by an order of magnitude if not more.

I'd bet 10 to 3 points from Expert to HM. Sharpshooter class has shrunk.

I tend to agree that shooting with the scope has made it much easier for both the newbie as well as keeping those of us past 45 in the game.

Newbies tend to show up with no background of irons in their childhood, so getting them to understand front sight focus is bypassed with the scope.

The middle aged and older cannot get the same close focus as we develop presbyopia and the scope helps with eye fatigue and keeps the target sharp at the same time.

Now, putting numbers on how much score improvement this makes is guesswork, but I tend to agree it is worth at least several points.

I know nobody wanted to hear it at the time but I still would have suggested creating a division for the scopes and keeping the irons separate, but I also supported the idea of keeping more folks in the game as being an overriding issue.

My sentiments were based on the concept we are all agreeing with, which is the iron sights were more challenging and the folks who ran them to DR deserved credit for doing it the hard way.

When they allowed optics on Highpower Palma, they don't compete in the same class as the irons.

By that same token, they never gave the credit due to those who ran the Garand versus, M14, versus, AR, so I don't push the concept of keeping irons and optics divisions any more either. That ship sailed.... Carry on.

Not much overall. When I started shooting highpower in the mid 1990s HMs were shooting 780-90s with M1a, hardly see people shoot those scores with scoped ARs but there was alot more shooters back than..

For me I shoot better 600 with scope, better rapids with irons and about the same offhand so pretty much a wash.

Good iron shooters shoot good with scopes, bad iron shooters shoot bad with scopes.

I actually enjoy shooting irons but my old eyes don't.

Good luck young man.

The thought was that the military have switched over to optics, so the military based Highpower competition should follow what military servicemen were using. Using the limited power 4.5 power scope was a good choice to keep optic costs down for new shooters. I'm OK with the current rules.

Me, too, I enjoy shooting iron sights.

Raised the cut for leg points at Perry about 10 points.

Someone on the Nat'l Match forum mentioned that attendance decline may share some cause.

But it hasn't raised the P100 cutoff, maybe 1-2 pts.

Good luck, my man!

As my eyes went into the toilet the scope has helped immensely (especially at 600) ... but damn if I don't get nearly sea-sick off-hand.

Agree it's more to attendance.

The good side is a 10 pt hard leg shouldn't go cheap. You should earn it with a good score.