That said, the stability of the rules over the years has also been a blessing for many competitors. You don't have to built a new rig every season or two to keep up with the changing rules, for one thing. people that actually compete understand this.
Al, I'm sort of torn over this one. Many of us who, at one time or other, have favored rules changes have been in favor of relaxing the rules, not tightening them. (I remember when you legally
could use bird seed to fill bags.) The restrictive changes -- remember the recent one concerning clamping boards for rail guns to butt against -- get tried, & hopefully abandoned. Then there was the one-year outright ban on tuners in IBS, and tuner adjustment in NBRSA. Their repeal shows the system can sometimes work. But we have some old ones that seem to serve no purpose, that seem to center on what a rifle should look like -- until you look t what highpower shooters are using in the 21st century.
I think they do some harm. They preserve old wives tales. Quick. How many believe that the stiffer the stock, the better? But Jim Borden did some work on this with the design of his newer stocks; less stiff, but better at damping vibrations. They shot. I don't know that there is any firm conclusion we can draw fro that one venture, but it sure makes us question a sacred cow.
But you'd have to be a manufacturer to do this within the current rules, and you have to risk a significant amount of your livelihood if the idea was either (1) wrong, or (2) right, but didn't pass the current fashion/wives tale test. So it was gutsy of Jim, & more power to him.
Last year, Gene Beggs new "stock" design was deemed illegal, unlawful & downright disgusting for a while. Now, it seems to be legal -- something about barrel block or sleeve length got dropped in the NBRSA rules. But I shoot both IBS & NBRSA, and the old barrel block rules are still in the IBS, so I won't be trying it in VFS. Maybe IBS 1,000 yard competition, where we don't have so many rules.
What will be interesting about this isn't whether or not Gene sells more stocks than Macmillian, but whether or not it works. If it works, we'll have to give up another of our myths about accuracy. Just like I had to give up one of mine about long necks and accuracy when the Wolf Pup did so well.
And just like the Wolf Pup didn't make the older Hunter chamberings obsolete, new designs most likely won't make the older rifle designs obsolete. How many experimenters who really believe in their stuff would like to go up against, say, Jeff Summers & his old equipment with $1,000 on the line?
What would happen is that we'd learn something. We'd have to give up some cherished beliefs. The sport might get cheaper. And over time, the design of accurate rifles would surely get better.
Charles Ellertson
