Sporting-Class. Everything you want to know about this new discipline including course of fire, competitions, rifles, regulations and how to get involved.
My Predator Class rifle (£170 all up ) - Rossi 223REM wt 4.6Kg, 23 inch Heavy barrel 1 in 12 twist. The scope is a 4-14x so that means the honour system - but I have no problem with that.
I'm really impressed with the solid feel and quality of this rifle for the price and simplicity. Just have to get a muzzle break/flash suppressor to cover the threads - other than that it's good to go! I'll struggle with the wind and the lighter bullets, but it'll be fun trying to keep up!
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
I Like the sound of this but I don't think scope magnification should be limited. It's a difficult system to enforce. Have you tried shooting 30 or 40x without the rear bag? Wobble is not much fun.
Also, 12x is not representative of some sporting rifles used for vermin control. i have 20x on my 222 and it gets used when slotting bunny rabbits at long range.
So for me, rules are as-is minus scope restrictions and without rear bag.
But in predator class, I'm getting my little CZ rebarreled with an 8 twist and shooting my f/TR load as it'll be about the best setup possible for the class.
Everything will turn into an arms race, it's inevitable...
Mr_Logic wrote:
Everything will turn into an arms race, it's inevitable...
It's entirely possible that will happen, we'll just have to wait and see how this progresses.
My own preference was (and still is) to limit the Predator class to 2/3/400m and to bullet weights of 62gn. My reasoning is to encourage sub 22 calibres and to try and prevent/limit an 'arms race' from occurring.
Regarding scope magnification 12x is such an awkward magnification to find as a max setting. I would like the maximum setting changed to 14x as there seems to be more 4-14x scopes out there.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
Mr_Logic wrote:Problem with sub-22 cals is they're fast. That'll be out of line with range regs and thus a problem. Sub-62gr means Hornady 52gr A-max in reality.
From what I understand the max MV on MoD ranges is 3250fps (never seen it written anywhere tho' - only the 4500J ME limit). This effectively makes the Predator Class unnecessary as nobody can or will shoot a sub 22 calibre rifle. Those shooting 22 calibre effectively have to shoot 52 gn or higher to keep below the 3250fps limit. Better off sticking to just S-Class with no sub-classes, that way it keeps it simple.
Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can achieve with it out to 600m at Cawdor - should be fun!
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”