Steve,
As I've been saying for months, what I think we should do is to basically follow the parameters of what the WRABF rules hold other than for a few exceptions.
As for the Classes: even though I doubt the 6FPE Sporter Class will see much interest, I feel it is important to keep since it will give the low-power shooters a place to compete. As to the scope power: the current Rule say 6.5#, so why not stick with it.
The 12FPE LV Class is essential as quite a few shooters are now set-up to compete in that, plus it will keep us in line for when shooting the WRABF Postal Cards.
The 15PFE HV-A Class is important if only because of the group of shooters in the Northwest who are shooting it, and doing amazingly well at it too boot.
The 20FPE HV-B Class needs to be maintained since 1.) so many already now have 20FPE guns, 2.) almost all .177 Cal. guns are set-up to compete at 20FPE even when running at over 900 f/s, and 3.) here again, it will be important for when we are shooting in any International Postal events.
UNLIMITED! My vote would be a definite yes for adding it. Now here's the rub. I would think that an Unlimited Class by definition would be open to any power of air gun shot from any rest. But, since it is specified in the general rules that the other four divisions all require a Two-Piece rest be used, if I were to bring my 12FPE gun to a match, but only brought a One-Piece rest, then I'm coming in knowing that I will be competing against the rest of the Unlimited Class, and not the LV Class.
Adding .25 Cal.: I like the idea as that caliber is now rapidly gaining a bunch of interest, plus more and more high-end pellets are becoming available for it. The only major draw-back I see is it could change what we are currently doing about plugging, especially if we still try to maintain a level playing field for. Using a .22 plug has meant that all calibers, whether .177, .20 or .22, could be scored by the use of a single plug, but if we were to add the .25's, this would mean having to up size that plug in order to accommodate the large hole size, which could be too much for the .177's hole, especially if and when the paper is wet.
YARDAGE: first of all, if a range is able to accommodate multiple yardages/meters, I believe the shooters should be given the option to shoot at whatever yardage they want, but I believe it is essential to have all shooters at a match competing at the same yardage at the same time, whatever that may be.
For the sake of keeping things simple, I would think that we would just maintain going with either 25Y or M. I know that personally I have little interest in shooting 50Y, and yet would hate to discourage those who enjoy it from shooting it. Although, I have been arguing for years that in my opinion the optimum distance for these guns is 35Y. This decision should probably be left up to the Match Director, then the only nightmare will be for the paperwork executives while trying to keep a level tracking of where everyone is at.
I'm sure that I've left out allot, but these are my initial thoughts. And, here again, if you disagree with what I've said, then so be it!
Dave