F Class UK

Summer came to F-Class with Diggle enjoying blue skies, light winds and high temperatures producing a rash of bush-hats, dark glasses, barrel mirage shields; even the odd burned-red competitor!

Full House

Summer holidays over, a maximum entry was achieved, no-shows reducing actual numbers to 40 ‘Open’ and 15 ‘F/TR’ competitors needing five details for each of the four matches – 2+15 at 800 and 1,000yd on Saturday; 2+15 at 900, and 2+10 at 1,000yd on Sunday. Time pressures required competitors to be on site before the disgustingly early hour of 08.00 for registration / squadding for a scheduled 08.30 Saturday start. Inevitably, the Diggle weather scuppered organiser Les Holgate’s timetable, a cold night producing a classic autumn morning with hill-mist at the butts end of the range compounded by a low sun shining onto the firing points. It took until 10 o’clock for the targets to become visible, and even then the butts crew used white shot-markers to help competitors (except on the V-Bull of course). Against that, the air barely moved and cool conditions produced stable conditions.

                                                                                                 David Kent took an early lead

Match 1 (800yd) had ‘Open’ shooters kick off with top league contenders squadded in the first detail. Despite some mutterings about ‘disadvantageous’ murky conditions, it produced the best scores of the weekend with four 75s and six 74s. David Kent took first with 11 Vs ahead of Mik Maksimovic’s 9, Peter Wilson’s 8 and Greg Thompson’s 5. By the time the three details finished at 800yd and moved to 1,000, the light had improved albeit retaining some haziness, and temperatures were rising fast, but the Pennine winds were now back, even if gentle by Diggle standards in the 3-8mph range, mostly from four or five o’clock, switching around enough to catch the unwary (or unlucky) out. So, no 75s in Match 2, David Kent winning on 72.3 ahead of Mik Maksimovic on 71.6, Yorkshire shooter Simon Rodgers whizzing up from 30^th place in Match 1 to take 3^rd with 69.5. Despite easy-looking conditions, several championship contenders’ scores dropped into the low to mid 60s, Greg Thompson, Dan Brough, Des Parr, and Daoud Rhouma rowing this particular boat.

Running Late

The late start meant no lunch break, competitors eating as and when time was available, the F/TR shooters plus a minority of the ‘Open’ entry having also performed three tiring details’ worth of butts duty until nearly mid-afternoon before their chance to shoot, all without complaint. Their two details initially saw the strongest winds of the day, now a little more consistent, so the top F/TR competitors produced 800yd scores that wouldn’t have caused disgrace in the Open-class. Ian Dixon’s 68.3 led Russell Simmonds’ 66.4 and Steve Donaldson’s 65.6. The 1,000yd match started in similar conditions, but the wind dropped, literally between two shots, a not uncommon late afternoon Diggle phenomenon. Far from making life easy, the residual breezes were variable and hard to read with most competitors also suffering inexplicable vertical shifts. Even so, Paul Dobson produced 65.1 for the first spot ahead of Ian Dixon on 64.2 and Steve Rigby on 63. Glen Jones and Russell Simmonds were the only other F/TR shooters to break 60. It was nearly 6 o’clock by the time competitors trudged back to the range house after a long and tiring, but enjoyable day.

Vince – do you want to add a mention of the evening curry eating do? Sure thing Laurie - Once again, Stuart Anselm had booked about 30 of us into the Vamasaki Indian restaurant. This year, we had our own private room and a damn good 'do' it was. The food was excellent and just kept on coming, so did the beer - we could have fed the whole shoot. Of course, there were one or two noted absentees from butts duty the following morning - sign of a good night I suppose! - Vince.

                                                                                                    On Sunday, the Diggle mill pond looked like.......er, a mill pond.

All Change

Sunday started off sunny, but without Saturday’s early mist, so shooting started on time, the F/TR boys supplemented by some Open competitors first on the range and shooting straight into the low autumn sun from the 900 yd point – like looking at the targets with Lyons golden syrup spread on the objective lens. This didn’t stop Steve Rigby taking first with a superb 71.3 ahead of Paul Dobson on 70.5, Ian Dixon and Russell Simmonds a little behind on 69.4 and 68.3. Light conditions improved at 1,000yd but light, tricky breezes made sure nobody found things easy. Most people used something close to their windage zero, aiming off up to a ‘minute’ either side of the V according to their reading of the flags. Russell Simmonds proved master of the conditions with 44.1, Steve Rigby right behind on 43.0; Glen Jones, Ian Dixon, and Paul Dobson all on 40 with varying V counts, most of the other nine in the mid 30s. One reason was the unwelcome return of inexplicable vertical shifts, Ian Dixon getting his 40 despite a complete (low) miss from this cause!

                                                                                                                                    Remember this - shooting in T shirts at Diggle in September!

Endgame

Changeover saw the majority of the ‘Open’ entry repeat the 15 at 900, 10 at 1,000 formula, the main championship contenders now in the third and last detail at both ranges. Conditions changed abruptly, a static cloud blanket sitting overhead providing a flat if good light, while the wind apparently died, all five wind flags hanging limp and only twitching occasionally. Possibles seemed likely in the still conditions, but things were not as they seemed, hidden air movements making it hard for many to find the V, or even to stay in the Bull. Darren Stewart and Anthony Dunne led at 900yd on 75.4 and 75.3. David Kent’s 74 with a super 11-V count snapped at their heels as did Mark Daish, Gary Cousins and Vince Bottomley with this score but fewer holes in the little white circle. Potential event winners Jim McAllister and Mik Maksimovic were amongst the ten on 73. Moving to 1,000yd for Match 4 didn’t improve things, not a single 50 produced despite air that looked completely still. Anthony Dunne, Jim McAllister, Grant Taylor, Gordon Waugh, Greg Thompson and David Kent shot 49s, the first four with six Vs, Greg and David five. Most of the rest of the field were evenly spread over 43 to 48, Mik Maksimovic with 45.3 alongside Dennis Groom and Danny Trowsdale in the middle of the crowd. While many ‘inners’ showed classic wind deflection at 3 and 9 o’clock, getting on for half were out at 6 or 12, one ‘iffy’ shot often compounded by the shooter altering his elevation setting only to find the original conditions resumed for the next shot.

                                                                                                   Steve Rigby took the F/TR win with his Keppler.

At the end of the day, it was David Kent who produced a 269 aggregate with a magnificent 30 V-count, five points ahead of anybody else. Mik Maksimovic, Jim McAllister, and Anthony Dunne shared 264, Mik taking second place with 23 Vs and while Jim and Anthony tied with 20, the former took 3^rd place and 18 ‘Open’ championship points on count-back. Steve Rigby took 1^st in the hard-fought F/TR contest by the slimmest of margins, 242.4 giving him 20 championship points, Ian Dixon only one behind on 241.10 and rueing his 1,000yd ‘miss’. Russell Simmonds took third with 240.8 and Paul Dobson was also one more point down on 239.10. Glen Jones at 232.11 was the only other F/TR shooter to exceed 220. Of the other F/TR championship contenders, Steve Donaldson was ill on Sunday, the resulting loss of form pulling him down to 6^th, while Stuart Anselm had a miserable meeting with severe rifle problems and was never in contention.

                                                                                                   David Kent receives his winner's trophy from Diggle Chairman, Mike Weatherhead

The ‘Open’ championship is still open if you pardon the pun resting on the final round at Bisley with half a dozen individuals potentially capable of taking top spot. Conversely, Ian Dixon’s 76 point aggregate puts him in a strong if not impregnable position in F/TR. The best anybody else can do with a 1^st place at Bisley is to match that figure, and that assumes Ian is placed 3^rd or lower, 2^nd giving him an unbeatable 77.

The F-Class circus paid its second visit of the year to the Atholl Rifle Club’s range some 1,000ft above the Perthshire village of Blair Atholl over the weekend of 9^th / 10^th August. “More like a poor autumn weekend than high summer!” was the BBC weather forecaster’s gloomy Friday night prediction with heavy rain and gales traversing Scotland on the Saturday and doubts about Sunday. Sure enough, pulses of heavy rain were sweeping over the hillsides as competitors arrived on the range on day one, or over what you could see of them anyway, such was the light and low cloud. Clouds of tiny bloodsucking midges descended on competitors too as they exited their cars, Ian Dixon achieving instant popularity when those caught short saw he had an insect repellent spray!

Saturday

Unlike June which had a full field of 60, there were 38 competitors, missing persons including Mik Maksimovic and Olaf Jones, plus Peter Wilson who entered but injured an elbow. June’s five relays per match were down to three, two ‘odd men’ directed to whichever target became available first on the second ‘Open detail’. An F/TR to Open split of 13 to 25 allowed Des Parr to squad the classes separately, ‘odd man out’ being Vanessa Duffy who was sharing her husband’s rifle and had to shoot alongside the Open competitors anyway. West Atholl RC’s electronic targets were used and performed faultlessly, both days’ matches completed early, Saturday’s by 2pm; prizes awarded and people gone by just after one on the Sunday.

The (Saturday only) ‘blow-off’ / sighting-in session was extended, now scheduled from 8 to 10 am, followed by two 2 + 20 round matches, ‘The Strath Spey’ and ‘Atholl Highlander’. It was as well that the sighting session was generous as the light made it nearly impossible to see bullet splashes.

                                                                                                                                Open Class competitors settle down to shoot - under cover of course!

Sighting-in had been near windless, but the flags were stirring by the time the business of the day got going, the wind from 4 to 5 o’clock, seemingly steady for long periods with occasional sudden drops to what looked like still conditions. People were muttering the word ‘easy’, but that word is rarely applicable to Blair and so it proved! Nevertheless, Match 1 scores showed conditions were relatively benign despite the rain and dark. Adam Brough topped the Open field with 94.7, then David Kent, John Carmichael and Dennis Groom on 93s.

F/TR drew the last detail by which time the wind was strengthening, showing signs of fishtailing, and the now sodden flags rarely gave true indications. Despite this, Russell Simmonds got off to a cracking start with 82.3, Ian Dixon close behind at 79.1, and Steve Rigby 78.3. The trend continued into Match 2, the wind veering around and strengthening as the rain reduced to a drizzle and the light improved. Jim McAllister just took the Open match, 96.5 beating David Kent on Vs, only just seeing off Daoud Rhouma with a strong 95.9. Other championship contenders were suffering: Lee Tomlinson, Des Parr, Dan Brough in the middle of the field for both Saturday matches, Gary Costello and John Campbell down near the bottom. In fact, June Blair winner Gary Costello had a wretched time throughout, ending up in 21^st place.

The top five F/TR shooters were in more consistent form, it being Stuart Anselm’s turn to have a good shoot almost matching Russell Simmond’s earlier score at 82.2, Ian Dixon and Russell both on 80, Ian with more Vs despite long and loud complaints that he’s only ever ‘allowed’ one per match. Steve Donaldson was in trouble having decided to try 155gn loads (compared to his usual 210gn Berger VLD fodder) without having sighted them in. Somewhere between four and six points were lost with a ‘one’ for score-shot one and none too brilliant follow-up after a hurried switch back to heavy bullets, result: 77.2. Come 2 o’clock, 38 sodden, scratching individuals left the range in inexplicably good humour looking forward to dinner in the Atholl Arms that evening, and praying for human-friendly, midge-unfriendly weather for the Sunday.

Sunday

Sure enough, the day dawned bright with the clouds clearing rapidly to give excellent visibility, sun that came and went, and best of all a fresh cool wind that blew the little beasties away. Showers were forecast, but only one intruded. The wind started again at about five o’clock, but was soon predominately round at seven, gusting and moving to anywhere between 6 and 8 o’clock affecting elevation severely too. The flags said little useful, staying limp and only belatedly responding to wind direction shifts or pick-ups.

The two matches were 2+15s, F/TR kicking off in Match 3 ‘The Munro’ and getting the best wind conditions this time round. Again, Russell Simmonds set the standard, 66.6 good enough to put him half way up the Open class list. Russ Howard did well too at 65.3, second equal with Ian Dixon, ahead of Stuart Anselm on 64. Les Holgate raised his game to take the Open class with an excellent 72.4, Paul Hill, Greg Thompson, David Kent and Adam Brough only a point behind. John Carmichael’s bid for points crashed thanks to a barrel that had suffered 1,000 7mm WSM rounds suddenly stopping performing, 54.0 and 23^rd place the result.

Both classes went into the final match ‘The Glen Garry’ with their top three positions still to be played for, although Russell Simmonds was unbeatable in F/TR short of complete loss of form. The wind was stronger and trickier producing scores down across the board compared to Match 3, especially in F/TR. Match 4 produced Open winner number 4, Des Parr producing a superb 73.6, Greg Thompson trailing on 71.3 just ahead of five 70s including John Campbell who’d had a miserable time until now. David Kent wasn’t at his best in this match, but still took 69.5 alongside Peter Hobson, the latter’s only top ten place this weekend.

F/TR came last with the trickiest winds and as with Open seemed to suit some who’d not done over-well in easier conditions. Les Bacon raced up the field for a win with 54.1 – but compare that to the F/TR winning score of the previous match! Ian Dixon matched Les for score, but failed to get his customary V, Russell Simmonds and Steve Donaldson were a mere point behind for third and fourth places decided on V-count (3 and nil respectively).

                                                                                                                    David Kent will have good reason to smile at the camera but when this photo was taken, it was too close to call

Consistency

David Kent didn’t win a match, but shot so consistently well throughout, that he took Open-class richly deserving the silver plate and 20 League points with an aggregate of 329.19. Greg Thompson had also been consistently good for 2^nd place on 327.15, and Jim McAllister was third with 323.16. In F/TR, Russell Simmonds and Ian Dixon left everyone trailing with 281.12 and 278.6 respectively, third place man Stuart Anselm lagging with a still respectable 269.3 and Steve Donaldson taking fourth with 263.5.

Both classes now have outsiders running fast up the outfield, David Kent having earned 19 and 20 points in the last two League matches, so Greg Thompson’s 70 points total isn’t as unassailable as it might appear. F/TR is really close with Ian Dixon’s 71 points marginally ahead of Stuart Anselm and Steve Donaldson on 70, but Russell Simmonds has gone home with 18 and 20 points from the only two competitions he’s entered. If he goes to Diggle and Bisley and shows the same form, it’ll be a four-horse race.

Yes it’s Blair time again and, as with Round 1 at Diggle, we had a full entry of 60 shooters. As usual, most were billeted at the famous Atholl Arms, a great shooter-friendly hotel which we had completely taken over for the weekend.

Since I last shot at Blair in 2007, a considerable sum of money has been spent installing electronic targets. The targets meant a slight change in our shooting format, for aside from the lack of a long walk to and from butts, the electronic sensors on the perimeter of the targets could be damaged by a stray shot. It is therefore essential that each competitor is well sighted-in prior to the competition commencing.

There were no objections to this ‘pre-shoot’ for often the first round down range at 1000 yards can result in a ‘miss’ and most therefore welcomed the opportunity to confirm zeros prior to the competition. This was accomplished by shooting at the backstop prior to hoisting the electronic targets and took approximately one hour to accomplish before the competition proper got underway.

Although ranges from 600 to 1200 yards are available at Blair, all League shoots this year will be contested at 800 – 1000 yards but to save trekking back and forth with copious amounts of gear associated with the electronic targets, organiser Des Parr decided that all five of the weekend’s matches would be contested at 1000 yards. I doubt there were any dissenters.

                                                                                                           This is what they look like close-up. A rubber screen sandwiched between two slabs of polystyrene.                                                                                          Those two black dots on the top are shot-holes - very close to the wire!

On my last visit to Blair, the weather was warm and sunny even though the spring snows had only just melted but this weekend, the temperature was cool for June and rain was forecast so we were delighted to find that magnificent gazebos were erected over the firing-points. This was of course to protect the monitors for the electronic targetry rather than any concern for the welfare of the poor shooter!

Few were familiar with the electronic targetry but I think it’s safe to say that most took to it like the proverbial ‘duck to water’ and for me, on Saturday June 14^th 2008, long-range rifle shooting changed forever!

These targets and the firing-point monitors were faultless. Even misses were recorded with a 0.00 and a small arrow indicating the general direction of your miss. Scoring shots are indicated as say 4.9 for a shot close to the five-ring and 4.1 for one just inside the four-ring. Within a couple of seconds of pulling the trigger, your shot flashed up on the monitor and remained flashing until the next shot was fired. All shots stay on the monitor throughout the Match so you can see the general trend. I would estimate that shooting time was halved, though of course it was down to each competitor to determine the rate of fire.

The Blair winds were cruel – worse than Diggle was the general opinion and few shooters seemed to get to grips with it and Saturday’s scores were generally lower than one would expect. Only one shooter, Dennis Groom, managed a 70 (ex 75) in Match 1 and most of us were in the mid sixties. For Match 2, conditions worsened significantly and even Dennis could do no better than a 61. John Campbell’s 65 was easily the best with only eleven shooters breaking 60. Time constraints meant that Match 3 had to be cut from 15 to 10 shots and anything in the mid-forties was good.

                                                                                                                  It was quite cozy under the gazebos!

Of the weekend’s 60 entrants, no less than 20 were shooting in the F/TR class – tempted no doubt by the prize of a new Savage FTR rifle for the winner of the 2008 GB League. Steve Donaldson won the first round at Diggle and he topped the list at the end of the Saturday Matches. Local man and experienced Blair shooter, Tim Kidner was in second place and Ian Dixon third but most were having a torrid time of it and total misses were experienced by many F/TR shooters.

Results at the end of day 1

Open Class     1^st       Daoud Rhouma         172.7v

                   2^nd      Adam Brough            172.6

                   3^rd      Greg Thompson        172.4

                   4^th      Gary Costello           172.1

                   5^th      Daniel Brough           170.6

                   6^th      Dennis Groom           170.4

F/TR Class     1st     Steve Donaldson       134.4

                   2^nd      Tim Kidner               129.2

                   3^rd      Ian Dixon                 124.0

                   4^th      Les Bacon               123.1

                   5^th      Les Dawson             118.2

                   6^th      Paul Dobson             116.2  

                                                                                                             ^{Dennis, Gary and Greg}

On the Saturday evening, the Atholl Arms Hotel hosted the shoot dinner in their great baronial dining hall. It was a splendid occasion and after an enjoyable meal, shoot organiser and GB Team Captain Des Parr gave a short but popular address to the assembled shooters. With another ‘crack of dawn’ start on the Sunday, it was an early night for most competitors – with a few notable exceptions…...

For Sunday, the weather was much the same, with perhaps a little less rain though conditions had clearly worsened as only 10 shooters had scores in the sixties in Match 1.  Naturally, the F/TR guys were really suffering and only three shooters broke into the fifties. If you think F/TR is an easy option, think again!

It was however interesting to see the diversion of kit in F/TR class as it continues to evolve. Target Rifles fitted with scope and bi-pod are still a competitive option as Tim Kidner and Ian Dixon demonstrated. Steve Donaldson’s rifle is totally different, with a 34 inch barrel and McMillan A5 stock. This is a heavy rifle and Steve must use a 12 ounce Harris bi-pod to stay within the 8.25kg. weight limit but it works, as Steve’s results show. Shooters with short-barrelled tactical-style rifles can be competitive in good conditions but most struggled as the wind played havoc with their sub-sonic bullets.

                                                                                                             Steve Donaldson - current leader in F/TR Class - attempts to keep the rain off.

Bullet choice is another consideration for the 308 shooters. Steve Donaldson shoots a 210 grain bullet whereas Ian Dixon prefers the 155 grainer. At the end of two days shooting in very tough conditions, they finished on identical scores with only two V bulls separating them, so it looks as if the light, faster bullet was the equal of the slower heavy bullet - it’s your choice.

Finally, we thank organiser Des Parr and other helpers from the West Atholl Rifle Club for the use of their superb range and electronic target system which, I’m pleased to report, worked faultlessly throughout the 5000 rounds fired in the weekend.