Barossa_222 wrote:Josh, no-one is suggesting what you and your club do should change. You can modify rules, make allowances, do whatever you need to do to make your club successful and inclusive. The problem a lot of us experienced long time NRAA members (not saying you aren't this) have with what is happening to hunter class is that it is fast heading down the path that F standard has. F standard rules have been changed and modified so much, it now costs the same amount to compete in F standard as it does in open. If you want to allow the same changes and progress with hunter class, you'll soon find yourself in the same position at the bottom of the heap competing against guys who will spend $30K on a "hunting" rifle.
I've been around long enough to know the arms race that F-Std has become, which is precisely why I've sold my F-Std gear and dropped into S/H. I simply can't afford to be competitive in the class anymore.
I absolutely agree with the point of stopping the arms race; I've been pushing that all along. But I don't think stripping the class back to completely factory is the answer. A class split would be ideal; I still refer to the NZ Hunter Class & F-PR classes as being a really prime example of how to do that. The numbers are getting close to being viable for a split (personally I'd love to see TR-C dropped in favour of SH-Open/Standard split...). The class has evolved from just being a feeder for F-Class to being it's own standalone thing.
Don't take my tone on here as being aggressive or argumentative, tone is always hard to convey on a forum. I'm not trying to start arguments, just show the current state of play out there from what I've seen, shooting the class. The newcomers I've come across recently, one had a rebarelled Rem700 22-250 with a March 5-40x scope, which is his hunting rifle, and shot a 50.10 at 700. Another had a fully decked switch-barrel Desert Tac, which is circa $5k new before you buy the barrels/scope (which was a Kahles 50x), with a couple of different barrels, also his hunting rifle. To turn around and say "Nah boys, you'll have to shoot in open" and have them lay down next to a 7SAUM on a SEB with a 32" truck axle barrel is demoralizing at best. I can think of an example in the past, even at Nagambie, where just that happened; a bloke turned up with a Tikka, in a chassis, rebarrel 24" barrel 308W and was told he had to shoot F-Std (pre-SH days). He shot a couple of times and never came back because it wasn't worth it, he wasn't in the race, and didn't have $20k to drop on gear to get in the mix.
So where do you draw the line? Do we cancel out Tikka Tacs, Ruger Precisions, AIs, stuff that is out-of-the-box chassised, tactical and designed for target shooting/precision? What about Howas, that don't come in their own "factory" stock? Or Rem700 action-only clones (PRS/PSR/hunters use quite a few of these)? Or what about my rifle, which is in a Form stock, but that's how I purchased it as a Remington Custom Long Range model, straight from The Barn?
The definition of "hunting rifle" is very broad spectrum now. Speaking with a very well-respected clay target shooter a couple of weeks back, who is trying his hand at deer shooting. They're running Curtis actions, 300WM Kreiger Barrels, Swarovski/S&B/Kahles/NF scopes, Atlas bipods, brakes, latest Kestral equipment, gear that makes our F-Class stuff look pretty mediocre.
My main point of this long-winded rant is that I personally don't believe a bog-stock Factory class is the answer if we're trying to maintain inclusiveness and get people through the door. It's hard for ROs to police/another scrutineering point and even factory rifles are so heavily varying. Keep in mind, out to 800yd, any rifle that shoots sub-0.8MOA can shoot a 50.10.
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