NRA Journal - Summer 2004 - National Rifle Association

LETTERSFrom Richard van LingenF ClassI today received my copy of the latest Journal. I wassad to read of the death of Charles Trotter. He lookedextremely frail at the Imperial Prizegiving. I wasthankful that I had an opportunity then to chat to himfor a while. I wonder how many members realisethat, within the last nine months we have lostprobably the two best all-round (fullbore/smallbore)shooters the world has ever known. My friendshipwith both Andrew and Charles goes back more thanforty years. I will miss them, but they will both beremembered for their achievements on the range andtheir lovely personalities.Sadly, on a different topic, it seems that someimportant shooters are quickly forgotten. I read withinterest, amusement and some anger, the letter fromGraham King on F Class, together with the reply fromPaul Monaghan. The name “Farquarson” was notmentioned by either!Graham wrote: “I am therefore horrified by theattempt of some Old School target shooters to hijackF Class by proposing a 7.62 RG Class. There is nosuch class in the World Championships.” He closesoff with the extremely arrogant statement: “If it’s‘scoped target rifle you’re after, stay away!”Hello there, Graham, it’s time for a short historylesson! The “F” in F Class is today generally acceptedas standing for “Free”. However, initially it stood for“Farquarson”. I quote from an article I wrote last yearfor “Range”, a South African glossy shootingmagazine:“F Class: This originated in Canada and the “F”originally stood for “Farquarson”. George Farquarsonhad the idea that elderly, or infirm, shooters could bekept in the game if permitted a rested target rifle andoptical sights. The concept also appealed to theaccuracy nuts, who look upon it as a form of pronebenchrest. Now, any calibre is permitted, up to 8mm.Farquarson’s desire was to keep the F Classcompetitors shooting alongside TR, on the sametargets, but this was not testing enough for the reallyserious shooters and a group in Australia developeda target with a half-minute bull’s-eye (compared withthe two-minute TR bull). This was also adopted by aclub in the UK and some American shooters. Themajority, however still wish to keep TR and F Classshooting together, so a compromise was adopted forthe 2002 World Championships, held on theConnaught Ranges in Ottawa. The innermost (V bull)1-moa (minute of angle) ring, used in TR only forcounting out tied scores, was used as the F Class bull.It was given the value of 6. To avoid confusion, scoringregister-keeping was done the TR way, with V bullsshown as a “V”. The stats computer then convertedall the V’s shot by F Class competitors to sixes.”So, in reality, Graham, if there was any “hijacking”, itwas the other way around!As a member of both the ICFRA Palma and WorldChampionships and TR Committees, I shall fight tomy dying day to keep the TR and F Class link alive.Fullbore, overall, is declining worldwide, mainlybecause all governments favour gun control and makeit as difficult as possible for us to conduct our sport.It is our duty to avoid splintering the sport. “Stayaway” comments really make me bristle! In myopinion there should be two sub-classes within FClass. One would be the anything goes versionfavoured by Graham, but with strict rules to ensure afair contest. The skill element would be a combinationof calibre choice, load development, shootingtechnique and wind-reading ability. Their programmewould embrace both their own matches on the halfminutebull, and shooting alongside TR in majorchampionships such as the Bisley Imperial Meeting.For the latter, the DCRA scoring proved sufficient tomake the matches a true test of skill. The alternativeof using the TR bull will lead to interminable tieshootson 10 V possibles, as the skill level advances.The second sub-class would be restricted to the TRcalibre and bullet-weight rule. This would allow TRshooters to move to F Class with their existing riflesand equipment. The only additions would be atelescopic sight and a suitable rest or bipod. TheCanadian experiment with a TRO Class (slingsupportedTR rifle with a ‘scope sight) failed becausemost of the shooters with failing eyesight were theelderly, who also had a holding problem. I live in acountry where handloads have been the norm forquite a number of years. Our ammunition rules havenow been adopted for the Palma and all other WorldChampionships. The proposed 7.62 RG Class relatesto the contract between the UK NRA and the BritishMOD. This still has a number of years to run. Afterthat, I am confident that the NRA will follow the restof the fullbore world, with shooters’ choice ofhandloads or factory 7.62 or .308 ammo, using anybullet up to a maximum nominal 155 grains.Incidentally, as a TR and ISSF small-bore and 300metres shooter of 55 years standing, I don’t think thatI could ever convert to F Class. Throughout my careerit has been drummed into me that taking a deadrestis cheating. I say this tongue-in-cheek, otherwise PaulMonaghan might refuse to buy me a beer on the NorthLondon verandah in July!60