Frederick303, your post is right on. I shot CMP and High Power for about 35 years, 15 of them at Camp Perry too. I’ve watch many try with SKS’s and AK’s, and as you say, they lose their consistency as they warm up, especially 200 out and more. Can’t say I remember any of them winning in their class.
Look at it this way, at the States and the Nationals, the competition is plentiful and usually well funded. The AR platform has dominated it for close to 20 years, after wrestling it from the M1A domination. Many of these competitors have the means and insistence to only compete with the tools they believe will give them the winning edge, you’ll have a very hard time finding any AK’s or SKS’s on those lines. That fact alone speaks volumes.
Thank you again for your knowledgeable post.
We almost certainly overlapped at Camp Perry, was there every year from 1989 to around 2009, with a few years after, but not in any real competitive guise.
My home away from home, many a year I contemplated the year in review while enjoying the sun-set out on the old ammunition dock by the clubhouse.