palm rest on lightweight sporting gun ?

[mickmep]

hi all.
I'm thinking, if allowed, of trying a palm rest on my lightweight sporting rifle.
could someone confirm if this is legal for competitions ?

I've read through the nsra rules and item 8.13 (standing) states 'in the free rifle and sports rifle events a palm rest may be used.'
does lightweight sporting rifle come under the 'sports rifle' events type ?

thanks

[thirdwheel]

Palm rest not allowed on LSR - basic rifle and non supportive glove and any sight but some of the postal coms our club does excludes laser sights.
Tight rules is to keep it simple and fair as many people just use club rifles. There is also a maximum weight too.
Ask the organises of the specific comps you want to do for clarification of rules.

George

[Rutty]

Hi mickmep,

The NSRA Rules specifically relating to Lightweight Sport Rifle are as follows:

8.3.3 Lightweight sport rifle. All rifles chambered for ammunition as in Rule 8.2.3.1 and air or CO2 rifles of calibre
5.6 mm (.22 in) or less are permitted, subject to:

8.3.3.1 the overall weight, including sights and all other accessories, and including, if used, a glove, shall not exceed
4.5 kg;

8.3.3.2 the trigger must support 500 g (1.1 lb) weight;

8.3.3.3 when used with a magazine, the rifle shall not be loaded with more than 10 cartridges or projectiles, even
though the magazine may be of a larger capacity.

and that's all.

Any other "rules" such as:

Palm rest not allowed....basic rifle....non supportive glove*......laser sights

are all local rules that should be fully laid out in the special conditions for the competition being shot. Writing these rules can be very difficult, as if you allow "basic rifles" but no palm rest then how deep may the stock be and at what point do you measure it? May the butt plate be adjustable or must it be in line with the butt. If you decide on the latter, then you have to define a maximum butt drop in case someone makes a custom fitted stock, and so it goes on.

So, the answer to your question is that if you are shooting LSR under NSRA Rules then you may extend the depth of the fore end by some means provided your rifle meets the other criteria listed in rules 8.3.3 - 8.3.3.3 and you observe the Clothing Rules under 8.9

8.9 LIGHTWEIGHT SPORT RIFLE

The specialised shooting clothing described in Rules 8.6 and 8.8 is not permitted in lightweight sport rifle with
the sole exception of strap-on elbow pads (see Rule 8.8.1). A shooting glove (see Rule 8.7) or an ordinary
glove may be used provided the combined weight of the rifle and glove does not exceed 4.5 kg (see Rule
8.3.2.1). A kneeling roll (Rule 8.14.2) is permitted in the kneeling position.

Rutty

* 8.7 SHOOTING GLOVES
The glove must be made of flexible material and must not extend more than 50 mm (2 in) above the wrist
measured from the centre of the wrist knuckle.

[Hemmers]

hi all.
I'm thinking, if allowed, of trying a palm rest on my lightweight sporting rifle.
could someone confirm if this is legal for competitions ?

I've read through the nsra rules and item 8.13 (standing) states 'in the free rifle and sports rifle events a palm rest may be used.'
does lightweight sporting rifle come under the 'sports rifle' events type ?

thanks

Rutty's covered the rules for LWSR. To clear up any confusion about "Sport Rifle" - it's the Ladies version of Free Rifle (your classic, ISSF Prone & 3-Position Target Rifle). The only major differences are a few things to do with maximum weight etc - women are restricted to a slightly lighter gun than men for instance so that an East German Amazon couldn't heft a massive heavy barrelled rifle onto the range and gain an unreasonable advantage over her smaller, petite competitors. That sort of thing. Although Men's and Women's 3-Position and Prone looks very similar, technically Men are shooting "Free Rifle" and Women are shooting "Sport Rifle".

Then Lightweight Sport Rifle came along and confused matters

[mickmep]

thanks for the replies.
thought I'd better speak to NSRA, and as far as they are concerned a palm rest is legal to use for lightweight sporting rifle.
on the proviso that it is 'just a palm rest' as in that it is within the keeping of the 'spirit of sportsmanship' as they put it in the rules.
what this means is no cheating, as in fixings to a glove etc.
basically as far as NSRA are concerned an 'off the shelf' palm rest is allowable, as anyone can just buy one and fit it, it's not a specially engineered item to try and bend the rules to give you an advantage.

The NSRA guy also made it clear that weight limit of 4.5kg must be observed with the rest fitted, and minimum trigger weight of 500g, which will both be checked before competition, both of which are fine for my setup.