Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting Is NRA HighPower Dying? If So, Why?

I am told there were only 208 registered shooters for the match rifle category this year at Camp Perry.

Not enough young people interested in HP to replace the old farts that leave for what ever reason.

F-Class is growing by leaps and bounds.

There is the vision thing for irons and I'd wager the economy and reloading components and their cost are a consideration for a serious HP shooter. A family man has to prioritize sometimes.

I hate to say it but IMHO when something becomes easier to master, IE scopes and f class, even though the target is harder, the newest generations are all about the easiest way to do it.

That and the economy cost of shooting are probably 2 factors.

Regardless we loved doing it for years, but no longer do so as we can't afford to both shoot and hunt, for many reasons.

Yes, I agree, HP is too hard for most people. When they come to a F-Class match, they see they can buy their way into only losing by 10 points or so, but when they come to an NRA HP match and lose by 100+ points and see they can't just buy their way into a psychologically satisfying score, they run away.

For the most part too, people hate the truth that is paper.

It really doesn't have much to do with money. If you can't afford a service rifle and .223 ammo, you can't afford any other shooting sport either, except maybe Field Air Rifle. HP is arguably the cheapest center fire shooting sport out there.

I haven't seen that happen. On average the Midrange FRT winning score will be in the low 590s. Entery level, even with a custom built rifle is usualy in the 550 range.

I may be off a few points one way or the other, but the point remains. The spreads aren't anything like Across the Course.

The F-Class equipment race has gotten ridiculous at my club, with guys buying March scopes and having $4,000+ rifles built so they can eek out another point or two. I hope someone with a Rem 700 & a Tasco comes along and cleans their clocks, that may be the only way to save it for working men.

The same "arms" race is seen in HP. Didn`t make poor shooters any better IMHO.
To move up in any classification took work, and dedication.
"F" class removes most work. Belly matches are much less stressful, one dosen`t need to practice hours on end dry-firing to up off-hand scores, where the Masters and Hi-masters are made.
So the short of it, "F" class is simpler.
BTB, one area range is going to try a "G" class, shooting from benches, for thoese that can`t shoot prone. Maybe this`ll get out more shooters.

I believe much of what is being said about Highpower doesn't apply to Service Rifle. CMP week at Camp Perry is still filled to capacity. And the AR has been the great equalizer in the Service Rifle game. A match winning AR can be had for somewhere around a grand. And don't think that one off the rack hasn't won it all at Perry already.

That's what I love about Svc rifle - no arms race.

But I see that ending as scopes and $400 railed float tubes work their way into it.

Remember the NRA has F-class as a subdiscipline of HP.

What is any seasoned HP shooter fighting? I think most would say the wind, this is true for both sling and F-class shooters. Keep in mind that your wind calls have to be twice as good in F-class as it does for sling shooters.

Yes there are differences in the subdisciplines but is that bad? F-class seems to be a great thing for HP shooting as it is getting younger blood into HP, so maybe 20 years from now when there are fewer sling shooters F class shooters with be numerous enough to keep KD ranges open.

I think the decline of competition shooting is a combination of all the above notes.
The new generation would rather stay indoors and play video games than go to a KD range. Plus, most folks look for the easy way to do something....real shooting is hard to master.
How many give up or never try NRA Bullseye pistol matches?
Try 50 yards-one hand- 1911 .45 hardball....most folks today would quit after the first match. They shoot HP because rifles are easier to shoot than pistols. Just my thinking.

Wind calls do have to be better. But try reading the wind while looking through iron sights... vs looking through optics all the time. At least with optics you have a much better chance of seeing the change... with irons... you can look through the spotter and at the flags but at some point you have to focus on thr front sight, and press the trigger, only to look back at conditions and say oh F....... and thats not F class... LOL.

I shot Service Rifle last season and had a great time. Had too many commitments to shoot this season so far, but want to get back into it. Definitely have to do research and travel to find matches, even in an area like Texas with as many gun people as there are here. Regarding equipment, I bought a White Oak Precision upper with a Krieger barrel and was shocked how many of those 7- and 8-ring hits that I thought were me went away as compared to my RRA NM upper. Even in Service Rifle, equipment makes a difference.

Would love to figure out how to get more people participating in this.

We were able, in TX to shoot almost every weekend, and sometimes twice a weekend. All within 3 hour or so or less drive.

Figured that was pretty good.

you had a bad RRA or a bad load if you were getting 7/8s and simply buying a WOP changed them to Xs.

RRA should be capable of winning about every match its shot in, with the right ammo. The sights would worry me more than anything in any non WOP rifle. Trigger notwithstanding.

There's been National Matches won with chrome-lined Colts. Service Rifle ain't about the bow.

DesertMuleDeer, I agree with Jeff. Was that barrel worn out? I had one shoot a lot of Xs and a decent score at 600 one time, only to let go in 300 Rapids and throw shots all over the target, including into the 6 ring. That was about 4,000 rounds on that particular barrel.

SS, die instantly from what I've seen. I never gave it any thought that the tube could have been shot out....

Who? When? That's a new one for me.

A Junior won one of the matches about 10 years ago with a chrome-lined Colt.

Chris

Nez shot a chrome lined Colt for a time.... lets just say the barrel was more than capable, with Nez loading for it, to win...

But like me, he sucked at highpower.. and just couldn't quite pull it all together all the time to be the nations best...