TargetTalk

I am volunteer coaching an air rifle shooter. We spent a bunch of time working on rifle adjustments and position, everything feels good to him. He looks sorta like the images for the "average" shooter in the "ways of the rifle" book, except the arm of the trigger hand is lower against the chest.

except he has a lot of 3:00 and a few 9:00 shots on target and he calls them there. his group size seems to be an 8 wide and a 10 high.

he is fairly tall, just over 6'. He has a front to back wobble in his full body, moreso than a torquing of his torso at the waist. He sees it in the sights, I see it when I stand behind him.

he has shooting coat & pants but does NOT yet have shooting boots so he's shooting barefoot.

other than service rifle and pistol, my standing experience is limited, Tubb describes an "approach" method in his book, do ISSF shooters in standing do something like that? (shoot at that same point in the figure-8 wobble area as the sight approaches the bull)

Are shooting boots an absolute MUST for that kind of stability or are they more of a safety item only?

He is in his mid-20's and has been shooting off and on for >10 years, since he was a junior, and is just coming off of a 2 year layoff (during which he finished grad school, got a job, got married and gained 20lbs)

Any suggestions?



Poole

Bill
Shooting boots are not absolutely essential, but bare foot is not good, use some high sided flat soled trainers as the ankles do need support.
Wobble could well be down to how far apart the feet are in relation to height.
A rough rule of thumb is shoulder width apart and then add on a couple of inches for good measure.
It has often been said that feet too far apart will induce 'sway' front to back. and feet too close together can induce left to right sway.
Experiment with this.
Also getting the zero point established will help reduce wobble.

The back bend and twist position should be checked to see that there are no 'extremes' in the position.

Canting the rifle over towards the eye so the head can be kept as up right as possible will also help the balance and hopefully reduce sway.

Peeps

In my shooters somethimes this is caused by not having the hips aligned to the target ..... hips are twisted ... I like my shooters to have the hips level and pointed towards the target.

That said, I've seen lots of great shooters with non-level hips, but they are still towards the target

Mr Poole Are you familar with ballance boards as depicted in "Way Of The Rifle " Some shooters really make major advances by training with them and it might help resolve your shooters problem. Good Shooting Bill Horton

yes, I see the balance boards on page 103, we have discussed that and plan to build some soon.

thanks

Poole

I have not shot with boots,however, one of my friends says that boots eliminate the wobble. I can't remember if they hep with left-right or forward and backward movement.

When Front-Back or Left- Right wobbling directions are mentioned. Do you mean front-back/left-right in relation to the line of fire or in relation to the shooter's natural direction?

Thanks.

I will bet a dollar to a donut that he is rotating his hips. That will cause the left to right movement. Without seeing a picture taken from directly behind I can't be absolutely certain but I will make the bet anyway. That is a typical mistake causd by lack of flexibility or laziness.
Get the legs and hips in a plane (usually with the hip line pointed at the target) imagine a line drawn through the ankles, knees, and hips and that they are all three parallel. Then rotate the upperbody separately from the lower half. This should yield a better position and hold. There will always be a little left and right but not that much.

Further to my comments above. If the shooter has sway it is caused by an imbalance and the shooter is not controlling the movement. The main origin of movement comes from the ankles in the standing position. not the waist. Anything you can do to strengthen the ankles and calf muscles will improve balance control. If the shooters position is that far out of balance they may have the gun too far from the center line of the support area. Fix that and you fix a lot.