o Pistol target shooting is normal at 10 metre targets and 20 metre targets.
o Practical pistol competitions are held regularly. These involve movement between specified firing points to shoot specified targets in a shortest amount of time possible.
o Iron Plate Action Shooting (IPAS) requires speed, with the shooter engaging five ‘steel’ plates as fast as possible.
o Pistols range from relatively inexpensive CO2 powered guns to expensive pre-charged target pistols.
o A new Pistol competition being introduced for 2012 to the BFTO is the 8@8 competition. Click here for the rules.

o Plinking / practicing can be done at the club between the hours of 6am and 11pm any day of the week.
o Permanent targets are available on the main plinking range.
o Other targets and racks are available for use in the clubhouse bench cupboard. Please return them when you have finished – if they are left outside they have a tendency to “disappear” and then the club has to pay for new ones.
o Plinking is a great way of meeting up with other members, having a shoot and a chat, and practicing your shooting techniques.
o The only thing to be careful of is that, in our experience, many plinkers’ do find themselves drifting away from the club eventually as just plinking can only hold interest for so long. So if you’re getting bored don’t be frightened to try something else, please ask if you’re not sure.

o HFT competitions take part at the club (Club HFT League), within the Central Southern Region (CSFTA HFT Winter League), and also around the UK (UKAHFT Series & Open Shoots).
o HFT competitions at both Club and National (UKAHFT Series) tend to be over a 30 shot course.
o Club HFT competitions are graded depending on the shooters experience and ability. New shooters will automatically go into C grade (unless they have a proven track record elsewhere).
o HFT courses use knock-over targets with a hit zone between 15mm and 45mm.
o Targets can be positioned between 8 to 45 yards away from the firing point.
o Targets are shot from a firing point normally denoted by a post (or disc in UKAHFT). One part of the body must touch this post/disc at all times when taking the shot.
o Targets may be shot prone, kneeling or standing, but the FT sitting position is not allowed.
o Targets may be partly obscured by foliage, branches etc.
o 1 target is normally shot per “lane”. Club/CSFTA HFT has two pegs per target so you shoot the same target from two different positions.
o Lanes are not usually subject to any time restrictions in club shoots but you will encounter them at regional and national shoots; usually 2 or 3 minutes from the moment your eye goes to the scope.
o 2 points are scored for a “knock-down”, 1 point for hitting the plate, known as a “dink” and 0 for a miss, known affectionately as a “doughnut”!
o From the moment the shooter starts the course, telescopic sights cannot be adjusted; the shooter must judge how high to aim at the target to allow for pellet drop.
o Shooters must guess target ranges by eye – no ranging devices are allowed.
o Typical equipment needed to shoot HFT is relatively cheap.

o FT competitions take part at the club (Club FT League), within the Central Southern Region (CSFTA FT Winter League), around the UK (FT GP Series & Open Shoots), and even around the world (WFTA World Championships).
o FT competitions range from 30 target courses (Club FT) to 50 target courses (GP Series).
o FT competitions are graded depending on the shooters experience and ability. New shooters or shooter with an average score of less than 60% will automatically go into C grade. Shooters over 60% go into B grade, over 70% go into A grade and over 80% go into the elite AA grade.
o FT courses use knock-over targets with a hit zone between 25mm and 45mm.
o Targets can be positioned between 8 and 55 yards away from the firing point.
o Targets are shot from a firing point normally denoted by a “gate”.
o Most targets are shot “freestyle”. For FT this means a sitting position.
o Courses always feature “discipline” lanes which must be shot in the position specified – either kneeling or standing.
o Targets should not be obscured by foliage, branches etc.
o 2 targets are normally shot per “lane”.
o Both targets in a lane must be shot within 2 minutes of the shooters eye first going to his/her telescopic sight.
o 1 point is scored for a “knock-down”, 0 points for a “dink” or a miss.
o The shooter can use the telescopic sight parallax feature to calculate target distance and then use top turret adjustment to allow for the measured distance and pellet drop.
o Field Target uses more specialised rifles and scopes so are more expensive than HFT rigs.
o Second hand equipment is always a good way to set yourself up – just make sure you ask if you have any queries about equipment or prices.

o The BRC competition is internal to the BFTO.
o The BRC25 competition uses score cards put out at 25 yards.
o There are two different categories in each competition – Pre-charged and Spring-gun.
o Target cards are issued to each shooter entered in the competition individually.
o Each card has 50 targets on it – one shot is taken at each target disk.
o The whole card must be shot within half an hour.
o Only one card can be shot each month for the duration of the competition.
o Cards are scored out of 5000.
o The best eight scores for each shooter are taken and used as the final standings at the end of the year.

o 10 Yard Standing is internal to the BFTO.
o The shooter places the card on the range at 10yds and shoots it standing only.
o Currently there is only one category.
o Target cards are issued to each shooter individually.
o Each card has 10 targets on it – one shot is taken at each target disk.
o Only one card can be shot per month.
o Cards score upto 100 but you get an extra 1 point for each ‘clean’ bull you hit so there is a potential to score 110!
o The best eight scores for each shooter count for their final standing at the end of the year.

o These comps are usually shot on a Wednesday evening when the Vintage section meet.
o You can enter a card once a month to go towards your total at the end of the year.
o You can only use a pre 1939 air rifle
o There are two sections to the competition; 6yds & 8yds both having three ‘rounds’ of 5 shots.
o The aim is to hit the bell behind a round steel plate by shooting a pellet through a ½” diameter hole in the middle of the plate causing an audible ‘ding’ which scores you 5 points, should you miss then there are four concentric rings marked on the plate scoring 4, 3, 2 & 1 points depending on how far away from the centre you are.
o A maximum score of 75 for each distance (6 & 8yds) is possible but very rarely attained!