buttplate pressure...how much is enough?

[coolcruiser]

recently I have become aware of my shoulder contact and buttplate pressure as not being consistant (problem number 1) and not being sure what to adjust as the best solution (problem mnumber 2). I shoot 4P and my sitting and kneeling positions became loose enough that it was costing me points. I realized that relaxing into position meant that shoulder contact was not firm. Tightening the sling helped a bit but also made the support hand uncomfortably cramped. Lengthening the stock (FWB2602) helped but there seems to be something missing in terms of firm shoulder contact....any thoughts?

[justadude]

You left out the part where you leave the sling alone, leave the pull length alone and move the handstop out on the forend, this has the effect of sliding the rifle back into the shoulder.

How much pressure? Heck of a good question. Not so little that someone can slide the butt around just by coming up and pushing on the rifle and not so much that it starts to push the natural shape of the shoulders in relation to the spine out of shape. Somewhere in the middle of that range is the right answer for YOU.

Good Luck.

'Dude

[Pat McCoy]

A rough rule of thumb to start with is: same amount of pressure on the shoulder as on the handstop.

Make small changes after trying that for a few hundered rounds.

[coolcruiser]

thanks gents...good comments. Early this season I moved my handstop a bit (~1/2") to the rear to raise my position. This seems to be the root of my problem. I may have to return to a lower position...I had raised to get a better eye position and look straight thru my shooting glasses rather than out the top of the lens.

[BM]

Use scatt, gives clear info whether contact is good. Use different setups and try to see some kind of consistency in this.
Focus on low l-values, this is all that matters.

[Dave IRL]

You left out the part where you leave the sling alone, leave the pull length alone and move the handstop out on the forend, this has the effect of sliding the rifle back into the shoulder.

How much pressure? Heck of a good question. Not so little that someone can slide the butt around just by coming up and pushing on the rifle and not so much that it starts to push the natural shape of the shoulders in relation to the spine out of shape. Somewhere in the middle of that range is the right answer for YOU.

Good Luck.

'Dude

This is interesting for me. Photos have shown me that my left shoulder (left-handed shooter) is fairly pushed back, and I do feel a decent bit of pressure there. I've been thinking of cutting down the back of my cheekpiece to let me shorten up the length a little but haven't settled yet, as I feel one side benefit is that it brings my face closer to the line of my shoulder. Since I have quite broad shoulders, this prevents me leaning over to the cheekpiece and disturbing my balance. I've also thought about lowering the position just a little. There's a photo below and I'm just curious as to what people think about the pressure visible in the shoulder/hand, the height, and whether shortening up the length of pull slightly, letting off the sling a notch or two and extending the handstop slightly might achieve those goals. It's a lot to introduce at once so I'd be keen to get feedback before I go ahead with anything. Current scores are typically 585-588 for what it's worth.

[BM]

Pressure is not changed by the height of the position. Try to move the hip more towards the target (less angled) and bring the left knee up towards target.

[Dave IRL]

That would increase the pressure as things stand, forcing the system out of balance and the rifle out of its current line. I'm thinking of lowering it slightly as an aside, but as is, the position is very high tension in the sling and high pressure in the shoulder, which causes discomfort relatively quickly. I may try play around with the ideas in isolation, but I think one thing is to cut down the back of the buttplate by an inch or so to give me more room to play around with the length of pull and flatten that shoulder forward a bit.

[coolcruiser]

That would increase the pressure as things stand, forcing the system out of balance and the rifle out of its current line. I'm thinking of lowering it slightly as an aside, but as is, the position is very high tension in the sling and high pressure in the shoulder, which causes discomfort relatively quickly. I may try play around with the ideas in isolation, but I think one thing is to cut down the back of the buttplate by an inch or so to give me more room to play around with the length of pull and flatten that shoulder forward a bit.

Your shoulder does looks fairly rearward. How about a basic check...>>>into comfortable prone postion with no rifle...have someone bring the rifle to you in position>>>adjust handstop to make solid contact with support hand>>>adjust buttplate to make solid contact with shoulder>>>adjust cheekpiece for good contact>>>install and adjust sling to provide support>>>fine tune adjustments.

[NikNak]

[/quote]

Doesn't your laptop get a little gritty with all the shell residue??