Do you need a "production division" to control costs? Isn't that what club-level matches are for?
I’ll preface again that I think this is a great product.
For conversation sake, most club matches (that I see) typically use PRS rules. So, this is where I see production class being a good thing and remaining “ungamed.”
My logic is:
Everyone has more fun when they feel like they are winning. Most guys don’t drop 4k or so initially. They either bring a hunting rifle they already own, or they go spend around 1500 for a full setup. They go to a match, shoot however good or bad they shoot, and get to see they at least placed 3rd (or whatever) in production.
You typically don’t see better shooters in production, because the limitations typically kept it to RPR being about the best rifle that was allowed.
Typically, better shooters end up moving into better gear.
But, a lot of those eventually better shooters got “hooked” by feeling like they can compete because they saw they didn’t do too bad against people who had similar gear/budget. This shooter/s decided invest in a better rig and practice. Gets good enough he starts going to the actual PRS shoots, etc, etc.
Now, take that same guy and now with basically custom “production” guns, and he shows up only to find 10 guys who are seasoned shooters shooting production class.
The real situation is he got 11th place production because they are better shooters. However, we as humans tend to look for reasons that don’t involve us being at fault.
Before anyone jumps in with a “everyone gets a trophy in this generation,” that’s not what I’m saying at all. Golf has had handicaps forever and the reason is to keep lesser skill levels playing.
I’d be all for having skill level classes (a match series down here has it, and it seems to work well), over gear classes.
