TargetTalk

When ever i am in the prone position, my shoulder starts to hurt/get tired. I cant seem to relax my shoulder(when i do i am uncomfortable). After about 30 or maybe 40 shots my shoulder starts to hurt/get tired and starts to tremble affecting my "hold". Also the next day, my my triceps, back muscles(along the spine) and neck are actually SORE!!! I dont know if i am doing something complety wrong or if i shoould just experiment with a lot of different positions. If you have any tips please respond to this post.

Thanx a lot.

You know which muscles hurt - warm them up before shooting. all other sports warm-up, so should we.

Which shoulder hurts?

If it is your right shoulder (presuming that you are right handed!) then it may just be that the butt may be too long, or the sling too tight. Both of these can exert too much pressure there.

Is the butt plate a good fit, does it sit nicely over the collar bone?

I would suspect that the tiredness is the result of a strained and wrong body position. Ideally your whole body should be relaxed and comfortable, it is balance and correct tension that hods your psoition together not muscles.

If possible get a coach, or at least an experienced shooter to look over you while shooting.

It may help to rest between cards.


Tim S

Exeter UK

thnx for the advice! The shoulder that hurts is my left shoulder(im right handed). The only thing i dont understand is that i am using a block/rest, so technically i shouldnt really be using my shoulders. It is a club gun (anschutz, not sure which model, on the barrell it says "anschutz 19"), so my adjustment possiblities are limited. The cheek piece is not adjustable also. I also do have a coach(ex-israeli national team) and ive talked to him about it but he is not too sure abut what it is. He told me to not to completely relaxe my shoulder so that it is almost "locked" and also not put it as high up as you can. He said to put it inbetween.

Are you not using a sling? I had presumed that you were.

If you are resting the rifle on a block, and not using a sling, maybe the block is too high.

If your shoulders are too high this will put strain on them, hence the hurting. A relaxed position should give consistently better results.

Strange that the rifle doesn't have an adjustable cheekpiece. Every 19 series Anschutz I've seen has one, and all 18s come to think of it. If the cheekpiece is too low it can be easily rasied with old targets and sticky tape!

Tim S

Exeter UK

I am not using a sling. For what ever reason, my club does not provide them. If we want them, we woould have to go out and buy them. I am fairly high up (about 6 to 8 inches off the ground) and we tried going lower, but my coach(and I) noticed that when i was lower i was more stable, but i could just NOT get comfy. The rifle only says 19 on the barrel so it might be a different action/barrel than the stock. The stock might be a special benchrest model because the stock is straight all across(under barrel). anyways thanx for the advice.

By straight do you mean parallel to the barrel, or that the underside is flat? Benchrest stocks do have flat fore-ends, but they are much wide than normal target stocks. Anschutz make (and always have made) several models with parallel fore-ends; for prone shooting having your supporting hand as cl;ose to the barrel (i.e. having a shallow fore-end) is considered an advantage.

If you intend to compete in prone matches I would advise acquiring a sling as resting the rifle is rarely allowed. With the sling properly adjusted your left arm and rifle, and your shoulders, sling and the rifle form a pair of triangles that support each other. Your shoulders are not tense as they are not bearing any weight with a balanced position.

Tim S

Exeter UK

by straight i mean parrellel to the barrel. Eventually i do intend to enter competions. In our club, the competitions we do are for "sporter" rifle where no sling or block is allowed(I think this type of competition is more common in Canada). You basically have to use mostly muscles. I dont think this is very good though because the whole point is to not use your muscles. By the way you are shooting at a 20 yd. distance.

Ah I see. Yes using a heavy Anschutz target rifle without a sling or a block that's a bit high probably would cause some strain. You shoulders and arms are supporting the rifle, AND your upper body. Target rifles such as Anschutz really are meant to be used with a supporting sling and a heavy shooting jacket, where all that weight means stability. You might consider a lighter sporter rifle.

Tim S

Exeter UK