Tony you bring up a very interesting point and
a question.
Now you are a very experienced shooter and tend to try things with a discipline and a long term baseline from which valid comparisons can be made.
What might your opinion be about new guys, without those advantages that lean toward hanging lots of this stuff on their barrels right out of the box?
Tim,
I have always had two programs running parallel. One is R&D the other is shooting objectives. Looking back on it now I think I made it much harder on myself than I needed.
There is a saying "beware of the one gun man". Meaning if he only has one gun he probably knows it well and has learned to use it.
My search for the next better thing has meant I rarely shot a season with the same package. Always changing something, hoping to find something better.
I look back now and feel the Shilen octagon barrel cost me nearly two seasons of shooting success.
They were hot when they came out, some guys were putting up big numbers with them. I even put up big numbers from time to time.
But in the end they just didn't work over the long haul as well as ratchets. At least for me. Another thing is they shoot a little different. There is a learning curve to them.
One would think I would have learned by this experience, but no, when the Muller MIs came available I was all over them. Again they shoot a little different from ratchets.
Matches are won with both barrels, and I certainly like both barrels, but from a common sense approach I would have been better off to just stay with what I already had and knew.
Barrels is only one thing. I did the same with actions, chambers, crowns, firing pin shapes, scopes, stocks, bedding techniques, tuners, triggers, etc .etc.
There is a famous drag racer named John Force. He once said: racing for me is much harder than it is for young hired guns".
Meaning a hired driver has one task to worry about, driving the car. But John, the team owner has many things to worry about. Driving the car is only one of them.
Same can be said for a guy building his own rifle(s). He may have many things on his mind about the rifle and its components and how they are working together.
Shooting the target is only one of them.
I spent a lot of money and time, and lost matches I should have won by all the changes.
My advice to one wanting to win is learn your equipment well. Don't be too quick to change things.
If you are just having fun, try it all, it has been fun for me.
TKH (4628)