“F-CLASS” – WHAT’S THAT?

By John C. Sigler*

           Simply put, F-Class is a High Power Rifle competitive shooting discipline fired from the prone position generally using a front rest and a rear bag. But that explanation does not answer the fundamental question as to why it is called F-Class, nor does it provide a satisfactory explanation as to what F-Class really is. I will try to explain.

           Many people believe that F-Class High Power Rifle Competition is an American invention – it is not. F-Class High Power Rifle Competition first began in Canada as an outgrowth of conventional Target Rifle which we know here in the USA as either “Fullbore” or “Palma.” Although we shoot F-Class here in the United States under American NRA Rules, it is fundamentally an international form of High Power Rifle competition.

F-Class began when an elderly Canadian “Palma” shooter by the name of George (“Farkey”) Farquhanson who was no longer physically capable of competing with iron sights, a sling and a coat, asked his shooting companions if he could shoot with them “out of competition” using a scope instead of iron sights and a front bag instead of a sling, and was given permission to do so.

As other elderly and/or disabled shooters like Mr. Farquhanson also began to compete, a new class of shooter evolved and came into existence in Canada, named after Mr. Farquhanson, and “F-Class” was born.

American shooters visiting Canada learned of F-Class, bringing the concept back to the United States with the “Grandfather of American F-Class,” J.J. Conroy, formally introducing F-Class to the American shooting community in an article published in 1998 in the old “Precision Shooting” magazine.

In the year 2000, American and Canadian shooters came together in Canada for the purpose of organizing the first F-Class World Championships which were subsequently held in Ottawa, Canada in 2002.

In 2004, the first United States F-Class National Championships were sanctioned on a “Provisional” basis by the National Rifle Association of America so as to allow the fledgling United States F-Class Rifle Team to qualify under the rules of the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA), of which NRA America is a member, to participate in the 2005 F-Class World Championships then-scheduled to be held in South Africa.

Since that first NRA-sanctioned national championship at Camp Butner, North Carolina in 2004, F-Class competition has grown dramatically in popularity to the point where F-Class high power rifle competition participation has eclipsed  conventional “sling” competition in popularity and participation.

America’s F-Class community proudly traces its lineage back to Creedmoor Long Island where the Irish Riflemen challenged the Americans in the first Long Range Competition in 1874, a tradition that was lost for almost a century and was then renewed in 2009 when the American NRA’s president, writing on behalf of America’s F-Class Riflemen, challenged the Irish NRA’s Riflemen in what has now become the Modern Creedmoor Cup Match, where American and Irish F-Class shooters have competed in Ireland in 2011 and 2015 and in America in 2019, with the American F-Class Team winning all three engagements.

Even though F-Class High Power Rifle Competition derives its heritage from conventional American and International rifle competition, the F-Class equipment, targets, rules and philosophy are dramatically different and continue to become even more diverse as the F-Class High Power Rifle discipline evolves and returns to its roots as an international discipline, and as F-Class rifles, ammunition and equipment continue to evolve technologically.

And even within the F-Class High Power Rifle discipline, there is diversity of equipment and categories of rifles. For example, while all F-Class rifles are single-shot bolt-action rifles with telescopic sights and most are custom built, the F-T/R Rifles (F-Target Rifles) are restricted to .223 Remington and .308 calibers, cannot weigh more than 8.25 kg. and are fired prone from a bipod and rear bag, as opposed to the F-Open Rifles which may be chambered in any caliber not to exceed .35 caliber, can weigh as much as 10 kg. (22 pounds) and are fired prone from a front rest (usually mechanical) and a rear bag.

Here in America, the National Rifle Association conducts two forms of F-Class competition, “conventional” F-Class which is fired using totally American rules and “Fullbore” F-Class which uses American rules which more closely resemble the international ICFRA rules. In both cases, the competition is further divided into Mid-Range and Long Range competition.

As said before, all F-Class competitions are fired from the prone position. Mid-Range F-Class matches are fired from 300 yards, 500 yards and 600 yards. F-Class Long Range matches are fired from 800, 900 and 1,00 yards. Local, state, and regional F-Class matches are frequently conducted on the same range and at the same time as traditional “sling” matches.

However, there is a marked difference between the “sling” targets and the F-Class targets. Traditional High Power Rifle (“sling”) targets are “minute of angle targets” meaning that the X-ring at 300 yards is 3 inches and the x-ring at 1,000 yards is 10 inches. The F-Class targets are “half-minute of angle targets” meaning that at 300 yards the F-Class x-ring measures approximately 1.5 inches and at 1,000 yards the x-ring on an F-Class target measures 5 inches.

The National Rifle Association of America presently conducts a total of four (4) F-Class National Championships each year. Those are, Mid-Range F-Class Fullbore, Long Range F-Class Fullbore, “conventional” F-Class Mid-Range and “conventional” F-Class Long Range.

The F-Class World Championships are traditionally held in an English-speaking country once every four years. The United States hosted the 2013 F-Class World Championships at the NRA  Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. In 2017 the United States F-Class Rifle Team traveled to Canada to represent the United States in the 2017 F-Class World Championships with the US F-T/R Team winning Gold and the US F-Open Team winning the Third Place Bronze Medal. The 2021 World Championships were postponed due to COVID-19 and in March of 2023, the United States F-Class Rifle Team traveled to South Africa where the US F-Open Team won the First Place Gold Medal.



F-Class High Power Rifle is among the fastest growing precision rifle disciplines, not just in the United States but throughout the world. I hope that someday you will join us on a rifle range near you – come and visit, see what we do, and then join in the fun.

Come shoot with us and compete against yourself – don’t worry about winning, that will come with time. Come and shoot that first match and then come back and beat your first score – that’s the kind of success that eventually builds winners.

Don’t be shy, any of us will help you. Come join our F-Class family- you’ll be glad you did!

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*Mr. Sigler is a Past President of the NRA (2007-2009) and the current Chairman of the NRA’s F-Class High Power Rifle Committee. John was a member of the 2015 U.S. Creedmoor Cup Team which won the Gold Medal in Ireland, the 2017 United States F-Class (Open) Rifle Team and the 2023 U.S. F-Class (Open) Rifle Team. He holds International Distinguished Rifleman Badge #67.