Confused

[Brad Y]

Just been reading through some posts and on the results of the worlds in brisbane recently and im a bit confused- probably a bit green to the whole shooting world actually. Anyway....

Now at my range we have 3 classes.

The guys who lay down and shoot from thier elbows with slings and the peep sights. They are scored 1-5 and also have the V bull. I call this fullbore but is this correct? Should it be Palma, Target Rifle or what? Some use 223's as well as 308's.

The guys that lay down and use rests and bipods and bags and shoot 308 with 155's and 223's with 80's. Scopes are used. This is F Standard. (I know there is a push to have F T/R for the bipod users of which I am one) We are scored 1-6 and then also have the X ring.

Then the guys who go same as above but any other calibre no larger than 8mm. Scoring is the same. This is F open.

So when I see target rifle, palma, f class, bisely style I get kind of confused. Are we correct with namings and scoring styles? Oh we also shoot on a metric range, 300 to 900 metres.


Sorry for the stupid post... I find usually it easier to just lay down, point and shoot and walk away either happy or frustrated...

[bruce moulds]

brad,
i will give you my slant.
the way world long range is currently,target rifle (tr), match rifle, palma,fclass std ftr, and fclass open are all fullbore.
it the u s they also shoot across the course, which is called high power.
target rifle is what has until recently been called fullbore, 300 to 900 yards or metric equivalent, and is off the elbows iron sights 308 & 223, 155 and 80 gn bullets. primarily a british commonwealth discipline.
match rifle is 308 any bullet at 1000,1100,& 1200 yards or metric equivalent. the forearm hand is allowed to be rested. also british commonwealth.
palma is an international discipline which derived from the great creedmoor matches of the 1870s. it is shot off the elbows,800, 900, and 1000 yards or metric equivalent, iron sights off the elbows using 308 and possibly 223 not sure. bullet weight is for 308 any bullet under 156 gn.
the americans shoot a version of it allowing any weight bullet.
fclass open is an international discipline any calibre up to 8mm, rested, and any sight.
ftr is an international discipline similar to open, but allowing only a bipod rest, and calibres limited to 308 and 223 any bullet.
fcalss std is an australian discipline, 308 and 223, bullets as per target rifle.
all the fclass disciplines are shot from 300 to 1200 yards or metric equivalent, and in britain longer ranges are sometimes shot.
this is a pretty basic description.
more details can be had by googling rules for each discipline.
bruce.

[RDavies]

One more. If we say we are shooting "Bisley style", it means 2 or 3 shooters lay down and fire in turn at the one target. This means you cant just go off your last shot as 2 more people have taken their turn and their sighter is back on the target when you fire your next shot. This is usualy how they shoot in Great Britain, South Africa and sometimes in USA.

We shoot "string fire", which is lay down and shoot all your shots, then its the next blokes turn.
So, Bisley, Creedmore, Palma, High Power, Full bore F/std, F/TR,F/Open, match rifle, simple aint it.

[Cameron Mc]

It is all shot in prone position

Cameron

[bruce moulds]

of interest is the reason for the bisley style of shooting.
long range shooting started in the days of muzzle loaders.
in order to keep things moving along, shooters went 3 to a target, and took it in turns to load and shoot. this meant that the target was used more frequently, and shooting could finish earlier.
even in the days of black powder cartridge rifles, many people loaded a primed case charged with powder, and muzzle loaded the projectile, believing this to be the key to superior accuracy.
early breech loaders were cleaned between shots.
the brits banned cleaning in the hope that a better technology for shooting would be developed as an aid to their military. they paper patched their bullets to groove diameter, and had long throated chambers, using lube soaked wads to soften the fouling, and felt wads to scrape it out. many forms of rifling were experimented with, the most successful being metford rifling. one of the key ingredients of their lubes was sperm whale oil.
the americans continued to allow wiping, using bullets patched to bore diameter which bumped up to fill the grooves on the shock of ignition.
their chambers had no freebore, and bullets were seated barely in the case. it could be that some even breech seated their bullets.
it is believed that the americans used the same paper for patching that they used to make bank notes due to its high rag content.
neither system seemed to be superior.
bruce.

[Brad Y]

Hmmm interesting stuff.

Sounds too much... will stick to shooting and walking away either happy or frustrated