Something else that probably bears mentioning:
When new shooters are looking around for "the" perfect gun to buy they will see many of the better shooters (pick your Division) shooting primarily X-firearm, and that's where their research naturally begins to trend. Some of the shooters using these guns will have gone through the R&D process on their guns/springs/loads, but most will not. As well, it seems that very few are able or willing to sit down with a newbie and tell them exactly what to expect from the gun, what tuning mods to make, what starting loads to go with, what it's strengths/weaknesses are and what to look for when trouble-shooting issues or testing different loads, etc. etc. Basically, where is the window of functionality, where is the window of competitive advantage, and how much overlap is there on these two windows. Also, most of what is imparted tends to be subjective impressions rather than empirical data, so you end up with everyone out there buying different guns and having to re-invent the wheel every time, and most of them start out with zero experience so they are working mostly in a vacuum.
It's no wonder to me that if you post a question on a forum such as this you'll get hundreds of different answers as to why (pick your gun) is either crap or fantastic.
What would be very cool is if there was some way to compile a short-list database on say, the top 3 guns in each Division and apply specific, standardized criteria to each one based on the needs of high round-count competition. It would be an interesting project but of course it would suck up most of some poor bugger's life and money for probably a year, which is why it won't happen.
When new shooters are looking around for "the" perfect gun to buy they will see many of the better shooters (pick your Division) shooting primarily X-firearm, and that's where their research naturally begins to trend. Some of the shooters using these guns will have gone through the R&D process on their guns/springs/loads, but most will not. As well, it seems that very few are able or willing to sit down with a newbie and tell them exactly what to expect from the gun, what tuning mods to make, what starting loads to go with, what it's strengths/weaknesses are and what to look for when trouble-shooting issues or testing different loads, etc. etc. Basically, where is the window of functionality, where is the window of competitive advantage, and how much overlap is there on these two windows. Also, most of what is imparted tends to be subjective impressions rather than empirical data, so you end up with everyone out there buying different guns and having to re-invent the wheel every time, and most of them start out with zero experience so they are working mostly in a vacuum.
It's no wonder to me that if you post a question on a forum such as this you'll get hundreds of different answers as to why (pick your gun) is either crap or fantastic.
What would be very cool is if there was some way to compile a short-list database on say, the top 3 guns in each Division and apply specific, standardized criteria to each one based on the needs of high round-count competition. It would be an interesting project but of course it would suck up most of some poor bugger's life and money for probably a year, which is why it won't happen.
