OzFclass

Well after a couple of years planning have a go at this fly shooting idea, I finally got to try it today at the SSAA Range at Belmont.
Matt Paroz, Rod Davies , Chop Read and others have been full of praise for it, for some time and now I finally know what they have been talking about !
50 odd shots away, in less than three and a half hours, all fired from the comfort of a bench while sitting on your bum on a comfortable stool, IN THE SHADE, and with toilets, canteen, ammo shop etc just meters away.
The smart ones took two guns, meaning that they didn't have to share a bench with anyone like I did, plus they got the extra 50 shots.
Our own Mark Fairbairn is the one with all of the runs on the board, consistently winning the day and shooting small groups, which makes him the one they all dream of beating someday
The big hoo'er did it again today and beat me in to second place so I was thrilled with that on my first attempt. He also had the smallest group , at 1.9" . Not good enough to beat Chops Australian record at Wagga, but bloody amazing shooting at Belmont today in the mirage and wind
I fully concur with what Matt, Rod and Chop have been saying...... all serious F Class shooters should try it for themselves , because it is great fun, with a good number of shooters (29 today at Belmont) and lots of them are clearly potential F Class shooters with good gear and in the main a desire to be competitive.
Not that I doubted them, but our earlier "crossovers".....Davies, Paroz, Read etc.....we're spot on when they said that one of the most important rules of Fly Shooting is that you have to have fun !
Try it when you get the chance, and I am pretty sure you will have as much fun as I did. I can't wait to get back there in 2015 and try to roll the big fella
I think I'm hooked

Great to hear Tony!

You are certainly legend status now Tony
Well done

Cameron Mc wrote:You are certainly legend status now Tony
Well done

Cam, that is very nice of you to say such kind things at this time of the year, but somehow you have confused legend status with "addicted" status.
I certainly "aint no legend", but I probably should talk to a psychiatrist about the other one !........as should a lot of the folks on this forum, I think

Yep, I need to come too, f class anonymous! Sorry couldn't hep posting !lol!

Well done Tony. With all the politics going on in F-Class right now I can understand how you'd enjoy the change. I might be doing some deer stalking (at a leisurely pace) in NZ at New Year.

Hey Tony, can we use our F Open Rifles in the 500 and 1000 Bench Rest Competitions.
Or in any other BR Shoots?


Richie.

Richie
Basic long range BR rules puts our F Class guns in heavy gun, so you're competing with the cannons (no weight limit but most 50-60 pounds), light gun must be less than 17 pounds, muzzle brakes allowed on light guns, depending on what rules are being used, muzzle brakes allowed on HG as well.
Matt P

I love fly shooting. Great fun. I won our fortnightly club match on the weekend with some of the worse wind I've ever seen at pinjar range complex in Perth. Over here it's the larger cals that rule at the moment a bit due to the extra bullet weight and BC. I shot a 47mm group for my last target. Couldn't be happier with it.

Matt P wrote:Richie
Basic long range BR rules puts our F Class guns in heavy gun, so you're competing with the cannons (no weight limit but most 50-60 pounds), light gun must be less than 17 pounds, muzzle brakes allowed on light guns, depending on what rules are being used, muzzle brakes allowed on HG as well.
Matt P

I wouldn't let competing against 60 pound heavy guns scare you off using your F Open rifle in heavy gun for fly shoots, F Open Guns have beaten the heavy guns, so you are still in the running with them. That said, when will my HEAVY gun be ready Matt.

As for light gun, a few of us have F Open guns light enough for light gun. My Dasher gets used for F Open, Fly and 1000yd BR, no changes needed.

Muzzle brakes are not allowed in Fly shoots, only 1000yd Benchrest. What I have done for 1000yd BR is got a shot out 284 F Open barrel rechambered, so it is back to 26-27" long and makes weight, then fitted a muzzle brake. It is fun having a 284 Shehane which recoils like a 6BR. A 6 Dasher is still the most common light gun cartridge though.
Most of us have barrels out there which are a little shot out, but when rechambered back to 26-27" will get another lease of life for use in light gun Fly and 1000yd BR with minimal cost.

G'day all,
I've shot a couple of Fly shoots at SSAA Little River Victoria (see calendar at http://www.melbournebenchrestclub.com.au/index.html ) with my 6x47 Lapua FO rifle that I had built to make 17lb so it can be used for either style of competition.
FWIW, the LG can mix it with the heavies to a reasonable degree and I think the smaller calibres do well in LG as the rifle is more settled in the bags due to the reduced recoil.
Also you could consider either having another lighter stock for your F class rifle to make LG weight or modify your existing F class stock to make 17lb then add a weight (usually into the butt) to bring it back up to 10kg for F class.
It is a great competition and who knows you might even drag some Fly shooters over to F class!
Also there is a mosquito class for 300m that is a lot of fun, contact Peter Van Meurs at the Melb. BR club for further details.
Hope this helps
Cheerio Ned

There was talk about a possible bat shoot at Canberra some time ago, is there any merit/possibility of running a fly shoot after a queens event? I for one am curious enough to have a go at fly shooting.

I gather the aim is to get the shot away before the fly jumps to the next target.

Would a SSAA club be willing to run a 500 or 1000 yard shoot for us? Usual OPM entry fees could generate a return for the club, and us non benchrest shooters could have a go without interupting a serious benchrest event.

Bartman,
The whole sheet of paper that makes up the SSAA Fly Target is 16.5" x 23.5"
as per below


I am pretty sure that Stuart & Annie Elliott from BRT were involved in the design of the target, and the big V lets you shoot through less than perfect sighting conditions, because you can easily use it to centre most Reticles.....just line up the bottom line central on the bottom of the big "V", with the crossbar across the top of the V using the scoring rings to verify, and you have to be centred. Its surprising how well that works

The "Scoring Rings" are near enough to 8.5" across , so 4.25" from edge of 1 ring, to fly centre


The 10 Ring with the fly in the centre is 1.8" across


This one counted as my very first "Fly", even though it barely touched him ! If you hit the fly it is scored as a 10.1, so this particular target scored three x 8's, one x 9, and one x 10.1 so 43.1 for "ring" score.
Then to that, they add a further score for "Group". I think it works that for 1" or under you get a 10, for 1"-2" group its 9, for 2"-3" group its an 8, etc etc.
This particular group was just under 3", so my final score on this "detail" was 43.1 + 8 = 51.1


The Rules are printed on the target


with Rule # 10 being strictly enforced

Each "Target Lane" at Belmont has a big "Lane Number". There are two targets, above Left and above Right over the top of the lane number
At Belmont, the left hand target is on a PINK background corflute, and is for Light Gun, whilst the right hand target is on a black background and is for Heavy Gun.
Underneath the lane number is a steel splash plate, approx 550mm wide X 450mm high sprayed white
They do things this way because they are sharing the "range", shooting with short range BR right beside the 500 meter range. So the first (LG) detail has to shoot the "pink" target in the first detail, then the second (HG) detail shoots at their black target. Then the whole range (100-200m BR plus 500m Fly) stops shooting , and the scoring crew races up, replaces both targets with new ones, re sprays the white "splash plate", so we can all do our next (of 5) detail.
You start with 10 mins unlimited shots, on the splash plate to get on, and onto your "practise target" whenever you are ready.
it was quite surprising how many shooters couldnt "get on", so to help them, on a bare earth bank just to the right of the target frames they place three flouro clay targets in the dirt. If necessary a shooter can fire at one of these, and the fall of shot is fairly easily seen.
When the practise detail is over,for both LG then HG, its time to get serious.
You have to display 8 rounds on your bench for the RO to see. Then the 7 minute timer starts. You must shoot 5 at the target, but can start with 1-3 shots at the sighter plate.....whatever you want....most use all three.....then shoot the scoring shots.
The only thing that's possibly any issue at Belmont is that the HG detail that shoots immediately after the LG has to use a splash plate that has already had 1-3 (mostly 3 !) shots already fired onto it. Apparently they have some days where you cant see bullet holes on the target, but on my first crack at it the other day there certainly wasnt any issue through my March scope.
When its all over, you can take your own targets home (who else would want them !.....saves on rubbish)

It is hard to imagine that any competitive F Class shooter wont also do well at Fly Shooting, straight up.
I am hooked after my first attempt...........same as F Class got me, first time

PS : I wish someone had explained it to me fully before it started. I didnt have a bloody clue how it actually worked, and being LG was in the first detail. Ol' mate calls " starting now" and 25 blokes open up at steel, dirt banks etc and all i can see is a huge bank of 50 targets on 25 lanes and no damn idea re what i should actually do next ! Thankfully i had an F Classer mate either side, in Lindsay Schneider and Mark Fairbairn, and they didnt mind stopping to explain to a newbie like me how i should go about it

bartman007 wrote:
I gather the aim is to get the shot away before the fly jumps to the next target.

Victorian humour Mike?

Cam

Thanks for the run down Tony.

I can see how confusing it would be for new comers. 25 lanes with 50 targets, plus the splash plate for sighters! That is a lot to look at, not to mention ensuring you shoot your target and not the other one that is on your number!

7 minutes for 5 scoring shots, with the aim to keep them close together and to hit the fly if lucky?

Sounds like fun. How many details do you have in a day/afternoon?



Cam, my humor can be an acquired taste.