TargetTalk

HI everyone,

I've just been fortunate to buy my first smallbore target rifle, it's an anschutz 1813 Olympic 84. I'm currently shooting in the county league, and have reached some consistency (96 avg), however, I'm not 100% comfortable and need some advice about setting the rifle up.

In particular i need some advise on setting the rear butt plate/hook & cheekplate, but any more general advise would be gratefully accepted.

best regards & thanks in advance

James

To give proper advice it would help to know the current unsatisfactory rifle set up, and perhaps your build height etc.

Generally most shooters (presuming that you are right handed) have the butt plate off set to the right of the barrel line. This lets the buttplate sit over the collar bone, while placing the stock nearer the head and eye. How much this is offset can depend upon your build and the angle of your body to the rifle. Too far out and your face will feel squashed, and the butt may creep outwards during shooting.

The butt plate should be raised so that it makes full contact with collar bone, and that the hook (if used) sits comfortably around the upper chest/armpit. If the buttplate is raised too high, with the hook it can force the shoulder up and unbalance the position.

As for angling the plate, the hook normally needs to be a little further out than the top of the plate. how much depends on your dimensions.

Once the butt is correctly set, turn to the cheekpiece. Your head should rest lightly on this, with the wood snug against the cheekbone. You should be able to see throught the rear aperture like this. It is very difficult to maintain a consistent head position if the cheekpiece is too low. Conversly if it is too high you may apply pressure on the shoulder, in straining to aim.

Shooting without the rearsight is one method of determining whether the cheekpiece is in the correct position. Another, can just be to place your head on the stock with the eyes closed; don't open them until your head is comfy, if you have to move your head to see through the aperture, the cheekpiece setting isn't right.

Hope this helps

Tim Slater

Exeter UK

tim,

thanks for your reply, i'm 6'1" and weigh approx 16 stone, big build!

as far as the rifle goes, the person that had it before me was much smaller in build than myself, so i've had to increase the angle of the hook itself via the allen key bolt at the base of the hook. I've also set the height of the butt plate back to the 'standard/middle' setting. I haven't changed the 'offset' (lateral) of the butt plate itself, as it's still about 3/4" off of the central barrel line.

In terms of comfort, i think my head position differs quite a lot, so perhaps i'll try taking the rear sight off and shooting, plus the 'eye's closed method.

Ill try to take some pics of myself in position, in particular the way the rifle sits in my shoulder, head position and butt plate/hook and post them here?. perhaps you can take a look at them for me and let me know what you think.

cheers

James

Gloucestershire,UK

One thing that may make a difference is lateral adjustment of the cheekpiece. You can see a lot of 1813 shooters who have taken a rasp to their cheekpiece to get a good fit. I found that swapping this for a piece of 2" x 1" softwood, helped. It was easier to shape and if I messed it up, I could cut off another piece and start again.

If you try shooting without the rearsight; 1) your groups will be bigger, without the rearsight you lose much of the contrast of the foresight. 2) Point of Impact should indicate the direction that your cheekpiece is out by. Low groups indicate a low cheekpiece, etc.

Where about in Gloucester are you? We have two lads here at Exeter Uni who are gloucester boys, would be good if they found a club for the holidays.

Tim has made an excelent explanation about the set up of the rifle but, in my humble opinion, he has forget to speak about the hand stop position and the sling length.
Best regards
Juan Carlos
Spain

Juan carlos, yes it is essential to have the sling and handstop correctly adjusted. I didn't mention this as Jim specifically asked for tips on setting the butt-plate and cheekpiece.

Setting the handstop and sling are one of the first tasks for the prone shooter. It is usually easier to tell if the sling is too long or too short, than setting the butt properly. For those shooters who start their career with a standard or prone stock, the fully adjustable free rifle butt can appear daunting. Without someone to explain all the adjustments, and to fit these to an individual, it is easy to adopt a compromised position. It took me some while to correctly adjust my 1813 stock, and I did not have a "good" position until I finally decided that the factory cheekpiece would never fit my face, and set about shaping one that would.

I have found that off-setting the butt can require small changes to the handstop and sling. By increasing the offset, you are slightly increasing the distance between butt and handstop. You may find that you need to bring the handstop in a fraction to compensate.

I think handstop fit, i.e lateral adjustment might do for another day!

hope this all helps

Tim Slater

Exeter UK

Tim & carlos

thanks for your advice, i'm off to the club tonight , will try your suggestions.

Tim -> I live in Tetbury, Gloucestershire and shoot at Tetbury Rifle & Pistol Club, we have a 20 Metre 4 position range there. We welcome visitors so get your mates to give me a shout

regards

James

james@urbanjungle.org

Make sure the force of the head on the cheeckpiece acts perfectly vertical downwards. Any horizontal force (caused by canting the head to the rifle or the cheeckpiece too close or to far off to the cheeck) will result in horizontal forces during aiming and during the shot. During aiming, the rifle constantly wants to cant outward or inward (depending on the position of the checkpiece) This is unconsiously compensated by muscleforce of the left hand - resulting in a diagonal swaying motion.
At the moment of the shot the rifle is forced sideways and will move in an arc and end up pointing to a spot slightly besides the center of the target; instead of making a perfect up/down motion.

Does anyone know of a "rule of thumb" sequense for adjusting the various parts of the rifle to the shooter? I have made one myself but I am very interested in knowing if there are better ones.
Any advice greatly apreciated.

Albert
(The Netherlands)