South West Field Target Association
This year, Crackshot has very kindly sponsored SWEFTA to provide amazing prizes!
Links to their FaceBook page- Crackshot Facebook
Link to their website- Crackshot Website
This website covers all the activities of the SWEFTA and its shooting competitions.
Around the site, you will find a calendar of events and competitions, Results, a Club finder as well as SWEFTA official documentation & rules.
What is Field Target and Hunter Field Target?
Welcome to the South West England Field Target Association Website
Field Target
Field Target (FT) is a safe and modern shooting sport suitable for people of a wide range of ages and physical abilities. Field target competitions are carried out under rules.
Field target competitions are held outdoors, making use of the varied terrain of farmland and woodland with targets positioned out in the open, uphill, downhill or in trees. so as to form varied and challenging shooting courses. Metal knock-down targets of various shapes are used, the targets have a circular ‘kill zone’ and when a pellet hits the kill zone the entire target falls down and a point is scored.
A field target course usually consists of 40 targets, positioned at ranges of between 10 and 55 yards. Most can be shot from a sitting position, however a few lanes must be shot standing or kneeling to add variety and challenge to the shoot.
Field Target is also a very sociable hobby, indeed half the fun of visiting a club or entering a competition lies in enjoying a shared interest with like-mined shooting enthusiasts.
Field Target competitions have a number of classes, from C to AA, this allows shooters to compete against others of similar ability.
Hunter Field Target
Hunter Field Target (HFT) is shot along the same lines as FT, but is a different discipline.
Like FT, metal knock down targets are used, a typical HFT course has a similar number of targets to an FT course (sometimes less), however, the lanes and shooting methods are slightly different as each lane is marked with a peg and targets are placed in positions to simulate a hunting scenario.
Target on an HFT course tend to have smaller ‘kill zones’ or are part obscured by ‘natural’ obstacles and both the method of scoring and the equipment used for HFT are slightly different from FT.
The main skill in HFT is the ability to assess the range of the target as accurately as possible, as adjustments to the sight for range finding are not allowed once you are ready to shoot.
There are separate classes in both FT and HFT for spring and precharged air rifles, and the members of any of the clubs within SWEFTA will be able to help and advise regarding equipment.
What is Benchrest?
Benchrest
Benchrest is a fascinating ultra-precision sport in which the rifle is supported on some form of rests. The shooter is seated at a bench, the front of which is exactly 25 metres from the target face.
This form of shooting can appear to be 'easy', but it's far from it. The target or 'card' consists of 25 individual diagrams; the objective is to completely obliterate all 25 ten rings - these measure a mere 2mm.
A match consists of three cards; competitors have 20 minutes to complete each of them. Bench allocation and start times are usually determined by drawing numbers from a hat, and each card will be shot from a different bench.
The primary skill in outdoor BR is the ability to read the wind conditions prevalent during the match. This is rarely simple as the flight of the lightweight pellet is influenced by a wide variety of wind characteristics such as strength, direction, topography, the proximity of obstacles, and thermal air currents. The shooter will need to be constantly aware of the rapidly changing conditions through observation of both man-made flags and naturally occurring indicators, such as grass and leaves.
The information gained has to be instantly converted to an appropriate degree of 'hold-off' - as the scope's crosshair will very rarely be placed in the centre of the ten rings. Of course, correct technique is vitally important too, and absolute consistency is essential if high scores are to be achieved.
Specialised equipment is definitely not needed to get started in benchrest - just use whatever rifle you already have, together with an inexpensive pair of sandbags!