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October 3rd, 2013
 At the F-Class Nationals in Raton, we saw a wide variety of front rests being used by F-Open shooters. One that caught our eye was a new prototype Farley Coaxial rest brought to the match by our friend Speedy Gonzalez. This one-of-a-kind Farley features a big wheel on the side for gross elevation adjustment, plus an extended locking arm. These two upgrades make the rest easier to use from the prone position. Up front is a new L-shaped Delrin forearm stop (Speedy say this would be black in the production version). Special large-diameter feet with extended “anchor shafts” complete the package. (See bottom photo.) Speedy used this rest at the Nationals and did very well, finishing second in the Master division, and in the top 15 overall among all Open-class shooters.
CLICK Photos Below to See Full-Screen Version.
Speedy says the folks at Farley hope to market the Big Wheel Coaxial with these F-Class upgrades by the end of 2013. Some of the items should be available for purchase separately, as upgrades to current Farley rests. Sorry, no pricing is available at this time.
The rest also sported a new Edgewood front bag with the new light-colored, super-slick bag material. Along with the new bag fabric, Speedy explained that there are subtle changes to the bag design and construction so that it holds its shape better and doesn’t “plump up” in the middle.
August 28th, 2013
The F-Class World Championships wrapped up yesterday at Raton. This was the biggest F-Class Worlds ever, and the level of competition was higher than ever before. But the World Championships were not just about wind calls and V-Counts. The event was also about camaraderie. All those who participated made new friends from around the globe. In the end, this event was about fellowship, and the bond of shared challenges with fellow shooters. No matter what the tally on the team score-card, everyone who participated in the World Championships came home a winner — a winner in the game of life.
Two Aussies Share the Joy of Victory…
Team F-TR USA Members Ham it Up After Winning F-TR World Championship.
The U.S. F-Open National Team on its Way to the Silver Medal.
Tough Guys Jim Crofts, Paul Phillips, and Brad Sauve Helped Carry Team USA to Victory.
Team Canada at the 1000-yard Line. Canada Hosts the next F-Class Worlds in Ottawa, 2017.
2013 World Individual F-Class Champion Kenny Adams Shooting in Team Mode.
Past NRA President John Sigler with his Wife. John is an Avid F-Class Shooter Himself.
South African F-Open Shooter Hard at Work.
Our British Friends Russell Simmonds and Laurie Holland — both Forum Members.
Spanish Team Genius at work — Farley Rest Bolted to a Truck Brake Rotor. Rock Solid.
Team F-TR USA Captain Darrell Buell with the Superb New Nightforce Spotting Scope.
Two Young Ladies on the Junior F-TR Team Enjoyed the Event.
Team Ireland Proudly Shows the Colors. Erin Go Bragh!
Forum Boss and Raton Range Boss Watch the Action on Day 2.
Editor’s Note: If I learned one unforgettable lesson from this match, it is that we shooters have a common bond that spans oceans and crosses national borders. We truly are a brotherhood of riflemen who share a passion for a challenging and rewarding sport.
I want to thank all the many people who came up to me and said “Thanks for the website — keep doing what you’re doing — it’s important”. I heard that message from Brits, Aussies, Spaniards, South Africans, Germans, Kiwis, Italians, Brazilians, Ukrainians, Irelanders, and of course my fellow Americans. Thank you all for your kind words. Rest assured, we’ll do our best to “keep the faith” in the years ahead.
August 28th, 2013
The 2013 F-Class World Championships are in the history books. Congratulations to Australia, winner of the 8-man F-Open Match (Farquharson Cup) and to the USA F-TR squad which captured both 8-person and 4-person F-TR team titles. Here’s a quick summary of the results (an in-depth report with more photos and videos is in the works).
Not all Australia team members shown in photo.
Marty Lobert Explains How Australia Took the Title:
With his straight .284 Win, Marty Lobert shot 442-46V for Australia during the team championships, one of the highest scores among all F-Open shooters during Team Comps. Marty’s Australian team-mate, Cameron McEwan, had a 443-40X, high score for the match. Congrats to Cameron — great shooting!
Team Australia won the 8-man F-Open Championship with a 3490-339V tally. The USA 8-man F-Open team finished second with a 3475-308V team score. South Africa was third with 3445-267V, while the previous champion Great Britain Team finished fourth with 3427-261V. Team Spindle Shooters won the F-Open Rutland Cup for 4-man teams with a 1750-163V score, 10 points ahead of the 4-man Team USA squad coached by Emil Praslick (1740-169V).
In the F-TR Division, F-TR Team USA won both the 8-person F-TR Richardson Trophy Match (3412-261V) and the 4-person F-TR Rutland Cup Match (1689-130V). Canada’s 8-man F-TR team scored 3400-245V for second place in the 8-man F-TR competition, while Great Britain’s 8-man team tallied 3393-220V for third place. Notably, F-TR Team USA’s 8-man team score would have been good enough for fifth place in the F-Open Division. Yanks dominated the 4-man F-TR match, with Nik Taylor’s BNX/21st Century squad placing second (after F-TR Team USA), and the Michigan F-TR team (Barnhart/Litz) finishing third.
Here are the published official results for the 2013 F-Class World Championships, for both the team and individual competitions. These links all point to PDF files. If you have the right browser plugin, you should be able to simply click and view. Otherwise, right-click the link and “save as” to your hard-drive before viewing.
2013 F-Class World Championship Final Scores and Rankings
FCWC Team Results
8-Person F-Open Team Match (Farquharson Cup)
8-Person F-TR Team Match (Richardson Trophy)
4-Person F-Open Team Match (Rutland Cup)
4-Person Team F-TR Team Match
FCWC Individual Results
Individual World Championship – F-Open
Individual World Championship – F-TR
Individual Day 1 – F-Open
Individual Day 1 – F-TR
Individual Day 2- F-Open
Individual Day 2 – F-TR
August 25th, 2013
We’re halfway through the F-Class World Championships, with the individual matches completed. We should be able to announce the winner very soon, when the final individual scores have been certified. We can report that this match went down to the wire, with the top two places decided on V-Count (the international equivalent of our X-Count). Final results of both Individual and Team FCWC matches will be posted at: fcwc-usa.org/results.
One Very Patriotic Shooter at the F-Class World Championships.
It has been a very tough two days for most competitors. One late relay on Saturday faced a rain squall that resulted in many off-target misses. On Sunday, from mid-morning on, the wind was switching angles all the time with ups and downs in wind speeds. There were apparent lulls that seemed steady, but quite suddenly the wind angle could switch 40° or more, while gusting. Nonetheless, shooters turned in some great performances. During his 800-yard relay, Australia’s Marty Lobert shot a perfect 75-15V for fifteen shots (max shot value at the Worlds is a five).
The individual F-Open and F-TR World Champions will be crowned tonight. Team competition begins tomorrow (Monday). We’ll post video interviews with the top shooters soon. Here are some photo highlights from Sunday at the F-Class World Championships.
August 23rd, 2013
The dust has settled and all the scores have been tabulated at the 2013 U.S. F-Class Nationals. This was a hugely successful event with 350 shooters on the firing line. After three days of individual matches, concluding with blustery conditions on Thursday, we have two new USA F-Class Champions, Larry Bartholome (F-Open) and Derek Rodgers (F-TR). Both men shot great matches from start to finish — we congratulate both on their well-deserved victories.
CLICK HERE for Final F-Open Full Results | CLICK HERE for Final F-TR Full Results
Derek Rodgers (Team Sinclair) is the 2013 U.S. National F-TR Champion. Posting a 1270-44X final score, Derek edged runner-up Lige Harris (1268-44X) by two (2) points, both men finishing with identical X-counts. John Chilton was third with 1264-35X, with Trudie Fay (1263-33X) and James Crofts (1261-33X) rounding out the top five. Lige finished as High Senior, while Trudie was the High Lady.
Fellow F-TR shooter (and past National F-TR Champion) Brad Sauve praised Rodgers:
“Derek is the only person that has won both the F-TR and F-Open U.S. National Championships. Derek just dominated those Raton winds in every match and must have ice in his veins to go into that last match knowing he was tied for first and [still] pull out another great performance.”
In F-Open class, Larry Bartholome won the 2013 National Championship, besting an extremely strong field packed with talent. Larry shot great on all three days, holding on to his lead even in extremely challenging conditions on Thursday. Larry took the F-Open title with a 1283-59X score. The next three positions were decided on X-Count, with three shooters, second-place Kenny Adams (1281-66X), third-place Freddy Haltom (1281-52X), and fourth-place William Wittman (1281-50X) all finishing with 1281 point totals. Kenny’s impressive 66X was the high X-count for the match. Steven Blair finished fifth with a 1280-52X score.
Here’s One of the Next Generation of Champions…
Stormy Conditions on Thursday
On Thursday, the wind started out calm for the first couple of relays. Conditions started to get a little switchy by the 3rd through the 6th relays and then with a storm front coming in, the 7th and 8th relays got a bit wild. Our reporter at Raton, Jeff Williams, reports: “We had dust devils dancing between the line and the targets. Rain held back until after all shooters had finished.”
August 21st, 2013
The U.S. F-Class Nationals, now underway in Raton, NM, are a big success. This event has drawn huge numbers of talented shooters from across America (and around the world). There are roughly 180 F-TR shooters plus over 170 F-Open Shooters. That’s a record turn-out we’re told. The Nationals got off to an impressive start — the best shooters were center-punching the 1000-yard targets right out of the gate. Chris Ford shot a 150-11X in the first F-0pen match of Day 1, when many other 150s were shot, including a 150-9X by Larry Bartholome. Many 150s were also shot on Day 2 during the first match. On both days, conditions got tougher over the course of the day.
In F-Open, after two days of shooting, William Wittman (894-39X) enjoys a two-point lead over Larry Batholome (892-42X). In F-TR class, Lige Harris (885-34X) has been the class of the field so far, posting the top scores on both Day 1 (445-18X) and Day 2 (440-18X). The level of competition is extraordinarily high this year — so high that some past National Champions are well down the pack. Overall, if you look at the complete score sheets linked below, you’ll see that competition has been very tight, with many shooters clustered with near-identical scores.
Download DAY ONE F-Open and F-TR Results | Download DAY TWO F-Open and F-TR Results
F-Open Results Day 1 (Top 10)
William WITTMAN 148-7 150-10 150-4 448-21X
Martin LOBERT 149-8 150-6 148-9 447-23X
Gordon OGG 148-9 148-7 150-8 446-24X
Larry BARTHOLOME 150-9 148-6 148-6 446-21X
Speedy GONZALEZ 149-8 149-4 148-8 446-20X
Marce BEEN 148-6 149-3 149-8 446-17X
Bob SEBOLD 149-7 148-3 149-6 446-16X
Kenny ADAMS 150-7 145-7 150-8 445-22X
Mike MCGILL 146-4 150-10 149-8 445 22X
Freddy HALTOM 149-6 148-7 148-5 445-18X |
F-Open Results Day 2 (Top 10)
Larry BARTHOLOME 150-10 148-6 148-6 446-22X
William WITTMAN 150-7 147-7 149-4 446-18X
Freddy HALTOM 149-10 149-8 147-4 445-22X
Kenneth PADILLA 150-8 148-8 147-4 445-20X
Steven BLAIR 150-11 147-7 147-3 444-21X
Charles BALLARD 149-11 149-4 146-2 444-17X
Bob SEBOLD 150-9 148-1 146-5 444-15X
Emil KOVAN 150-6 147-4 147-3 444-13X
Jeff TRAYLOR 149-6 148-1 146-3 443-10X
Speedy GONZALEZ 149-8 146-7 147-6 442-21X
Pete PETROS 148-5 147-8 147-8 442-21X |
F-TR Results Day 1 (Top 10)
Lige HARRIS 149-5 146-6 150-7 445-18X
John CHILTON 150-7 146-3 146-4 442-14X
James CROFTS 149-6 143-3 149-7 441-16X
Paul KENT 147-4 147-6 147-3 441-13X
Philip KELLEY 146-6 144-5 150-9 440-20X
Derek RODGERS 148-10 143-3 149-6 440-19X
Michael SMITH 148-4 145-3 147-3 440-10X
Ian KLEMM 147-5 146-4 146-2 439-11X
Daniel POHLABEL 148-8 142-7 148-4 438-19X
Radoslaw CZUPRYNA 147-6 141-1 150-9 438-16X |
F-TR Result Day 2 (Top 10)
Lige HARRIS 147-7 148-5 145-4 440-16X
Derek RODGERS 147-3 147-4 146-4 440-11X
Gerry WIENS 148-4 145-2 145-6 438-12X
Trudie FAY 146-3 146-4 146-3 438-10X
Ian KLEMM 149-6 145-7 142-5 436-18X
Alan BARNHART 148-9 144-2 144-1 436-12X
William LITZ 148-5 143-4 144-4 435-13X
Laura PERRY 146-5 146-4 143-2 435-11X
Allen TAMPKE 147-4 141-4 146-3 434-11X
Stephen SIRCAUSA 148-7 143-8 142-4 433-19X
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August 19th, 2013
The U.S. F-Class National Championships are underway at the Whittington Range in Raton, New Mexico. The event commenced yesterday with squadded practice. Today the first official matches started at 8:00 am, with threee 15-shot invidivual events at 1000-yards. The event is hosted at Raton by the Bald Eagle Rifle Club (BERC). CLICK HERE for match information.
U.S. National F-TR Team on Practice Day…
Course of fire — Day One
- Match 1: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Unlimited sighting shots and 15 shots for
record in a time of 22 minutes.
- Match 2: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Two (2) sighting shots and 15 shots for record in a time of 22 minutes.
- Match 3: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Two (2) sighting shots and 15 shots for record in a time of 22 minutes.
Because the 2013 F-Class World Championships will be held at Raton immediately after the U.S. Nationals, many international shooters will be attending the U.S. Championships this week. The firing line definitely has a multi-national look this year. Below is U.S. F-Open National Team Captain Shiraz Balolia with a proud Canadian competitor. For once Shiraz may have been one-upped in the hatsmanship competition.
Photos courtesy Shiraz Balolia and Team USA F-TR Rifle Team
August 16th, 2013
F-Classers — you better get your ammo loaded and your bags packed. The 2013 F-Class U.S. National Championship commences this Sunday, August 18, 2013 with an official practice day. The United States National Championship matches start on Monday with Registration and Squadding at 0700-0730. (Don’t over-sleep and miss the action.) There will be individual matches on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, with a U.S. Championship Team Match on Wednesday.
The F-Class World Championships follow immediately after the U.S. Championships, with the Worlds running Friday August 23rd (practice day) through Tuesday, August 27th. This back-to-back scheduling means that many foreign shooters can come early and participate in the U.S. Championship matches as well. It looks to be an exciting week-and-a-half of competition. Good Luck to all individual shooters and teams. Here is the schedule for the U.S. Nationals:
U.S. F-Class Championships Shooting Schedule
Sunday, August 18, 2013
There will be a squadded practice at 1000 yards for individuals and teams. Squadding at 0700-0730. Commence firing 0800. Squadded practice fee is included in the match entry fee. There will be four relays, 20 minutes per relay. The range will be closed the remainder of the day.
Monday, August 19, 2013
DAY 1: F-Class 1000 Yards
Registration/Squadding at 0700-0730. Opening ceremonies 0720
Commence fire 0800. Three individual 15-record-shot 1000-yard matches plus Aggregate.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Day 2: F-Class 1000-Yards
Squadding at 0700-0730, commence fire at 0800
Three individual, 15-record-shot 1000-yard matches plus Aggregate.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Day 3: F-Class Team Matches
Team Captains will draw for target assignments 0720, commence fire at 0800
Two, four-person 1000-yard slow fire prone team matches, plus aggregate. Two sighting shots and 20
shots for record per team member.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Day 4: F-Class 1000-yards
Squadding 0700-0730, commence fire 0800
Two 1000-yard individual 20-record-shot matches plus Aggregate.
The National Championship will be awarded based on Individual Grand Aggregate (total of matches 1-3, 5-7, 9-10). The Award Dinner/Ceremony will be held at the Coors Building at 6:00 PM Thursday, August
22, 2013. Free to all competitors. $10.00 for guests.
 The Aussies Are Coming!
The first contingent of the Australian F-Class Team is heading our way. South Australian members Richard Braund, Stuart Braund, Dave Zerbe, and Mike Willment, received an enthusiastic send-off by fellow F-Class shooters in Adelaide, before the foursome jetted off to Sydney. They will join other Aussie team members in Sydney before flying to Los Angeles, and then heading on to Raton, NM.
Coming all the way from the Southern Hemisphere requires hauling a ton of gear through multiple airports. We don’t want to even think about the “excess baggage” charges. At least these intrepid Aussies will be racking up the frequent flyer miles. Sydney to Los Angeles and back again is roughly a 15,000 mile round-trip.
Report by John Cranwell of South Australia, who tells his countrymen: “Go Aussie!”.
CLICK HERE for F-Class World Championship Information Packet
August 5th, 2013
The beautifully-made Pistol Dynamics (PD) Products Cartridge Caddy has become popular with many top shooters. USA F-Class Shooting Team members Shiraz Balolia, Kenny Adams and others rely on these caddies to access ammo and keep time. By providing a clear, unmistakable visual display of time remaining and rounds fired, these ammo caddies make life easier for shooter, scorer, and coach.
To celebrate the 2013 F-Class World Championship in Raton, New Mexico this month, PD Products, through its Formula-F Division, has introduced a limited run of sequentially-numbered World Championship Caddies with F-Class World Championship graphics and optional name engraving. Production of these 25-round caddies will be limited by the number of units sold to participants of the match and will cease after that point.
Caddies Custom-Fit Your Choice of Cartridge
Caddies are available for a variety of cartridge types from .223 Rem to 7mm Magnum. Some Caddies are multi-caliber capable. For example, the .308 block accepts .308 Win, .243 Win, 7mm08, and other .308 family variants. Limited-edition ‘World Shoot Caddies’ cost $140.00 (shipping included) with optional name engraving for $20.00 extra (at time of purchase).
Original Caddy Also Available for $110.00
PD Products’ original On-Time Caddy is still available for $110.00, including standard shipping within the continental USA. Custom name engraving is also available on this product. Both the original PD Products Caddy and the special Limited Edition World Championship Caddy come with a lifetime warranty on machined parts and one year on the timer.
To learn more about the special ‘World Shoot’ Caddy or the original On-Time Caddy visit the
PD Products website, call (321) 733-1266, or send email to: info [at] pistoldynamics.com .
October 6th, 2012
Are you a died-in-the-wool .50 BMG fan? Got a hankerin’ for heavy artillery? Then visit the FCSA Photo Gallery page. There you’ll find hundreds of photos from Fifty Caliber Shooting Association (FCSA) matches and fun shoots in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington. To access the photos from the Gallery Page, click on the colored tabs which indicate match location and date (such as NV2011-08).
Photo sets go all the way back to 2002, so you can see the evolution of the hardware over the years. Sample multiple archives to see the differences in terrain from one range to another — from Raton’s alpine setting to the hot, dry Nevada desert. This Gallery is really a treasure-trove of .50-Cal history. It’s worth a visit. Here are a few sample images.
Story Tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
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