An Introduction to F-Class long-range shooting

If you’ve been following Savage Arms at all for the last few years, you have heard a lot of talk about “F-Class” competition, and how Team Savage has won a bunch of competitions with the same Savage rifles that can be bought from your local gun store. While much has been made about the “hardware” we have won, not much explanation has been given regarding the sport itself. The guys at Savage asked me to write a bit about F-Class competition and how you too can get started.

Believe it or not, with a little preparation, it is possible for almost anyone to hit a target at 1,000 yards or more. That is the opportunity that F-Class provides, to test your skills at greater and greater distances and see what you are capable of. Competitions happen at short-mid range (300-600 yards) and long-range (800-1200 yards).

A direct offshoot of Palma style shooting, F-Class was introduced in Canada in the mid 1990s.  Proposed by aging Palma shooter George Farquharson, F-Class was intended as a way to extend the competitive shooting careers of Palma shooters whose eyes and/or elbows were not as young as they once were.  The changes to Palma (or TR Class as it’s known internationally) were simple; one could strap a scope and a bipod to their Palma rifle, and continue to shoot alongside in the regular matches.  This idea was quite popular, and after a very few years, gathered a large international following, but not quite as George had envisioned.  Instead of retiring Palma shooters, newcomers were drawn to the sport as never before.  On the surface, it seemed “easier”, merely shoot a scoped rifle off a bipod or other rest.  For several years, the fledgling F-Class shooters continued to shoot on the old “outsized” Palma target, and scores skyrocketed due to the more stable position afforded by the accessories.  To make things more challenging (and to break up the perfect scores being shot on a regular basis), a new F-Class target was introduced in 2005.  The new target was half the size of the old one, with a 5” “X” ring on the 1000 yard target instead of the older 10” one.  It was at this point that F-Class settled down and got serious as a sport.  Since 2005 the number of F-Class shooters has increased almost exponentially.

F-Open Class

In the early days of F-Class, there were few restrictions on the rifles and rests.  Not surprisingly, many gravitated to what is now known as F-Open (or “unlimited”) class.  With a caliber limit of .35, an extremely generous weight limit, and the ability to fire the rifles off adjustable bench-rests (still in the prone position), F-Open class was a sure way to maximize ones score.  With participation still in it’s infancy, few people were showing up with their .308’s to shoot against the 6.5-284’s and 6mmBR’s knowing that they would be lumped in with the unlimited class scores for awards and prizes.  Especially after the smaller target was introduced, the arms race was on!  Experimentation and development have always been hallmarks of F-Class.  With some of the emphasis off of the shooters firing position, the spotlight was on the equipment, specifically the rifle.  Early on, stocks that imitated benchrest stocks became popular for their bag riding abilities.  Many different calibers (and wildcats of calibers) were experimented with.  Predictably, the calibers with the best “wind-cutting” ability seemed to be the worst for longevity.  A very popular chambering, the 6.5-284 gave phenomenal ballistics coefficients (a measure of how much wind and gravity will affect a bullet in flight).  Sadly, when pressed to the limits needed for top level performance, barrel life was a distressingly low 900-1000 rounds.  The 6.5-284 is only now beginning to be eclipsed by newer and more streamlined chamberings such as some different flavors of 7mm Magnums.  Unfortunately, the lifetime of a 7mm Mag. barrel is even worse than a 6.5-284, closer to 800 rounds.  This sort of arms race adds up to more money required to compete in the sport.  By necessity, another route opened up.  That route was F-T/R.

F-T/R class was pioneered by people looking to escape the arms race that F-Open class was turning into.  This was accomplished by “returning to their roots”, specifically returning to the .308 caliber used by the Palma shooters.

By returning the emphasis of the competition back to the shooter, F-T/R was immediately a hit.  The skill of the reloader, the ability of the trigger puller, and being able to read the wind were returned to the fore.  This is no denigration of the F-Open shooters, the emphasis of that competition is merely slightly different.  With the official approval of a .308 class (F-T/R shooters would no longer be competing head-to-head with F-Open shooters for the same prizes), attendance surged.  Surprisingly, the people flocking to F-T/R were not necessarily the expected “retired” Palma shooters.  Interest in F-T/R was much more broadly based; people from law enforcement, ex-military, precision hunters/varmint hunters, and more liked what they saw, generally, a level playing field.  With F-T/R shooters competing on the same size target as the F-Open shooters, the status quo was not going to remain long.  The days of a shooter showing up with a 22” barreled sniper rifle and factory ammunition are long gone.  As people’s equipment has evolved (longer barrels, bigger scopes, and single-shot receivers), the scores for the F-T/R shooters have steadily risen.  This is not to say that the shooter is taken out of the equation, every Nationals, gifted shooters show up with older style gear and do extremely well (this year would be no exception).  Add to this barrel life of 4000 rounds (and up), F-T/R will continue to grow (and possibly overtake the F-Open participation within 3-5 years).

The Future of F-Class

At the most recent F-Class World Championships in England, 2009, it was agreed by ICFRA (currently the international governing body for F-Class) that F-T/R would run full sized Teams at future World Championships.  This means that instead of the 12 man (and woman) Team that the US fielded for England, the 2013 US F-T/R Team will be around 22 people.  This has really energized F-T/R people that have been shooting local and regional matches for years to get interested in qualifying for the National Team.  I have had at least 50 phone calls since the middle of January, from people wondering how they can qualify.  Stay tuned to this website, and others (www.usftrclass.com), for further info on US F-T/R Team qualifications.

Now that you know a little about the game we play, make sure you check back next week to read about the basic equipment needed to get started. Obviously, I will talk about F-T/R, because that is what I, and the rest of Team Savage, shoot.

Last 5 posts by Darrell Buell

• Getting started in long range shooting - April 27th, 2010
• F Class Competition Field Report - December 23rd, 2009
• 2009 F-T/R World Championships - December 10th, 2009

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Instructional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.