A $1600 ar will shoot about as well as 99% of anything else that costs $1600. Those shooting in various disciplines are typically shooting rifles custom built and tailored to that discipline. Olympic shooters have to contend with things like caliber limitation. Weight, portability, ergonomics, etc etc etc. End of the day, put it on the bench and measure the group size to see accuracy potential and the perceived accuracy gap shrinks greatly. The ceiling of cost for a bolt gun is much higher than an AR by a significant margin, if you are looking at a $2k ceiling things even out quite significantly in favor of an AR simply due to its widespread support.
At the end of the day, accuracy and precision are 2 different things. You can hold tighter tolerences but if it's not putting it down, what is the point? I'm still of the opinion, sub .5 moa accuracy is cheaper on an AR platform than just about anything else on the market.
A clean barrel is no longer clean after the first shot, a dirty barrel is no longer accurate after sufficient fouling. At which point do you feel comfortable falling into inaccuracy, when you have eliminated that variable with a clean barrel?
This is a discussion many have had a billion times over, the real answer to cleaning is... do what you think works best.
Performance picked up due to being meticulous about pre-match prep and ensuring I have control over the variables that I can, one of them being how, and how often I clean. They go spotless, but I also don't put a lot of work into it... just a few hours of waiting and about a dozen patches. Maybe it is a mental thing to where I feel that everything is performing at peak, and its simply down to the shooter to perform. I.e. no excuses. I agree there is a difference between a fouled barrel and unfouled... but there is also a difference between a barrel with 4 rounds down after a clean pipe vs 200. I'll trust the 4 and control the rate of fouling knowing I'll never hit that tip over point. Shooting until "accuracy falls off" is simply missing points unnecessarily to me. Never let the accuracy fall off. My needs, and purposes don't match everyone else's however, I'm viewing this from a competition point of view where barrel longevity, common sense, and excessive amounts of time are sacrificed for an extra point or 2.
At the end of the day, accuracy and precision are 2 different things. You can hold tighter tolerences but if it's not putting it down, what is the point? I'm still of the opinion, sub .5 moa accuracy is cheaper on an AR platform than just about anything else on the market.
A clean barrel is no longer clean after the first shot, a dirty barrel is no longer accurate after sufficient fouling. At which point do you feel comfortable falling into inaccuracy, when you have eliminated that variable with a clean barrel?
This is a discussion many have had a billion times over, the real answer to cleaning is... do what you think works best.
Performance picked up due to being meticulous about pre-match prep and ensuring I have control over the variables that I can, one of them being how, and how often I clean. They go spotless, but I also don't put a lot of work into it... just a few hours of waiting and about a dozen patches. Maybe it is a mental thing to where I feel that everything is performing at peak, and its simply down to the shooter to perform. I.e. no excuses. I agree there is a difference between a fouled barrel and unfouled... but there is also a difference between a barrel with 4 rounds down after a clean pipe vs 200. I'll trust the 4 and control the rate of fouling knowing I'll never hit that tip over point. Shooting until "accuracy falls off" is simply missing points unnecessarily to me. Never let the accuracy fall off. My needs, and purposes don't match everyone else's however, I'm viewing this from a competition point of view where barrel longevity, common sense, and excessive amounts of time are sacrificed for an extra point or 2.