Talking with a guy at the range yesterday, he was shooting a Tikka Lite 6.5 Creedmoor with one of the 4 million models of Vortex scopes on it. He said there is now a "stock rifle" class in PRS competition. Whole rig must cost under $3000 with NO modifications, not even a trigger.

might be fun

They have rules on what a stock class rifle is. they are trying to differentiate from open class and the 5-8k rifles

Their goal is to open it up to the people that can't spend a lot of money on a rig, which is great, but I think their price threshold is a little low. Most of the gear that people would buy have MSRPs that are pretty significantly higher than their going rate. Vortex is one of the worst at this. Their MSRP is pretty uniformly 50% higher than their MAP. I'm sure there's some sort of marketing strategy behind this, but it definitely screws the guy who is trying to build a rig for this type of competition.

How would you do that without everyone having to show their receipts?

It's going on it's second year. Been a good starting point for some.

I'm mostly criticizing without a solution. Meeting the $3k limit can easily be done but sacrifices obviously have to be made, which is obviously the point. My argument is that the current cut-off puts many of the most eligible entry-level tactical scopes barely out of reach.

I don't have a dog in this fight. Like I said, mostly criticizing without a solution. :P

A $600 Savage and a $2k NF/ Vortex would be a good combo....

I like the concept/idea. Always thought a group of hunters just using their rifles in friendly competition sounded fun.

I like the idea. I just purchased a Tikka CTR 6.5 Creedmoor. Added a Burris XTR II 4-20x50. AMD QD mounts. Great out of the box trigger. I'm well under that budget and very happy with the package. Forgot to add Harris swivel light weight bipod. Still several hundred under 3 k.

I would think they would have to rely fairly heavily on the entrants 'word' as it would take too long to break down each rifle to check for bedding, etc. Probably have a better defined 'no modifications' policy on their site.
P_102

I think you put together a perfect package for that level.

My guess is that whomever is making the distinction already knows most of these facts. Furthermore, they're probably people who has shot before and been through the process of buying factory rifles with budget scopes, upgrading, modifying with bolt on parts at home, getting some professional work and finally to full on customs with high end scopes.

Meaning , they're probably going to be aware of the market and have a fairly decent idea of price points. I'v never even seen a prs event and I can look at a person's rifle and guess ball park how much was modified and approximate retail value, assuming no used parts, other than ultra high end custom jobs. By that price point it wouldn't matter anyways.

This is interesting to me how it follows in the way of car racing.

It's because there is a group of guys in every sport that can't spend the money and rather than focus on getting good (practice) with what they have they just want to bitch that they are getting beat by equipment. Truth is, if the guys shooting the customs shot in that class the same group would be winning. I learned a long time ago...if you are bitching it's probably because you can't win, don't/can't put in the time or looking for an easy way to being good.

There is only one way to get good at shooting a rifle...burn barrels, powder, primers and bullets.

Exactly right.

I know guys that can take the stock rifle, medium grade scope, and win in any division they want. Some of them burn up a barrel every three months or so.

^^^^^Wow, those are some pretty cynical views. Ever thought that the goal of some might be to just have some fun and get better in the process? I know some guys who can drop in on any rec league baseball game and hit HRs every time too. So what? That doesn't mean the rec leaguers hate them because they play MLB.

Geez.....

I know for a fact I wouldn't want to shoot with a bunch of obsessed know-it-alls explaining how crappy my equipment and shooting is. (My guess is that's the reason for the new divisions as much as anything.)

Not entirely true-it's also there because it opens a wider door to more people to enter into shooting sports, which I think we all agree is a good thing.

Many sports have low-level or 'entry' level competitions specifically to generate interest and allow more people to get a taste of competition.

I think you missed the point of Judd's post. There are, and always have been, guys that just want to show up, learn and have fun, and they don't, or can't spend the money on custom equipment. This new division is to separate those guys from the rest of the pack, for their benefit.

I guess I did then. And yours too. What you just posted I don't see how anyone could argue as anything but positive.

I didn't intend it to be negative, maybe I should have re-worded. Me, of all people, is all about run what you brung. I ask everyone coming to my place what they're bringing. The lion's share is off-the-shelf rifles. And more often than not, I help them dial on 2 MOA steel from 200-800 yards, teach them how to pure hold those corrections (no dialing), then start over at 400 yards shooting 1 MOA steel. I've seen how great "plain vanilla" rifles and scopes can perform.

I like the new division. It gives people a chance to try out a new sport without having to spend a lot. It also gives them more money to spend on ammo.

Been seeing a lot of RPRs at the range so this is cool. Read about this competition class earlier but dunno where online.

IF this is really true and you really believe it... then all the money you and others spend over 1500-2k on a rig is just wasted? I disagree and I doubt you truly believe it either.

I've thought about getting back into the PRS, and running either the Tactical class (308) or the production class. If you bought a good production rifle, like a Ruger RPR, Tikka CTR, or similar, tuned a load to the rifle and put a decent scope on it, you could easily compete in the PRS.

At some point the limits of a factory gun will be reached. At that point custom comes into play.

My belief is that the people that can shoot well will with whatever they are shooting

What's sad is when they shoot in more friendly divisions to win as opposed to challenging themselves in the better ones