The International Precision Rifle Federation (IPRF) is an international federation for field and long range shooting. The shooting takes place from various positions and at varied distances within a limited par time, so that the competitors need to have a good understanding about their ballistics so that they can compensate for wind and distance. Competitors are divided into different divisions based on their firearms and equipment. All competitors compete inside their division, and there can also be awards for the categories women, junior (competitors of 18 years or younger), senior (competitors of 55 years or older) and military/police. A match usually consists of several stages, and points are awarded by the number of hits. Steel targets are used to a large degree to make it easy to score points and as an economical alternative to electronic targets. Referees often use spotting scopes to observe and count hits.
| Sport | Field and long range shooting |
|---|---|
| Category | Shooting sport |
| Jurisdiction |  International |
| Abbreviation | IPRF |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Official website | |
| precisionrifle | |
History
editPRS shooting in its current form originated in the USA in the 2010s in the Precision Rifle Series, which continues to this day as the American arm of precision rifle shooting. The National Rifle League (NRL) is another U.S. organization for precision rifle shooting. In the USA, the number of active competitors increased from 164 in 2012 to over 15 000 in 2020.[1]
In 2021 the International Precision Rifle Federation (IPRF) was founded,[2][3] and in 2022 the first world championship was held at the Bitche Military Camp in Bitche, France.[4]
IPRF has affiliated associations in several countries:[2]
- Australia: Australian Precision Rifle Association [1]
- Austria: Austrian Precision Rifle Association
- Canada: Canadian Precision Rifle Association [2]
- Chile: Federación Chilena de Rifles de Precisión
- Czechia: Czech Precision Rifle Association
- France: French precision Rifle Association [3]
- Georgia: Georgian Precision Rifle Federation [4]
- Germany: Deutsche Precision Rifle Association [5]
- Great Britain: Great Britain Precision Rifle Association [6]
- Greece: Hellenic Shooting Federation
- Hungary: Hungarian Dynamic Shooting Sport Federation [7]
- Indonesia: Indonesian Precision Rifle Association
- Ireland: Irish Precision Rifle Association
- Italy: PRS Italia [8] Archived 2022-10-07 at the Wayback Machine [9] Archived 2022-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
- Lithuania: Lithuania Practical Shooting Sport Federation [10]
- Namibia: Namibian Precision Rifle Association
- Norway: Precision Rifle Norway [11]
- Poland: Polish Precision Rifle Association
- Russia: Rossniping Tactical Shooting Association [12] Archived 2022-08-20 at the Wayback Machine (Voluntarily withdrawn until further notice[2])
- Slovakia: Slovak Precision Rifle Association
- Slovenia: Slovenia Precision Rifle Association
- South Africa: South African Precision Rifle Federation [13] Archived 2021-01-21 at the Wayback Machine
- Spain: Spanish Precision Rifle Association [14]
- Sweden: Swedish Shooting Sport Federation [15]
- United States: United States Precision Rifle Association [16]
- Thailand: Thailand Precision Rilfe Association (THPRA)
Equipment divisions
editThe participants are divided into separate divisions based on the type of equipment used. It is common to use scopes with adjustable magnification, and cartdidges with calibers between 6 mm and 6.5 mm (for example 6 mm Dasher, 6.5 mm Creedmoor or 6.5×55 mm) because these tend to provide good ballistics at typical match distances and relatively little recoil. Internationally, the divisions used are Open (most permitted modifications), Limited and Factory (factory firearms with few modifications). Locally, other divisions may be used or none at all.
Matches
editAll competitors go through the same stages regardless of registered division and category. It is mainly competed individually, but at larger events there can also be team competitions where the results from the individual team members are pooled together to achieve a teams core.
2022 World Championships
editIn 2022 the first World Championship was held by the French Army 16e bataillon de chasseurs à pied and Ultimate Ballistics at the Bitche Military Camp in Bitche France.[5][6]
- Open
| Overall | Competitor | Points | Match percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gold
|
 Austin Buschman
|
158 | 100.00% | |
 Silver
|
Morgun King
|
157 | 99.37% | |
 Bronze
|
Tate Streater
|
156 | 98.73% | |
| 4 | Clay Blackketter
|
155 | 98.10% | |
| 5 | Gregory Bell
|
151 | 95.57% | |
| 6 |  Mathias Nedergård
|
147 | 93.04% | |
| 7 |  Dirk Sauber
|
145 | 91.77% | |
| 8 | Austin Orgain
|
144 | 91.44% | |
| 9 |  Joakim Stigenberg
|
144 | 91.44% | |
| 10 |  Jarnes Mydland
|
143 | 87.90% | |
| Lady | Competitor | Points | Category percent | Overall percent |
| Gold
|
Payton Grimes
|
136 | 100.00% | 86.08% |
| Silver
|
Lauryl Akenhead
|
129 | 94.85% | 81.65% |
| Bronze
|
Allison Zane
|
114 | 83.82% | 72.15% |
| Senior | Competitor | Points | Category percent | Overall percent |
| Gold
|
Rusty Ulmer
|
136 | 100.00% | 86.08% |
| Silver
|
Paul Higley
|
102 | 75.00% | 64.56% |
| Bronze
|
 Andries Lategan
|
98 | 72.06% | 62.03% |
| Mil/LEO | Competitor | Points | Category percent | Overall percent |
| Gold
|
Louis-Philippe Rembry
|
122 | 100.00% | 77.22% |
| Silver
|
 Jack Crawford
|
121 | 99.18% | 76.58% |
| Bronze
|
Daniel Owen
|
111 | 90.98% | 70.25% |
- Teams Open
| Overall | Country | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold
|
USA
|
396.2 | 100.00% |
| Silver
|
Sweden
|
353.8 | 89.30% |
| Bronze
|
Norway
|
333.54 | 84.18% |
| 4 | Denmark
|
321.52 | 81.15% |
| 5 | South Africa
|
319.62 | 80.67% |
| 6 | Great Britain and Northern Ireland
|
313.29 | 79.07% |
| 7 | Namibia
|
308.86 | 77.96% |
| 8 |  Ireland
|
281.65 | 71.09% |
| 9 |  France
|
241.77 | 61.02% |
| 10 |  Spain
|
239.87 | 60.54% |
| 11 |  Italy
|
226.58 | 57.19% |
| 12 |  Slovakia
|
218.35 | 55.11% |
| 13 |  Poland
|
188.61 | 47.60% |
| 14 |  Germany
|
184.81 | 46.65% |
| 15 |  Switzerland
|
182.28 | 46.01% |
| 16 |  Czech Republic
|
127.85 | 32.27% |
- Limited
| Overall | Competitor | Points | Match percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold
|
Coulter Mariott
|
126 | 100.00% | |
| Silver
|
Buck Holly
|
119 | 94.44% | |
| Bronze
|
Leon Weatherby
|
112 | 88.89% | |
| 4 | Matt Partain
|
112 | 88.89% | |
| 5 | Erik Edlund
|
100 | 79.37% | |
| 6 | Tobias Lindgren
|
93 | 73.81% | |
| 7 | Fredrik Månsson
|
92 | 73.02% | |
| 8 | Willem Van Biljon
|
89 | 70.63% | |
| 9 | Ronny Bonilla-sommer
|
86 | 68.25% | |
| 10 | Benoit Marchand
|
84 | 66.67% | |
- Teams Limited
| Overall | Country | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold
|
USA
|
283.33 | 100.00% |
| Silver
|
Sweden
|
226.19 | 79.83% |
| Bronze
|
Norway
|
192.06 | 67.79% |
| 4 | France
|
186.51 | 65.83% |
| 5 | South Africa
|
184.13 | 64.99% |
| 6 | Italy
|
161.11 | 56.86% |
| 7 |  Georgia
|
158.73 | 56.02% |
| 8 | Poland
|
141.27 | 49.86% |
- Factory
| Overall | Competitor | Points | Match percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold
|
Lawrence Barnes
|
116 | 100.00% | |
| Silver
|
Perrin De Gouveia
|
102 | 87.93% | |
| Bronze
|
Ben Mcilwaine
|
101 | 87.07% | |
| 4 |  Slovenia Juraj Cermak
|
100 | 86.21% | |
| 5 | Thomas Rice
|
99 | 85.34% | |
| 6 | Russell Ferreira
|
94 | 81.03% | |
| 7 | Piotr Antasik
|
93 | 80.17% | |
| 8 | Mikael Önnervall
|
91 | 78.45% | |
| 9 | Krister Engvoll
|
89 | 76.72% | |
| 10 | Tomáš Kopča
|
87 | 75.00% | |
- Teams Factory
| Overall | Country | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold
|
Great Britain and Northern Ireland
|
272.41 | 100.00% |
| Silver
|
South Africa
|
242.24 | 88.92% |
| Bronze
|
Sweden
|
221.55 | 81.33% |
| 4 | France
|
190.52 | 69.94% |
| 5 | Poland
|
174.14 | 63.93% |
| 6 | Italy
|
168.97 | 62.03% |
See also
edit- International T-Class Confederation (ITCC), a similar shooting sport
- International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA), the international shooting confederation for Palma and F-Class
References
edit- ^ Wood, Keith (2018). "Precision Rifle Series". American Rifleman. 166 (3). National Rifle Association of America: 56–58.
- ^ a b c "About - International Precision Rifle Federation". International Precision Rifle Federation. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ^ Emily Damment (2022-06-15). "International Precision Rifle Federation established!". Rifle Shooter. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ "Lapua's Allison Zane to Compete at Precision Rifle World Championships". Lapua. 2022-08-06. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ "Ultimate Ballistics". Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ "PRS-VM 2022 | PRS Norge" (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2022-08-13.