FredB wrote:Excuse me if I'm being dense here, but neither the center of the target nor the 45 degrees from horizontal angle change, no matter where you adjust your sights. The barrel of the gun must start out at (no more than) 45 degrees from horizontal, and must end up pointing at the target center; therefore the amount of change in barrel angle must always be the same.
You're wrong I'm afraid. The barrel of the gun does not need to start at 45 degrees, the arm must. If the wrist is bent up so that the barrel is not in line with the arm, as would be the case if you were aiming at the bottom of the target, then you would need to raise your arm less.
As I said in a previous post, the actual difference is small, it can just feel like a lot.
I think I follow you I was ignoring the starting angle. The gun must however still be raised to the same final position though, irrespective of aiming point <I think>
Rob.
P.S. What should my starting angle be out of interest. The overall arm should be at 45 degrees whereas I can't straighten my elbow. I assume if anyone wanted to get technical it would be measured from shoulder to wrist ?
RobStubbs wrote:I think I follow you I was ignoring the starting angle. The gun must however still be raised to the same final position though, irrespective of aiming point <I think>
Rob.
P.S. What should my starting angle be out of interest. The overall arm should be at 45 degrees whereas I can't straighten my elbow. I assume if anyone wanted to get technical it would be measured from shoulder to wrist ?
In an earlier post I gave an extreme example just to demonstrate the difference. There is no way that you would encounter it in real life but it shows the principle.
If the gun is held in the ready position with the wrist angled up by 45 degrees then the arm would only need to be raised by 1 or 2 degrees for the barrel to be pointing at the middle of the target. In real life the effect of aiming at the bottom of the target would only reduce the required arm lift by less than 1 degree, not a great physical difference but it can be a large mental one. If however you are not comfortable with aiming very low then any mental advantage would be negated.
Many shooters do not or cannot straighten their elbow. In fact many women have elbows which bend backwards. The rules don't specify how to deal with anything other than a straight arm but I would doubt if anyone would argue with a "centre of shoulder joint" to "centre of wrist" line.
