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PRS Talk How much gear should be allowed?

silhouette

Grey man
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 29, 2012
218
94
It seems every day there's a new piece of equipment made for precision rifle type matches and as Frank has said, if you design a stage, people will try to beat it.
For example, barricade stops on arca rails or the Gray Ops bag rider thing, which I'm sure are well made and effective, but not everyone can afford to keep buying gadgets and if you don't have it then you're at a disadvantage. I like matches to be about you and your rifle and perhaps the stuff you would carry on a hunt. Not all the bolt ons.

So, asking as a match designer/director and in fairness, at what point can the MD limit your gear?
 
ive been considering a rule in our local matches...bipod/sling are standard, anything else, if its put on, it stays on the entire match....then i could make props/stages that all the add ons really get in the way...its getting pretty ridiculous to have a reconfigurable rifle for every stage

as a shooter though, i dont buy the "disadvantage" thing...i just run 1 bag 99% of the time and have no rifle attachments, and i wouldnt trade my scores for most peoples
 
I run a small prs based match on a 600 yard square range. This next match, I'm going to leave everything open except for 2 stages. I'm going to have the standard prs barricade stage with gear restricted to sling, bipod, and the provided tab rear bag. And a sling only standing, sitting, prone stage. I want people to be able to use their gadgets some, but have a couple that eliminate all that.
 
@Campguy308 has the right idea. Use the stages to limit gear if that's what everyone is so worried about. Throw a mag change into a stage. Throw a bunch of movement into a stage. I'm of the mind that if a guy wants to haul around a bunch of gear all the more power to him but over the last three years I've pair my gear down every year. I'm down to:

Ammo
Game Changer or Mini Game Changer
RO rear bag
Puff pillow
Kestrel
Tool Kit
Rain Gear
Insulation (if cold
Swaro 15x56 SLCs

Every thing fits into a MR ASAP pack (1200ci) and weighs less than 20lbs.

My rifle is a SAC Alpha barreled by GA Precision in a Manners PRS 1 stock, Ultra 7 and an Area 419 ArcaLock rail with Atlas attached. Topped of with an NF ATACR 7-35. The whole shebang weights 17lbs.

Could I ditch the Game Changer or the puff pillow, for sure but why?

My local club talked about making a match or changing the rules so that an individual was allowed the following:

Rifle
Sling
Bipod
Rear bag
1 Ancillary Bag (game changer, puff pillow etc)
1 Ancillary piece of shooting gear (tripod, tac table) etc.

We decided to limit things by stages instead.
 
Currently our blanket rule for the entire match is " equipment allowed is rifle, bipod and 1 bag unless otherwise stated".
I allow a sling and rail stop(s) as part of the rifle, but that is where it becomes clouded.

If a stage involves other gear such as a tripod, then it is supplied so that all competitors get to use it. This seems to work for us but we are a small club.
Like @morganlamprecht , I only use 1 bag and sometimes a sling. I think the reconfiguring of rifles between stages is borderline unsportsmanlike, but again, that's in the eye of the beholder.
 
I like the idea that everything must be deployed on the clock, nothing staged. That will virtually eliminate tripod use unless the match director has it planned on the stage. I have to say it drives me nuts watching people use a tripod for auxiliary support on a stage. When people start trying to justify auxiliary supports 'because it doesn't say we can't use them' I want to roll up a portable bench on wheels; stage description doesn't say I cant use this either.
 
I agree with deploying on the clock.

I can't figure what all the heartburn over using a tripod for rear support. I personally don't use one because I hate fumble fucking around with it. But it's literally no different than using a puff pillow for rear support.
 
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....but not everyone can afford to keep buying gadgets and if you don't have it then you're at a disadvantage.

I shoot 90+% of stages with nothing but a pint size gamechanger, and I am definitely not at a disadvantage. The rare times I use anything more than that, it's a rear bag leashed to my stock, or a Fat Bag attached to my body.

Plenty of people in the PRS try to use gear as a crutch, when it's really just holding them back. I'm all for match directors throwing in restrictions from time to time, or purposefully designing stages to limit what gear is useful, but people need to stop thinking that they have to buy every single damn gadget out there to be competitive. I used to think that way, and I got tired of hauling all the extra shit around. When I figured out that one good bag was all I needed to handle 90% or more of stages, my scores went up and my times went down.
 
i was thinking of a weight limit on extras/accessories.

you want to drag around 10 bags thats up to you but they better be filled with air and not bring your tripod.

all your stops, bags, tripods, bipods, binos everything but the rifle/stock/scope gets tossed in a bin and weighed.

something along those lines
 
i was thinking of a weight limit on extras/accessories.

you want to drag around 10 bags thats up to you but they better be filled with air and not bring your tripod.

all your stops, bags, tripods, bipods, binos everything but the rifle/stock/scope gets tossed in a bin and weighed.

something along those lines

Why? What would that actually accomplish?
 
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i think it would stop the equipment race that is going on right now.

like when Fclass started out, it was great.

then it became belly benchrest, the most money wins.

i love the innovation because it trickles down to everyday shooting, but having guys run around like the state puff marshmallow man isnt a good look for the sport

when a sport becomes too gear heavy it limits the growth of the sport.
 
i think it would stop the equipment race that is going on right now.

like when Fclass started out, it was great.

then it became belly benchrest, the most money wins.

i love the innovation because it trickles down to everyday shooting, but having guys run around like the state puff marshmallow man isnt a good look for the sport

when a sport becomes too gear heavy it limits the growth of the sport.

Hint: You don't need a ton of gear to be competitive. Look at @morganlamprecht and his post above, then go look at the results from the Brawl last weekend. Brandon Hembree wrecked the field at the Core/Altus Fall Classic last year with nothing but a Gamechanger. Plenty of top shooters are basically running 1 bag and little to nothing else - no compex barricade stop systems, no crazy tripod shit, etc.

Even if you restricted gear, the top shooters will still be the top shooters. The guys in the middle of the pack will still be in the middle of the pack.
 
thats my idea let the skill set sort itself out.

and dont let the mid pack guys think they should spend $ and drag around gear that might not help.

once it help out a mid pack guy then all the low level guys jump on and think they have to buy everything just to be competitive.

if we all ran around with just our rifle and and ammo it might be more inviting to a new guy or someone thinking about it
 
the guys that win a lot mostly use one bag.
i see guys get dependent on a tripod rear, but the matches where they cant use it they go way downhill, so they're not as consistent match to match.
i like being able to use whatever gear you want, just deploy it on the clock without 2-3 min stage times. 90 second stages with gear deployed on the clock keeps everyone honest. if you give me 3 min, i'm gonna use it to not miss. don't think its a gear restriction issue, it's a time restriction issue.
 
thats my idea let the skill set sort itself out.

and dont let the mid pack guys think they should spend $ and drag around gear that might not help.

once it help out a mid pack guy then all the low level guys jump on and think they have to buy everything just to be competitive.

if we all ran around with just our rifle and and ammo it might be more inviting to a new guy or someone thinking about it

This isn't a gear problem, it's a perception problem. If you start forcing more gear restrictions, nothing is really going to change with who finishes where, and you're going to see people complain about something else instead of gear.

At the end of the day, the biggest factors in performance in matches are A) mental focus, stamina, and toughness and B) shooting skill. Neither one of those are things you can buy (Although B requires range time, which means ammo, which means money), but are things you have to work at. More time spent trying to control your mental processes, and more time spent on the range will do FAR more to improve match performance than any bag or widget. That time on the range means both training time AND matches - the more matches you shoot, the better you get at shooting matches. Look at the top guys in the PRS and NRL, and how many matches they shoot each year.
 
I like matches to be about you and your rifle and perhaps the stuff you would carry on a hunt. Not all the bolt ons.

That is very subjective in itself. Bipods and a rear bag have become very common in this day in age, and using a tripod in the mountains is now becoming common for hunting.

30-years ago, hardly anyone hunted with a bipod or any kind of rear support. With gear and rifles becoming ultra-light, the sky is the limit.

We keep seeing the argument come up whether it should be limited to what hunting, or what Mil/LE use and employ. However, we see the use of many items beyond anyone's imagination being utilized in hunting and on the battlefield.

I shoot a team match that has been going on for 10-years now, and last year they had a course where they had logs that you had to shoot off of, but weren't allowed to use a bipod or bag, rifle forearm had to rest on the log. I asked the match director why? He said he had requests from some shooters to have realistic hunting senerios in the match. My response was this is a tactical match, with tactical in the name. What does hunting have to do with a senerio of a match where a team (two man team i.e. Sniper/Spotter) will be engaging targets in a tactical senerio? I followed up saying, on the battlefield, there are no rules on how, or what equipment you use to engage a target. The same holds true in hunting, no one is telling a hunter if he/she cannot use ancillary equipment to take game, outside of caliber restrictions, or the use of a suppressor in some States. If a hunter wants to use for example a tripod to stabilize the rifle for an accurate shot, what is so unrealistic about that?

I agree with what has been said, here and in other threads. Many times the gear can be a hindrance. I myself stumbled through a stage or two, and afterwards said to myself, that was a bad decision to use the extra gear.

Remember, shooting whether it's Hunting, LE, Military, equipment has been evolving. With technology, it's evolving at a faster pace now.

I myself do not like gear restrictions, unless it's a sport like Palma, Service Rifle, etc. where you have long established rules. If you want to shoot matches with gear restrictions, there are plenty of shooting sports that are full of gear restrictions and endless rules.

I think it would be more fair, that instead of restricting gear, you have to start the stage with rifle and gear in an unconfigured condition i.e. nothing attached other than bipod, tripod in a position as carried, all other gear in or attached to the pack, etc. No pre-staging gear. I would go so far as not even allow anyone into the stages shooting position until the clock starts. I've seen so much time waisted at matches as competitor's crawl all over a stage emulating how they're going to shoot the stage, just like what happens in USPSA matches.

I also think it's silly to have a stage that requires standing, sitting, kneeling, prone, and only use a sling. That's something from Service Rifle, not Practical Shooting. If you don't agree, that's fine it's my opinion.

It's the responsibility of the match director to create a challenging stage, and to design it so the factors of time, target size, and position are the challenging aspects, while also keeping it realistic.
 
I also think it's silly to have a stage that requires standing, sitting, kneeling, prone, and only use a sling. That's something from Service Rifle, not Practical Shooting. If you don't agree, that's fine it's my opinion.

It's the responsibility of the match director to create a challenging stage, and to design it so the factors of time, target size, and position are the challenging aspects, while also keeping it realistic.

forced position stages always drive me crazy in general...cause rarely were they designed by someone 6'5 240 lbs and chances are i can find a better way to accomplish the same shot

traditional sitting is a good example for me...im long enough i can set my rifle on my knees and shoot sitting, most people arent...its FAR more stable for me that way...but im usually not allowed to do it
 
forced position stages always drive me crazy in general...cause rarely were they designed by someone 6'5 240 lbs and chances are i can find a better way to accomplish the same shot

traditional sitting is a good example for me...im long enough i can set my rifle on my knees and shoot sitting, most people arent...its FAR more stable for me that way...but im usually not allowed to do it



well . stop being such a gamer and shrink
 
I would add that everything you bring to a stage must be carried to the stage, along with being deployed on stage; rifle started in a slung, unloaded position. It would be fun to watch guys bumble-fuck around with 7 bags, a pack, tripod, and a slung rifle trying to deploy it on stage. You'd need a neutral drop area on the course where guys could unload gear to trim down their loadout(said gear would be DQ'd from the match from that point on.)
 
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i was thinking of a weight limit on extras/accessories.

you want to drag around 10 bags thats up to you but they better be filled with air and not bring your tripod.

all your stops, bags, tripods, bipods, binos everything but the rifle/stock/scope gets tossed in a bin and weighed.

something along those lines

I think weight restrictions are a hard sell. In fact it could be counterproductive to the goal of limiting shooters. Manufacturers will just invent new product to fill the weight void, i.e. different bag fills, more carbon fiber, etc.
 
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@Yoteski Why would you want to require rifle slung? Most if not all matches have you start with rifle in ready position? Besides, quite a few hunters, and other professionals carry rifle in a ready position. Many elite military units don't even utilize slings anymore because of how they carry their rifles.
 
@Yoteski Why would you want to require rifle slung? Most if not all matches have you start with rifle in ready position? Besides, quite a few hunters, and other professionals carry rifle in a ready position. Many elite military units don't even utilize slings anymore because of how they carry their rifles.

You are right there. Maybe say start from low ready, mag in pocket or mag holder. Idea is to keep guys from staging prior to shooting. Starting in the ready position using a format like I suggested would probably create a bit of a safety issue. Guys would be trying to dump gear and stage on the clock with a mag in potentially. Maybe others see it differently, but I'm not allowing any mags in on one of our matches until the shooter is essentially ready to engage targets.
Most stages are 2 minute stages these days. I'd say make them 2 minutes and 10 seconds or something like that. Setup for a stage should not take more than 10 seconds and no pre-staging equipment.
 
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@Campguy308 Bag is Ok. The point I was trying to make. Give the shooter the option on how they want to shoot the stage. Forcing someone to shoot at a target in a particular body position is reminiscent of Service Rifle or Olympic style shooting, and not practical. When I say practical, I mean as Morgan pointed out above, a sitting position for one person may be impractable for someone that is of small statue, whereas for Morgan, he can shoot off his knee which makes it easier for him. I myself have a very difficult time shooting prone, unsupported because I have nerve damage in both elbows. That position makes it very uncomfortable, and sometimes very painful if on a rough rocky surface. Although that may be the most stable position for some shooters, I would choose to form a fist with my weak hand, and rest the rifles forearm on my fist. Unfortunately I was told I can't do that at some matches that have the Standing, Kneeling, Sitting, Prone stages.

And no I'm not a proponent of circus type events like standing on one foot while on a wobbly platform.?
 
Any time i see an intentionally wobbly platform at a match, I have to fight the urge to kick the MD in the junk.

Agreed. There’s a difference in a tough stage and a gimmicky stage.

RO is a perfect example. I finished mid pack, but can honestly say you could get stable on every single stage there.

Also agree with @morganlamprecht. I ran through a bunch of gear last year and now only shoot a fortune cookie for 99% of stages. While my scores definitely need improving, it ain’t gonna be gear that does it. Training and practice will.
 
That is very subjective in itself. Bipods and a rear bag have become very common in this day in age, and using a tripod in the mountains is now becoming common for hunting.

30-years ago, hardly anyone hunted with a bipod or any kind of rear support. With gear and rifles becoming ultra-light, the sky is the limit.

We keep seeing the argument come up whether it should be limited to what hunting, or what Mil/LE use and employ. However, we see the use of many items beyond anyone's imagination being utilized in hunting and on the battlefield.

I shoot a team match that has been going on for 10-years now, and last year they had a course where they had logs that you had to shoot off of, but weren't allowed to use a bipod or bag, rifle forearm had to rest on the log. I asked the match director why? He said he had requests from some shooters to have realistic hunting senerios in the match. My response was this is a tactical match, with tactical in the name. What does hunting have to do with a senerio of a match where a team (two man team i.e. Sniper/Spotter) will be engaging targets in a tactical senerio? I followed up saying, on the battlefield, there are no rules on how, or what equipment you use to engage a target. The same holds true in hunting, no one is telling a hunter if he/she cannot use ancillary equipment to take game, outside of caliber restrictions, or the use of a suppressor in some States. If a hunter wants to use for example a tripod to stabilize the rifle for an accurate shot, what is so unrealistic about that?

I agree with what has been said, here and in other threads. Many times the gear can be a hindrance. I myself stumbled through a stage or two, and afterwards said to myself, that was a bad decision to use the extra gear.

Remember, shooting whether it's Hunting, LE, Military, equipment has been evolving. With technology, it's evolving at a faster pace now.

I myself do not like gear restrictions, unless it's a sport like Palma, Service Rifle, etc. where you have long established rules. If you want to shoot matches with gear restrictions, there are plenty of shooting sports that are full of gear restrictions and endless rules.

I think it would be more fair, that instead of restricting gear, you have to start the stage with rifle and gear in an unconfigured condition i.e. nothing attached other than bipod, tripod in a position as carried, all other gear in or attached to the pack, etc. No pre-staging gear. I would go so far as not even allow anyone into the stages shooting position until the clock starts. I've seen so much time waisted at matches as competitor's crawl all over a stage emulating how they're going to shoot the stage, just like what happens in USPSA matches.

I also think it's silly to have a stage that requires standing, sitting, kneeling, prone, and only use a sling. That's something from Service Rifle, not Practical Shooting. If you don't agree, that's fine it's my opinion.

It's the responsibility of the match director to create a challenging stage, and to design it so the factors of time, target size, and position are the challenging aspects, while also keeping it realistic.
You are quite right there and I should've said "minimal gear that you would carry on yourself during a hunt" rather than hunting gear, because some hunts require a packhorse or two, and I don't want people bringing those to the line either.:rolleyes:

"I think it would be more fair, that instead of restricting gear, you have to start the stage with rifle and gear in an unconfigured condition i.e. nothing attached other than bipod, tripod in a position as carried, all other gear in or attached to the pack, etc. No pre-staging gear."
^^^ That's not a bad idea. That way if people want to employ more gear, it will cost them time to do so.

I'm just trying to keep a level playing field.
 
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Seems like I've seen this thread somewhere before...

Lots of talk about trying to level the playing field, but I wonder if severely restricting gear is really the way to do that.

I see it said repeatedly that many of the better shooters have gone to using minimal gear (bipod, barricade bag, rear bag) for most stages, and some of the match videos online seem to bear that out, as do accounts from people on SH who are actually shooting matches on the regular.

If that's the case, that many of the shooters winning aren't really using a lot of extraneous gear anyways, because they've discovered through trial and error they shoot better without it, how would gear restrictions level the playing field?

Wouldn't these sorts of restrictions hurt beginner and intermediate shooters more than those at the higher skill levels?
 
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Seems like I've seen this thread somewhere before...

Lots of talk about trying to level the playing field, but I wonder if severely restricting gear is really the way to do that.

I see it said repeatedly that many of the better shooters have gone to using minimal gear (bipod, barricade bag, rear bag) for most stages, and some of the match videos online seem to bear that out, as do accounts from people on SH who are actually shooting matches on the regular.

If that's the case, that many of the shooters winning aren't really using a lot of extraneous gear anyways, because they've discovered through trial and error they shoot better without it, how would gear restrictions level the playing field?

Wouldn't these sorts of restrictions hurt beginner and intermediate shooters more than those at the higher skill levels?

As I progress and experience more, I’d say yes, you are correct.

If the stage is properly designed (time, obstacle, etc), I think most of the shit people complain about will actually hurt you more than help in the long run.

Probably makes a bottom pack shooter a mid pack, but won’t take a mid pack shooter further.

My opinion on gear and such has definitely changed the last few months.
 
Isn’t this issue really on the match directors to determine. Just like NRL22 put in each stage description the allowed gear for that stage. I do not care what others use. I have seen some really goofy ass shit done on stages and most times it doesn’t help. I am not going to make a living doing this so I do it for fun and to improve my own skills. I have 2 bags a bipod and a sling. If I can’t shoot a stage with that it’s on me not my gear.
 
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@Alpine 338 couldn’t local match directors do the same if they choose to. If they fell there is to much “gaming” then indicate allowed gear on a stage, if not leave as is. No matter how many rules an organization tries to impose across the board people will always “innovate”.
 
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In theory, yes local matches could fall under a national organization with standardized stages, and gear restrictions. Just like they do in USPSA. But realistically it would not be very popular as a whole because they would have to standardize to the lowest common denominator, with distance being the main one, or lack of distance. It's easy to do a standardized course with 22LR because 99% of the square ranges across the country can go out to at least 200-yards. For long range precision, that can vary quite a bit depending on geographical region of the country. Let's say for example, the national organization chose 600-yards for a max distance, those of us West of the Mississippi would get bored with it, since we are used to having matches that go well over 1000-yards. Another factor, back to geographical locations. I'll use Iowa for example, since I shot Service Rifle there years ago. It's pretty flat, mostly farm land. Setting up a course there would involve a lot of props like barricades, tank traps, barrels, etc. Whereas in the Western States, we can put on matches with natural terrain, and most people I know prefer shooting in realistic field conditions, like off of rocks, ledges, hillsides, etc. Again, most of us out West would get bored with the routine of shooting off of the same man made props over and over again. But there are those who like doing that. They have a club match in Colorado Springs, CO that has a bunch of stages where they shoot off of man made props. It draws a certain crowd, but most of my friends aren't interested in shooting those type of matches, unless it's for practice for an upcoming national match.
 
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I remember about a year or so ago, USPSA and/or 3-Gun Nation was talking about starting a long range precision series. Not sure if they saw it as a money maker because of the success of the NRL, or just wanting to make a better mouse trap, so to speak.

They we're told nicely to think about it, as standardizing it would ruin the Sport, and they were also sternly warned that they would ruin it if they proceeded. Since then, I have heard little about them promoting the sport.
 
I remember about a year or so ago, USPSA and/or 3-Gun Nation was talking about starting a long range precision series. Not sure if they saw it as a money maker because of the success of the NRL, or just wanting to make a better mouse trap, so to speak.

They we're told nicely to think about it, as standardizing it would ruin the Sport, and they were also sternly warned that they would ruin it if they proceeded. Since then, I have heard little about them promoting the sport.

3GN experimented with a long range series, and it died pretty quickly on the vine.
 
this conversation is getting old and boring and repetitive.

I squadded and shot just ahead of Jon Pynch last weekend and watched him crush with nothing but a game changer.

all the guys with a million bags strapped to their bodies and lugging a tripod around and trying to set it up at each stage are finishing mid-pack at best.

go practice. practice spotting your misses and impacts on the plate and correcting/maintaining. that will make you a 10x better shooter than any bag/tripod/accessory will. let people bring whatever they want. it won't help them

ok. it may help them move from a bottom of the pack shooter to a middle of the pack shooter. but who cares?

watching guys like Jon shoot make me want to use LESS gear and PRACTICE more.

why are we still talking about this? go shoot
 
this conversation is getting old and boring and repetitive.

I squadded and shot just ahead of Jon Pynch last weekend and watched him crush with nothing but a game changer.

all the guys with a million bags strapped to their bodies and lugging a tripod around and trying to set it up at each stage are finishing mid-pack at best.

go practice. practice spotting your misses and impacts on the plate and correcting/maintaining. that will make you a 10x better shooter than any bag/tripod/accessory will. let people bring whatever they want. it won't help them

ok. it may help them move from a bottom of the pack shooter to a middle of the pack shooter. but who cares?

watching guys like Jon shoot make me want to use LESS gear and PRACTICE more.

why are we still talking about this? go shoot

I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. Gear doesn't make you a better shooter - shooting more does.
 
I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. Gear doesn't make you a better shooter - shooting more does.

I'm only 7 matches deep. and still a middle of the pack shooter. and i've figured this out.

not once have i seen someone shooting better than me and been like "wow - they used that? i need that too"
 
I'm only 7 matches deep. and still a middle of the pack shooter. and i've figured this out.

not once have i seen someone shooting better than me and been like "wow - they used that? i need that too"

The only piece of gear I can think of that *MIGHT* actually be fairly described like that would be a Gamechanger (or some of the competing products, if you're into that kind of thing). That bag really does live up to the name, and that's coming from someone that resisted using one until I got a Pint Size to test after the Grind in 2017. I don't think it improved my scores much, if at all, but it really does provide some impressive benefits for newer shooters. If someone's going to complain about the price of a Gamechanger, though, they're not going to last long in this sport when they look at the cost of ammo... barrels... reloading gear... scopes... etc, etc, etc.
 
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The only piece of gear I can think of that *MIGHT* actually be fairly described like that would be a Gamechanger (or some of the competing products, if you're into that kind of thing). That bag really does life up to the name, and I resisted using one until I got a Pint Size to test after the Grind in 2017. I don't think it improved my scores much, if at all, but it really does provide some impressive benefits for newer shooters. If someone's going to complain about the price of a Gamechanger, though, they're not going to last long in this sport when they look at the cost of ammo... barrels... reloading gear... scopes... etc, etc, etc.

Yeah for sure. Every shooter needs one good bag of their choice. No one is out there shooting with just their bare rifle on the barricades. Pick something you like, try a few different ones. Then just practice like hell with it.
 
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Yeah for sure. Every shooter needs one good bag of their choice. No one is out there shooting with just their bare rifle on the barricades. Pick something you like, try a few different ones. Then just practice like hell with it.

Exactly. A full size or pint size gamechanger will do damn near anything you need from a bag. I use mine as a rear bag, barricade bag, rooftop bag, cattle gate bag, and damn near everything else. The only time I use anything else is a shoot-and-scoot stage where I need a lightweight rear bag I can attach to my stock (Python) or if I need a large pillow-type bag to take up space on something like a rooftop stage (Fat bag). I shot the Grind last year, and only used those other 2 bags on 2 stages (the trailer and the bus). I shot the 1-day Alabama match a couple weeks ago and shot all 10 stages with just the PS.

All the other crap? You can probably find a good way to shoot any stage you can come up without it, with the sole exception of a tripod-required stage - and I have yet to see a MD not provide tripods for one of those.
 
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@Alpine 338 i wasn’t actually arguing in favor of more rules/restrictions. My point while not clear at all was if people don’t like how it’s ran, they could find a range become an MD and run a match the way they want. Additionally, if a match director wants a specific stage shot a specific way indicate the gear allowed on that stage (Not advocating for all stages to be restrictive) I Enjoy shooting the sport the way it is and will continue to do so.
 
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@Tree No worries, I didn't think you were. It's like anything, we all have our own vision of how things should be. The two NRL matches I helped out with as a co-match director, even between three of us, we didn't always see eye to eye.
 
You can't eliminate the equipment race. Add weight limit, high dollar space age materials win. Deploy on the clock, high end fast deploying tripods win. With the sharing of gear I've seen along with decent stage design and description, I don't think it matters what gear is used. The better shooter will win, the poor shooters will be at the bottom and the rest will be filling up the middle.
 
You can't eliminate the equipment race. Add weight limit, high dollar space age materials win. Deploy on the clock, high end fast deploying tripods win. With the sharing of gear I've seen along with decent stage design and description, I don't think it matters what gear is used. The better shooter will win, the poor shooters will be at the bottom and the rest will be filling up the middle.
The one thing deploying on stage would result in a more streamlined equipment load out, which in my opinion results in a more realistic style field match. If there's not some limit on what someone can do on a stage, why even have stage designs at all then? The equipment is slowly but surely mimicking benchrest equipment instead of "tactical" equipment.
 
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