Enjoyment vs Capability

[Bro Mo]

When I was into mountain biking, I transitioned from a rigid fork hard-tail to a suspension fork hard-tail to a full suspension rig. Something that I noticed was that my enjoyment never really changed. I could ride more difficult terrain with the latter but the enjoyment level was the same. The terrain that felt like an accomplishment with the rigid bike was different than the terrain that equated to the same feeling of accomplishment on the full suspension.

What elements of your shooting equipment have helped you enjoy the sport more rather than simply enable a more difficult terrain to be ridden? Some things I feel go near the top of the list would be a suppressor and a 22lr. Oh, and steel targets.

 

[PDXGS]

I love shooting my Swiss K31 or my M1A... Just like I loved my old, rigid, Bontrager or my cyclocross rigs
Good tools are good tools... Foundational Skills developed while using more primitive tools are seldom lost when you transition to a more capable tool.
That said, I seriously doubt that the kids who only know full suspension could keep up if they were handed a hard tail ... In time most of them would evolve.
Suppressors, Atlas bipods and skills development classes like wind reading have been money well spent.

 

[_Windrider_]

Silencers definitely. But buying quality equipment is the key for me. When you go cheap it feels like you’re always fumble fucking around trying to make it work. You buy quality and it just works. Less effort is put into overcoming weaknesses and just enjoying and improving. Classic example, a Harris bipod vs an atlas Or using a tripod designed for camera equipment vs a dedicated shooting tripod.

 

[FUNCTIONAL]

Clones.

Easy to build whatever you want tailored to your use. Using an issued rifle with a fixed 10x and mis matched knobs/ret or a 12x max 18.5lb 30" 308...or a light 18.5" 308 without brake.... you get top learn a lot of interesting systems, quirks and advantages of each system. Its exciting to use a piece of history and go through the shooting struggles some bad ass people do/did.

Enjoy it so much ive decided to sell everything but clones....to build more clones.


And obviously suppressors...awesome in every way but $200 tax and 10 month wait.

 

[t8500shx]

Hey, I used to do a Lot of mountain biking too ? My final mountain bike I built from the frame up. My enjoyment increased as my skill level went up.

But I learned that with a lot of Research and Training, Greatly enhanced enjoyment. With mountain biking, I worked on my technique and worked out (weights and endurance) which really helped me Love mountain biking. With shooting, I read a lot, go with recommend products, try different ammo, and of course work on my technique. I started shooting paper, then went to steel. Now I went back to paper as I work on getting better groups.

 

[chrome]

Not so much kit focused, but I very much enjoy shooting when there are less people on the range. So I will try to join ranges and/or carve out time to go shooting that will minimize being around others. Allows for more flexible training and testing.

 

[glefos]

Time to shoot. That would be the most enjoyable.

I have a mountain of shit I don't use collecting dust in my shop. Some I wish I had time to play with and the rest I wouldn't play with if I had the time. My priorities are all F'd up.

 

[Rthur]

Time, means, facilities at hand, goals.
How much income do you want to set aside to enjoy/achieve desires.
Do you have time to travel a little or a lot to shoot?
What facilities are at hand local/semi local?
Do I want to shoot 1000 yards? Lol
Much fun can be had in local NRL22 matches.
Much fun can be had shooting regional/national PRS matches.
The version choices will drive the gear choices.

R

 

[ToddM]

I think it very much depends on your focus. I can relate to the mountain biking, starting mountain biking in the 90's when it was all hard tails and cross country trails, and moved up to all-mountain bikes riding Moab and Grand junction, and then to bigger bikes at Northstar and Winter park, but that all slowed way down with a very broken down lower spine. That said, I agree, while the more technology on the bikes let me ride more terrain, and harder terrain easier, I still valued being able to ride hard terrain with a hard tail, or ride hard train with good technique and smoother lines with a full suspension bike.

If you are going to shoot competition, you always want the most technology/aid you can buy. We talk a lot about fundamentals, and they are needed but at the end of the day if you can buy hits, a win is a win. There's value in skill, training etc. but when winning is the goal, any means you can get there within the rules is good. If you don't, you can bet your competitors will.

I used to shoot on a national level for trap decades ago, but now for me I'm not a huge competition shooting guy, so I still really like being able to shoot a "lesser" gun well. It's "easy" to shoot a 23lb 6mm well compared to a 10lb .308 LTR, but I have more respect for the skill and ability of the person that can shoot the LTR well. Long range AR's are another one I really like shooting, just because you really have to be on your form/technique if you're going to make one of them shoot well.

 

[Steel head]

A decent rifle with a nice bipod, rear bag and repeatable dialing scope make life nice.
No mystery drama.
My rifle aren’t super bling but they’re pretty sorted out at the moment.


I used to ride mountain bikes a bunch.
Ended up with full suspension but then went back to a Kona Hot with suspension forks as I just enjoyed riding it more as it talked to you.
A nice steel frame is hard to beat, aluminum is great for sprinting but can be harsh and I was lucky to get two years without a failure from work hardening and the titanium of the day rlike a Cadillac but was squirmy under power or on hard turns.

 

[Supersubes]

For me it was simplified handloading. Dropped the BS and began to load basically, with good components. Suppressors are the next thing. Plopping down in the wilderness and banging steel is awesome and therapeutic.


Should I add that I was a rabid bicycle rider too? Raced BMX from a young age, then on to mountain bikes. Easy money pit just like shooting. Now I’m old and like two wheels with a motor.

 

[Steel head]

Plopping down in the wilderness and banging steel is awesome and therapeutic.

Ain’t that the truth!

 

[308pirate]

What elements of your shooting equipment have helped you enjoy the sport more rather than simply enable a more difficult terrain to be ridden?

A reflex sight on a handgun

 

[308pirate]

Not so much kit focused, but I very much enjoy shooting when there are less people on the range. So I will try to join ranges and/or carve out time to go shooting that will minimize being around others. Allows for more flexible training and testing.

That is indeed a blessing