I can't believe that I read through the entire thread, but I did. All I read was people criticizing others for different opinions. So here is my opinion.
First, we are in shooting sports for fun although some seem more concerned about end of the world scenarios. Unless you are in the military, or a LEO, you are not betting your life on your equipment. If you compete, sure you want the best you can afford, especially if you aren't very good. If you don't practice to improve, I guess that maybe high quality might make up for your short-comings, but I'm not sure.
As a licenced motor vehicle mechanic for more years that some on here have been alive, I'd like to share the following. I met technicians that insisted that you had to buy Snap-on if you were going to be any good, anything else and you couldn't fix vehicles, I never owned a single Snap-on tool. They told me how Snap-on had a life time warranty, I figured I'd rather have tools that didn't break leaving me without the tool while warranty was processed. My tools had a good warranty but I never had to use it. I watched guys almost take out a mortgage for a Snap-on toolbox, and watched them cry the first time it got scratched. Me, I bought a fully functional tool box, not Snap-on, and filled it with the specialty tools (also not Snap-on) to allow me to get the job done. Early in my career, I bought a cheap air chisel for a job, I used that air chisel to make money, and after it had paid for its self many times over, I replaced it with a brand name air chisel that did the same job, but it did last a lot longer. As a matter of fact, I still have that air chisel to this day, and I also have some of the "cheap" attachments that came with the first one.
I would use the money I saved by NOT buying Snap-on to continue to buy more specialty tools as vehicles evolved, and I also used that money I saved to take courses to improve my skills.
So how does this relate? Simple. Start with a basic gun and practice until you have the skills required. You start with a 22, cheap ammo, and keep practicing. No one starts out as a marksman, but once you have learned how to aim, how to get that proper hold, learned how to squeeze that coarse trigger with all the excess travel, now is the time to practice some more. When you have the skills, then is the time to upgrade. But until you have the basic skills, no amount of money that you spend is going to make any difference. When starting out, even a piece of junk can out shoot you until you have the basic skills.
So now you buy a better gun, put optics on it, now you practice some more. As time goes on, and your skills improve, that is when you start looking at higher end equipment But I don't care how much you spent on the gun and optics, highest price match ammo, if you don't have the skills, it will be no better than the single shot Cooey with iron sights.
And as your skills develop, and you are hitting the bulls-eye at 200 yards every time, don't look over at the guy next to you with the old Cooey and start to criticize him, he knew where to start.
Remember, when the house falls down, it is a poor carpenter that blames his tools.
