The NEFTA Classic has been running since 1991. It was the idea of Andy Calpin after he and a few other NEFTA shooters shot the International Shoot in California in 1990. This fantastic event included a large American Silhouette part. It was the NEFTA lad’s first experience of this challenging and exciting shooting sport it’s a complete contrast to Field Target shooting. That is what fired up the NEFTA lads to bring it back to deepest Yorkshire and also combine with their first love, FT shooting.

American Silhouette course of fire consists of banks of metal animal shapes, based on the Mexican originated sport of Silhouette shooting. These are the chicken, pig, turkey and ram. For air rifles the scale and range of the targets is scaled down. Chickens are shot at 20 yards, pigs at 30, turkeys at 36 and rams 45 yards. Banks of five silhouettes in a line are shot from the forced standing position only and each bank of five is timed too. We shoot a 40 shot match each day, which is two banks of each of the four animals. Shooters are paired up and marshal each other over the two days. There are three groups of shooters to allow all the competitors to shoot a tough 40 shot FT course too. Timings are giving for each section of shooting and it all runs like clock work thanks to the hard work from all the NEFTA members. Check when you book in what group you are in and when you are scheduled to shoot.

We have always ploughed the entrance money back into the shoot and it is not unknown for us not to make a profit at all. But that is not the point of the shoot we put it on to give something back to shooters. We have classes for AA, A, B, C, junior and recoiling rifle shooters. The perpetual trophies are stunning with the FT trophy a full size brass knock over and the Silhouette a beautiful row of silhouettes on a wooden plinth. The junior one is a larger replica of a JSB pellet.

The added bonus with American Silhouette shooting is the ability to win badges for clearing a bank of the five or indeed ten animals. The pressure on the last shot to earn a badge is immense, added too as the all the other shooters present in the range can see you are on for a possible five. NEFTA now buys in its own NEFTA green animal 5 and ten badges and these can be bought by the lucky, sorry, skilful shooter for £2.50 each. They are handed out at the prize giving on the last day. But we differ in NEFTA from the rest of the world of American Silhouette shooting matches as we have a Duck badge for those missing the whole bank of five animals, It gets very windy up here, so we came up with the idea for a bit of fun and something the poor soul who does miss them all to get out of the shoot. It has not been unknown for fellow shooters to buy the Duck badge for a mate, don’t forget shooters badges and names are called out at the prize giving. New in the 2008 Classic event is the “Golden Hog”, similar to the golden bunny in FT and HFT. But we have the pig target sprayed yellow so everyone knows if you have hit it or not. All those who do will go into a prize draw on each day.

We have always had a strong team element to the shoot with two and four man teams competing together. Again, something unique to our shoot, but for an added bonus we have a three man lucky dip team, where three shooters are randomly put together. A draw takes place after the second session of Silhouettes on the first day, with prizes on offer to the top five teams. It brings shooters from different regions in contact with one another. The Classic has always been a fun friendly event and the three man event keeps it that way.

So, book early as we have to limit the number’s to 132 shooters. With 80 shots a day over two days it’s a challenging shoot, but is not called the Classic without good reason.