TargetTalk

Hey all~

My supporting hand hurts a lot after some practice in standing position. I'm using a clenched fist type of hold, except I don't close my fist and just let the rifle rest on my knuckles while my fingers are relatively straight.

I was wondering if this was normal for beginners or I'm doing something wrong. I've just started going to the range on weekends last 2 weeks. so, 4 days times 60 shots. It's not a lot but my hand still hurts =/ just wanted to ask whether it's normal and will go away...

any advice appreciated! thanks~

A few questions - where is the pain - directly where the gun rests or elsewhere ? I assume you're using a glove, if so which one - if not then that'll be why it hurts. Why the clenched fist choice and why not fully closed ? The idea is to get bone to bone contacts and eliminate as much as possible the use of muscles to 'work' during shooting. So a closed fist should require less muscle work and should therefore be more stable.

On rereading your post, you should not still be experiencing pain hours or days after shooting, that's deffinately not good.

Rob.

wow~ thanks for the quick reply.

no gloves, no anything except for 5.5kg rifle @_@ I'm shooting at a city club where it is treated more as an "amusement" and my job schedule makes it hard to find a training program with coach. been self learning. btw, i live in taipei, taiwan. I feel lucky just having a range to go to. have no idea where i can get any equipment.

i'm not clenching my fist because a neighbor coach once saw me and gave me a little advice saying you don't need to tense your fist~ so basically, i feel like the rifle is bending my fingers past comfort... and yes, it hurts throughout the week. i'd say joints hurt. my knuckles are fine.

btw, the club rifle is a wood stock Feinwerkbau P700. alu one has a grove under the stock which totally destroyed my knuckles when i first tried it haha~

would it be correct to say your advice is to use clenched fist? I'll try it out this weekend.

By all means get a glove. A padded ski type glove will help put a lot.

Daisy

mapletune wrote:wow~ thanks for the quick reply.

would it be correct to say your advice is to use clenched fist? I'll try it out this weekend.

No worries, I tend to visit this site before starting work each morning.

I would certainly try a clenched fist but do so with a glove as well - any sort will be better than no glove. Your coach may be correct re not tensing your fist but you really need to lock the joints down so you're not stressing them or the supporting muscles.

Take a look at the following for some ideas of how some of the top rifle shooters support the rifle.

http://www.issf-sports.org/photoplayer.aspx

Rob.

if you're experiencing pain, stop. Nothing in shooting should be painful.

if the problem persists, get the hand looked at, but if it's fine off the gun, if it were me, i'd just be thinking about a different hand position.

where does it hurt on the hand? does it hurt on the contact points, ie the knuckles? or does it hurt down the back of the hand?

if it's just contact point pressure, a glove could very well relieve you of that pain. You don't need to run out and buy one to test this, any sort of glove should give you an indication if you're going in the right direction if this is the problem.

if it's hurting down the back of the hand, it could be because your not forming a fist, and the fingers are being pushed down further than the muscles and tendons would like. I wouldn't advocate a postion that is causing pain in tendons.

there are other hand positions, have you looked at shooting off your palm, on the wrist end, for instance?

I had the same problem until I got a glove. In the meantime, you can try other holds like the palm.

Once you get a glove, it will probably reduce or eliminate the need to clench the fist, the glove will provide the necessary support so you can relax the hand and provide just bone support.