MaY 2012 Issue - Target Shooter Magazine

AN AFFORDABLE F/TR RIFLE?by Laurie Holland. PART 1Elsewhere in this issue, LesHolgate’s ‘The Long View’covers round 1 of the 2012GB F Class League seriesand, I’ve no doubt that SteveThornton’s photographs willinclude beautiful long-rangesingle shot custom riflescosting thousands of pounds,some topped by glassware thathas added another couple ofgrand and most sitting on hugegleaming joystick front-rests.Even the F/TR rifles will beequipped with those marvelsof lightweight structuralengineering that represent thestate of the art bi-pod. Butdo you need to spend £5,000-6,000, or let’s say a still stiff£2,500-3,000, on hardware tocompete in F/TR?If you want to be competitive at 1000yards at national level, where you’reshooting against some of the bestcompetitors on the planet, you’llalmost certainly have to budget forthe lower figure. It’s a sad fact of lifethat competing at this level isn’t forthe impoverished - given travel andaccommodation costs, entry fees andmore just to show your face in a UKwideseries of two and three day events.This applies to most sports, irrespectiveof whether your passion is shooting orcrown green bowling!However, far more shooters aspireto shoot F/TR in club and regionalcompetitions and, in most cases, themaximum range involved will be 600yards. My club shooting is PSSA (PennineShooting Sports Association) fixtures atDiggle that run from 200 to 1000 yards.Nevertheless, the Club’s well supportedF-Class and F/TR championships willbe decided by an individual’s best eightresults out of 27 scheduled matches in2012 - 19 of which fall within the 200to 600 yard envelope. So, kit neededto produce the external ballistics andprecision that go the extra mile - or moreprecisely 200 yards as 800 yards formsthe .223Rem/308Win ballistic ‘fault-line’,keeping bullets comfortably supersonicand grouping within a one-MOA (10.47inches dia.) 1000yd five-ring isn’t soessential as in national League shooting.50