This thread is a pretty good read, interesting to see the different takes on this subject.
You know guys the shooting sports (any of them) are not a success only endeavor. There will always be more losers than winners that is just the way things are. Nobody with any sense ever said life was fair, and if someone told you it was the were lying. I guess we could do the Politically Correct thing like the do in Tee Ball and hand out a trophy to every one "Before" the shoot so that no one will get there feelings hurt. Yea I wonder how that will work? Probably like one of those lead balloons.
There are also some folks with money enough to buy or do anything they want to. Thank God for that maybe one of us poor guys will get "There" one day. I certainly don't have an unlimited budget, but I do shoot a Custom Rig, have a very nice Kowa spotting scope, great front rest, two of them actually one for F-Open and another for Benchrest. My rests alone are two of my most prized possission's because they were built for me by a friend my best friend he is a regular poster here on this board and builds in my opinion the best rests there, the making of friends like Bob is reason enough to pay the price of admission, . He is Bob Pastor the "Viper".
Several of the posters on this thread make reference to "doing the work". When I read that I have to ask myself how many understand, really understand what they are saying? I for one have never ever had the raw talent that some seem to have. I have to work and work real hard to get to that competitive place. I have always been able to do that work.
It takes good equipment no doubt about that. Doesn't mean you have to break the bank. There are more ways than one around that barn. There is the money way were you just lay it down in hundred dollar bills and they hand you a match ready rig ready to go slay the dragon. Then there is another way develop a good working relationship with a proper Match Quality Smith, ask questions do the research yourself and then smartly gather the components and have him build it for you. It is still going to take some of those hundred dollar bills but not near as many that way.
Now you are ready to start the work. A lot of folks think if they shoot a match a month they should be improving right along. It just don't work that way for anyone other than those Natural Talent guys. It takes a lot of rounds down range to come close to winning a match for most of us. I shoot a lot I also have had pretty quick success in my Match Shooting.
There is so much you have to learn. One of the first things is learning the rifle itself, I am a firm believer that it takes at least 500 maybe even a 1,000 bullets down the bore before you even have a clue as to what is going on with the rifle. Some of the things you need to know are what is happening with me and the rifle right at the moment of trigger break. Am I doing the same thing each and every shot? It takes bullets and lots of them to learn these things-----Unless you just want to go and shoot matchs only and then piss and moan about how unfair it is that Sam has that $6,000 dollar rifle and if I had me one of them I could be winning to. Ole Sam if he is winning is out doing the work.
Can't afford to shoot that much? Shooting some caliber with a barrel life of 900 or a 1000 rounds? There are ways around those problems, for me the lights came on when I read and heard about the 30BR. Barrel life of 6,000 + rounds I know personally of one 30BR with over 8,000 rounds that is still winning VFS match's all of the time. I bought me a 17 twist 30 caliber Barrel and that the best money I have ever spent. When it comes to just plain old trigger time screw that dude on and go and shoot it. You don't have to have match quality bullets for this either, you are shooting it on your match rifle same trigger, same stock, , same scope, same everything it is the deal for me.
There are more ways than just complaining about what some body else is shooting. I shoot or at least try too, three times a week. I like to shoot somewhere around what I would shoot in a match bullet wise, but usually shoot around 50 or so at each session. That's 150 a week or 600 a month just for practice. Add to that I shoot 3 match's a month as well, that's a lot of shooting. Even with all of that work I walk away more times than I care to count with the only thing I won is the smile on my face. For me that is enough.....
Roland
