F-Class World Championships 2017

[RDavies]

Rod,

Out of interest, what was the total weight of gear you took with you. I was trying to figure this out and got to a rather large number.

Albert

I went with 3 lots of 31.9kgs check in, then about 20+kg of carry on. Those of us here still had to buy a lot of bits and pieces once we arrived and will have to refill sandbags etc today.

That is unfortunately what I thought.... Even on my platinum Status I only get 60kg allowance. Do I assume correctly that the extra baggage fees made your eyes water or was there some dispensation for elite Australian athletes

You are correct that it was eye watering paying for the extra baggage. There was no getting around it.

[Tim N]

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Competition is expected to be really tough here.
While shopping at a local range Rod reckons he's found something to give him an edge

[mike H]

I went with 3 lots of 31.9kgs check in, then about 20+kg of carry on. Those of us here still had to buy a lot of bits and pieces once we arrived and will have to refill sandbags etc today.

That is unfortunately what I thought.... Even on my platinum Status I only get 60kg allowance. Do I assume correctly that the extra baggage fees made your eyes water or was there some dispensation for elite Australian athletes

You are correct that it was eye watering paying for the extra baggage. There was no getting around it.

One thing is for sure,plenty would gladly pay the freight,if they were in the team,good luck and good shooting to you all,looking foward to all results.
Mike.

[Tim N]

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Imagine being halfway around the world with this two as tour guides.

[Tim N]

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The range is flat and greener than Belmont.
Ground is unusually lumpy underfoot.
13 countries represented.
From memory (which can be a bit dodgy)
350 shooters for the nationals and 420 for the worlds.
Driving on the wrong side of the road takes some paying attention.

[Matt P]

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Imagine being halfway around the world with this two as tour guides.

You'd have no trouble finding a pub !!!!

[Tim N]

20170805_133222.jpg
Imagine being halfway around the world with this two as tour guides.

You'd have no trouble finding a pub !!!!

How wrong you are Matt- we ended up at a whiskey bar.
The mineral water was superb

[RDavies]

Today was equipment check day. All rifles were weighed and you had to include any plastic rain covers in the weight which caused a few problems which required fixing with scissors or Stanley knives. In the weigh in tent it became very obvious that this was much more than just another Queens when you saw all the different nation team shirts around and all sorts of high end looking gear. The F/TR shooters also had their chambers checked with chamber gauges. After we finished our equipment checks we walked over to the range which will be our home for the next 2 weeks. It is 76 targets wide and in perfect condition as Tim mentioned. The mounds are all around 4 feet high and the range is perfectly flat. It was quite windy when we got there and there appeared to be some fairly decent drop offs which we will get to play with tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be the first practice day on the range. Some people were allocated practice sessions at each range. One lucky person on the team was allocated 2 practices at each range and some people were not allocated any at all, so it was nice of Tim to offer some of his sessions to some other shooters so they can at least get one range in. A practice session is a 10 or 15 minute block at a particular distance where you can do what you want in your time.
We all got our score card today which show what time we shoot at each distance on each day and what target and relay. This means you don't have to hang around all day waiting for your turn, you just front up 15 minutes before your block time. Naturally each discipline will be squadded together where possible. It is a pretty good system how they have done it.
The accommodation we are staying at is very good and today the U.S team also checked into the same hotel so it will be a bit of an eye opener for any stray tourists checking in to be surrounded by 2 complete F class teams in the one hotel and everyone carrying guns, ammo, gear etc etc around getting ready. The range is only about 15 minutes away from our accommodation so it was well planned by management.
It is getting late at night here (your morning) but hopefully someone will keep you all updated on the latest news and gossip once we have all had a shot on the main range.

[RDavies]

Some may be wondering why the lack of news back from the coal face, but most of us have been pretty busy here.
Due to baggage limitations, we could only bring over bare necessities, so for many of us, our first stop once we got here was clothes shopping, then some food shopping. We have also been shopping in Cabelas for shooting related bits, cleaning gear, wet weather gear etc . We were then kept busy unpacking all of our gear and reassembling rifles, rests etc. Since rear bags were emptied out before we left, we had to get sand to fill rear bags. We had a sight in session at 50yds to check wind zeroes and velocities. A few found the powder which was waiting for us over here was quite a bit faster than the lots we had at home so there was some quick load adjusting and for some who were able to get back in time, a quick retest over the crony.
The weather forecast shows that we will be getting wet at some stage early in the competition and they don't stop for wet weather, so many of us were looking around for wet weather gear, covers, ground sheets etc. Many could not fit their shooting mats in their luggage so we went looking around for marine carpet to use.
Now most of us have all the gear we need and so have been busy priming cases and loading up enough to test in tomorrows practice day or enough for the first few days of competition so they can verify it is working with new powder lots, in new conditions etc.
That is about it for now, so hopefully someone else will chip in with some news once we have shot on the main range.

[BenW]

Waiting hanging over the keyboard to hear news, good shooting and have a blast.

[AlanF]

Thanks Rod and Tim - much appreciated.

At least you'll have the Canadian Nationals to refine your loads and equipment prior to the big one.

[Peter Hulett]

Albert, It is not that hard. I can get overseas with rifle and ammo and stay under my 46kg limit. If I choose to go over that limit then prepurchase of excess baggage is not all that expensive and if I use my frequent flier points then it does not hit my budget at all.
Peter

[RDavies]

Albert, It is not that hard. I can get overseas with rifle and ammo and stay under my 46kg limit. If I choose to go over that limit then prepurchase of excess baggage is not all that expensive and if I use my frequent flier points then it does not hit my budget at all.
Peter

Due to the amount of shooting we are doing and the importance of the event, most shooters either brought 2 complete rifles or spare barrelled actions. Pretty much all F Open shooters who came here ended up with 3x 32kg bags, then carried as much as they could in their carry on luggage. We flew Air Canada as they are the only carrier who flies direct to Canada at this time of year, and air Canada will not allow cheap pre-purchased baggage as Qantas does. They also limit the extra bags checked in so we can only check in 3 bags total. For other countries, Qantas is a good option as you can pre-purchase excess baggage pretty cheaply and can take up to an extra 6 bags I think.

[Frank Green]

Just want to say to everyone that is traveling and shooting at the FCWC "Good Luck to All!"

Best Regards,
Frank
Bartlein Barrels

[KHGS]

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Imagine being halfway around the world with this two as tour guides.

Oh boy!!! Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello???? Shoot well guys & enjoy, all the best!!!!!
Keith H.