Off hand hold and rifle cant

[JSBmatch]

Hi, looking at many ISSF videos of 10-m air rifle shooting over recent years, shooters, both men and women are now tending to favour a more up right position with almost no rifle 'cant' rather than the older back bend and twist stance with cant. Any thoughts

JSB

[TenMetrePeter]

Better sight raisers and stock adjustments?

[Pat McCoy]

The old back bend, and twist position caused lots of back problems. Newer positions are more upright, with a horizontal shift in the upper body away from the target (to get the rifle weight more over the hips). The current stock adjustments help achieve this.

At short ranges the cant is not bad IF it is consistent.

[JSBmatch]

Yes agree, stocks now are so much more adjustable you can reduce the back bend and twist quite a lot, I have had to adopt a more upright stance with the rifle and only a couple of degrees cant because of lower back pain. I have just increased my raiser block heights from 12-mm to 20-mm and it really is more comfortable all round and my forward hip is pushed out more towards the target to get good gun balance. Its taking a bit of time to adapt to this new position but so far my scores have nor suffered.

[TenMetrePeter]

There's still some need for a little back bend and maybe hip thrust to get the centre of gravity above the front leg. I am still skinny enough to lock elbow onto hip (no coat).

[patriot]

I no longer use twist, seem to shoot better with weight over my feet, but I still push the hips forward enough to balance the rifle weight. Its not only stock adjustments, do the same shooting silhouette.

[WesternGrizzly]

An upright position is most often more stable. Standing straight up is more relaxed than standing in oddly contorted positions, and relaxation nearly always means more stable. As mentioned above, the older positions caused major back problems, and with current skill levels on the international level people are training harder and more often than ever before. If shooters used the older positions with the current training volumes they would have to retire in just one or two years.
As for cant, it has a lot to do with how the rifle is fitted, but also facial structure and shoulder position. Cant is fine as long as it is consistent. The same goes for holding the rifle straight up and down.
Matt

[gwsb]

The current coat and pants used in AR and 3P are so much stiffer than the old eqpt it is possible to stand upright more and causes less back issues.

[JSBmatch]

I think the ISSF has shown concern over juniors shooting with to much back bend and twist, but I have no details, I'm finding the up right position much more relaxing and less painful as westernGrizzly commented on. Cant or no cant can be kept consistent with cant bars in the foresight tunnel.