SCJ429 wrote:Why don't you have a bloop tube on your 28 inch barrel? A four inch tube gets you the sight radius your are looking for.
A few reasons.
1) I'd have to change all my rings, and it takes months if not years of range time to find the exact rings that work for
you and
your preferred sight picture, at all the distances, under a variety of lighting conditions.
2) It's potentially one more component that can fail under recoil. Remember, we're not dealing with smallbore recoil here. I've literally seen one fail during a Queens before. That's end of comp basically. Less to go wrong, in the words of my gunsmith (he’s not a fan of them). His offsider interestingly IS an advocate of the boop; so it’s indeed a divisive subject…
3) Your sight picture and dynamics of the package overall, is a highly refined combination. You build it up, then you stick with it. It's all about repetition, muscle memory, and being completely at one with the rifle, down to the finest of details. Heck i can detect when my cheek riser is out by 1mm, or if the buttplate position is out by a couple of mms, or if my sling is incorrect by even a single hole... If you go change something, it takes a decent amount of time to work back up to that level of perfection. Confidence also plays a part. The TR shooter must reach a state of flow to "collect them all".
So yeah, I've no interest in such an interruption at this time. Like i said, if i'm in the zone, and dealing with the wind correctly, I can still shoot possibles with my 28". If not, it's not because the rifle, it's because of me. And at my grade, if i shoot all possibles, i win aggregate. It's the very top end of A grade where Australia's best shooters are chasing the
X ring, instead of the TR V ring. And they have been on a huge journey to get there, part of which probably included changing to a long 30-32" barrel at some stage, to gain that say, extra 0.1% advantage, which is particularly pertinent when the scores get so close to perfect, inclusive of decimals.
I'll get there one day, build up a Barnard+32", in perhaps a Mactintosh or Gemini stock, but for now, my gear is working great for me, so it makes no sense to go interrupt my learning. Same reason i run Sierras instead of Bergers - Sierras will still "collect them all" for me, so the Bergers are a waste money, given my inherent skill level.