Two points in support of your position
One of the top shooters and a current participant in this years AG Cup, shot a .308 weighing something like 10-11 pounds in the tactical division for most of this year. He is a member of this community. Even shooting a rifle that was not specifically a PRS rifle, he typically finished well inside the top 20 among the best in the world. His words, paraphrased, “I wanted to get away from the heavy rifles and shoot something that was fun”. Yes, the top shooters are not equipment challenged.
Second, PRS shooting does lend itself to hunting, even though PRS style rifles may not.
Background; I am not hunting this year, lost the lease we hunted on, the owner of the lease, a fine man, I much respected, died at the way too young age of 63. That said, though Louisiana has a very liberal limit, I limit myself to two deer per year. Brenda and I don’t need more and as we are in our middle 70’s and process our own deer, it is a bit much to process more anyway.
All that said, both deer shot this past year were shot with a rifle balanced PRS style using my Armageddon Game Changer bag. The Weatherby Vanguard in .25-06 balanced perfectly on the blind magazine. The first deer hit the ground on the first shot, got right back up and the second shot, running the bolt as in a match, got the second shot off, again making a kill shot on the deer. (The deer was dead on the first shot, probably would not have gone more than a few yards, but when he got up, I was not about to let him get into that thick brush with darkness less than 20 minutes away.). Second deer, pictured below, stepped into a lane, rifle was ready, bumped my Brenda to see, rifle was ready shot went off and he went about 30 yards. This deer is on the wall.
So, yes, top shooters don’t have to have 25 pound rifles shooting 6Dashers to be competitive and even us who typically are closer to the ”Red Lantern” award than the prize table, can see benefits in our hunting from preparing for and shooting PRS matches.
Changing the subject. Why some fellows and ladies will never be in the top ten. Some folks are shooting well and having fun shooting steel. Fun is the key word.
