Scoring Question

[cris]

Looking beyond the World Championships, what do shooters think about the rules regarding scoring the international target?

The international target is excellent and very challenging. The international rules are very well thought out, however, the popularity of higher power air rifles in the USA makes our Open/Unlimited Class an interesting subject as far as scoring.

Scoring is caliber neutral since a .22 caliber plug/gauge is used for scoring all calibers, should this change?

A '10' is scored a 10, should a X be scored an 11?

While a 250 continues to be extremely rare, with higher scores above 245 becoming more common, when should the target be moved out beyond 25y/25m?

Should 12fpe and 20fpe air rifles be shot at the same distance as a 30+fpe air rifle?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[lead head]

Steve
You sure ask some big questions early in the morning.
1. At the present time I don't see a problem with the scoring plugs although I do like the old Ron Lewis scoring plug when scoring .177 but that is me and you can't use it on 20 or 22 caliber guns. I've also found that the 22 sometimes tears a bigger hole than the plug allowing the plug to fall through. This also only happens when you take the little magnifer off.

2. The X is in essence scored as an 11. It added to the total score as a tie breaker. I say leave it as it is until the shooters start shooting 250-25x
then you to change something about the game.

3. I think for right now the target range should stay at 25y/25m at least for the 12 and 20 fpe guns. The 30fpe's should be shot at 50y/m as a seperate class.

Just my thoughts of the subject. I'm waiting to read Frank's ramblings.
Larry B

 

[cris]

Larry,

I hear you are raising catfish in your yard these days, good eating with tartar sauce.

The reason I asked about scoring plugs is because a well known custom barrel maker is doing a run of .25 caliber air rifle barrels. Could be these will change things forever. Our scoring plugs might have a problem with those holes.

 

[therealld]

I'm already wanting to return to fifty yard shooting with higher powered air rifles. I have no interest right now in clibers larger than .22 becuase of the relatively larger air usage at similar velocity versus .22. The current World's target might be ok as-is for unlimited class fifty yard shooting. I like the concept of a higher score from x's, but feel a whole extra point is too much ... maybe 0.1 point per X wold be better.

 

[Sighters]

Our club in South Africa shoot according to the rules of WRABF to whom SABSF is affiliated. Recently we decided to introduce other shooting disciplines including two 50 meter events, a grouping target and a scoring target. For the 50 meter scoring we use the WRABF 50 meter rimfire target and we are very surprised at the scores being achieved.

In both instances we cap the power at 30 fpe but in many instances we find that guys with a well set up 12, 15 or 20 fpe will kick butt at 50 meters.

Attached is our scores from today's fun shoot.

 

[Renegade]

I like the current rules and distance for the lower powered guns and hope that doesn't change after the worlds. From my experience shooting an AZ Rapid in AGBR competition, I don't really see a need to move the target back for Unlimited class either. It was hard to score a 250 on that target at 25 yards, and with the smaller 10 ring on the World target, it's even harder.

I don't like the idea of adding a point for an X, either. Not that it's a very likely scenario, but someone could shoot a 240-11X and end up with a higher score than someone that hit the 10 ring every time for a 250 but didn't get any X's. Maybe a more likely scenario would be a 250-5X losing to a 245-11X, with the 245 guy shooting an 8 and three 9's on his target. No way should a target like that beat a 250!

My 2 cents worth, copied and pasted from my response to the same question on another forum,
Todd Banks

 

[Dave Shattuck]

I agree with both Larry and Todd about an "X" not adding points, but simply standing for what it is. You score points by hitting within a certain ring, and an "X" is only used as a tie breaker, or ego booster.

I like the idea of using the WRABF Rimfire Target if and when shooting @ 50 Y/M.

In general, I like what the WRABF and U.S. AIR RIFLE have to offer so far as Rules, Classes and difficulty of target go. But, if I were setting up a discipline, a couple of the things that I would like to see added are:
• When shooting at 25Y/M, or when shooting Indoors or Outdoors, to keep separate records very similarly to the way IR 50/50 does it in rimfire for Yards and Meters, Indoors and Outdoors.
• To add an Unlimited Class that allows for not only the use of any foot/pound gun, but also anything up to and including 25 Caliber guns with no weight restriction, and finally to allow for the use of any type of rest whether it be two piece, one-piece, rail or what have you, yet keeping the part about the rest not being attached to the bench.

I'm sure that if I sat down with pencil in hand and a reread the Rules one more time with the specific purpose of finding changes, there would be others. But I think by making these two additions will open up the game just enough to make it easy for everyone to find a Class to fit into with the gun they currently have.

Dave

 

[cris]

Good Points

Dave,

As usual, good points. Thank you.

First, United States Air Rifle Benchrest has had an Open/Unlimited division from the beginning. It allows any caliber, any power, no weight restriction and certainly, one piece rests or rail guns. Since experimentation is a hallmark of benchrest in this country, this rifle class simply continues on with that tradition. This does mean that the possibility exists that this may lead to an "equipment race" but that happens in many sports where technology has a fundamental impact on performance. There will always be other rifle classes offered, including springers, for those who would like a different venue. These higher power rifles might be best served by a 50 meter/yard target. After the World Championships, we will review if the frequency of 250 scores at 25 meters/yards increases dramatically over what we have seen during qualifying.

Second, when record keeping does become a topic, having separate meters/yards and indoor/outdoor records in each rifle class makes sense. Doing what we can to keep the playing field level is important.

Lastly, in other benchrest games, the X does not carry much of a premium because it is relatively easy to come by, VFS is an excellent example. However, with air rifle benchrest, the X does not come so easily. Look at qualifying scores and postal scores to confirm the degree of difficulty.

This is only my casual look on things but trying to stay ahead of the curve. Ultimately, the shooters will decide.