International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations

Palma competition dates from 1876, featuring long-range rifle shooting, out to 1,000 yards. The first Palma match was contested by teams from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Scotland and Ireland (with muzzleloading rifles at that time). The matches continued to the late 1920s, and the trophy was eventually lost in Washington DC around the outbreak of WW2. The match was revived in the modern era in 1966 in Canada, and continues between teams from around the world. The PALMA bolt action rifles are 7.62mm NATO caliber (Winchester .308) and fire Match Grade ammunition using a 155 grain bullet using micrometer aperture (iron) sights.[3] The last two International Long-range Target Rifle Matches were held in Australia in 2011 and the U.S. in 2015, were won by Great Britain.[4]

F-Class was started in Canada by the late George "Farky" Farquharson after whom the class is named.[5] In the United States, J.J. Conway is considered the "grandfather of F-Class".[6]

Starting at the 1999 Palma and Individual Long Range World Championship in South Africa, representatives of 14 countries met and a formed a steering committee to form the foundation of an international organization to become the successor of the Palma Council.[7] ICFRA was formally founded in July 2003.

In Palma-style competitions only iron sighted rifles are permitted, and competitors may use slings and special clothing to increase stability.

Palma is a fullbore rifle discipline shot with iron sighted rifles at ranges from 300 to 1000 yards. In international competitions, the only two permitted calibers are either caliber .223 Remington or .308 Winchester with maximum bullet weights of 80 grains (approx. 5.2 grams) or 155 grains (10 grams) respectively. [8]

• International Target Rifle class (Palma): Shot prone supported with a sling, no bipods or rests are permitted. Only iron sights are permitted. Minimum trigger pull weight is 500 grams (approximately 1.1 lbs). The total weight of the rifle is unlimited. The rifle must be chambered for either the unmodified .308 Winchester/ 7.62×51mm NATO or .223 Rem/ 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge cases. Bullet weight for .308 Win must be less than 156 grains (typically 155 grain bullets are used), and less than 81 grains for .223 Rem (typically 80 grain bullets are used).

For Palma, slings are permitted as shooting aid, and adjustable slings with arm cuffs and buckle adjustments are commonly used.[9] Special shooting jackets are permitted, which can increase the stability of the shooter, reduce movement of the firearm due to pulse, helps with consistent recoil management and provide padding for the elbows against the ground. Because of the tension of the sling and the weight of the rifle, it is common to use special padded shooting gloves in the support hand for comfort.

The type of diopter rear sights used in Palma shooting are often dubbed "micrometer aperture sights".[10] This nomenclature can be regarded as somewhat unprecise, since a sight adjustment of 1 micrometer combined with a typical sight radius of 1 meter corresponds to an angular adjustment of: ​^{1 μm}⁄_1 m = ​^0.001 mm⁄_1 m = 0.001 mrad. In practice, Palma rifles typically angular click adjustment of either ​¹⁄₄ moa (0.073 mrad) or 0.1 mrad. Finer sight adjustments such as ​¹⁄₈ moa (0.036 mrad) or coarser adjustments such as ​¹⁄₂ moa (0.145 mrad) are less commonly seen on iron sighted full bore target rifles

• 
  A U.S. marksman at the 2014 Inter-service Rifle Competition at Quantico Marine Base, Virginia.
• 
  An L81 A2 Cadet Target Rifle.

In F-Class, scope sights, rear bags, and either a bipod or front rest is permitted.

F-Class is a rapidly growing variant of Fullbore Target Rifle which permits optical telescopic sights and shooting rests in the front and rear like for instance like a bipod and/or bags. Competitions are fired at distances from 300 to 1000 yards, and the center of the target has an extra scoring ring which is half the size of the one used in traditional Palma shooting. Based on equipment, competitors can choose to compete in one of the two classes Open or Standard:

• F-Open (Open Class): All rifle calibers up to 8.89 mm (0.35 in) may be used, along with a scope, and one can choose between using front rest and rear bag, or a bipod/ backpack. The weight limit including optics is 10 kg (22 lb).[11]
• F-TR ("Target", Standard Class): A restricted class permitting a scope, bipod/ backpack and rear bag (no front rest), but the rifle has to be of either caliber .223 Remington or .308 Winchester. In addition, the weight limit including optics is 8.25 kg (18.2 lb).[11]

The 'F' in the name of the discipline is named after the Canadian shooter George Farquharson.

• 
  A BCM Europearms rifle intended for use with front rest and rear bag in the F-Class Open.
• 
  Another BCM Europearms rifle intended F-Class Open, this one with a bipod instead of a front rest.

The reason for limiting bullet weights in the fullbore disciplines of Palma and F-Class Standard is to level the playing field and make the competition about wind reading skills instead of about equipment.[12] Lighter bullets usually have a lower ballistic coefficient and are therefore more susceptible to wind drift. .308 Winchester/ 7.62×51mm NATO is limited to a maximum bullet weight of 155 grains (ca. 10 grams), which can be seen as a little bit on the light side for the .308 caliber in long range shooting. .223 Rem/ 5.56×45mm NATO is limited to a maximum bullet weight of 80 grains (ca 5.2 grams), which can be seen as a little on the heavy side for the caliber, thus increasing the long range potential of the otherwise "inferior" .223 caliber compared to the .308.

The F-Class Open has no limitations on bullet weight, as long as the caliber is .35 or less. Note that some ICFRA member associations may have additional national competition classes with other caliber and equipment restrictions.

All competitors are allowed to use a spotting scope while shooting. The most important use of the spotter scope is reading the wind by watching mirage downrange, which is easier with higher magnification. Scopes with powers between 30 and 50× and a lens diameter of 50 mm or larger are commonly used.[9] When shooting at paper targets, another common use of the spotting scope is to spot for the scoring disks which are placed onto the targets by range personnel to indicate the score. The use of scoring disks is not necessary when using electronic targets.

All competitors may use a shooting mat for padding and insulation against the ground.

ICFRA competitions can be held in either a short range or long range format, with distances either in the imperial yards or the metric meters. F-Class shoots at the same targets as Palma, but during the scoring process an extra inner ring (which is half the diameter of the V-bull) counts only for F-Class. The scoring is based on points, with the object to place shots as close to the center or "Bull" as possible.[5] While short range is shot at a different target size for each of the six distances, long range is shot at the one and same type of target at different distances.

The imperial short range distances are:

• 300 yd (274.32 m)
• 500 yd (457.2 m)
• 600 yd (548.64 m).

The metric short range distances are:

• 300 m
• 500 m
• 600 m.

Long range is shot between 700 m to 1000 yds (914.4 m).

Overall

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
1876	United States	Ireland	Scotland	Creedmoor, USA
1877	United States	Great Britain	-	Creedmoor, USA
1901	Canada	United States	-	Sea Girt, USA
1902	Great Britain	United States	Canada	Rockliffe, Canada
1903	United States	Great Britain	Canada	Bisley, UK
1907	United States	Canada	Australia	Rockliffe, Canada
1912	United States	Canada	-	Rockliffe, Canada
1913	United States	Argentina	Canada	Camp Perry, USA
1928	United States	Cuba	-	Camp Perry, USA
1966	United States	Canada	-	Camp Perry, USA
1967	Canada	Great Britain	United States	Connaught, Canada
1968	United States	Canada	-	Campt Perry, USA
1969	United States	Great Britain	Canada	Connaught, Canada
1970	Great Britain	United States	Canada	Bisley, UK
1971	United States	Great Britain	Canada	Camp Perry, USA
1972	Canada	United States	-	Connaught, Canada
1973	United States	Canada	-	Camp Perry, USA
1974	South Africa	United States	Rhodesia	Bloemfontein, South Africa
1976	United States	South Africa	Great Britain	Camp Perry, USA
1979	Australia	New Zealand	United States	Trentham, New Zealand
1982	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Connaught, Canada
1985	United States	Great Britain	Australia	Bisley, UK
1988	Australia	Great Britain	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia
1992	Great Britain	Canada	New Zealand	Raton, New Mexico
1995	Great Britain	United States	New Zealand	Trentham, New Zealand
1999	South Africa	Great Britain	New Zealand	Bloemfontein, South Africa
2003	Great Britain	United States	South Africa	Bisley, UK
2007	Great Britain	South Africa	Australia	Ottawa, Canada
2011	Great Britain	South Africa	United States	Brisbane, Australia
2015	Great Britain	United States	South Africa	Camp Perry, USA
2019	Australia	Great Britain	United States	Seddon Range, New Zealand
2023				South Africa

The following categories are awarded:

• Overall
• Women
• Veterans (over 60 years)
• Age 21-25 years
• Age under 21 years

Overall

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
1992	TA Ringer			Raton, New Mexico, United States
1995	TA Ringer			Trentham, New Zealand
1999	DV Enslin			Bloemfontein, South Africa
2003	SJ Gallacher			National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2007	DC Luckman			Connaught, Canada
2011	R Jeens			Brisbane, Australia
2015	Ben Emms 669-77X	Nigel Ball 668-75X	Matthew Pozzebon 666-78X	Camp Perry, Ohio, United States

Veteran

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
2003	EE Stigant			National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2007	TJ Whitaker			Connaught, Canada
2011	TJ Whitaker			Brisbane, Australia
2015	David Tubb			Camp Perry, Ohio, United States
2019				Seddon Range, New Zealand
2023				South Africa

Under 25 year

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
2003	R Stewart			National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2007	P Seebohm			Connaught, Canada
2011	A du Toit			Brisbane, Australia
2015	Jack Alexander 590-55X			Camp Perry, Ohio, United States

Under 21 years

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
2003	PRD Stock			National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2007	DA Richardson			Connaught, Canada
2011	No championship held
2015	Waylon Burbach 590-58X			Camp Perry, Ohio, United States

Overall

Year	Class	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Venue
2002		W Scholze	L Bartholome	R Crone	Connaught, Canada
2005		MW Tompkins	L Bartholome	S Ahrens	Bloemfontein, South Africa
2009	Open	G Costello	D Parr	G Taylor	National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2009	F-TR	R Simmonds	G Barnard	S Pate	National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2013	Open	K Adams	M Lobert	B Mead	Raton, New Mexico, United States
2013	F-TR	N Taylor	R Simmonds	D Buell	Raton, New Mexico, United States
2017	Open	R Davies	P Sandie	A Pohl	Connaught, Canada
2017	Open - U25	R Ireland	J West	M Bramley	Connaught, Canada
2017	F-TR	D Rodgers	K Chou	B Litz	Connaught, Canada
2017	FTR - U25	M Fitzpatrick	S McSparron	C McSparron	Connaught, Canada
2021	Open				Bloemfontein, South Africa
2021	F-TR				Bloemfontein, South Africa
2025	Open				National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain
2025	F-TR				National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Great Britain