Buttplate contacts right pectoral muscle

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:45 am

I've a problem when shooting standing, the buttplate contacts the right pectoral muscle.

This contact pushes the buttplate up and out from my arm and therefore the buttplate only have contact with the arm on the lower part of the buttplate.

I have the buttplate in the "hole" between the deltoid muscle and the biceps.

The solution that I can think of is to raise my arm more, now I have it completely relaxed.

Any thought about this?

JSBmatch · Post by **JSBmatch** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:22 am

It was always thought that the trigger arm should be allowed to drop by gravity. Where it settles is where you use it. This ensures no muscles in that arm are tensed by holding the arm up from its settled position.

But like all advice, you don't have to take it, do what works for you.
JSB

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:59 pm

You see alot of shooters that have a high trigger arm. For me that seems impossible without using muscles to hold it up.

What other solutions is there to avoid contact with the right pectoral muscle? Is it just me that have my bodyparts in such a way so it becomes a problem?

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:07 am

Holding the right arm up doesn't seem to work for me. I find it impossible to call my shots, probably because of the tension in the right shoulder.

RobStubbs · Post by **RobStubbs** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:28 am

Johan_85 wrote:You see alot of shooters that have a high trigger arm. For me that seems impossible without using muscles to hold it up.

What other solutions is there to avoid contact with the right pectoral muscle? Is it just me that have my bodyparts in such a way so it becomes a problem?

For the first part, the picture you show is a shooter not on aim, rather preparing for the shot, his arm may or may not remain in the same position.

Solutions to the butt touching the pecs are more difficult without seeing you in position. You can try changing your position slightly and/or moving the buttplate itself (within the confines of the rules you shoot under).

Rob.

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:57 pm

Moving the buttplate in height isn't possible because then I won't come down on target and the rifle will be to low so I need to reach down. I can't see how that could help this problem either.

Shortening the stock is possible and if I shorten I don't need to reach forward as much and therefore it creates a bigger "hole" between my right arm and right pec. The problem with that is that the pressure on the buttplate gets to low and the recoil absorbtion gets bad. The rifle also starts to get drawn out of the shoulder for some reason.

I need to think about this but I won't change something now because it's competition time in one and a half week.

robf · Post by **robf** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:29 am

Is the butt in the arm pit or on the arm? Can it be more laterally offset? Can a smaller plate be used?

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:14 am

I have the buttplate on the arm where the bicep and deltoid muscle meet. I have a MEC free position buttplate and it's pretty slim so I can't see that there is any smaller available.

robf · Post by **robf** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:55 am

Free position? That's got a hook. But it's also quite wide, and also quite deep.

Is there any lateral offset left?

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 3:42 am

I get contact with my My FWB P70 also and it got the original buttplate. It's the lower part of the buttplate that touches my upper pec. I will try to get a picture up in a couple of days.

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:08 pm

Now I have got some pictures, it took a while but here they are. So do anyone see a possible explanation of my problem?

WesternGrizzly · Post by **WesternGrizzly** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 1:33 pm

It looks like the carrier could be in your way. If it is, there is nothing that says that you cant raise the carrier on the rifle and keep the buttplate in the same position. The mec buttplate has almost nothing below it to contact the body.
Matt

remmy223 · Post by **remmy223** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:46 pm

I had/have a problem similar to this, tho its caused by different reasons.

I'm short and heavy and I shoot with my stance more open, but my rifle (fwb700 with mec butt plate) comes into contact with my chest at the point where the pec meets the shoulder.

In your case you are tall and lean and shoot with your body almost square to the target this naturally brings the rifle close to the chest.

My setup on the back end of rifle used to be the same as yours. I removed the black spacer you have between carrier and mec plate, this allowed me to mount the mec plate higher to avoid my chest but still allowed me to drop the adjustable levers back down to where they fitted into my arm

It's also then possible to offset the plate slightly to give more clearance.

Iv still a long way to go as my jacket was customised for shooting prone and this causes problems with fit when standing/kneeling.

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:30 pm

Sometimes other people must tell you what is obvious. As I read what you wrote Matt I did exactly what remmy223 wrote he did. I moved the black spacer that is a weight and put it under the cheekpiece, moved the carrier up and positioned the buttplate in the same height as before.

It felt better without a jacket, I'm going to test this at my upcoming training session.

Is it something else that looks "wrong" in the position?

muldoon9 · Post by **muldoon9** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:10 am

I myself think you have the head tilted forward a wee too much.
The rest of the stance looks very stable.
M
In Missoura

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:22 am

muldoon9 wrote:I myself think you have the head tilted forward a wee too much.
The rest of the stance looks very stable.
M
In Missoura

Okay, do you mean that my head reaches long forward or that I tilt it forward from the skullbase?

One problem in this is that I can't put the diopter further forward because the lid over the "chamber" hit the diopter when loading. I can't mount anymore raisers because it is at maximum height under ISSF rules. Is there any other solution and what will I benefit from it when I don't tilt my head as much?

RobStubbs · Post by **RobStubbs** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:56 am

Johan_85 wrote:
muldoon9 wrote:I myself think you have the head tilted forward a wee too much.
The rest of the stance looks very stable.
M
In Missoura
Okay, do you mean that my head reaches long forward or that I tilt it forward from the skullbase?

One problem in this is that I can't put the diopter further forward because the lid over the "chamber" hit the diopter when loading. I can't mount anymore raisers because it is at maximum height under ISSF rules. Is there any other solution and what will I benefit from it when I don't tilt my head as much?

I think he means your head should be more upright. Currently it's tilted forwards such that you're almost looking through the bottom of your eyebrow. To correct that you'd need to straiighten up the head and drop the buttplate down to raise the rifle (as you say you can't add any more raisers). You may also need to and benefit from shortening the butt slightly to pull it back such that you don't feel the need to lean forward into the sights. As a side effect that will also pull in the COG which should give increased stability.

Rob.

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 2:19 am

RobStubbs wrote:I think he means your head should be more upright. Currently it's tilted forwards such that you're almost looking through the bottom of your eyebrow. To correct that you'd need to straiighten up the head and drop the buttplate down to raise the rifle (as you say you can't add any more raisers). You may also need to and benefit from shortening the butt slightly to pull it back such that you don't feel the need to lean forward into the sights. As a side effect that will also pull in the COG which should give increased stability.

Rob.

I can't drop the buttplate anymore because then it is too low and does not comply with ISSF rules.

I don't know if I feel the need to lean forward into the sights but I have a pretty long neck and when I want to look through the sights the neck must come forward to be able to reach down to the cheekpiece.

If I shorten the butt I don't get a good contact with the buttplate.

Maybe I need to adjust buttlength and the height of the buttplate now because it probably have changed how the contact is made with the upper arm when it's less contact with the pectoral muscle. This is minor adjustments measured in millimeters.

muldoon9 · Post by **muldoon9** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:06 am

yes what Rob Stubs said.
I would investigate raisng the cheek, piece and the sights.
I myself. I too have a long neck and shoot with a lot of cant ......... In addition to the high sights and elevated cheekpiece.
M-

Johan_85 · Post by **Johan_85** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:50 am

muldoon9 wrote:yes what Rob Stubs said.
I would investigate raisng the cheek, piece and the sights.
I myself. I too have a long neck and shoot with a lot of cant ......... In addition to the high sights and elevated cheekpiece.
M-

I can't raise the sights anymore because then it goes outside the maximum height when shooting under ISSF rules.