Quote History Originally Posted By devildog93:...Why are we using specialized coats, gloves, and gear you would never have on the field?...
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Coats, gloves, spotting scopes, mats, etc. are allowed because it's a competitive sport and to be competitive you have to use equipment that enhances your shooting. The rules are not open, there are limits as to what is allowed. You can wear and use plain old military gear if you want but most competitors have and use specialized shooting gear. It's pretty standard stuff for target shooters.
The other poster wanted to know why we don't use issued rifles. The reason is that in Highpower competition that goes back more than 100 years that there were two classes of rifles. Service rifles and match rifles. Service rifles had to appear to be a standard rifle but could be improved "under the skin". If you changed the rules that only issued rifles be used, nothing would change, the top shooters would have the top scores but you would have trouble getting parts for your rifle because the top teams would cherry pick the best parts and the good parts would be picked at the factory before they hit the marketplace. A good match grade AR is not very expensive, it's about as cheap as target shooting gets.