Thread: The Ballinger Belt

@Taranaki Shooter, pity it's a bit of a haul for you to get to a range, these
Days. Could be worth a field trip to Otorohonga when the season kicks off soon.

Originally Posted by johnd

@Taranaki Shooter, pity it's a bit of a haul for you to get to a range, these
Days. Could be worth a field trip to Otorohonga when the season kicks off soon.

My cousin is the one who has got very excited about it all. I shot F Class champs at Whatwata?? (Spelt that wrong for sure) and they had a hunter class. My WSM is a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing but it just might qualify for that, if not Id just take it out of the A5 and put in the F Class stock. He is quite keen to compete. So I can see me traveling somewhere at sometime to have a play. Before moving from Wellington back to Taranaki I remember shooting a match out Okato by the coast but I hear that has been shut down too.

How is F Class going these days?

F class is doing well. We have 4 categories that are competed for at nationals . Two of them may be new to you. There's F Open and FTR that you would be familiar with.And F TR Classic shot with 155 grain limit. And FPR that may suit your wolf in sheep's clothing.

Way back in the 80's when I went to Whatwhata , I can still remember shooting an Omark aperture sights in those day's I had at 1000yds, was a coached shoot where he put on 1 min of angle for the barrel twist, then maximum windage, I think it was 24 mins for the strong wind. Told me when to shoot and when to wait. Got 2 centrals in those conditions. Was really impressed as I was C grade and would have never even got a hit in the frame of the target by myself, still can't read the wind well.

Just for those wondering
TR = target rifle .308 caliber and maximum bullet weight 156 grains (like what turtle shot)
FOpen= any caliber up to 8mm any optic a front rest and a rear bag with a 10.5 kg weight limit for the rifle.
FTR = .308 or .223 any bullet any optic shot off a bipod (usually fixed not folding) and a rear bag, weight limit 8.5 kg includes everything attached to the rifle (bipod supressor)
FTR Classic = .308 with 156 grain maximum bullet weight and the same other rules as FTR
FPR= any caliber up to 8 mm folding type bipod and rear squeeze bag any optic. Weight limits 9.5 kg barrel length limit of 28.15 inches (up to) action and stock must have a magazine cut out.

Pretty sure it's 10kg max weight for F-Open John, well that's what we work to.

Oh OK, was working from memory, I was going to add at the end "stand to be corrected " but forgot.

Oh yeah and FTR is 8.25kg not 8.5

What caliber are guys using these days? back then it was predominantly the 6.5-284 and we were just starting to convert to the 284. I tried the 284 unsuccessfully myself. Ditched it and went back to the 6.5-284 and not long after that moved back here so I gave up shooting F Class.

.284 was pretty dominant about 4yrs ago then 7 SAUM became the next big option. With the end of readily available Lapua .284 and SAUM brass, the FO world started looking at other options. The new boy on the block is the 7 PRCW. It's a 6.5 PRC simply necked up to 7mm, has about 95% of the capacity of a SAUM so that makes it ideal. The bigger attraction is there's plenty of quality brass available for it. The "W" in the name stands for Alex Wheeler who was at the forefront of its development.

I still use my .284 but the PRCW is now my main gun.

Interesting. On Quick load it suggests it can push a 180 faster than a WSM. What projectiles and speeds are you guys using and actually getting?

You're not thinking of the plain 7PRC?

Maybe I am. Is the W shorter?

As I said, it's based of the 6.5 version, not the full-blown 7 PRC

I know nothing about the cartridge and QL doesn't list it. So what speed and what projectile are you running?

Most guys drive 180s or 184s between 2830 and 2890. Mine are actually just over 2800 but V accurate and brass should last forever.

One of my team mates buggered a whole batch of brass running them at over 2900.


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