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.
History PRS 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.
In 2021 the International Precision Rifle Federation (IPRF) was founded, and in 2022 the first world championship was held at the Bitche Military Camp in Bitche, France.
IPRF has affiliated associations in several countries:
Australia: Australian Precision Rifle Association Austria: Austrian Precision Rifle Association Canada: Canadian Precision Rifle Association Chile: Federación Chilena de Rifles de Precisión Czechia: Czech Precision Rifle Association France: French precision Rifle Association Georgia: Georgian Precision Rifle Federation Germany: Deutsche Precision Rifle Association Great Britain: Great Britain Precision Rifle Association Greece: Hellenic Shooting Federation Hungary: Hungarian Dynamic Shooting Sport Federation Indonesia: Indonesian Precision Rifle Association Ireland: Irish Precision Rifle Association Italy: PRS Italia Lithuania: Lithuania Practical Shooting Sport Federation Namibia: Namibian Precision Rifle Association Norway: Precision Rifle Norway Poland: Polish Precision Rifle Association Russia: Rossniping Tactical Shooting Association (Voluntarily withdrawn until further notice) Slovakia: Slovak Precision Rifle Association Slovenia: Slovenia Precision Rifle Association South Africa: South African Precision Rifle Federation Spain: Spanish Precision Rifle Association Sweden: Swedish Shooting Sport Federation United States: United States Precision Rifle Association Thailand: Thailand Precision Rilfe Association (THPRA)
Equipment divisions
The 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 All 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 In 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.
Open
OverallCompetitorPointsMatch percent Gold Austin Buschman158100.00% Silver Morgun King15799.37% Bronze Tate Streater15698.73%4 Clay Blackketter15598.10%5 Gregory Bell15195.57%6 Mathias Nedergård14793.04%7 Dirk Sauber14591.77%8 Austin Orgain14491.44%9 Joakim Stigenberg14491.44%10 Jarnes Mydland14387.90%LadyCompetitorPointsCategory percentOverall percent Gold Payton Grimes136100.00%86.08% Silver Lauryl Akenhead12994.85%81.65% Bronze Allison Zane11483.82%72.15%SeniorCompetitorPointsCategory percentOverall percent Gold Rusty Ulmer136100.00%86.08% Silver Paul Higley10275.00%64.56% Bronze Andries Lategan9872.06%62.03%Mil/LEOCompetitorPointsCategory percentOverall percent Gold Louis-Philippe Rembry122100.00%77.22% Silver Jack Crawford12199.18%76.58% Bronze Daniel Owen11190.98%70.25%
Teams Open
OverallCountryPointsPercent Gold396.2100.00% Silver353.889.30% Bronze333.5484.18%4321.5281.15%5319.6280.67%6 and Northern Ireland313.2979.07%7308.8677.96%8281.6571.09%9241.7761.02%10239.8760.54%11226.5857.19%12218.3555.11%13188.6147.60%14184.8146.65%15182.2846.01%16127.8532.27%
Limited
OverallCompetitorPointsMatch percent Gold Coulter Mariott126100.00% Silver Buck Holly11994.44% Bronze Leon Weatherby11288.89%4 Matt Partain11288.89%5 Erik Edlund10079.37%6 Tobias Lindgren9373.81%7 Fredrik Månsson9273.02%8 Willem Van Biljon8970.63%9 Ronny Bonilla-sommer8668.25%10 Benoit Marchand8466.67%
Teams Limited
OverallCountryPointsPercent Gold283.33100.00% Silver226.1979.83% Bronze192.0667.79%4 186.5165.83%5184.1364.99%6 161.1156.86%7 158.7356.02%8141.2749.86%
Factory
OverallCompetitorPointsMatch percent Gold Lawrence Barnes116100.00% Silver Perrin De Gouveia10287.93% Bronze Ben Mcilwaine10187.07%4 Juraj Cermak10086.21%5 Thomas Rice9985.34%6 Russell Ferreira9481.03%7 Piotr Antasik9380.17%8 Mikael Önnervall9178.45%9 Krister Engvoll8976.72%10 Tomáš Kopča8775.00%
Teams Factory
OverallCountryPointsPercent Gold and Northern Ireland272.41100.00% Silver242.2488.92% Bronze221.5581.33%4190.5269.94%5174.1463.93%6168.9762.03%
See also 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