Oh ya thanks for bringing me into this one LOL.
First, OP. Pricing is what it is. Lots of factors (IRS takes 40% for one). When I started my bank account was always in the negatives. Im not cheap anymore and I am not ashamed of my prices. I finally came to the conclusion that you have to pay yourself enough to not feel rushed. There are different levels of work and thats ok. Im only interested in the best I can do, not quantity or price level. So if this outfit has a proven track record you really cant blame them at all.
On to the BR topic. This may get long because theres so much bs out there about BR from people who dont shoot it. Theres short range and long range BR. They are similar but quite different. LR BR is very similar to what we do in LR hunting rifles. LR BR was started in Pa. by....... LR hunters. Now we have the IBS and NBRSA also sanctioning matches. We shoot 600 and 1000 yd br. They have different formats but are all scored for groups and score. BR is not about a tiny group. Its about the aggregate. One or two small groups doenst matter if your rifle throws a big flier in the next one. Every group counts. One shot can ruin an agg. So thats where all of the fine details come in. Lots of rifles can shoot a small group, not all can NOT shoot big ones. This wont show up in score shooting as much either. Group aggs is really the true measure of accuracy.
To the point of experimenting, BR is where everything came from. They are the experimenters. There is no money in that game, no sponsorship, its not "cool" so you dont see the hype and most of the guys dont post. 90% of the stuff will never be posted. Especially since many of the stuff we test doesnt work out. Theres a lot of areas of the rifle that we are testing. Ignition and reamer design are my favorites, but since we are on stocks I will go into that. I have made a bunch of stocks from scratch to test things. Before I had McMillan make the LRB stock for me I cut down a lodgepole and made a blank from it. Then I cast a mold over it and used it to make a lay up fiberglass stock very similar to how McMillan makes them. The whole point was to test flex in the forend. This was the most flexible stock I have seen. That was the point. Once McMillan was making me a stock we tested every shell and fill material they had. Every composite or wood laminate I could get my hands on has been tested and its taken about 5 years for me to start to form conclusions because its not that obvious. Thats just with one design. Im now onto a new design I prefer even better. Thats just one small part of the testing I have been involved with. Barrels, actions, stocks, triggers, dies, it goes on. But no one cares, its just BR not PRS.
To get onto the foundation stock. If they have an interest in BR I'll build a rifle on one. Micarta is pretty heavy. I have used G10 which is similar. If they can make a 4 pound BR stock we can run them in light gun class. I'll even send them a stock to copy. If not, we can run them in heavy gun class. I have a serious 2kyd BR build I have to do on a McMillan 50 BMG stock with a Bat L and 36" Bartlien in 338 lapua imp. Id bed the action into both stocks and I hope the Foundation is the winner since that would be a step forward.
Thats how it works when a company wants into BR. They send it to us and if it works out then it does. Alpha did this with their BRA brass and now it holds 8 IBS records. I have an action and some barrels here for the same reason. They make the cut or they dont. Thats why I love BR. No BS, every group is official and on the IBS website.
https://internationalbenchrest.com/results/longrange#2022-long-range-match-results