I feel your pain! I fell from a 26/40 with a Remington 504 to a 13/40 with a Anschutz 1712. Please don't tell me it will be a year before my score gets back up there! God has a terrific sense of humor...

I have to agree with ajj, the cost of silhouette is not as bad as some are trying to make it. when I started just three years ago, my rifle /scope package was less than 500 bucks, and the fun factor far exceeded that. One can spend what one wants, but I will never trade the enjoyment of the game for the best rifle money can buy.

DKG wrote:I am the "local shooter who started with a Marlin HB bolt rifle" that GeoNLR referred to. He is correct. My first 8 matches with the Marlin (model 880SQ) were at an average of 19/40. I then bought a 1712, but could only average 14 animals per match with it (6 matches). The following year (05), I shot 36 matches all with the 1712 at an average of 21/40. My average finally bumped up another 2 animals last season, but it was essentially a year and a half before my scores with the 1712 were consistently better than with the Marlin.

Funny how that works... when my friend and I decided to try this a few years back we came with our rifle and just sighted in on the chickens and shot the match, asking and taking the number of clicks everyone was going up between rounds and setting our scopes. I believe he shot 17 and I shot 19 thatfirst day... we were hooked. We said imagine how good well do with a real Std rifle and good hunter rifle....after convincing the better half's it was a needed expense we made the purchases. Been struggling ever since and for the first two years would have loved to shot those first time scores again Guess it's not what your using that's the biggest hurdle. Bottom line is I now have some pretty rifles that shot as good as the shooter can shoot them, But.... I'm still gonna get in that Bling race with Kitty if it's the last thing I do. Just like fly fishing we look damn good going in the creek, just don't watch us cast lol......

As they used to say in drag racing, if it don't run, chrome it!

But the bling wars are becoming pretty bold fashion statements!

When you have no expectations and just shoot for fun you do better. When you buy the expensive rifle you have to improve your scores to justify it. Pressure. The people who really do shoot better under pressure are few and far between and they all got top-grade rifles long ago.

Entertaining thread! I just wanted to second the position that it is more the shooter than the equipment! I was at Winnie one year trying to figure out how to hit turkeys. A youth shooter who I had come to know from the Sunshine Classic was next to me. I turned a turkey which is always a laugh. I made some comment that I suspected she had the skill to pick it off. She commented her dad only provided one brick of ammo so I offered her a box of mine and my gun.

Well, she quietly takes the rifle, aims, shoots, hits!!!

Yup, that was an NS522 and a Sightron scope shooting Wolf. I just shook my head and recalled the advice I have heard over and over. This is not an equipment race like stool shooters. It is just a darn tough sport that challenges shooters of all levels simultaneously! When is the last chance you got to complete next to a true blue Olympian??? Silhoutte! It is a great sport. And we can use equipment as an excuse but the truth is, the top shooters are there due to training and mental control. Not due to a Pharr stock or an aftermarket barrel.

Now, do I yearn for the days of NS522s, CZs, 581s, 10/22? Ya. Do I think the high dollar guns scare off folks? Maybe. I think we as avid shooters can do more to influence potential shooters to join than we realize. I showed interest in 2002 and a generous mentor loaned me his Anschutz heavy gun for a whole season! WOW! I hope I can do the same! My first gun, the NS522, spends most of its life in other shooter's hands than my safe in an effort to grow the fan base!

I would suggest we focus on always having loaner equipment available to get folks involved vs. worrying what the "other guy is shooting". We should worry about the guy, gal, youth who comes once and never returns! This is a social yet competitive sport for folks of all levels.

Kitty and I got to talk about this traveling to Benton last night, and the main things you buy in a high dollar rifle are consistency and durability. When you miss with an Anschutz 1712, there's no question where the problem is. And since a serious shooter will fire something like 12,000 rounds a year, even small flaws become major irritants.

I got a 1712 because I wanted to spend more time shooting and less time tuning. It definitely wasn't an ego buy, since I had struggled to use just about anything else. Buying an Anschutz was an admission of defeat.

If Hunter class rifles are too severely restricted, I would simply shoot standard all the time and let my rifle gain a little weight.

I always have my CZ 452 with a WEaver v16 scope for lending out to new shooters. I do not shoot any better with my 1712 than i did with that after the first few matches. I just like nice guns. and I love the trigger of the Annie. I think Durrant is right we should have loaner equipment and invite people to shoot.

Some times I think we should have just one class to take the prospect of 2 guns out of the equation of equipment. But I know that there are still some heavy gun shooters out there that like shooting those heavy rifles.

So how many heavy guns do you see shooting at your matches. I have only seen 2 in over a year.

Kevin

KevinP,

Usually 6 out of 15 shooter, I do believe that more that 30 percent of the heavygun class is still shot with a heavy gun and I like the two classes just in case I want to shoot one of my 4 heavy guns in a match.

Thanks Dawg, I was curious about that. There is a Pharr stocked heavy gun being built down at Neal Johnsons as we speak. Pretty cool looking gun. Whos gun is that anyway??? Anyone on here.

Kevin

In response to kevinp....I published a thread about the rifles on the line at the nationals recently and it showed that there were 35% of the shooters using one gun for both classes. I got this data by walking the line during each relay and looking at the stickers and the gun styles.
The scores of the top ten shooters in the M and AAA classes were very close in both classes with the hunter scores even higher in some instances.
I really think the day of the heavy gun is limited. Whenyou can build a Pharr stock around a 54.18. or 1712 action and make weight for hunter why buy another gun.

back in october durrant said he wished he could loan his ns 522 and help a new shooter along,he has it is in my safe thanks jud,

i will in turn always have my other gun,tc g2 contender for other folks to try


hello my name is dave and i am a junkie...silo junkie
"hi dave"

learning a new gun/trigger is a challange in itself, my first score dropped into the single digits( am an a shooter heavy,b shooter light) then rebounded to where i should be in the next round.

it was the first shoot at white painted targets and i was wearing sneakers insted of the usual boots. much more squishy and caused a sway the issue went away when i switched to stocking feet.

durrant also loanded me a note book with ammo group test and match notes ,please you experianced guys keep sharing the knowlage ,had i digested some note book knowlage i woud have never changed footwear. seems kind of important(the whole starting point of a soild position thing)

thanks every one who posts here i learn some thing new every time i log on.

s13