A bit long winded but bear with me....
Suffice to say it was an eventful weekend, Insults were made, accusations made of "buying" a win along with me being a "Cheat".
Before practise started on Friday during a friendly talk with a few other competitors the topic of wives came up, I mentioned mine wasn't happy about the time I spent away from home but was otherwise very supportive of my shooting. A person who I'd never met before made an absolute vial, expletive filled comment about my wife, in my youth I'd have punched his lights out but being old and more mature I walked away and made a mental note not to go near him again. Next up some other loud mouth upon seeing the BR50 come out to play made a crack about having too much money and I was buying a trophy. I've heard that stuff before and find it ironic as it's generally the smokers and drinkers making these type of comments. They burn half their cash and piss the other half down the toilet with nothing besides a hangover and emphysema to show for it, and apparently I'm the one with too much money....
I put that crap behind me and focused on the shooting, Strelok Pro suggested 23moa elevation to get from my 200yd zero out to 1000yds and 2 moa left to counter the 5 m/s wind from the 7 O'clock direction. These numbers were near perfect and within several inches of where I needed to be, I was on paper and within 2 shots in the black. The cost of that app was more then recovered by not having to fire several rounds @ $8 each to get on target. I continued to test the grouping of the 4 loads I took and was relatively happy with the size. The second load performed a fraction better but the third load was the winner. I then shot a personal best with that rifle of 5 shots into 7.78" @ 1000yds (pulled 1 slightly or it would have been 5.5"). I opened the bolt and walked over to the guys running the electronic target system to ask if they could save me a copy.
It was at this time that the organiser approached me and said that an objection to the legality of my rear rest had been raised. I asked who raised the objection (Suspecting it was the vial loud mouth from earlier in the day) or if they were even affiliated with the FCSA, I was declined an answer. The rule book then came out and after some debate, others joined in and offered their interpretation of the rules. Benchrest rules were quoted, F-Class rules were quoted and I think I heard a quote from the bible in there
Just to prove my point I removed the rear rest and shot a 5 shot 11.5" group rapid fire. Then after more debate, the organiser sensing my growing agitation said that I would be allowed to compete this year but they will look to change the rules for next year (I took this as we'll let you cheat this year but we'll fix it). Then there was a discussion on exactly which class I was shooting in cause they didn't know what was on the registration papers.Admittedly I was very tired after having been awake 32hrs so rather then spit the dummy I went back to the motel to sleep on it. Woke up 6am and thought screw it, I don't need to waste any more time or money on this debacle so I headed home.
Spent yesterday cleaning the DTA & BAT 50, today I cleaned my brass ready to reload and tonight I'm heading out to the range so the boy can tick off a trainee pistol shoot on his path to full club membership. I've been in touch with the FCSA President in the US outlining why I withdrew from the competition, the circumstances behind it and that I can no longer justify the time, effort or funds to support their organisation in Australia.
My Rest setup
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This was their main objection
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My defense - Rests are not connected by any means to each other and can be moved / removed independently. The rifle isn't in the picture but take my word for it that it can be lifted freely from the rests. Also, there is no means to reduce the recoil other then the amount of leather in contact with the butt stock which is legal.
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Their argument - The board constitutes a means of attachment of the stands to each other.
My Argument - The board is no different to using the ground or indeed a proper bench (I use a board cause the ground isn't level there). We can't use benches at Warracknabeal due to regulations relating to range profile and the use of baffles to limit muzzle angle.
My defense of using the board
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The board could be considered to be a personally owned shooting bench which is permitted in the "Unlimited" class.
That's when the discussion arose around what the actual classes being shot were...
Here's the registration so I'm at a loss as to how there could be any doubt by the class being shot...
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In summary, the comp was a waste of time, effort and money but at least I got home early and can go shoot with the boy tonight