January 21st 2023 Saturday Movies: Rimfire (Smallbore), F-Class, and Fun Matches
Anschutz .22 LR rifle set up for F-Class competition. Photo courtesy Sportschieben Blog. Smallbore F-Class is a new discipline that will continue to grow over the years. It uses.22 LR rimfire guns. While rest-supported prone matches with rimfire have been around for a while, the discipline was only codified in the NRA’s Smallbore Rulebook a few years back. The first ever Smallbore F-Class National Championship took place in July 2018, in conjunction with Camp Wa-Ke’-De, Bristol, Indiana. Multiple days of prone shooting at 50m and 100m were part of the Nationals. For more information, see Hap Rocketto’s Shooting Sports USA Smallbore F Class Report.
National Championship photo by Shooting Sports USA. Smallbore F-Class competitors can shoot F-TR style with a tripod or a front rest. The above photo is from the inaugural NRA National Championship. It shows a shooter using a SEB Coaxial Rest at the top and a competitor using a low profile bipod at the bottom. The extended handle is used to adjust the height of the bipod. This is not a coaxial joystick but a long handle attached the the mariner wheel.
Rimfire F-Class will be a popular event at all ranges due to the high cost of centerfire ammunition and the limited number 600-yard ranges. The only requirements for clubs are a 100-yard target bay, and a flat ground for shooters. Start with a Harris bipod and a rimfire rig. You can then move up from there. This is a custom rimfire FTR style rig that James Crofts, F-Class ace. Shooting prone can be done with either a front or back rest. A CZ 457 MTR is a very affordable rifle. You can also shoot a custom-built rifle with the same design features and weight as an F-TR or F/Open rifle. You have the option to choose. Smallbore F-Class is our favorite because you can get decent.22LR ammo for only twenty cents per shot. You’ll spend about $1.20 per round for F-Class centerfire ammunition (counting bullet, primer, and some brass cost). Top-Tier Vudoo V22-S Target rifle for Rimfire F-Class Vudoo Gun Works offers a.22 LR Single shot Target rifle that is ideal for rimfire F-Class (Open Division). The video is from the Canary Islands in Spain. The voice-over is in Spanish, but there are English subtitles. The host explains that the video focuses on the main characteristics of shooting sport. It can be practiced at 50m, 100m, and 200m with your.22LR. Follow our simple instructions to learn how to prepare your rimfire gunbine and how to score your targets. We will also be discussing shooting techniques, field accessories, and shooting accessories in another video. Another rimfire F Class video is here from the Canary Islands. This video shows how you can have fun with a variety rimfire rifle types. A wide-base bipod is used by some shooters, while others use a Harris-type bipod. Others use a larger, benchrest-style frontrest. F-Class John shoots an F Class-style local fun match here in Oregon. A.22 LR rimfire rifle with a full-size barrel is used by John. It’s very similar to his F-Open centerfire rifles. He can easily switch between centerfire F-Class and rimfire prone shooting using a front rest and rear bag. Although the rules for local fun matches are slightly different from official F-Class matches, the shooting skills required are the exact same. John can keep his F-Class skills high by shooting local rimfire matches at a fraction the cost of centerfire F-Open. NOTE: This video was filmed and edited in Russia. Although the dialog is in Russian, it is still very interesting to watch. In Russia and other parts Europe, F-Class shooting with.22 LR ammo is very popular. With low-cost ammo, you can have fun at a short range (200m), and still have fun. Smallbore F-Class Course Of Fire
The Smallbore F-Class Nationals were completed using paper targets at 50 and 100 yards. Shooting Sports USA reports that the tournament took place during the 2018 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships. It featured a daily course fire that mirrored the sling shoters. There were 40 shots at 50m on the A-50 target, followed by 40 shots of 100 yards on A-33. The international targets were shot throughout the day, but the first two days were titled “conventional” and the last two were’metric”. The Provisional Smallbore Rifle F-Class Rules (Section 23), which can be found on page 65 in the current NRA Smallbore Rifle rulesbook, contains all details of the match, including rifle requirements, rests and sights. Any rules not covered by Section 23 will be [refer] to the normal rules of Sections 1, 2 and 22.
