Thinking of trying HFT

[Brian.Samson]

I went to the BFTA GP 1 yesterday. This was hosted by Redfearn FTC, easy to find, half a mile from Jcn 38 of the M1. Everyone I met was friendly and helpful, even though this was an Elite Event with several well known shooters present.
What struck me however was the huge cost of all the equipment in use!
Top end PCP rifle about £3000
Top end scope, mounts, side wheel, etc, say £1000
Ditto adjustable hamster fore end, say £300
Straitjacket ( as I call them!!) say £250 This intrigued me as many of the wearers did not not have them fastened which I would have thought reduces their advantage anyway.
Fancy triggers, etc, say £50
Mats, knee rolls, Bag, say £100
So, at this level at least it is not cheap. An enjoyable day all the same; I hope to visit a competition where there may be some ordinary mortals in action!
Thanks to all who explained a few things to me by the way.

Your figures are vastly over inflated and you don't need a top end PCP and scope, you don't need an adjustable hamster (we managed without them just fine for 30 years) and you don't need a shooting jacket although I wouldn't recommend shooting naked and whatever you wear will cost something. My shooting jacket cost £140, and I wouldn't balk at paying £140 for a coat - shooting or otherwise.


Bench Rest can be just as expensive.

You'll pay just as much for a BR rifle as you will for a FT rifle - popular BR rifles tend to be the same makes and models as popular FT rifles - EV2's, FTP's, HFT500's etc etc.

My beanbag cost me £30 (it's italian leather so I paid a bit more), my kneeling roll cost me £4.
A Seb Neo rest for BR will set you back around £800.

A decent BR scope can set you back as much as a decent FT scope.

You can use an FT rifle / scope for Bench Rest too.. an HFT rifle/scope is less suited to bench rest because of the low mag scope.

Are you using cost as an excuse not to take part? - get yourself out there and give it a go. I guarantee you won't regret it.

[cooper_dan]

There is another option that I am considering trying sometime this year or next, which is SFT. I know it isn't as popular but there are a few clubs that do it. As far as I can tell its FT rules but limited to a maximum of 12x magnification, and you can't adjust your scope between the two targets in any one lane (i.e you can't use your scope to range find). Maybe try this first with a lower end scope as the other SFT shooters will be in the same boat.