Change to Scoring

[Potshot2023]

Good point MattP, however top down decision making tends to not seek consultation or feedback.
I’d be surprised if every member of the Rules Committee was involved in these changes.

[Hoghunter9mm]

Good point MattP, however top down decision making tends to not seek consultation or feedback.
I’d be surprised if every member of the Rules Committee was involved in these changes.

I haven't shot since Covid due to health but it's good to see our national body sticking up for the international shooters and the sport. I see this as a good thing. I never got a chance to represent Australia but it was something I was always striving for. I'd rather see 100 dedicated talented internationally recognized shooters than try to cater to some mystic demography that forms this so called 99%. If you aren't shooting to win why are you in the sport? The atttiude that is being said about us online shows what the greater shooting community things of us. Why do we want to try and reach out to them? We need to look after ourselves. As Alan F said in another post. What good is growth if you can't fit them on your rnage? we are better off looking after those that lead the charge and lead the sport and lead the scoreboards over trying to drag in some mythical group of people that I don't beleave exist. Let the yahoos go off and shoot their yahoo disciplines. There's a place for that. F-Class is not. Proficency and the pure persuit of precision is ALWAYS what FClass has been about. I personally would have liked to see smaller targets but if our leadership decides that we should side with internatinoal rules then so be it. Complaining will do nothing but split us and we need to look after ourselves and our rnages. As the saying goes. Adapt and over-come.

[bobped]

During my days as a Board Member we saw our main objectives as fostering, regulating and encouraging ALL aspects of our sport. Sadly this seems to no longer apply as the present Board seems mostly to be concerned with fostering International Competition.
I would suggest that the falloff in Grade numbers is more due to the design of the program for the National Kings. I've been told it was designed with a preponderance of long ranges to give our elite shooters more experience. I would suggest that our B and C Grade shooters look at that program and say to themselves - "Why should I go to that competition? Its expensive to get to Brisbane, its far too hot in October and I'll probably get a thrashing. There are other competitions that cater far better for me, so I'll give it a miss." I personally know 3 shooters who have said that to me, and I'm joining their ranks.

Worse still, there's a very strong movement to do away with the "6" value for F Class Shooting, with will have a lot more ramifications that might first appear. I believe that this comes from pressure from members who shoot, or want to shoot in our International F Class teams at the World championships. They say that they are disadvantaged by having to adapt to the different ICFRA methods of scoring at those competitions. i.e. scoring a "5" for the V Bull instead of our "6" and a V Bull for the present Super V. Maximum points score for F Class would then be 50.
Its seems that it was not that massive a disadvantage as they have won 2 of the last three World Championships!

When we designed the present F Class Rules years ago we worked very hard to get a system where everyone could shoot together in the same squads and on the same target. The only difference was F Class scored a "6" for the V Bull. Before that F Open shot on a different target which had a 10 ring. There were only 2-3 F Open shooters at the most and they were a pest to organize targets for. We changed that so they shot on the same targets and scoring as F Standard and low and behold, F Open took off after that. Look at it now. FTR didn't exist at that stage but when it did happen, they went to our present "6" targets as well, and we all got together as one big happy family and prospered to the stage where F Class is now 50% of our movement.

Changing for the "6" to a "5" for F Class Scoring
Much of the NRAA F Class Rules are the same as ICFRA Rules. Mainly the scoring values are different.
1. The whole world doesn't do it . ---- The USA doesn't. They mostly use a 10 ring target, but guess who won the last World Championships? Guess who won the Individual Championship? Also our F Open Teams have done it twice.
2. Lets take the VRA Kings as an example of what might happen. Bendigo has manual marking.
(a) With ICFRA scoring, the Bull in TR is different to the Bull in F Class. If and F Class shooter takes over from a TR Shooter you will need to ring the marker and tell him to mark what used to be the V bull as a bull. The bull is now a 4. The Target Rifle Bull is 2 MOA and the F Class Bull is 1 MOA. (Confused?)
(b) If they forget to tell the marker or the marker gets it wrong, I might have 2 MOA Bull to shoot at. Getting a 50 would be easy then!
(c) Probably because of all the fuss and potential for mistakes they might decide to shoot TR and F Class in different details. Then as an F Class shooter I can't be bothered to hang around waiting while the TR shooters do their detail, and the whole movement over the years (or less) gradually separates into 2 different parts. I might even start thinking about organizing a Prize Meeting for F Class only, which would save a lot of fuss and bother with different targets, different scoring and different shooters.
Look at the UK. F Class and TR don't mix at all. The F Class UK Championships are shot at different dates and the 2 codes don't mix. Can we afford to let that happen in Australia?

Then all the work we did years ago to make sure everyone worked together, shot together and got on together might come undone.

PLEASE NRAA - The system ain't broke, so you don't need to fix it! I'm pretty sure 98% of our movement are happy with things at present.

If you agree with me, you need to get in touch with your State Association Councillors and get then to vote against this at the next Special General Meeting being held by the NRAA to consider this. That's not too far away.

[Havnfun]

Well said bobped I think you have hit the nail on head.

[PeteFox]

Good point MattP, however top down decision making tends to not seek consultation or feedback.
I’d be surprised if every member of the Rules Committee was involved in these changes.

If you aren't shooting to win why are you in the sport?

and the connection to winning that changing the scoring system brings is ................exactly what? ........