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FT Blog: Something For All

FT Blog: Something For All

When I started doing the BFTA G.P. (Grand Prix) Series, back in 2006, the courses seemed very hard and rightly so. This, after all, is the national F.T. series.

I am all for ‘something for all’ when it comes to setting out a local regional shoot! This after all, is where most will start their competitive FT career. Having always kept records of the courses I have set, from regional to national level and who hit what, or perhaps more importantly, who missed what, it has allowed me to build a very good data base on what sort of target ranges/ placement will catch out the different grade of shooters.

Gimmies!

One of my criteria when building a regional course is that every 1 in 5 targets is a gimmie! A target everyone should hit. Now, this can be anything from a stander or kneeler at under 15 yards, a 25mm kill reducer under 20 yards or a full-size 40mm kill under 25 yards. Usually, those range and target combinations will be hit by all shooters. The idea is that no one goes more than a few misses in a row, so even the less accurate of shooters get a boost when a target falls every now and again.

My last course, at Oaktree FTC on June 25th had the golden bunny, a full size/ 40mm kill at 12 yards. One shooter still missed it, though he was using a springer least that was his excuse! The rest of that course was a bit unusual, as I decided not to put any target over 50 yards, 55 being the max allowed. The most missed targets were two of the longest on the course, both 50 yards, one was hit 7 times and the other 10 out of the 24 graded shooters, so they did their job in making sure it was a high scoring shoot (37 ex 40 was top score) but with enough to test all grades of shooter and everyone went away happy with the course.

National standard

But Nationals are meant to find the best of the best. The GP Series used to be a nine round series with each of the regions that make up the BFTA, hosting a round at one of the clubs in the region. Sadly, a few years ago, FT suffered a decline in popularity in Scotland, and there has been no national round there for about five years. Now, with the new airgun licence, it is even less likely!

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So, it’s the seven English regions that host, plus one in Wales, and the shooter’s best six scores from the max 8 are used to find the G.P. Champion in each grade. Over the last few years, some of the rules have been changed that made the G.P. shoots easier. Something for all; the one rule that has always bemused me was the Standing and kneeling rule.

At a regional shoot, a course setter can set all discipline targets (8 out of 40) at a max of 45 yards- testing for even the best AA grade shooters. At the National level, however, there is a combined distance rule! This means a lane with two targets that have to be taken standing cannot have a combined distance of more than 60 yards.

So, if we have a testing 45-yard target, we have a gimmie 15 yarders too. Not really a test for the standard of shooter at such events. Kneelers see the combined total stretch to 70 yards, but again with the recent addition of the kneeling roll making the shoot easier; it’s rare to see many top AA grade shooters miss any kneelers!

Is it me?

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t find many courses have the wind that I remember from years ago? Now, I have to admit that there is a special part of my kit that has an influence here, but I am not going into that (this month) as I don’t want to give away my advantage! Generally, there seems to be a lot of heavily wooded courses in use that the wind just cannot penetrate to any degree. My home club of Oaktree is perched up on a Welsh hillside, so even in a light breeze on practice days I often find myself ‘out of kill zone’ and when the wind gets up aiming off plate, watching the pellet curl into the kill zone is, it has to be said, a pleasure. Just one I don’t get to see in a national shoot that often.

Good old sywell

All may however not be lost, as on August 6th we travel to Sywell FTC. The grounds there are open and only once have I seen a windless shoot there. Most of the time, even at 35 yards you will be thinking of giving at least 20mm of windage and further ranges its easily off plate! With the current GP season being very tight at the top after five rounds, with three front runners and a chasing pack of about 8, hopefully the wind will be up and it will sort the ‘in kills’ from the ‘outs’, while still having something for all!

 

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