Front Hand

[Misny]

I am a newbie with the air rifle. I noticed that most good shooters rest the forend of the rifle on their knuckles. I tried that and the rifle is too high. I also found it to be unsteady and uncomfortable. I rest the gun on my palm. Am I making a big mistake by not resting the forend on my knuckles?

[WarWagon]

There are a million ways to skin a cat, and about twice as many ways to hold an air rifle. If you're too high with a fist, work with whatever's comfortable and gives positive results.

[methosb]

Resting on your palm is fine. You can have your hand any way that you like as long as you make sure you are consistent and the position is not forced (ie. causing muscle tension that could make you throw shots). Shooting off the palm is actually quite common (especially in smallbore standing where the limits for the palm rest are a lot more relaxed so it is easier to get the rifle high enough off the palm) even though off the fist is more common in air rifle.

[Soupy44]

I just switched to shooting with a palm rather than a fist myself and I'd been using a fist since I began shooting. I REALLY like it so far. I switched because my standing had not really improved in 3 years and something needed to change, so this might just be mental for me. Just make sure you are supporting the rifle with the meaty parts of you hand (palm or the area between your thumb and pointer finger), not with your fingers.

On a side note, I found it interesting that a lot of coaches are encouraging the you use the palm rather than a fist now, but in the Olympics, almost 3/4 of the shooters in the finals were using a fist.

[Misny]

I just switched to shooting with a palm rather than a fist myself and I'd been using a fist since I began shooting. I REALLY like it so far. I switched because my standing had not really improved in 3 years and something needed to change, so this might just be mental for me. Just make sure you are supporting the rifle with the meaty parts of you hand (palm or the area between your thumb and pointer finger), not with your fingers.

On a side note, I found it interesting that a lot of coaches are encouraging the you use the palm rather than a fist now, but in the Olympics, almost 3/4 of the shooters in the finals were using a fist.

Thanks for the tip. I am currently only having the middle finger contacting the stock with the palm supporting the gun. The other fingers are relaxed alongside. I'm relieved to know that this is not going to hold me back and that many good shooters are using it.

[BJ]

I've tried all sorts of hand variations and the open palm has worked best for me. Personally there was almost immediate improvement in my scores when I switched from using a fist. I use the open palm for both smallbore and air rifle.

Note that it is ok for you fingers to touch the stock just make sure that you aren't really gripping the rifle. If you feel the need to grip the stock just do it the same every time. I shoot with my fingers resting against the side of the stock and it works just fine.

Brian

[gomire]

To the contrary I just switched back to the fist position - my reason is personal, because Yes the palm is stable and feels so BUT during a match if your center of gravity is not right you will feel the pain from pressure on the rist.
That was just an observation after 80 shots straight.
gomire.