TargetTalk

Dear Friends/Coaches,
Few days back a very experienced person told me about the hold of a position(ISSF Prone) and relation to barrel jump/recoil and apparently the resultant good grouping. According to his oppinion a relatively tight hold in prone position reduces or supresses the barrel recoil and thus giving a tighter group and less chance of a far away shot. though ive tried this for myself in the recent times and literally got a few good results at times, but i am quite confused about the idea. On contrary i have been shooting from a relatively laid back/relaxed hold for more than 3 years and have achieved quite good(less) recoils during a shot,but during the reloading and preparation it moved like a mad elephant's head!But the scores were not bad anyway!
someone could throw some light on this matter as i have seen quite a few good shooters with very sturdy position with very less recoil and thoroughly perplexed!
Regards..................................................................Joydeep

Dear Joydeep,

First and foremost.. We are taught by the basics of shooting that we should not hold the rifle while releasing the shot as it may cause anticipating the recoil disease!
But tightening up your grip relatively as you said does give positive results. I have also got such inputs and tried this myself. The looser the hold, The bigger the group but lets say 1= loose and 10= tight on a scale of 10, I found out that beyond a certain point say at scale 7, The group starts getting wider again. This is when you might endup with a major mistake of a bad 9 and pick up the disease I just mentioned earlier.

So the margin is very delicate. I feel this changes from person to person as the position is different and so is the build of each shooter.

Have you tried to put some weights on the barrel at the fore end? This is another Input I got just like you that I could help to supress the recoil jump.

Overall I feel.. If you try to control the recoil too much.. we will endup messing the group. so the best thing to do is to have a tight hold of around 6-7 scale and allow the vertical movement of recoil.

Anyways this is just my opinion..

Regards,
Rajesh.

OK, there appear to be several different definitions of 'hold' in shooting. Ones I can think of at the moment are:
* the amount of 'wobble' in the rifle when you are in aim
* your position itself
* using and tensing muscles to hold the rifle in place

It may help avoid confusion and aid in correct advice being given if you specify what you mean by "hold". :-)

My opinion there is based on Hold= tense of muscles to hold the rifle.

Hi,
The amount of wobble when in aim is a resultant only and the overall postion could refer of skeletal/biomechanical support in relation to the rifle. but the point of discussion is strictly active muscle effect to the "HOLD" of the position. i am sorry if i was not clear about my querry.
hopefully now it will be clear to give some input to the subject .
thanks

This is just a thought from a Pistol shooter:

Could the smaller group, seemingly due to a tighter hold, actually be the result of better follow through? Is it possible that the follow through is the true group tightener and the tighter hold is merely affording better follow through for some shooters?

Take Care,
Ed Hall
http://www.airforceshooting.org/
http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/

hi Ed,
Though from a pistol shooter but a solid view on the topic.I definitely agree with you. a tighter hold is positively something to do with the preparation of a follow through(read -tighness in follow through),or recoil absorbtion? but the tightness ,whether all along the shooting process same? or is it a gradual increase with follow through being the climax?
well ,thanks again.........................................................Joy

To reduce the effect of recoil the most convenient it is to lower the center of gravity (it reduces the momentum). That is achieved: 1) putting weights above the axis barrel
2) putting the buttplate in a high position
3) choosing a stock that places the left hand near of the axis barrel
I don't agree with a strong muscular prone position. Of 1 at 10, I choose 3. I prefer bone support, and relaxed position.