F T/R Competition Two months in a row rained out F Class match

[Aquatic_Robotic]

I joined a rifle club here in East Texas and they shoot F Class, but they have called the match for rain the last two months. Is that typical for F Class comps?

It is understandable at this range as the pits have no protection from weather at all. I am getting so antsy to shoot in my first comp, but I will have to wait another month I guess.

Savage Model 12 FTR shooting OK, but still not the hammer I expected it to be.

155.5 Berger FB
47 gr Varget
Lapua Brass
Fed 210M primers
3025 fps
shooting .4-.6 at 100

5-12 mph hour winds twitchy from 2 to 10

.6-.8 at 300
.8 - 1.1's at 500
1.0-1.5's at 600 -puts me in a number of 9's and some 8's as well on a decent wind change.

Shot my 6.5x47 with 130 Berger VLD,s at same distance and conditions to see if its me or Savage.

.3 - .4 at 300
.5 -.7's at 500
.7 -1.0 at 600 - few nines along the way, but no 8's

I am just going to keep working with the Savage until I shoot a few matches and see how I am doing in actual comps.

 

[Down South]

I see you're in east Texas, not sure what club you joined but Bayou club south of Houston holds matches every month and so does Golden Triangle in Beaumont. I've shot at both, their matches are usually not on the same weekend if i remember correctly. Golden Triangle is only a 600 yard range, Bayou is 1000 but holds matches at different yardages at different times. I think Deny (could be wrong) on this forum is a match director for Bayou, maybe he'll chime in on their club. Good luck in your first match when you finally get to shoot it. You'll meet a lot of nice folks at either place.

 

[Denys]

I joined a rifle club here in East Texas and they shoot F Class, but they have called the match for rain the last two months. Is that typical for F Class comps?

It is understandable at this range as the pits have no protection from weather at all. I am getting so antsy to shoot in my first comp, but I will have to wait another month I guess.

Living in the Houston area means we can shoot year round and at Bayou we have matches at least twice a month. We are the only 1000 yard range with pits and all left in Texas or certainly in south Texas and as such we are hosting the four big TSRA matches every year now. The TSRA LR Championship is coming up next month, and we want to make sure everyone gets a good experience. We are a member-funded organization and we don't have tons of money to spend. The one thing that will destroy targets is rain and we don't want to have to replace a bunch of targets just prior to TSRA.

I am the Long Range match director at Bayou and as such it was my call to hold the match this Sunday even though we knew there might be rain. I thought we might be able to shoot around showers and such and at least get a few relays in because I know some people wanted to shoot, especially since I had to interrupt the match last month because of high winds, cold and rain. I stated the match could be called at any time this Sunday, because we needed to protect the targets at all costs.

We managed to get two relays in and I was in the pits when that front came in and the rain was horizontal; that wind was strong. I ordered all targets back into the shed because we could not protect them from the rain under the protection catwalk. We also had the Bayou Rifles Highpower director on the line and he concurred that we had to call the match at that point. Radios are great devices.

I have to drive 100 miles to shoot these matches and I love to shoot; if we could have continued the match without damage to the targets, I would have called for another delay. As it turned out, the rain got progressively worse after the match. I stayed behind to clean up after people and put stuff away and then went to the 100 yard range to play with my new toy a bit, and the rain just kept on coming.

It was the right call.

Last year the TSRA Mid-Range was called short on the second day due to incessant rain. When it's a big match, we will do rain delays, but there is a limit; people and equipment get wet. That match was a mess in every way. Three years ago, during the big drought, the TSRA Long Range Championship was cut to one day because the first rain we got in Houston in 6 months was on the second day of the match. Nobody complained as we needed that rain.

In 2008, two weeks before hosting TSRA Long Range, hurricane Ike came through and ripped out our cover at 1000 yards and undid all the prep work we had done for the match. We had to scramble; I still have pictures of the ripped out cover in the parking lot, with cars around it. We had just finished putting up that cover. We have since replaced it with the one we have now, but that was a heartbreaker.

I have been at Bayou for almost 10 years now, shooting in different disciplines; it's a great club with a nice tricky, windy range and rain is part of the game but we need to protect the equipment. We are more flexible during TSRA so I always bring rain equipment at those matches.

 

[XTR]

Denys, how far is it from College Station to your range?

 

[Denys]

Depends who's driving and the time of day. If it's for a Sunday morning match, you could make it under 2 hours.

 

[Aquatic_Robotic]

Thanks Denys,

It is a 3 1/2 hour drive from Tyler to north Houston and over 4 to south near Pearland. Where exactly is the range located. That kind of drive is not an enjoyable day drive for me and be there in time to shoot at 8. Have to do those kind of drives for work on occasion, but not fun. I might make an occasional match, but not on a regular basis. I want to compete for the fun of it because I enjoy our shooting sports and want to improve my skill set, but hey I still want to compete at the highest level of my ability.

I joined Panola County Rifle Range and they also need to protect their equipment from rain and I understand that very well. It is about a 90 miles for me to get that range as well, but it is an pretty easy drive. They shoot a mid range match every month and that is where I fell I need to start.

Any other range that would be 2 hours or so from Tyler that shoot F TR? I am also about 90 miles from Shreveport, LA if there is anything in that area at all?

Thanks again

 

[Denys]

If I were you, I'd move.

That said we have several people who drive in from Dallas or San Antonio on a fairly regular basis. Some of them come the night before and stay with family or friends or in hotels, other get up very early and drive. One of my good friends and a shooting buddy comes in from Lufkin on a very regular basis.

Nobody can predict the weather more than a few days ahead and we never know what's going to happen. I want to shoot, just like anyone who comes to the match and I don't like to call a match because of rain, but I am entrusted with taking care of the range, the equipment and the people also. In summertime, I even bring a cooler of iced-down Gatorades and water bottles; we have had people show up for a match in July not bringing anything to drink. And these are adults. With guns.
I can tell you stories.


Anyway, if you think you want to come to a match, contact me ahead of time to confirm everything. We shoot 1000 yards every first Sunday of the month, but there is no match in April this year. Our schedule is at our website: bayourifles.org. We have match results, records and schedules. We even have the schedule for matches in our area. You might like to check out Beaumont, the Golden Triangle club; they go to 600 yards.

 

[Tempest 455]

I've driven 4+ hrs round trip to sit in rain, get soaking wet and drive home, twice last year! We have only been dong this 1 year, so I would say yes it happens!

 

[Aquatic_Robotic]

LOL Hope I'm done with that moving stuff.

Sounds like you have great range.

Any other place within 2 hours or so from Tyler to shoot FTR. I am about 90 miles from Shreveport as well if there is anything over that way.

Thanks

 

[Denys]

I didn't know there was anything within two hours of Tyler; talk about being in the boondocks. All kidding aside, you should check out the spreadsheet of matches put together by some guy on accurateshooter.com. He did a good job of collecting information and then presenting it.

I don't know why they don't make it a sticky there, but here is the link:

F-Class: Where to shoot spreadsheet. (Rev 15 - 10/18/2013)

 

[skibar_tx]

Aquatic_Robotic, there is a good chance a few of us might be at EPCGC this weekend for a little ammo work up session. It would be an opportune time to get your zeroes, practice scoring and pit duty prior to your first match. Email me at [email protected] if you are interested. Skip Barkley

 

[Aquatic_Robotic]

Skip email sent