Is Open class suffering a slow death?

Open has declined in popularity over the years I have participated. Once the numbers reach a certain point, I think the remaining guys will move to Hunter or WFTF just so they can have some guys to be competitive with. Shooting against the course is fine….thats all I get to do where I live and practice. When I travel to a match I’m going there to see how I stack up against others that are shooting the same course. Small numbers take some of the fun out of it for me.

I began FT in WFTF and quickly realized I was not going to be competitive. I switched to open and the harness allowed me to shoot well despite not yet having developed a solid position. I always had a massive pulse bounce in the harness. Folks without all the extra “mass” (lol) may not struggle with that. When I shot open, I could not wait to get rid of the harness. I personally found it embarrassing. I felt it was like a giant billboard that said I was not able to hold position like those that didn’t use one. I never tried any of the thigh rests. Open was just a springboard class that I used for half a season while I got good enough to be competitive in WFTF.

Mike

@Franklink Glad you mentioned this. I was wondering if a shooter that opts out of using certain shooting aids could even compete with others who utilize all of the aids permissible by the rule book in their class. Now y’all have me curious about this Open Class.

Ezana4CE…..the wftf class does not allow a harness or a thigh rest….plus the max power is 12fpe instead of 20fpe. It’s rare to see anyone since Will Piatt shoot higher scores in Open compared to WFTF. You can certainly be successful in open without the extra shooting aids.

Mike

I strongly feel that no matter the class one shoots in FT ... Ultimate Stability is key !! One shooters perspective of "I'm Steady" may very well be true, or for another shooter in perspective Not steady enough

Key being that for any given lane / target the shooters need to be able in achieving the correct ranging, then get stable enough to execute the shot w/o motion. Add some wind or body buffeting, tad unstable seating / sitting one starts playing the Fly-By game of close enough which seldom works well enough to shoot at a high level.

Point I'm trying to make is simple enough, yet difficult to achieve .... No matter what position you shoot from, most will have refinements in style / execution your not fully taking advantage of

Don't find yourself just doing it how you have all along ( unless it's working well ) & make note of others in the same class or in instances another class that are somehow different in how there doing it ? You may find yourself enlightened that there are tricks yet to add in your technique.
If we're not learning we're not advancing.

I think some of us just got tired of getting down and then up again like in Open class. I shot Open for 15 or so years and won 5 state matches as well as many local matches. Eh, it got to the point where I needed to try other shooting sports and other divisions so I did. I don't like traveling much, didn't have a lot of money, lacked the discipline and desire to practice often, so I decided that was as far as I wanted to take it.

My body "IS NOT" amenable to shooting without aids, lol!!! I will never be limber, never was, and I wobble like crazy so I didn't go down that road after watching others in our club sit so effortlessly and comfortably. Kneeling = forget it, very uncomfortable to me. Also one reason why I probably won't dabble in WFTF even though a coat, etc, is allowed.

I was reasonably successful at Hunter on a local level but I detested ranging on 12x, then did the ranging with the reticle thing which I didn't much care for either after a while. I won a few matches and stopped. Tried 16x later which was slightly easier but....

I became a AZ champ on long range steel with a centerfire tactical rifle which was the most fun I've had with a rifle. In that time frame I tried basically the same thing as a non compete in a FT match just for fun and really enjoyed it. I found that laying down on the ground using a rear bag, Harris bipod attached to my Daystate Panther, and a range finder wasn't much different than shooting those steel matches. I said to myself screw it I'm just going to shoot unlimited/freestyle from now on. The irony is I attribute FT shooting all those years as a partial reason why I did so well in the long range match.

On top of that nowadays my eyes are wacked out from type 2 diabetes and during a FT match I change the diopter setting at least a few times so I doubt I could range well unless I did it with the reticle. Nah I'm too lazy.

IMHO, amongst the better shooters its mostly the person that gets the wind right and makes the least mistakes that wins. Not so much the division (well except if in springer).

Though its amazing how high a WFTF champion can score??!! That would take a ton of work to get that good and as well a body amenable to the constraints of that division.

Most likely unless a crop of younger shooters come into the sport of FT the writing is on the wall. Video games are their shooting sport for the most part.

I've been shootin Open PCP for about 4 or 5 years and my experience is that, while there are not that many shooters (4-7) at a GP event, the numbers are not dwindling, but staying about the same. This is in the North East, so different regions of the country may experience different levels of Open shooters.

Chas

I charted this a couple of years ago. It is the Division/Class entry counts for every GP match that was posted for those years. It does not include the last couple of years. As of 2020, all GP entries have suffered a decline (Covid?). But relative positions are still about the same. Participation is creeping back up this year.

Most likely a sentiment "Mostly shared" .... if not for the "Hunter" class the American version of Field target would likely be near dead if not completely done.
This is the fight many of us have taken up with the AAFTA, that WE the 'Hunter class" shooters who now make up the majority of AAFTA activity in the USA should have a greater voice in this sports future architecture and rules formatting. It was just a few years ago that "Hunter" was allowed thinking it would be a stepping stone for many getting into the traditional classes of WFTF & Open .... this clearly has not happened on the grander scale of things.

Ok ... I'm done.

I don't understand why AMERICAN Hunter Class isn't the same as in England or other parts of Europe. At least if it was you can compete in the World Championship the same as WFTF shooters get to do. I'm assuming the reason is people here in the USA would not want to lie on the ground and shoot more standing and kneeling shots?! Our form of Hunter Field Target is very easy physically playing into the older crowd in my opinion. I may shoot a match toward the end of the year using the English hunter FT rules just to see how it is.

FT in the US is mostly 20fpe. That’s most of the reason we don’t follow the rules of Europe. If we allowed up to 100 fpe….we would likely see the game attendance increase by a large percentage because it would lessen the impact of wind reading substantially. If you make something easier and lessen the skill disparity between the top and bottom shooters….you will get more participation. If we changed the rules to only allow 12fpe in all divisions….many of the current shooters would fall away.

Since we have already deviated from the reat of the world with our rules….I would personally like to see just one class. We could call it unlimited 12fpe. Use whatever shooting aids you want….just limit the game to 12fpe. Instead of a bunch of divisions, we would all be one big happy class.

Freestyle or unlimited at 20 fpe would keep more interested in the game ... IMO Agreeing that at 12 fpe many would no longer play.

I agree….but then the world shooters in our country would have no practice for world events.

Mike

While I agree ... Tho in the ranks of folks in the USA shooting Field target, how many go to the worlds events abroad ? maybe a dozen at most but likely less.
Thats digging a very shallow grave for the Field Target sports in the USA if the reasoning is for >12 fpe worlds practice.

One only need look around and see what gets folks more involved with Air Gun shooting sports, that being higher power and further ranges challenged.

The AG game abroad stems from now a centurys+ history of lower power air guns. That compounded by post WWII regulations on firearms had the advent of competing with Air Guns the most natural & logical thing to do ... And they did !

Air guns have grown up & evolved to be far beyond what many of these sports abroad were founded upon. While modern AG get used in the game, the GAME really has not changed with the times.

Thus our largest hurtle here in the USA is getting the AAFTA to get modernized for the sport Most Americans with air guns would rather be playing.
Sure we can stay all inclusive to the WFTF format, those who wish to play there game will set the tone for just how popular it is .. or not.

Start offering other classes such as Freestyle / Unlimited at >20 fpe .... we're off to the races and Many many more would join in the fun.
Next level thats already gaining traction ... Extreme FT which allow higher power and further ranges yet again.

We in the USA Field target world are being throttled by the AAFTA, which is IMO as well many others STUCK in a Time Warp of hanging onto the past while the sport as we know it slowly dies or just stagnates.

Our current Reality like it or not.

thomasair said:

I agree….but then the world shooters in our country would have no practice for world events.

Mike

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That is not true. As long as high magnification scopes, butthooks, risers, jackets, etc. are allowed, they still have a Division to practice in. Even now, a WFTF shooter is allowed to shoot in the 20fpe Open Division.

I replied here on this thread a couple days ago but today it is missing. I'll be breif but it is worth saying again. I have shot the Hunter calss since its trial year at the 2006 CT Nationals.
I was told that it was created to bring more interest into a fading sport. Potentially or possibly recruiting new shooters for the PCP and Piston classes. From the first National in Florida in 1987 until the 2000 National in Minnesota it was only the Open class . That year the Piston class was born. I would imagine they shot under the Open rules. These two classes ran as Nationals classes until 2006 when the Hunter had their PCP class on display as a trial year. It went over so well that the BOG made it an official class starting in the 2007 season.
In 2009 the WFTC PCP started their first year which was suppose to be their trial year. It appears they actually made the WFTF a full fledged class that year rather than wait for the next year like the Hunter class had to. In 2010 Nationals in Maryland the classes changed names to Open PCP, Open Piston. Wftf PCP, Wftf Piston, and Hunter PCP (5 classes) The same classes were offered in the 2011 Nationals in Tennessee. About this time myself and Ed Canoles started complaining on the old yellow that it wasn't fair that the Hunter piston shooters had to shoot in the Hunter PCP class when all the other Piston shooters had their own class. Shock!!! Someone listened and in 2012 we had 6 classes at the Oregon Nationals.
2013 Nationals in Texas offered all classes except the Hunter piston. Possibly no entrants??? 2014 Nat's in Alabama only 4 classes were shot Open PCP, WFTF PCP, WFTF Piston, and Hunter PCP. The 2015 Nationals in North Carolina offered all six classes and two pistol classes Open and Hunter. The 2016 Nat's in Michigan offered all the classes except Open Piston due to lack of entries. 2017 Nationals in Phoenix, AZ all left out the Open Piston class which had been on life support for at least the past 2 or 3 years.

We had an unofficial trial year in 2016 and 2017 experimenting with the Unlimited class which went very well. A poll on the old yellow displayed many more positive votes than negative in favor of this new class. I personally was told at our National banquet that year by the AFFTA Chairman that 2018 we would have an Unlimited class. WTF it never transpired the same chairman resigned and it seems to me that the BOG doesn't really care if our sport grows or not. I think if you looked at the number of FT clubs we had in 2015 and compared to what we have now you will notice a drop in numbers. I really do not know that for sure because maybe new clubs have taken place of the fallen. Ohio has been going strong for the last 3 or 4 years which is the only bright spot I have seen in our game. How long the gentlemen that are shooting the unlimited class will keep coming without really having their own class is the question. I would bet the unlimited class would prosper if it ever took off! Long Live the Hunter Class this is the success story that the BOG created that didn't meet their aspirations.
Bill Day

Motorhead said:

Freestyle or unlimited at 20 fpe would keep more interested in the game ... IMO Agreeing that at 12 fpe many would no longer play.

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Being this thread is being constructive .... lets further this conversation on U.S. playing the WFTF game and Expansion of the U.S. game to be more than it currently is offering.


A few years back @ 6 to 7 actually, there was a push by many clubs to offer a Freestyle / Unlimited rifle class. For a couple years there was a lot of buzz and folks doing that even tho it was an UNRECOGNIZED class within the AAFTA.
Idea was to look at WHAT "Equipment" WAS ALLOWED and NOT Allowed within THE CLASSES recognized by the AAFTA.

Have one class that allowed any equipment, optics etc that was already in AAFTA rules and make a class called FREESTYLE.
Still 10-55 yards .... A Knock the dang target down class !!!!!!!!!!
Deep pocket class, perhaps, but also removal of the handicaps of any given class a whole lot more challenging as well adaptable if and when the Course Set up difficulty follows suit.

Make no mistake, Shooter skill will always trump the equipment race and those with the greater skill will do better .. it's just how it works.

Almost finished ...

It is for the reason of a freestyle / unlimited class NOT BEING acknowledged by the AAFTA that many clubs while still having these classes at club events, it has NOT caught on because at the STATE / GRAN PRIX / NATIONAL level "There is no such class"
Similar to WFTF shot here & how many go abroad to shoot it on the world stage ...
WE in the USA are on the Same stage ... Our Stage !!! and if you make it THEY WILL COME ...

dayjd said:

Scott, We must of been on the same page!

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Yes ...