Misc. thoughts
Reading this thread made me think how well the military sniper rifles have come along. They now have semi-auto rifles capable of benchrest accuracy, or at least of the benchrest accuracy of a few years ago. I believe that at some point the semi-auto .22 rimfire will be capable of shooting the same scores as the best bolt action rifles of today. I am also sure the bolt guns will improve too. The second thought I had was about the enjoyment I get out of a sport. A good part of it is making progress. I have found if I shoot trap with a .410 or start from low gun, my scores are lower, but I can track progress more easily. I remember watching a training film on trap shooting and the expert had gone over 3,000 straight at some point. Now while it's more true than not that only accurate rifles are interesting, it is also probably true that a rifle that will shoot perfect scores every time you go to the line may become boring. Not that such a gun exists today, but that is because as technology improves, we make the challenge more difficult. So if a person wants to use a 10/22 to shoot benchrest, why talk down to him ? Heck, if I could ever get iron sights to zero in on the targets we use, I would give them a try.