you may have heard, it appears that NRA will be moving its "conventional" High Power Rifle National Championships (XTC, MR & LR) away from Camp Perry in 2017, probably to Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Again, please note that the NRA's 2017 F-Class Nationals (both Mid-Range and Long Range) are already scheduled for Lodi, WI. The plans for Camp Atterbury are still "in the making". There has been some very preliminary discussion about whether it might be possible to have another F-Class Regional at the new location to be held either before or after the "conventional nationals". It is far too early to know whether any of that discussion will actually lead to an F-Class match of some kind being held during that time frame at that location.
It is also very premature to speculate as to where the 2018 F-Class nationals might be held, or when. I would guess that a lot depends upon what happens with Camp Atterbury and perhaps other locations that might be interested in hosting those matches.
I hope that you will find this to be at least somewhat helpful.
DE-F-Open
