Posted by Dave Groves on Feb 08, 2012; 2:09am
URL: http://oldforum.flyshooter.com.au/Nominations-open-for-Federal-Cup-National-Fly-Shoot-tp5436928p5465218.html

Hi Sebastian, good question, the Bat is a relatively new shoot so not many people know about it.

Locations:

On Saturday we will be shooting the 500 Fly and the Bat shoot on the Jim McKinley Range at the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Majura shooting complex, the 1000yds event is held just next door at the Canberra Rifle Club, the two ranges share the same access road, with the Canberra Rifle Club being part of the National Rifle Association of Australia.

Events:

The 500 Fly should be relatively well understood by most, but just in case it isn't...

You get 1 warmer (W) target and 5 targets to score (A, B, C, D and E) sighting shots on the warmer target are unlimited inside the ten (10) minutes allowed , for the scoring targets you have seven (7) minutes to shoot and you must display eight (8) rounds on your bench only, you have a splash plate (a bisalloy plate painted white or yellow, approx 450mm high x 600mm wide) for your sighting shots, this will allow you to estimate your wind allowance and fire on the splash plate to confirm whether you got it right or not, you are allowed to fire 3 shots on the splash plate, and 5 on the target for scoring targets, there is no order in which sighters must be used, nor do you have to fire all 8 shots.

The shoot will be run over 3, 4 or 5 details depending upon competitor numbers, each detail shoots their warmer target in order, then once all are finished with the warmer, detail 1 shoots their A target. The  details continue to take their turn to shoot their B, C, D and E targets, there is no bench rotation, whatever detail and bench/target number you are assigned at the start of the day, that is your detail and bench/target number for the whole day, further, if you are shooting two classes, for instance, Detail 1, Light and Detail 2, Heavy, you must only shoot your Light rifle in D1 and Heavy in D2.

Shooters Wholesale Warehouse 300m Bat Shoot:

The Bat shoot is basically a 300m Fly, the scoring rings are the same as the 500m Fly, on a reduced sized target backer, the event is run at night  under lights in Winter months, during summer, part of the event is run in daylight, with the rest finished under lights, hence there being a Bat in the middle of the target rather than a Fly.

In the Bat, again there are a warmer target and 5 targets to score, but you only have 5 minutes to fire your 5 shots on the target.

The main difference between the two shoots is that with the Bat, there are no sighting shots, your first reading of the wind counts for a lot, if you get it right, you could do very well, if you get it wrong you are punished accordingly.

1000yds.

With the 1000yds at the Canberra Rifle Club, there may be up to 30  (or more) individual shooters, depending upon the number of entries will depend upon whether the organisers allow individuals to shoot two classes, nominations will be finalised on the day of the Fly, as per the Fly, people will be asked to nominate their preferred class just in case numbers are too large.

Competitor marking is used (it is a butts style range) and the targets are pulled between shots to indicate fall of shot for the sighter period. The competitors are separated into two groups at the commencement of the shoot, one group will shoot first, the second group will work targets first, then they will change places.

Course of fire is dependant upon the class being shot to a certain extent, you will be provided with two opportunities to shoot regardless of class, again the detail method is used to manage numbers, you will be drawn for detail and target number.

Both classes are provided with a 10 minute sighter period, then a 6 minute scoring period, in the 6 minutes, Light Gun shooters must fire 5 shots for group and score, Heavy Gun shooters fire 10 shots for group and score.

There are two styles of shooting the discipline, Marked and Blind, a marked shooter has the target pulled between their record shots, and they are able to see the fall of shot for each of their record shots, a pro of this style is that you have an idea of where your bullets are going a con is that you are at the mercy of your markers, if they have trouble with the target or are worn out from pulling down, indicating fall of shot and pushing up the target 30 times from your sighter period, they might not be as fast as you would like when you are trying for a record group.

Shooting Blind, you are a little at the mercy of the conditions, if the condition changes between your sighting shots and the record group (CRC is famous for this happening) then you may be guessing where your bullets are going, on the other hand, if the conditions don't change, you are free to rattle down all your scoring shots in a short time with a good chance of shooting a good group.

OK people, what have I forgotten?