In my mind the weight should be limited even in open, it's limited in other shooting sports, you have weight limits even in F Class Open
Just because other sports do it does not mean it's a good idea.
We have speed limits, caliber limits, etc
These limits have a logical reason as to why they exist, because without them your targets end up beat to shit or full of holes. I'm not convinced yet that there's a logical reason to actually restrict rifle weight beyond, "I don't like heavy rifles so they should be banned."
It's a defined set of rules so everyone understands.
The rules are already well defined and everyone understands that there isn't a weight limit.
This is supposed to be a practical/tactical rifles series, not a give it all to me upfront like F Class or Benchrest
Calling this a practical or tactical rifle sport is ridiculous on its face, because there's nothing practical about shooting a 105-115gr bullet traveling only 2,800-2,900 fps at a target 1,400 yards away. In a practical (hunting) or tactical (military) scenario you'd be rightfully called an idiot for doing that instead of using a large magnum cartridge instead.
You'll see more innovation with the rules in place than without.
Correction: you'll see more loopholes exploited, and more rules created to close those loopholes. Innovation cannot exist when you limit how people can innovate with arbitrary restrictions.
Remember you want to grow and add to the sport, in these cases perceptions matter, having no limits ruins the perception for a lot of people who want things defined up front.
The same can be said about having arbitrary rules that serve no purpose other than, "Because we said so." I'd argue having a big list of rules people need to adhere to is more discouraging to a new shooter than anything else. There are a number of different shooting sports that seem like a lot of fun but I've never bothered with because the rulebook weighs about 20 pounds. USPSA and IDPA are the biggest ones, where there are limits on what guns belong in what division and seemingly a dozen different divisions, plus within the division you have to worry about the power factor of your ammunition. None of that is fun to anybody besides pedants who spend too much time worrying that someone else might have a slight advantage because their gun is different. It just discourages people because they don't necessarily know if their gun will fit into whatever arbitrary requirements are given.
Beyond that, to grow the sport you need to keep current competitors shooting matches into the future. If you ban the rifles used by 50% of people in PRS, how many of those people do you think are going to go buy equipment to keep competing vs how many will leave and shoot NRL instead?
They want shit handed to them and consider it fair to do so, rather than enter an event blind. Which to me is 10x more fun, especially having come off a CD match last month where the stages are totally blind. Doing it all on the clock, having to hold gear in hand, it's a lot more fun and the sense of accomplishment is bigger
Other people find it more fun to shoot a heavy rifle because they can hit more targets with it, and hitting targets is fun. You would find it decidedly not fun if a minimum weight restriction was implemented. The only people who think arbitrary restrictions are fun are the people who aren't affected by adding said restrictions.
What are you actually paying for? The MD does the match, the series takes your money and keeps your score on a website, but outside of that and raking in money with, Official X Sponsor of the X Series, they do nothing for you in return.
You're getting a pretty good discount towards purchases at a number of different companies (those "Official X Sponsor of the X Series" companies). Along with that you're getting a shirt and some other small items for free.
The other thing you're getting is the ability to compare yourself to other shooters across the country, using a tracked and ranked listing. You're getting the large checks from sponsors at the finale and for overall rankings. You're getting stuff on the prize tables from companies that send gear as part of their overall PRS sponsorship deal.
The funniest part of this argument is that the fee for the series is trivial in comparison to even just the fee for a single match. It's like asking why you would pay $50 annually to join the men's club at a golf course (where they organize tournaments and track scores, as well as give out prizes based on results) when you're spending thousands on the golf itself each year.
I can build a webpage on here for pennies and manage all your scores for free... it's simple, I can even give you a better profile, higher views and more exposure as an individual should you choose it, but instead, you want to pay people who do nothing for you.
Do it then. If it were that simple you'd have no reason not to because it would cost pennies and could potentially increase revenue related to the site if it attracted new users.
Just know that unless all the tracked scores are under the same set of rules it means absolutely nothing to track them in comparison to other shooters. Without basic consistency from match to match it really doesn't matter unless you're just looking to brag.
As far as higher views and more exposure go that's not going to happen for any old Joe Schmoe who finishes middle of the pack. Quite honestly nobody wants to see his profile, except maybe the people who shot with him in the past or will shoot with him in the future. Profiles don't particularly matter for that anyway, because what's important for people's personal brands in modern times is various forms of interactive social media. Regular contact with other people via repeated posts/updates that will be automatically seen by others, not static profile pages that don't allow for interaction with the people you're advertising to.
