F-Class rules???

You, and the 1200. It'd be interesting to see how it performs. Good luck with the Sportco- it could be a custom job. If you're going through the trouble you may as well get an integral 20 MOA rail milled into it.
 
Well I suppose something could be cobbled up using a bit if SA80 sight rail for the Sportco. I believe there is a cut off left in the workshop still that could be used. The holes for the rear sight bracket might be usable but the front receiver ring would have to drilled and tapped most likely. Without the rifle to hand remembering the details is a little difficult.

Another option could be using a pair of old P-H steel M1 blocks these are more like dovetailed blanks. No holes etc just the outside dovetails machined. The only dovetail cutter I recall we had is not the right angle so one would need to be obtained or another way of machining the dovetails used. Perhaps the old shaping machine? We have an old 18" shaper so the mount rail could be machined in situ on the action I suppose.

The workshop is sort of in flux as it was too over crowded in there no room to move let alone work :banghead: but selling off three lathes has made some room. Need more though as one part of the floor has subsided so need to be dug up and relaid with some reinforcement as the garage they are in was not meant to take machines weighing a ton or more in one spot :oops:. There is talk of selling off the old capstan an a small vertical surface grinder too.

Hmmm with an adjustable angle plate the dovetails could be ground ................................... needs more thought and looking into.
 
Not sure where the threads going,, however in answer to the original question, there are two classes;

FTR - An F/TR Class rifle must not weigh more than 8.25 kg. (about 18lb. 2 oz.) including scope and bi-pod. Permitted chamberings are 308 Winchester/7.62 Nato and 223 Remington/5.56mm

Open - 1. Any rifle up to a maximum weight of 22lbs or 10kg. including scope (and bi-pod if used). Any safe trigger is permitted; muzzle brakes are not.

2. Any sights - no limit on power.

3. Any calibre up to 8mm - providing that it complies with range safety rules - it is up to the individual shooter to verify this.

4. The rifle may be supported front and rear on sand-bags. The front sand-bag may in turn be supported on an adjustable pedestal. The rear bag must not be attached to the front support but a combination of sandbags may be used. A bi-pod may be used in place of a front sand-bag.



This may be not what you want to hear,,,


If you intend to start F Class at National level (the UK League), then it will be VERY expensive to be competative in either open or FTR.

Initial set up costs are huge - factor 3k - 4k on rifle if you are looking at custom build, 1 k on scope and circa 1k per year on reloading, travel costs, entry fees and accomodation.


There are plus sides;

Once youve got your kit, the yearly costs reduce dramatically, if you shoot FTR you wil be able to go several years without barrel changes, (if you go Open) your looking at 800 - 1200 rounds with a hot WSM...

The cameraderie, craich and friends ive made in F Class are second to non, its worth it for that alone. I guess i'm lucky that I can do my own work,


If you intend to try it, theres no reason why one couldnt use a factory rifle to see how you like it, just dont expect to be competative.


You need a rifle that holds sub half MOA at 1000 yds and be able to read the wind at that distance effectively too, to within a maile or so an hour in the case of 308....
 
Kevin,
Redmist would be an expert at answering this.
My understanding: F-open class up to 8mm with a max rifle weight of well over 20lb
then there is F/TR with only 223 and 308win/ 7.62x51 allowed. Max rifle weight ~ 18lb and bipod must
be attached.

(by the way I would need to organise some 1" mounts for that old 303)

edi
oops, bit slow
F Open is 10 kgs - 22lbsand FTR ais as youve stated.
 
Kevin, Your rifle is way too much sniper/military/cammo/short barrel fad :D

This is what a F-Class looks like:cool:
edi


purpleetac.jpg
3f5c4a7b.jpg

7mmShehane
b598091c.jpg

6.5-284 Norma
 
Not sure where the threads going,, however in answer to the original question, there are two classes;

FTR - An F/TR Class rifle must not weigh more than 8.25 kg. (about 18lb. 2 oz.) including scope and bi-pod. Permitted chamberings are 308 Winchester/7.62 Nato and 223 Remington/5.56mm

Open - 1. Any rifle up to a maximum weight of 22lbs or 10kg. including scope (and bi-pod if used). Any safe trigger is permitted; muzzle brakes are not.

2. Any sights - no limit on power.

3. Any calibre up to 8mm - providing that it complies with range safety rules - it is up to the individual shooter to verify this.

4. The rifle may be supported front and rear on sand-bags. The front sand-bag may in turn be supported on an adjustable pedestal. The rear bag must not be attached to the front support but a combination of sandbags may be used. A bi-pod may be used in place of a front sand-bag.



This may be not what you want to hear,,,


If you intend to start F Class at National level (the UK League), then it will be VERY expensive to be competative in either open or FTR.

Initial set up costs are huge - factor 3k - 4k on rifle if you are looking at custom build, 1 k on scope and circa 1k per year on reloading, travel costs, entry fees and accomodation.


There are plus sides;

Once youve got your kit, the yearly costs reduce dramatically, if you shoot FTR you wil be able to go several years without barrel changes, (if you go Open) your looking at 800 - 1200 rounds with a hot WSM...

The cameraderie, craich and friends ive made in F Class are second to non, its worth it for that alone. I guess i'm lucky that I can do my own work,


If you intend to try it, theres no reason why one couldnt use a factory rifle to see how you like it, just dont expect to be competative.


You need a rifle that holds sub half MOA at 1000 yds and be able to read the wind at that distance effectively too, to within a maile or so an hour in the case of 308....


Sorry Andy didnt see that you had posted.
 
Well if it gets sorted and I can have a go with my P-H1200TX it will be fun. I am not that bothered with being competative. Many years ago I did shoot on Stickledown at 900 yards but not frequently. We shot at 600 yards about every other month.
 
Really :scared: Hmmmm let's see we take a high pressure cartridge and keep adding more powder so the the pressure is so over the top it expands primer pockets just so they can keep bullets super sonic at extended ranges. Sure I believe you :-|.

It's one thing to increase pressures in suitable modern rifles with old low pressure cartridges like 30-30, 45-70 and even 303 British but another entirely when already high pressure cartridges are the case. Tis only a matter of time before mishaps happen and then how long before the powers that be ban hand loading altogether as being unsafe?
10 years later. Has your opinion been changed now?
The most issues I see on the range due to poor reloading skills relate to 6mm headspace. You are not going to spend x amount of pounds on a top of the range rifle and then throw dangerous ammo into it.
 
10 years later. Has your opinion been changed now?
The most issues I see on the range due to poor reloading skills relate to 6mm headspace. You are not going to spend x amount of pounds on a top of the range rifle and then throw dangerous ammo into it.
You won't find Brithunter on this site anymore, so not much point asking him about something he posted 10 years ago.
 
Ok thanks. Any interesting reason?
Long story, I think.
To be fair to him he gave me good advice and sent me some bits and pieces FOC when I got my first stalking rifle, and he was a fount of knowledge about Parker-Hales. I'm sorry to have lost touch with him, to be honest.
But he did have an axe to grind, and I think he ground it too much in the end.
 
Having just noticed an ad in the classifieds for an f-Class stock I decided to have a look and see what is so special about them and then the confusion set in.

Looking on the NRA page it tells us that calibres up to 8mm are allowed. Then onto F-Call UK's web site and it says 308win/7.52x51 or .223 Rem/5.56mm ..................................... Hmmmmm


The NRA's site says this:-



So who is actually running this show? and who is right?

I know a few on the SD forums shoot in F-Class so hopefully they can enlighten me.

Edit:-

Ahhh I see that despite it's name the F-Class web site is in FACT for F/TR hence the cartridge restrictions. Pity they are once again overloading the poor old 7.62x51 case yet agin.. After the target boys have gotten the converted No4 Ebfields banned in some countries due to their over loading the cartridges to way over the pressure limits it seems theya re doing the same here.:-



You would also think by now they would know that the 7.62x51 and .308 win are not quite the same in certain important specs :rolleyes:. But not it seems. Instead of working with in the design and pressure limits nope we have special cases made so we can continue to abuse them............... :banghead:.
Another one who lays blame at the wrong door.

‘Target boys’ getting No4 banned in certain countries.... the issue isnt ‘target boys’ (who can outshoot you all day long) but d1ckhead loaders who dont know what they are doing. As proven by some questions on this site on a regular basis.

If you shoot a strong action - eg Barnard P- with an appropriate barrel, you can go to much higher pressures than an old weak action made in the middle of a war then converted sometimes with questionable engineering.

Its why we have proof testing. But nothing can be done about stress cracking of actions that should not be used for something they were not designed for.
 
Long story, I think.
To be fair to him he gave me good advice and sent me some bits and pieces FOC when I got my first stalking rifle, and he was a fount of knowledge about Parker-Hales. I'm sorry to have lost touch with him, to be honest.
But he did have an axe to grind, and I think he ground it too much in the end.
I don’t know what he did wrong, but the chap did have an extraordinary deep knowledge. For example I would have destroyed one of my BSA rifles if it wasn't for the bizarre but simple and obvious fix he offered. Heyho.
 
Another one who lays blame at the wrong door.

‘Target boys’ getting No4 banned in certain countries.... the issue isnt ‘target boys’ (who can outshoot you all day long) but d1ckhead loaders who dont know what they are doing. As proven by some questions on this site on a regular basis.

If you shoot a strong action - eg Barnard P- with an appropriate barrel, you can go to much higher pressures than an old weak action made in the middle of a war then converted sometimes with questionable engineering.

Its why we have proof testing. But nothing can be done about stress cracking of actions that should not be used for something they were not designed for.
Well put. If you're shooting 50/100 yds max why do you need a hot load for anyway
 
From a distant conversation with Kevin, I understood that he was off the Christmas card list of those that are set above us.
Shame really as we should all be ok to express our views even if others disagree. It'd from these discussions that gems of info are found
 
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