2025 NRL Hunter

I know which MD you refer to and you're 100% correct. The 'normal' definition does include what you describe.

What I describe is a guy with a gun on a bag setting his gun down, kneeling, closing the bolt and then getting behind the gun looking for the target. Or, the guy laying prone, closing his bolt and then reaching to the end of his forend with his head beside his scope to adjust bipod height. In both these situations, you should lift your bolt before those adjustments.
 
You "skyloading" losers can eff off also. Not trying to be a complete dick with that comment, I'm all for safety first. But there is only one match I've been to that a MD has been a prick about it. I like the guy enough, but he's irrational about "skyloading". Oh! except when it comes to bolt action pistols... he's completely fine "skyloading" those apparently.

FYI it's not in the official NRL Hunter rules, and nobody will ever convince me that picking your head up to look at your turret or adjust a bag is unsafe in any way. This is where you have to have some common sense and use nuance...
It was definitely something I hadn't practiced before my first match a couple years ago, but gun cant go off if the actions open.

Then they put targets on a skyline and expect us to shoot them. I fundamentally had a problem with that stage.
 
For sure. There's being in complete control of your gun and there's not. Two very different situations. I think some people just get carried away with it and it takes away from the match and the experience imo.

FWIW I've shot 6 matches each of the last 2 years and RO'd probably over half of those, so I've seen a LOT of shooters move through stages, and have only maybe once or twice talked to a new shooter after the clock about it. So when I see someone (not you) say they RO'd a match and called it out a ton on both days, it paints a picture in my mind.
 
Who got registered for Belt, MT?

I sent an inquiry into the NRL site, and haven't gotten a response on confirmation of the rules. My read on the rules is you can shoot factory 130gr 6.5 creed ammo and just lose a tie-breaker to someone with a higher power factor. Can anyone confirm my interpretation as correct? I registered for the team division and don't want to screw my partner by sticking with my 130 bergers.
 
You'll be find shooting 130 grain 65 factory ammo. There is no power factor requirement for factory ammo.

The fastest way to get rules questions answered is the NRL Hunter Facebook page.
 
Maybe when I said “ton” what I meant was 2-3 people my bad on my choice of words.


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I know which MD you refer to and you're 100% correct. The 'normal' definition does include what you describe.

What I describe is a guy with a gun on a bag setting his gun down, kneeling, closing the bolt and then getting behind the gun looking for the target. Or, the guy laying prone, closing his bolt and then reaching to the end of his forend with his head beside his scope to adjust bipod height. In both these situations, you should lift your bolt before those adjustments.


Yes…. Because why would a “hunters” match remotely mimic real life gun handling….

The aim at your target and slowly close the bolt BS is the single worst habit that has come out of PRS, and most have no clue why it came about at all, just “safety”.
 
Yes…. Because why would a “hunters” match remotely mimic real life gun handling….

The aim at your target and slowly close the bolt BS is the single worst habit that has come out of PRS, and most have no clue why it came about at all, just “safety”.

What rule sets would you prefer to have “safe” matches with new —-> advanced shooters and everything in between?


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What rule sets would you prefer to have “safe” matches with new —-> advanced shooters and everything in between?


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There is nothing unsafe about loading a rifle downrange and putting it on safe immediately…. Except when the most common rifle types fire when you close the bolt sometimes and when drop them. Well, still downrange that’s not “unsafe”, but it would cause a ruckus to actually acknowledge that there is a problem with a certain action and trigger type.

PRS/NRL has no problem putting rifles with chamber flag or “bagged”, behind people where they walk in front of them, but somehow are so scared of a loaded rifle being pointed downrange. Meanwhile, the largest “practical” shooting matches- USPSA, IPSC, IDPA/Multi-gun have people literally sprinting from to and from multiple positions in dynamic stages, from prone to standing- everything in between; around, through, under, and over obstacles- and they all do it with fully loaded semi-autos.

Finger out of the trigger guard when you move. Safety on before you move. Simple. Good gun handling. Works on ranges, works in matches, works hunting, works in real life.
 
I’m not on either side of this, as I rarely shoot amongst more than a couple of people, but there is an interesting cultural divide on this issue that has been going on for a long time:

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I’m not on either side of this, as I rarely shoot amongst more than a couple of people, but there is an interesting cultural divide on this issue that has been going on for a long time:

c742053ee51fb8c9efd368dbab76a58a.gif
I read that three times before I got it right, kept seeing "I’m not on either side of this, as I rarely shoot more than a couple of people,"
 
A lot of places where matches are held, bullets leaving the property is a no-go, so downrange is not good enough, also has to be below certain level.

When at a match with 150-200 shooters, most of whom I don't know and have no idea their level of skill or the safety of their equipment, I can appreciate the safety nazis.
 
I was at an NRL race gun match four years ago and a nearby farmer came over holding a 6.5 a-tip that hit his barn and fell by the mandoor. Fortunately, he didn't come to complain but wanted to see what it was all about.
 
Lot of confusion here. NRL Hunter is an NRL/PRS style rifle match first and foremost, the "Hunter" part/style is simply that the targets are unknown distance and shaped like animals. Don't believe it claims to replicate a hunt for live animal. What it does do is really help grow skill in position building, range finding, reading wind, etc.

I perpetually sky load most of the time I am hunting. I am presumed alone or near alone, in the woods, with my safety on. I'm not at a shooting range with 100+ other people spread all over the place. Put me in the thankful for the safety nazi's camp. I've been one.
 
A lot of places where matches are held, bullets leaving the property is a no-go, so downrange is not good enough, also has to be below certain level.

When at a match with 150-200 shooters, most of whom I don't know and have no idea their level of skill or the safety of their equipment, I can appreciate the safety nazis.

All/almost all matches I listed have the same range issues. And yet, issues are astronomically rare. Gun handling is (compared to PRS) spectacular. Litteraly overall the safest and best group of humans to be around with guns on a range.


I was at an NRL race gun match four years ago and a nearby farmer came over holding a 6.5 a-tip that hit his barn and fell by the mandoor. Fortunately, he didn't come to complain but wanted to see what it was all about.

How does aiming at the target stop that? ND’s happen regardless- mostly when people put their finger on a trigger when they shouldn’t, or when a safety isn’t applied when it should be.




Lot of confusion here. NRL Hunter is an NRL/PRS style rifle match first and foremost, the "Hunter" part/style is simply that the targets are unknown distance and shaped like animals. Don't believe it claims to replicate a hunt for live animal. What it does do is really help grow skill in position building, range finding, reading wind, etc.


Correct. And that means it is habituating certain habits. The problem is those habits cause the issues they seek to stop.


I perpetually sky load most of the time I am hunting. I am presumed alone or near alone, in the woods, with my safety on. I'm not at a shooting range with 100+ other people spread all over the place. Put me in the thankful for the safety nazi's camp. I've been one.

It isn’t about being a safety nazi- it’s causing the thing you/they want to avoid. Some of the worst, most dangerous people with guns are modern precision/PRS competitors. They are only topped by shotgunners. When we do a class, and someone is pointing guns at people, have ND’s when moving, etc. the excuse they always give is “but it’s unloaded”, “the bolt was back”, etc. When asked if they shoot PRS/precision matches, most of the time it’s “yes”.
On the flip side, it’s evident when someone shoots action pistol and multi-gun matches; they don’t point guns at people- ever. They don’t have their fingers on triggers unless preparing to fire- ever. Almost never do they move without the safety applied.


I have shot action matches for 23 years, hundreds of matches. Brand new shooters shoot matches all the time. In all that time, I have seen 1 ND. I have shot maybe 20 modern PRS/precision matches and have seen 5-6 ND’s, and heard of multiple others.

I went to a relatively large PRS match a few years ago on the east coast. A couple people there had also been to an action match the day prior, and they were talking about how they couldn’t believe how “unsafe” people were because they were moving with loaded guns.
I was at that match too, so I asked

“how many muzzles did you get pointed at you at the other match?”

Their response was “none”.

So I asked, how many have been pointed at you at this match?

They said “none”

I laughed turned around and pointed at 15+ rifles pointed at them and everyone else right then. “You’ve had muzzles pointed at you all day”.

Their response “yeah, but they’re bolt is back”.

I just started laughing at them and the ridiculous nonsense people were doing with rifles. I took pictures and videos of all the guns getting pointed at people behind the line- but hey, they got their bolts back while moving 6 inches on a barricade.


One group is barricade bench-rest with virtually no dynamic movement, yet causes terrible real world gun handling and has orders of magnitude more problems.

The other group has extremely aggressive movement during stages, fires orders of magnitude more rounds in competition per year, yet has fewer issues. And if you count just general poor gun handling, orders of magnitude less than the other.

Which one probably has a better grasp on “safety” with guns?
 
One group is barricade bench-rest with virtually no dynamic movement, yet causes terrible real world gun handling and has orders of magnitude more problems.

The other group has extremely aggressive movement during stages, fires orders of magnitude more rounds in competition per year, yet has fewer issues. And if you count just general poor gun handling, orders of magnitude less than the other.

Which one probably has a better grasp on “safety” with guns?
This isn't making me want people to have their bolts forward any more, safety on or not...

I definitely see where you're coming from and largely agree. I wish everyone was better at gun handling, but the organizations that make the rules can't snap their fingers and make that happen, they can make sure people's guns are visibly unloaded though.

I've also yet to see someone flagged with a rifle personally at a PRS or nrl match, and walking in front of grounded rifles has always been a no-no, or at least I refuse to do it and don't really see it done.
Seems like bolt open until ready to fire has just as much to do with having a visible indicator of a cold weapon as anything. Obviously r700s and 8oz triggers are a driving factor too, a 20+ rifle is inherently harder to control than a gas gun or pistol too.

Most PRS matches, even if you impact the target with an ND, you're DQ'd. If your gun goes off when you close the bolt, you're done until the issue is proven to be fixed and it is treated as an ND unless you can recreate the problem to prove that it was a mechanical failure. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have not seen much in the way of egregious gun handling at matches.

Also, everyone at action matches has an empty and holstered gun until instructed otherwise, I don't see how that is that much different from a chamber flagged rifle until time starts.
 
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