Gary is right, Joe is very knowledgable in his work and in the game. He helped me get started and has done a fair bit of work for me and he helped me get started in this game.

I' m with Bill on this one, with the 11 system you always have a fighting chance, with the x system, as soon as you have a 9 you can stop and go home no matter how good the rest of them are.

 It seems to me the topic is more like "the bolt action rifle has not changed". The only changes to the basic design can be relatively minor as all functions are still the same, just improved. As the rules have all been designed in the varmint series to keep a rifle looking like a rifle that can't change much either. The only gun to have major changes in the stock design was one that Shelley built in Texas before his untimely death. This was a 2 piece stock that has not really been approved by the 'Board" yet on a permanent basis as far as I recollect and most people hesitate to attach the forend to the barrel. A barrel is a barrel, cut rifling is more accepted than it used to be and now with slight gain twists proving to be worthy they may get more popular, but they still are a tube with rifling in them.
 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. Hope next year brings some good shoots and great times.

 Sorry Bill, I was hoping he was going to take it as a compliment and maybe stop changing things, it took me several moments to figure out how to reply