How many buttons on a shooting jacket?

[Jason Harris]

Hi everyone, I am quite recent to smallbore shooting and was wondering how many buttons to use on the shooting jacket.

As soon as I gopt my jacket I took some off and now only use four. This just made it a lot easier to get in and out of. I recently have seen someone shoot with only one and saw a post where someone suggested using only one.

I was hoping to get comments on the pros and cons of this. I figure the pro is that its easier to put on. Thats the only pro I see. There must be more cons. Is there any reason why not to use only one button?

Thanks,
Jason

[Guest]

In prone some shooters often only use the top few buttons. These will keep the jacket tight where it needs to be, across your shoulders. Leaving the lower buttons undone allows room for your legs and hips to move without squashing the jacket.

Some people keep them all done up. This is no better or worse, its just personal preference.

Tim S

Exeter UK

[Bill Poole]

you have to pass equipment check with all buttons buttoned, I shoot only prone so there are only TWO buttons on my coat

Poole
http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/

[AlaskaKate]

It is important to have all 5 buttons in standing. it is from the buttons that the jacket is able to provide the support needed.
here is a list of the position and the buttons that I use
Prone: top two
Standing: All 5 (and my scores drop if I forget to button one)
Kneeling: Top one

[Jason Harris]

Thanks for the replys. I am only shooting prone, if I can go from four to two I will give it a go and see if it feel right for me.

Thanks,
Jason

[Bart B.]

When I got my Kurt Thune prone only coat, I put on the top four of five buttons. Then I put a 25X scope on my rifle, put on the coat with the help of a home-made button hook, slung up and went into position. Sighting on a target, I noted the size of my wobble area. I repeated this process a few times with the top three, then top two and just the top button.

It took a while to do this, but after a few times in position with different numbers of buttons used, it was easy to tell how many buttons gave me the smallest wobble area on the target. I ended up using only the top three buttons. The best part was being able to hold a 30% smaller wobble area than my old NRA coat let me do. Kudos to Kurt Thune for making excellent gear.

This is the way I think folks should find out what works best for them. It depends on how your coat fits your body's shape when in position. Whatever produces the best scores (i.e., smallest wobble area) is probably best.

[riflenerd]

i use 2 in prone, all 5 in stand, 2 in kneel....1 in sitting.

i once heard of a guy in the army marksmanship unit that said he didn't button any buttons in prone or kneeling. he said his jacket fit him that well. i tried this and it didn't work for me...i don't recommend it, but the idea is out there for anyone to try.

[Sod-it]

A Prone shooter.
If you pay to have a jacket made to measure, it would normally be made and fitted fastened. Generally the jacket is made to give maximum support when fastened.
However if feel you don’t want that full support, or feel you need to keep button un-done, I would suggest the reason is more likely due to the jacket not fitting correctly for the position you are using it for.