Field Target Competition
In my previous blog entry last week, I alluded to the many forms of competition that are available to the avid airgunner. Perhaps one of the best known competitions available to the individual airgunner who enjoys hunting is the sport of Field Target.
Field Target competition began in England, near Sussex, in 1980, according to the information I gleaned from the AAFTA's website. It quickly became popular and was imported to the United States. The sport simulates hunting in that you shoot at life-sized representations of small game animals. Originally, the sport just placed a paper target on the fake animal, but today, specially designed targets come complete with a killzone that, when hit, causes the entire target to fall over. As shooters improved, the size of the killzone shrank from around 2" to as little as 3/8" in some venues. With the targets placed from 10 yards to 50 yards, you can see that there is a real challenge to it! A good example of an FT-style target would be the Gamo-rat that Airgun Depot carries.
Today's contests are often placed in the habitat of the animal, with bird targets resting up in a tree, ground-dwellers drinking from streams, sitting on logs....very realistic positioning of the targets. The shooters progress through the shooting locations, or lanes, and can shoot from a choice of positions. And the greatest challenge for most shooters is the ability to estimate the range to the target. Good scopes can be of great assistance in estimating your range and planting the pellet on target. For each target you hit, you gain a point. Misses give you nothing. The targets are designed so that a partial hit does not knock the target down, so you must be very accurate with your shooting.
The rifle matches seem to be the most popular, though there is a pistol category. In the rifle category, there are spring-piston categories and open categories, the latter letting you use any gun you wish, with all the bells and whistles you want to use. Many shooters start out in the spring-piston class since it affords the shooter a lower cost of entering the contest. Today, there are several spring-piston rifles that are up to the challenge of FT right out of the box.
If you wish, you can enter the open category, and you will likely be shooting against some of the most accurate guns ever designed. The competition is fierce, fun, and great fun. AAFTA was born in 1987 to manage the American version of this sport, and they are responsible for administering the rules and hosting the national championships each year.
So when the hunting season is over, move on to the FT trials in your area. It keeps you sharp, allows you to "hunt" all year long, and improves your shooting for when the hunting season comes around again. And you're sure to meet some new friends when shooting FT.....it's a fun sport!
