Originally Posted by
ToddG
The problem with "vehicle for experimentation" approaches is that it leads to exactly what we've seen in USPSA and IDPA: certain specific options in terms of holster and gun that dominate. When lots of companies make guns with 5" barrels but only one makes a gun with a 5.3" barrel, and people believe that the longer barrel provides a competitive advantage, then the one 5.3" bbl gun becomes over-represented.
It's just like limiting mag capacity to 10. Our goal is to make sure that the guy with a 17rd magazine doesn't have an advantage over the guy with a 15rd magazine, because if such an advantage existed it would skew people's choices and the 17rd gun would be seen as necessary.
There will always be people who want their less-than-optimal guns to be more competitive and people who want their beyond-the-rules guns to be allowed. Like every other game, we have to draw lines somewhere. We're very comfortable about the lines we've drawn for this game, and luckily for people who want to shoot a G34, there are plenty of other games available.