I'd bet a majority of you guys claiming it's a "equipment race" have shot very few matches. I've seen one of the best in the country show up to a club match with 1 mag and barely a minute rifle and still clean house. It's about fundamentals more than anything.
Where are PRS rifles headed in optimal caliber? 22x47/22CM?
- Thread starter Bulldog Firearms
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Here the thing. Those matches exist. They aren't as popular. They don't draw as many shooters. They are harder to run effectively.
PRS has even tried gas gun matches...no market. Shooters won't sign up.
308 only matches...shooters don't sign up.
Production class...nobody signs up.
The market already exists for an open anything goes game. There's all of these people on the side that say "if only it wasn't X I would compete" never actually show up.
CORE can sell 140 slots to a 2 day match instantly for $250 per...$35000 right there...and 130 of them will be open class shooters. And they can do it twice per year.
Well that makes perfect sense then. I can certainly understand that, looking at it from that point of view.
I think it's a bit disingenuous to state that it's about fundamentals in PRS. There is a serious lack of fundamentals being demonstrated in PRS, especially at the top. Lot's of the self professed "pro's" slap the hell out of the trigger, among other fundamentals ignored. If you don't believe me, just watch any PRS youtube match, or check out PRS instagram page, or other social media. I see it all the time whenever I go to shoot a PRS match.
The people who are constantly at the top in PRS matches do so because they know how to build a solid enough position in a short amount of time on the clock for different contrived articles. They also know what fundamentals they can and can't get away with - a lot of stages they try to limit their influence on the rifle, and let the gear/rifle do the work. Trigger slapping drives me wild though when I see it from a self described "pro".
It's not a gear race - some of the best shooters, such as Matt Brousseau and David Preston, utilize very little gear when shooting stages. They know that smooth is fast, and know how to build a solid position on the clock. They are also great shooters. I will state though that you won't find either of these two slapping the triggers. But the gear and rifles are certainly getting a lot more specialized to excel in our somewhat contrived sport - just the way it goes.
I agree with this 100%. I used to live in Texas and shoot with the Texas and Oklahoma shooters - so no argument with me there. I think having Rifles Only in the region plays a big part in the influence on the importance of fundamentals. Unfortunately, other regions do not place the same importance on fundamentals as Texas and Oklahoma.
That's kind of the way every sport goes though. Part of being a good marksman is knowing where you can make compromises. You just don't see it as obviously in other sports like Highpower...but trust me it is still there. I can build a solid enough sitting position that I can almost fudge a good score. And some of my best scores were done with what I would consider dog shit trigger control.
There's two fundamental ways to be good with a rifle. You can build a position that is very solid. Or you can have excellent trigger control. Only very good shooters can do both on demand.
PRS just happens to have made it so that it's easily possible to build a good position with gear. Most other accuracy sports have more ridgid rules on things like trigger weight, sights, etc to make shooters conform.
Any sport that doesn't is going to be taken advantage of. NRA Silhouette used to have very open rules until David Tubb started winning everything with a "Chin Gun" that was specifically tailored to it.
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It's a shame for myself to be in the same state as ro but it's the same distance to core time wise lol. The Joy's of Tejas!
I'm in Texas and have always wanted to go to RO, but damn, it's about 8 hours for me lol.
My brother lives 10 minutes from the entrance and I still haven't been, yet. Sept 30th may change that haha.
My wife is coming too and we're staying on the beach, with some folks from N Texas. LOL.
According to Frank, Shannon Kay is a good example of a naturally good shooter with bad fundamentals.
Shannon has also been a top shooter for as long as I can remember, and before people on the sides were complaining that everything was too gamey.
Which I think might highlight that at the end of the day, we have two idealogical camps. Guys that shoot matches want to hit targets and practice fundamentals insofar as they help produce hits. Guys that exists outside of competition think that competition should stress fundamentals first and that a competition should reward fundamentals.
At the end of the day...scores are determined by hits. If the game let's you get them anyway you want...the equipment will be tailored to the game.
The PRS/Tactical stuff exists in large part because guys that were snipers, or wanted to be snipers already spent money on $3000 rifles that didn't have a venue that they were good for. And the smart guys started tailoring their rifles to the game right off the bat with things like 260AI (before Creedmoor existed), and Jewel triggers.
Now that the game has been around a while we have just seen a comodification of long range shooting. Just about anyone can get a Masterpiece Arms rifle, a Kestrel, and a Gamechanger and be a good PRS shooter. And the fact that getting hits is easier than ever to the point of not being impressive is disappointing for some.
Imo some of the best to watch / aggravating are ones like Matt B. , justin vineyard, Austin orgaine or the white wolf. These guys make it look like they are barely moving and when they step off the line all most can manage is a "I hate you" and that's for good reason imo.
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