Shooting stances.

I guess I'll give a go at the rifle positions.

As far as traditional shooting positions go there's prone, sitting, kneeling, and offhand(standing). Prone is obviously the most stable, offhand the least. Sitting is considered more stable than kneeling but they're pretty close as far as that goes.

Here's a website I found showing images of the different positions.
http://www.hunter-ed.com/sc/course/ch3_shooting_positions.htm

The only position on that site that doesn't look good is the offhand/standing. The most stable position is with your forward leg straight, upper body leaned back, and your support hand resting on your side/hip. Women have this easier because they can actually get their support hand elbow resting on their hip bone. Heres an example of what I mean:


There's a lot of different variables that are going to change how effective a position is. Resting the rifle on a solid object is going to improve any position(bipods, benchrest, rocks, trees, mounds of dirt, etc). Otherwise, using a sling will make a big difference. For a sling, you want it tight, as tight as you can get it without it pulling you out of position.

For the actual shot the old BRASS acronym works well, breath, relax, aim, squeeze, shoot. I do that, but not exactly in that order. You want your shooting position to naturally put you on target. You can test this by getting into position closing your eyes and relaxing. Open your eyes and see where you're aiming, adjust your position from there to get that natural point of aim on target. You'll be more stable because you wont' be using your muscles to get on target. So right from the start I'm aiming, once on target I start concentrating on my breathing/relaxing. You really do want to be relaxed, no tense muscles anywhere. Breath slowly and concentrate on your sights being on target at your exhale point. When you're comfortable with your position, hold your breath once exhaled(more stable with your lungs empty than full), concentrate on the sights on target, then slowly squeeze the trigger so that the shot should almost come as a suprise(no jerking the trigger).

brucelee said:

Always remember, two thumbs forward.

Janq posted a really cool video of some shooting instructor showing you the basics of shooting.

Click to expand...

"Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask"
Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:45 am
http://www.gunatics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=334

How to: Gun sights
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-422618464492383649

There are others at the link I provided featuring how to shoot specific and varying firearm formats including pistols, rifles and pump action longguns (rifle & shotgun).

Additionally I posted the following earlier too...

"OT Gun Nuts: Todd Jarrett IPSC Pistol Grip Lesson...or IBSubEd"
Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:50 am
http://www.gunatics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=318

Click here for instructional video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4584332856867071363

- Janq

For shotgunning skeet,trap and sporting clays a natural feeling,semi perpendicular left foot forward {for a right handed shooter) stance with your weight on left foot and you upper body leaning forward and staying loose works best. It allows you to swing the gun smoothly and freely and with your weight forward it allows your body to roll with the recoil of the gunand stay on target. Try 10 shots this way and the 10 shots with your weight back and a tight body and you'll notice a big diffeence. Most likely in the size of the black and blue welt on your shoulder.

For rifle I use prone with bipods with the exception of high power rifles with muzzle breaks. You need more ground clearence for a muzzle break so I use a sitting position. Muzzle breaks require their own shooting style as they need to be farther off the ground or bench, from a bench you must have the break sticking out past the end of the bench. I learned this the hard way.

Shooting with a bipod and bench I only touch the gun with my shoulder and trigger hand so there's no stress on the gun. I was playing with my 7mm stw custom loads 1 day and didnt have the break past the edge of the bench. I have the bipod set at 10", when I pulled the trigger the gun completely flipped over my shoulder and landed behind me shattering the scope. The recoil is almost nil that was all from the muzzle blast.