TargetTalk

NO I DON'T HAVE A COACH.

I am very confuse on where is the correct place to locate the buttplate?
I have seen videos, lots of photos, read books (including Ways of the Rifle), and I still don't get the point clear, or is it just personal preference.

I had always put my buttplate on my shoulder, but after reading Ways of the Rifle, they suggest to put it on your "upper arm".

What I think is that taking a smallbore rifle as a reference, the "hook shaped" part of the buttplate comes around your arm pit.

On Ways of the Rifle I see some pictures (pg 118), and from what I understand it looks like you put the buttplate on the upper part of the biceps.

I tried something like that, and yes the position felt compact, but I'm not sure if that is how we are suppose to use it.

Appreciate any help.

Have one session with a coach to address this problem. It will be much much better than trying to understand text answers from any of us, when you've already read books and studied photos, videos and diagrams.
As an example of how bad text communication of this sort of thing is, I read your post and was going to reply "put it in the spot on your collar bone where there's no movement when you move your arm round and round". Then I wondered what on earth you were talking about biceps for. Then I realised - you're talking about standing, I'm talking about prone. This misunderstanding is a mild one, from my experience of trying to get good technical advice about my position.

My advice is to have one single session with a coach. Not only will that remove the possible ambiguousness of text, but the coach will also be able to twiddle your buttplate for you, and describe things much better face-to-face. Because face-to-face they can refer to subtley different places on your shoulder/arm that we just can't to via text because a) we can't see your shoulder/arm and b ) we can't point at it either.

Good luck.

as frusterating as it is, the answer is personal preference.

for me personallly, i don't use the hook in prone. i flip my buttplate upside down (so it resembles more of an air rifle buttplate) and fit right on my collar bone. i do this because 1. gun behind more of my body mass which helps with recoil, and 2. because i've never been able to get the hook into a comfortable position. it was always poking me in some spot. i know a couple of coaches that don't particulairly care for what i do because it isn't conventional, but it's something that works very well for me.

standing i have the buttplate right into my shoulder as close as it can be with the hook still under my arm. again, you're going to want to play with this to find something comfortable yet stable. in air, because of the rules about canting the buttplate, i put that buttplate out on my bicep more so i can get the gun to come across my body.

kneeling i don't think i can accurately describe. i have a ton of cant in kneeling so i have the top part of the buttplate just on the inside of my shoulder (but not as far in as prone), but my hook still fits well in my arm pit.

my best advice is find a good position (where you get the right stock length etc) and have a friend or parent stand there and tighten screws for you. shoot a bit, and if it doesn't feel right have them come over again and move that piece. you're going to have to play with your buttplate a bit to get used to how it moves, and you're going to want someone else to tighten the screws so that you don't have to get out of position every two seconds. i didn't have a coach at my junior club, so i know how hard it can be to track one down. do what feels right to you and work from there.

Thanks for your replies.

I forgot to mention, I practice standing air rifle.

Guest: I don't have a coach, and there are not any around, that's why I'm always asking for advice in this forum.

I know a coach would make my life a lot easier, but I don't have one so I'm learning "the hard way", but I'm enjoying it.

Keep posting.

BOOKER wrote:Thanks for your replies.

I forgot to mention, I practice standing air rifle.

Guest: I don't have a coach, and there are not any around, that's why I'm always asking for advice in this forum.

I know a coach would make my life a lot easier, but I don't have one so I'm learning "the hard way", but I'm enjoying it.

Keep posting.

You may not have a coach but you should be able to find a shooting course that you can attend to find that out, and perhaps put you in contact with a coach.

I don't even think you mentioned which country you are in - if you give us some more info I'm sure someone will be able to help with regards the above. Between all the posters here we have pretty much every country covered.

Rob.

BOOKER wrote:Guest: I don't have a coach, and there are not any around, that's why I'm always asking for advice in this forum.

I know a coach would make my life a lot easier, but I don't have one so I'm learning "the hard way", but I'm enjoying it.

(I'm the same Guest back again.)
I'm in exactly the same boat as you. But you have clearly spent a long time trying to learn the hard way where the buttplate goes and obviously aren't happy with the vague answers you've found. Perhaps now is the time to have a quality session with a coach. Only one is needed combine it with a couple of days holiday away or something.

Alternatively, go to a match where there will be coaches. Grab a friendly one and ask them to cast an expert eye over you for a few shots while you're shooting. Then afterwards ask for feedback and pick their brains.


When I set my positions up, I do pretty much what seemehaha describes, only without extra people being able to help. I just loosen all screws, put the rifle where I think I want it to be, then very carefully remove from position and tighten screws up. Then I try it and keep changing things here and there until I'm happy. Then cornered a nice friendly coach at a match and discussed my position. I still wasn't happy so I talked him into giving me some individual help for half an hour out of everyone's way. Then I thanked him profusely and bought him a couple of drinks. Everyone's happy. :-D

I think that I didn't explain myself.
It is not that I don't KNOW where to put the buttplate, I'm just asking where is the best place to locate it, since I see some shooters using it on their shoulders and other in there arms.
Oh and for those who asked from which country I am, Panama.
We don't have coaches, we don't have shooting courses, air rifle shooting is NEW around here.
When I post in this forum looking for advice is because I don't have anywhere else to go or anybody to ask.
That is why I always say I am learning the "hard way", I'm not as lucky as some of you who have, shooting coaches, shooting courses, shooting associations.

Thanks for those who can understand that.

this is going to be frusterating (take a deep breathe)...there really is no right and wrong way. like i said before i shoot air rifle with my buttplate on my bicep. it can be bad because you can pick up a pulse and slight flexing that you may be doing sub consciously. however, i have found out for myself that when i put it further into my shoulder i tend to clench there and twist my hips to keep on target. try it both ways (more than just once too) and see what you like and feels good. just make sure you have a reason for the way you're doing it and not just "well i saw this on guy..."

seemehaha
You got the point, I just wanted to hear different opinions, and from personal experience what works better and why from different shooters.

But you got this wrong "well i saw this on guy...", what I do is when I read somewhere on different positions I look up and see different videos and photos and I go like "oh this guy/girl is doing like these or that with his/her position, just like what I had just read". It is not like I'm trying to copy someone else position.

I understand that everybody needs to build their own position with their personnal adjustments.

Thanks for understanding.

BOOKER wrote:But you got this wrong "well i saw this on guy...", what I do is when I read somewhere on different positions I look up and see different videos and photos and I go like "oh this guy/girl is doing like these or that with his/her position, just like what I had just read". It is not like I'm trying to copy someone else position.

no i got you. my roommate practically taught himself how to shoot and he did it through a lot of reading and watching issf tv. even now he'll spend a few hours just watching videos on his computer. my point wasn't that you were doing that as much as make sure you're not. which it sounds like you're not so kudos to you!

seemehaha
Whatever you say is ok, I'm not going to be arguing on that, that is not the idea on posting in here.

I just came here for some advice, but with or without the coach I still enjoy shooting.

Best Regards