Shooting Class Categories

[BigRuss]

Ok so if .20 is already counted in open class why not .22 as well ?

[Herp]

Now rain, I don't like...but rough, oh yeah

I'll bring some old axle grease with sand in it

A crusty old pot of Swarfega should suffice

[Rex&Amy]

i have been known to shoot a boinger a few times over the last 3.5 years. But in that time there has been a big increase of the number of people shooting springers. Initially there were not enough competing to justify any more than 1 medal or trophy, it was the same for 22. so they joined them together. However, there has been a big rise in the numbers of boingers which I hope my being such a positive role model is partially responsible for. But it still very much thought of as a second class citizen and not taken seriously. many times I have been robbed of a win on the UKAHFT and Masters where the organisers haven't taken note of what the scores were etc. On the first year of the HFT Masters they combined 22 and recoiling and I was robbed by Nick Hopkins in a shoot off with his 22 steyer against my second hand 97 with his hamster costing more than my gun. He is a great sport and lovely guy but I did voice my displeasure to Ian Bainbridge and suggested that there is no comparison of the two disciplines and they did make a separate category.

On other subsequent big shoots they still just lump us together and I was really gutted to see one comp was a combined HFT and FT, they had all these lovely trophies for 1-3 in so many different gradings and classes and then just one 50p medal for recoiling, I did really vocalise how disgusted I was and they made a point of an equal trophy the following year.

We need to turn up in sufficient numbers and speak up in order to improve things. But also many serious HFT competitors are also taking up boinging at top level and now its becoming more popular and visual so I hope that there may even be more than one bloody medal when you consider that there is 1-5 in open, 1-3 in the other classes but only 1st in recoiling.

[Lol Moore]

A crusty old pot of Swarfega should suffice

Crusty Swarfega.....my favourite 80's porn star, ohhh, the memories

[simmmo]

Ok so if .20 is already counted in open class why not .22 as well ?

Look at the results for the RSN shoot it's out of a 100 so the scores equate to percentage of targets knocked down.

I actually believe that the good PCP .22 shooter on a course I would set would be at a distinct disadvantage over a good .177 boinger.

There are 3 glaring points that come to my mind.

Velocity covering 2 trajectory 560ish fps versus 785fps equals a lot of unbelievably accurate range finding being required once we start getting out there so not much advantage there for the .22 psychos.

A lot more time out in the wind, I know it's heavier but it also has a bigger surface area for the wind to act on and it is crawling towards those longer targets so way more drift to plug in to the putting it in the hole equation. Never mind head wind effect pushing it even lower than normal.

Here is the killer your average club 15mm started life probably as 14.5mm, trust me they do, has since been shot a thousand times and has been battered down to 12mm, again they are. You now get some loon come out on a Sunday and try and put a 5.5mm slug through a hole which equates, allowing for splitters that don't go, 6.5mm. In reality a lot of splitters are a lot less than half the pellet so the hole is technically dead centre. Obviously the same principle applies across the varying hole sizes.

35mm in .22 = 29.5 for a half split
35mm in .177 = 30.5 for a half split

I think the ,22 PCP boys should be bleating all you boinger boys have to worry about is a bit of hold sensitivity which you all try to tune out anyway.

Monkey.

[cooper_dan]

Rex - completely agree. Been having this discussion recently with other people. At some UK rounds there have been 5 team trophies and 5 manufacturers trophies plus the 3 open class. Why not do team and manufacturer just at the end of the series. Then the vets, ladies, 22, juniors and recoiling could have 1st and 2nd trophies every round

Cambridge was good last weekend as it was more split like this.

[Rex&Amy]

Cambridge was good last weekend as it was more split like this.

Hi Dan, thats because Cambridge always pay for another trophy for springers themselves. Historically there are a lot more springer shooters at Cambridge and it seems unfair that so many compete for only 1st place. Obviously there was a poor turnout this round due to weather but normally there are a lot of us there mate. But that is the club that took that on board themselves to do that.

Simmo, I do agree with you but then they should have their own class and compete amongst themselves. Us springer shooters should be competing with our own class like you gay gunners in the open.

[Spiderboy]

But also many serious HFT competitors are also taking up boinging at top level and now its becoming more popular and visual

What? Rex, you've gone MAD, like Simmo says (other than Lockett) there's not 1 decent shot in the LGBT classes, if a top shot bothered to pick up an inferior gun (God knows why anyone would), then you'd change hobbies within a season. As for trophies, if that's what you are really going for, then that's the losers stance straight away. Losers go to "enjoy their hobby" or self congratulate on their sixth place in the "Sharp Innova category", winners go to WIN. Look at how many PCP shooters that can't make the grade, put their tails between their legs and buy some crappy old springer. If it was down to me I'd give 1 trophy out at the end of the day..... WINNER. Of course the weak would stick their bottom lips out and small children would cry, but they'd either come back stronger or join the losers.
I'm thinking of a HW97, any good?
Rich.

[simmmo]

But also many serious HFT competitors are also taking up boinging at top level and now its becoming more popular and visual

What? Rex, you've gone MAD, like Simmo says (other than Lockett) there's not 1 decent shot in the LGBT classes, if a top shot bothered to pick up an inferior gun (God knows why anyone would), then you'd change hobbies within a season. As for trophies, if that's what you are really going for, then that's the losers stance straight away. Losers go to "enjoy their hobby" or self congratulate on their sixth place in the "Sharp Innova category", winners go to WIN. Look at how many PCP shooters that can't make the grade, put their tails between their legs and buy some crappy old springer. If it was down to me I'd give 1 trophy out at the end of the day..... WINNER. Of course the weak would stick their bottom lips out and small children would cry, but they'd either come back stronger or join the losers.
I'm thinking of a HW97, any good?
Rich.

And sanity entered the building.

Off to break my fingers as I have been drinking. Oh fluck before I do. So you pitch up with sub standard/gear not up for the job and bitch when the trophies don't go down to twenty second. I tell new people it is hard flucking hard I tell them what is competetive and they choose some updated dinosaur to only help highlight their inadequecies. Tomahawks work but a chainsaw is better. Agree with Dop one winner. and 2nd is first last who wants a trophy for being last. Its a competetive sport not a I lost less than you gig, Its almost Xmas weigh in your springer actions should get some mulled wine with the money from the scrappy and burn the stocks for some warmth. Then get Santa to bring you a PCP god forbid not in .22 and come play the real game. Not spend an age whinging about how un springer friendly that peg was. I am retired and have no clue how you get time to try to make something work on a modern HFT course that obviously won't.

Monkey

[BigRuss]

well that's one thing I've been right on , it definitely opened a box of frogs .

Not everyone who shoots HFT , aspires to be a superstar or world champion or even part of the in crowd , me being one of them ...... many shoot for the craic, amongst other reasons .

maybe some would like to shoot on an even playing field , after all if i entered an HFT shoot with an all singing all dancing pcp but was shooting it at over 12ft/lbs people would be up in arms , as rightly so it isn't even in the same ball park let alone an even playing field .

so by going on the previous couple of posts , why are there any categories at all ?, is the dollar that the people who shoot in an "inferior" category not worth the same as all the pcp shooters money ?.

We are not worthy , we are not worthy !!!!

[Rex&Amy]

But also many serious HFT competitors are also taking up boinging at top level and now its becoming more popular and visual

What? Rex, you've gone MAD, like Simmo says (other than Lockett) there's not 1 decent shot in the LGBT classes, if a top shot bothered to pick up an inferior gun (God knows why anyone would), then you'd change hobbies within a season. As for trophies.
Rich.

oooooo Dop are you trying to get me going or something. Many statements there. 1st being about Jason. He bought an amazing boinger for 1200 thinking he is just going to pick it up and kick ass. He was put through the wringer the first time he shot and just about managed a 30. Its now in his cupboard and will never see the light of day again.

It is my understanding that Daz Taylor and James Mac are going to be shooting springer next season. and how dare you imply I only shoot for the trophies and would give it up if I couldnt win. Admittedly I am still chasing that utopia of beating gay gunners with my boinger and it seems that I am nowhere near as good as I once thought I was. I am trying to overcome all of my physical restrictions and do myself proud anyway and will never give up trying. I said to myself when I have perfected boinging then I might give gay guns a go. Clearly I am still a loooooooooong way from perfecting boinging but at least us boinger boys know how to shoot competitively and still be good to one another. It is a much friendlier part of the HFT fraternity. And yes I do want to learn how to shoot competitively and be the best in my class so a second place trophy wont mean anything to me. But it will make it more appealing for others to take up shooting the better class and raise the profile sufficiently so at least it is not considered to be something that is tolerated by serious shooters like it is now.

Dop, I dare you to do a couple of comps with a boinger and see how you feel about pegs that are wobbly because gay gunners use them to get up or bend them over cos of a bit of grass in the way, too short or bits digging in your chest preventing yo from shooting how the gun needs to shoot. I bet you would give it a miss very quickly rather than trying to learn a technique to overcome the problems or tune it out. Then when you do the weather will change how your gun shoots.

Simmo is not capable of boinging anyway because it takes skill rather than just pointing it at the right place and pull the trigger. Sussex 50 was awesome to shoot but it really optimizes my points about the pegs having to be UKAHFT compliant to be able to shoot to the standard that will give us a fighting chance of shooting to the same standard as gay gunners can whilst resting on the ground and just making contact with the peg.

Russ, I do agree that some just go for the craic and I adore the micky taking and camaraderie amongst boinger boys but I also admit the craic is so much better when you get to dazzle them with the glare off the medal as you flip the bird to your mates. I know guys, I haven't done it for a long time now.

[Rift]

Guys surely the trophies per class is down to simple economics.

I looked back at the last few National shoots:

Nomads
11 x springers
3 x .22
85 x open

Furnace mill
12 x springers
3 x .22
83 x open

Emley moor
9 x springers
2 x .22
100 x open

Mad day 1
11 x springers
5 x .22
100 x open

Mad day 2
10 x springers
5 x .22
87 x open

See a trend forming...(I couldn't be arsed to keep counting).

If each shooter pays £10 to shoot and a % of the fee goes to the club for trophies etc then there should be around 9 open trophies to every springer trophy if done on class volume.

If you want a trophy either win your class and lord over your mates with bragging rights or enter the bigger pond in the open, with a few more pots to win and have a considerably smaller chance of getting one.

As for combining springer and .22, again just look at the numbers in the class entries. I would suggest both classes have separate disadvantages that level the playing field some what. (and yes, I have tried both in competition, that's why I shoot in the open !)

Rift.