Persistent Wrist Pain From Prone

[Dave IRL]

Shot my last session of prone on sunday and the wrist is still a little tender from it. I'll try get photos to help illustrate how I hold the rifle, but the pain is only coming from the inside of the wrist where the sling comes across it. While the sling is reasonably tight, I find shooting with it any looser, the position tends to slide down and loosen along with it, and it's certainly neither as stable nor as comfortable. The wrist is good and straight through the heel of my hand and the rifle is sitting neither over the thumb nor over the palm where it would bend the hand backwards. It sits on the meat of the thumb joint and is stable. While I accept that there's going to be some discomfort from prone, several days later seems a little much. Any obvious suggestions? I'm using a Precise stock, having had an older 1813 stock beforehand.

[bugman551]

Did you have the same problem with the 1813?

[Dave IRL]

It's hard to say. I'm paying a lot more attention to things like this now in an effort to iron out any problems and get as comfortable as possible in order to prevent long-term issues, which I wasn't really doing when I owned the 1813 stock (which also had a lighter 1807 barrel in it than my current 1913) and it's been some time since I shot it, so if I did have it, I don't know how bad it was. Trying to eliminate it now, however.

[BartP]

Dave, Does your sling, coming across the back of you hand/wrist, ride over your jacket cuff?

[Dave IRL]

I try to get it so that it comes above it, but it does sit over it slightly. However I arrange the jacket so that it isn't bunching or creasing under it, and the pain is of a more strained nature, almost like a week-old moderate sprain, rather than the sharp surface pain of the jacket bunching.

[BartP]

Hi Dave.

The nerves that affect your hand come in over the top of the wrist in a bundle and spread out to the rest of the hand. IF your cuff is positioned anywhere under the sling from the middle of the wrist to the first inch of your hand, you are pressing against that bundle. Try pulling the material down and out from under the sling. Yes, you will lose a bit of your perceived protection, but the benefits will far outweigh. I think you'll find some significant relief.

If you were set in position long enough with a bad positioning on that nerve bundle, you may have done slight nerve damage and it will rear it's ugly head for a period of time. It will feel just like a sprain - but without the swelling.

Try getting into position, let the sling come across the back of your hand, and if there is any material at all under the sling at that point pull it down and away.

Hope this helps. Bart

[Dave IRL]

Spent about two or three hours last night with a mirror and a camera trying to sort this out and I think I've got something done now. Increased the butt length about two millimetres and played with the sling to position it very slightly differently, so now it's not squeezing my hand between the sling and handstop so badly. Hopefully will show up well in live fire, however it's had an effect on the position, so will be curious to see how that works out. May get a chance to train on saturday before a match on sunday, but a couple of hours isn't really a great omen for a new position, which feels quite different to what I'm used to.

[KennyB]

....so now it's not squeezing my hand between the sling and handstop so badly....

What handstop are you using out of interest?

K.

[Dave IRL]

Older Anschutz one, round knurled type. It was great on the old stock, but whatever way the geometry of the position has been, the hand has felt like it was getting squeezed between the handstop and sling, and where the sling was contacting is sore. The symptoms are exactly as BartP describes though, so hopefully I'll be able to get used to the different way I worked out last night. I've tended to concentrate the weight and tension on my support arm since I started shooting, while this shares the weight more. This is, however, quite disconcerting and gives the impression of drifting across me, but I'll see how it holds up to live fire on saturday, and competition on the sunday. Out of curiosity, how do others scoring bigger scores orient their position? Before I dropped the elbow of my trigger hand near vertically and got good, solid contact with the mat, but with all the weight of the rifle sitting heavily on my support arm. The position I worked out last night, however, is broader, slightly flatter, but with the grip hand elbow further out, less secure contact, less pressure on the support hand and arm and little if any cant, while I had a small bit before.

[scott75]

Hi Dave

I was having similar problems with pain in my palm and wrist. After talking to a few people I played around with a few different handstops and also the butt and handstop positions. I also changed from a wooden stock to a new precise stock and found that while I was shooting better scores I was getting fatigue in position quicker. I now have the problem sorted out by adjusting (fine) the butt and as I said the handstop positions.

I have also learned what I feel in a very important lesson (to me atleast) If I feel like I need to have a rest while in position do it there and then, and not try to get a few more shots off!!! I found that waiting for a few more were not producing 10's but more like tried 9's!!! not good enough! Rest, relax and then shoot 10's.

I sometimes also break my position and get up if I feel the need. I am comfortable with my position and can slot straight back to my natural POA, relaxed, refreshed and ready to go again!

Happy shooting

Cheers Scott

[Guest_66]

Try to move the handstop forward one inch, and loose the sling one notch. Any difference?

[KennyB]

Older Anschutz one, round knurled type. It was great on the old stock, but whatever way the geometry of the position has been, the hand has felt like it was getting squeezed between the handstop and sling, and where the sling was contacting is sore.

Ah, and what stock were you using before? (I see you have a Precise now.)

[Dave IRL]

Older Anschutz one, round knurled type. It was great on the old stock, but whatever way the geometry of the position has been, the hand has felt like it was getting squeezed between the handstop and sling, and where the sling was contacting is sore.

Ah, and what stock were you using before? (I see you have a Precise now.)

It was an older 1813 with an 1807 barrel. Using a 1913 barrel now, so a bit more weight up front, but balance is just as handy too.

[topclass52]

thanks to all who have provided advice on this subject. I, too, have experienced wrist pain, and am still (partially) suffering sprained wrist symptoms as described. I played around with stock length, sling position, and tension, and feel I have begun to (hopefully) resolve the problem.

I shoot a 1917 in 4-Position, but developed the pain shooting an M1 Garand in a prone "Old Soldiers" match. Maybe there is a message in there...

[topclass52]

thanks to all who have provided advice on this subject. I, too, have experienced wrist pain, and am still (partially) suffering sprained wrist symptoms as described. I played around with stock length, sling position, and tension, and feel I have begun to (hopefully) resolve the problem.

I shoot a 1917 in 4-Position, but developed the pain shooting an M1 Garand in a prone "Old Soldiers" match. Maybe there is a message in there...

[Dave IRL]

Just a quick update on this. Burying the rifle deeper into the thumb web has staightened the wrist and is resulting in better weight displacement and less pain and discomfort. The match today started well with a couple of 98s, but all went downhill after I broke position and couldn't get back into it afterwards. Oh well, more training required. The initial and immediate problem seems to be sorted though.