TargetTalk

I have been having trouble with air rifle getting a steady hold on the target. Saturday I shot a match at home and I did something different with my position. I stood straighter instead of leaning back so much. I instantly noticed a large difference in my steadiness and was able to get centered on target a lot better. But throughout the match my right arm and shoulder just seemed to not be a proper position. I couldn't seem to relax it at all and I think that was affecting my shots a lot and I noticed not being able to keep it steady as easily. My shoulder and arm were getting tired as they felt like they were being strained in this position. I'm not sure what it is that I should be changing in how I'm holding the gun or maybe I should be adjusting my buttplate?

If someone could give some tips of a few different things I can change that might possibly help that would be great.

I shoot with my gun at an angle if that helps you anything.

thanks.

Hi T,

It sounds like you may need to bring your stock length in a bit to reduce the distance between your shoulder and the grip. OR...you may need to slightly increase your grip tension to provide the anchor your shoulder and arm may need to relax - although there is a limit to how much you should
HAVE to exert in your trigger hand.

1) Make sure your jacket straps are loose behind your right shoulder.

2) Shoulder width: If you jacket doesn't have a custom fit and the back panel is slightly too small, it may not allow you bring the arm around the buttplate and easily allow you to reach the grip.

3) Is the material in the pocket of your shoulder bunching up to force your arm to 'deal' with internal pressure in your shoulder pocket? If so, make sure your buttplate is seeded well inside the crease(s) of your shoulder material and not sitting on the outside folds. This will anchor the rifle more securely, provide more consistency, and allow you to work from that consistent platform.

Also, I posted a detailed offhand position-building description under the recent post 'forward/backward' swaying. Some stuff there might help as well.

If you could send pictures, it might be easier to see what is happening. Hard to say. Hope this helps. Good luck. B

A junior at our club had a similar problem with his position, it turned out he had grown a little and his jacket was to tight preventing his right shoulder from relaxing. Also usually for a good guideline to start from have someone take a picture of you from behind you on the firing line so you can make sure that the center point of your rifle is between your toe and your heal. Another good pointer is make sure that when you are picking up your rifle and relaxing it to your position that your cheek isn't on the cheek piece until you are ready to drop your head to the stock. Many shooters will often pick the gun up off of the stand, place their cheek on the stock before letting the gun settle and as a result they have tense shoulders and neck muscles along with a destroyed natural point of aim. Also check to see if you are shooting across or out of your position. Its more relaxed to shoot out of your position and with your elbow to far under the gun (shooting across) this can cause tension to. But no matter what always go back to the basics to help find the root of many issues.

thank you for the suggestions.

I copied and saved that post about swaying. Also watched whole men's 3P and air rifle finals last night to see how other shooters hold their guns.

I've got friday and monday off from school so this weekend i will shoot 2 or 3 matches and try different things.