Shooters prepare for the first relay at 800 yards on Saturday morning of the 2006 F-Class Nationals held atthe Sacramento Valley Shooting Facility.Photo credit Eric Johnson.
Ask a shooter if he can hit a target a half-mile away, and he'll probably think you're joking. It'shard to even see a target at that distance. However, many F-Class competition shooters shoot 60rounds at 1000 yards into groups the size of a pie plate on a monthly basis.
Long-range competition has been around for a long time in the form of NRA High-Power Long Range andinternational Palma or Full-Bore 1000-yard matches. Competitors in these well-established matchesuse heavy shooting coats, metallic aperture sights, and can only use a sling for support whenshooting prone. Many people wonder how a target a half-mile away can be seen using what areessentially just iron sights.
In the last ten years, a new long-range division called F-Class has sprung up which lowers thecost of entry into 1000-yard competition. Held as a separate division at NRA Long-Range and Palmamatches, F-Class is a place where you can shoot your long-range varmint, hunting, or tactical rifle.Unlike conventional NRA Long-Range competition, in F-Class you can use a bipod or front support, arear sandbag, and a high-powered scope to get a good view of that 1000-yard target.
Mr. George Farquharson, a Canadian Full-Bore shooter, started F-Class as a place for people whodidn't have the eyesight to see the 1000-yard target nor the physical stamina to shoot from theirelbows in a slung-up prone position. The class has since evolved into a highly competitive game inits own right.
Through the spotting scope, the targets are distorted by mirage, but the spotting disksare visible on several of the targets.
The object of F-Class is to shoot 20 rounds into the center five inches of a six foot square papertarget at 1000 yards. The X-ring in F-Class is five inches, the ten-ring is ten inches. Theblack bullseye portion of the target is five feet across, and is easily visible even over a half mile away.
To get X-ring accuracy at 1000-yards, you need to start with a rifle that will shoot half-inch orbetter groups at 100 yards. Luckily, most modern bolt-action rifles will shoot one MOA with factorymatch ammunition, and with hand-loads can group even better.
At close range, shot to shot changes in muzzle velocity won't make much difference in the point ofimpact. At longer distances, however, small differences in muzzle velocity translate into verticalerror. For a .308 Winchester load, a 30 fps change will result in the shot hitting ten inches lowat 1000 yards! However, with hand-loaded or factory match-grade ammunition, this can be minimized.
The real challenge of long-range shooting is wind estimation and tracking wind changes. The flighttime for an average long-range load is about 1.4 seconds; a ten mile-per-hour cross-wind will pushthe bullet between five and seven feet during this time. There is no guarantee the wind conditionsat the firing line are the same as they are down-range, and more often than not, the wind will changethroughout the day.
Although most F-Class competitors use higher-powered scopes, the author's 12x Schmidt and Benderprovided a clear view of the target.
If you already have a Remington 700, Winchester Model 70, or other rifle that can shoot one MOA orbetter at 100 yards, you can get it tuned up for 1000-yard F-Class. You'll need a good scope withenough adjustment to get from a 100 or 200-yard zero to 1000 yards. The easiest way to ensure thescope will make it is to use an inclined scope base, which usually have 20 or 30 MOA incline builtin. The scope should have external target knobs, and top-end magnification at least 12x. Popularscopes for F-Class include the Leupold Mark 4 and VX-III Long Range models, and the Nightforce NXSmodels.
Next, you need a load that will stay at supersonic speed to the target. As a general rule, a bulletthat has a ballistic coefficient (BC) of 0.50 or higher launched at 2600 fps or faster will make itto 1000 yards. Great long-range loads generally have a BC of 0.60 or higher and are shot at 2850fps or faster. In .308 Winchester, the Federal or Black Hills 175-grain, or Lapua 155-grain loadswill work. In .300 Winchester Magnum, the 190-grain loads from Federal and Black Hills are goodchoices. Rifles that are built specifically for F-Class often use the long, sleek, and high-BCbullets in 6.5 mm and 7 mm calibers such as .260 Remington, 6.5-284 Norma, 7 mm Remington Magnum or7 mm Winchester Short Magnum.
Finally, you need to know how much bullet drop compensation is required to move from yourshort-range zero to the six-foot square target backer at 1000 yards. The easiest way to get "on thepaper" is to run one of the ballistic calculator programs which are available online or from Sierra,Pejsa, NECO, RCBS, and Exbal. With the correct data for your load, rifle, and environment pluggedin, these calculators will usually be on within a scope "click" or two.
Instead of setting up a rifle specifically for F-class, the author used his long-range tactical rifle to shoot his first F-Class match.
My long-range shooting experience comes from practical and tactical long-range matches, which have aslightly different set of challenges than F-Class. F-Class rewards the ability to put shot aftershot into a five-inch X-ring or ten-inch ten ring over the course of 20 rounds while monitoring windchanges. I recently shot my first F-Class match at the Colorado Rifle Club in Byers Coloradobecause I was curious about F-Class and I knew it would be good practice for long-range shooting ofany type.
I took my Accuracy International AW, which was rebarreled last year to .260 Remington by GeorgeGardner at G.A. Precision using a 26-inch medium Palma barrel from Rock Creek Barrels. The .260Remington is essentially a .308 Winchester case necked to 6.5 mm, and shoots 140-grain bullets atabout 2825 fps. It beats .308 ballistics with a little less recoil. The rifle is topped with aSchmidt and Bender 3-12x50 mm model PMII scope, the commercial version of the new USMC sniper scope.My drop data for 1000 yards at Byers was 7.5 mils. Although I normally shoot with a muzzle brake,NRA rules prohibit brakes in F-Class. Using a corrected zero with the brake removed, I was inbusiness.
There are three jobs to do at a High-Power, Palma, or F-Class match. The first is to shoot; thesecond is to sit behind a shooter and score his target after each shot. The third is to run thepits. Thousand-yard ranges used for these matches have a protected pit area under the targets.
This is the view of the target from down inside the safety bunker. The spotting and scoring disksare visible.
My first task was to run the pits. Secured in the safety bunker under the targets, when I spotted aimpact in the dirt, I pulled down the target frame and placed a plastic impact spotter into thebullet hole. Based on what ring the hit scored, I would place an orange spotter around the outsideof the six-foot-square target backer in the position to indicate the ring number. For example, an Xis indicated by placing the value disk on the lower left-hand corner; a ten at the 6'o'clockposition; a nine at the lower right-hand corner, and so on. A miss is indicated by placing thevalue disk at 12'o'clock.
The second task is to score for a shooter. To score, you sit behind a shooter and peer through aspotting scope at his target. Each time the target is pulled and the scoring disk is placed, yourecord the shot's score on the shooter's score-sheet, and tell the shooter what he scored.
When it was my turn to shoot, there were a few minutes to bring my rifle, ammunition, and any otherequipment to the firing line. There is then a three-minute preparation period which starts when thetargets appear. During this time, I dialed the elevation setting on my scope, got into a goodposition, and started to observe the wind indicators. After the preparation period ends, the firingperiod begins. F-Class allows 30 minutes for 20 scored shots. The shooter may take an unlimitednumber of non-recorded "sighter" shots before he starts for record, but then the next 20 shotscount.
These sighter shots give a chance to make sure you're on paper, have the right elevation dialed, andget a handle on the real wind conditions. It might take a few shots to get into the 10-ring. Now,if the wind would stay exactly constant, the shooter would have no excuse to not shoot the next 20shots for record into the 10-ring! But in reality, the wind continuously changes and the shooterneeds to stay on top of it. Wind direction changes are critical; a missed direction change canresult in missing the paper entirely.
While laying down for 30 minutes and firing 25 rounds at 1000 yards doesn't seem too exciting, Ithought it provided excellent lessons in judging wind change and speed from multiple indicatorsincluding range flags, trees and grass, and mirage.
A day's shooting at an F-Class match usually consists of three separate 20-round "matches." Aperfect score on a single match is a 200-20X, which means that 200 points were gained by hitting the10-ring 20 times, with all of those also being X-ring hits.
F-Class matches are available all over the country at NRA Long-Range events, and are one of theeasiest ways to get into serious long-range shooting. For the practical competitor, tacticalsharpshooter, or varmint hunter, shooting a few F-Class matches a year will improve your skillshooting in windy conditions. Push your comfort zone and give it try!
Inside the safety bunker, targets are pulled and scored using a target frame and pulley system.
Jeff Cochran won the US Nationals in 2005 using this trued Remington 700 short action with a 30-inch Broughton 5C barrel in a McMillan MBR stock, chambered in 6.5-284 Norma.Photo credit John Huebene.
Taking a cue from short-range Benchrest, many custom F-Class rifles sport snazzy paint jobs likethis one at the 2006 Western States F-Class Championship in Waco, Texas.Photo credit Cory Gosnell.
F-Class shooter Jeff Rorer uses a custom rifle built on a Stolle Panda action with a 30.25-inchKrieger barrel chambered in .308 Winchester to compete in the "Target Rifle" class which requiresthe use of .308 Winchester or .223 Remington. Photo credit Mark Dickens.
Pictured at a 600-yard match at Ft. Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas, Roger DeLatte's 6.5-284 Normarifle sports a Nightforce NXS scope. Photo credit Cory Gosnell.
F-Class Open Rule OverviewRifle ........... AnySights .......... AnyFront Support ... Front rest allowedRear Support .... Rear bag allowedCaliber ......... Any up to 0.35 caliber, per local range restrictionsMaximum Weight .. 22 lbs
F/TR Rule OverviewF-Class Open Rule OverviewRifle ........... AnySights .......... AnyFront Support ... Bipod or rucksackRear Support .... Rear bag allowedCaliber ......... .223 Winchester, .308 WinchesterMaximum Weight .. 18.15 lbs
F-Class Target DimensionsX ring 5.0" diameter10 ring 10.0"9 ring 20.0"8 ring 30"7 ring 44"6 ring 60"5 area 6 foot square
More InformationUS F-Class Rifle Teamhttp://www.usfclass.com/
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