Posted by Pete van Meurs on
URL: http://oldforum.flyshooter.com.au/Factory-fly-gun-rules-question-tp5707503p5707519.html

Hi all,

Well we really have a can of worms opened good and proper. Plenty of discussion which is good to see.

A couple of comments on the posts of others. Firstly I do not believe any analogy between the 300 and 500 matches can be relevant to this debate, if for no other reason than that a single LG can be used in both classes at 500 and be fully competitive in both as was covered in another recent thread. Can't quite see a factory rifle being competitive in custom class at 300 although one could double enter if prepared for a flogging in custom class. Another idea tossed into the ring by Les was the issue of handicapping shooters based on their ability as shown by their results. I don't think this would be workable as the event is not shot often enough to build a data base from and in the shooting sports the nearest we see is a grading system rather than a full-on handicap.

Next thing I note is that no-one has disputed my statement that re-barreled rifles almost invariably end up significantly more accurate. I will take this one step further. The majority of  re-barreled rifles seem to be heavy barrel versions and, conveniently, most makers of match grade barrels are able to offer factory profiles which makes the gunsmiths life much easier since the barrel channel in the stock does not need to be re-done. Take a scenario that has been repeated in my workshop more often than I care to think about. Pull a Rem 700 VSSF to bits, put the receiver on a mandrel and lightly true -up the front face, lap the lugs then fit a Maddco barrel. These rifles always exhibit accuracy potential not far short of a custom Fly rifle. Still not as user friendly but in experienced hands in a 300 match would likely be only 5 to 8 points behind the winner. Try doing that with a true factory unit. It should be safe to assume that any re-barreled rifle in this day and age will have had a true match grade barrel fitted.

Changing the subject slightly the thought did occur to me that there may well be newbies out there that currently will not have a go because all they have is a re-barreled varminter and they may well feel intimidated if they have to shoot in custom class. How do we get them to the firing line? I think we should entertain some discussion about handicapping the rifle rather than the shooter. Based on a hazy memory of what winning scores for factory class have GENERALLY been relative to custom I think there was about a 20 to 30 point gap. On the basis of my earlier comments then we may consider allowing re-barreled rifles to be used, so long as all other criteria are met, but they would start with a handicap of 20 deficit points. Don't fuss about checking issues like chamber dimensions or barrel brand (we assume that the good stuff is fitted) or even twist rate. Select one of the shooters rounds at random and bag/tag it. Top three get their ammo dismantled and bullet weight checked. If it's too heavy to be stable in the original twist then they get the flick.

Looking forward to further comments.  Pete