TargetTalk

I am curious to know how often the top prone shooters change their jackets. Do they all get a new one every season or keep them longer than that (like a favourite pair of old slippers!)?

Nick wrote:I am curious to know how often the top prone shooters change their jackets. Do they all get a new one every season or keep them longer than that (like a favourite pair of old slippers!)?

Jackets do wear out, but I'd be suprised if they needed replacing as frequently as you mention, gloves maybe, but jackets unlikely. You also want to get familiar with your kit and that takes time, replacing it too often will slow that down. I will however see what our elite shooters have to say.

Rob.

Thanks Rob

I have had my current jacket (a Truttman) for about 7 years. Although it has had a pretty hard life because I have been doing all of my shooting outdoors (e.g. rain, wind, sun...), it is still in good condition (I have only had to replace one elbow pad). I am now getting back into smallbore shooting after a long break and although I have no intention of replacing my jacket I am curious to know what the top shooters do.

I guess the question is whether, if money is no object (and I guess some shooters are sponsored and get free kit so money may not be relevant), would it be beneficial to replace a jacket reasonably often, or is it better to stick with the slightly worn and less supportive one you know and love. What do the world cup shooters do?

I would suggest that prone is perhaps the least demanding of a jacket. A lot of the elite guys shoot air and 3p as well, and for that the stiffness is more important to help stabilise the upper body. They 'may' want a jacket as close as possible to the rulebook which is more likely to be a new one, than an old (especially leather) one.

Rob.

Nick wrote:What do the world cup shooters do?

Remember that most of the World Cup shooters will be shooting more than one event but are only allowed to use one jacket for all events at a meeting.

They might not be the best people to try to emulate if, as indicated in your first post, you are only interested in prone.

I haven't changed out my shooting clothes in over four years. I'm sure this hasn't helped my 3p, but my prone sure isn't suffering because of it. Of the top prone only shooters I know, they don't seem to change out their shooting jackets nearly as often as 3p and air guys do. I have no idea what time-frame they change their clothes in. Chances are I shoot more prone in a year than an average American prone guy, so if mine isn't completely worn out in four years, then others should be able to go longer. More important that that in my mind is fit. Some of us put on more prone muscle as time goes by. It doesn't matter too much if your jacket is still in great shape after 10 years if it doesn't fit anymore.

Eric U

I agree with Eric, a good fit is more important then stiffnes. I have on of the first tailermade coats from Kurt Thune. It is aprox. 15 years old and in perfect condition (Iuse it only for matches - I train with a cheaper Akah coat that has less stiffness and lesser fit). The Thune coat is leather on the outside and canvas inside, while the Akah is all canvas.

I understand that the people from Scatt did some testing with stiff and lesser stiff coates. They concluded that a beginner with a lesser hold and stability has advantage using a stiff coat because it gives additional support (the pulse from the heart is far down the list of causes for movement). A top shooter who has a very steady hold, (guys like Eric, Matthew Emmonds etc.) the pulse is top of the list of movement and a less stiff but good fitting coat does not transmits the pulse to the rifle.
Can you agree with this Eric???

I am 53 years old and fortunate that my body shape (and weight) has not changed since I bought my 15 year old Thune coat. It has lost stiffness but has adapted to my body shape completely. If I should decide to buy a new coat it would again be one from Thune and I would probably send my old coat to them to fabricate the new coat to the old coats dimensions/specs. Personally I still favour the leather-ouside/canvas-inside over the all canvas coats.

Albert B
(The Netherlands)

Looking at the discussion of stiffness vs fit I would go with the fit camp.

First, this is a discussion on jackets for prone so other points may come up when discussing 3P.

Say about 1970 the jacket was mostly to offer some padding for the elbows and where the sling went around the arm. To add support the NRA jackets had adjustable closure straps although as far as I am aware this was never allowed in ISU (now ISSF) competition. Problems with the sling sliding down the arm were common.

Mid to late 70s the sling hook was introduced, at first a very simple strap that kept the sling up on the arm. This also brought the jacket into the force and tension equation of the slinged positions.

The sling hook on the shoulder of the jacket has evolved into a very complex and like most other things, very adjustable piece of equipment where the shooter can adjust not only the length of the strap but the location of the strap on the jacket and on the sling.

You see some of the top shooters putting this to full advantage as in the from behind pictures you can see some of tension in the sling being taken through the fabric in the back of the jacket. Due to this fact I would say, in prone, fit of the jacket through the shoulders is crucial.

Everyone is different, for prone I only button my top two buttons so stiffness in the lower jacket is lost. But with those top two buttons fastened... fit through the shoulders is critical.

My 2 cents

'Dude

Eric
These prone muscles you are talking about, are these the ones between chest and belt line? I have been working a lot recently to develop these very successfully. There are special liquid suplements that help.
But seriously, how much diference does a stiff confortable good fit jacket assist in prone over a soft flexible good fit comfortable jacket?
Robin

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I come from a background of fullbore (Palma) shooting in the UK and the top shooters do not change clothing (including jackets) very regularly (some never by the looks/smell of them!!). I was curious to know what the equivalent smallbore shooters do.

I completely agree that a proper fit has to be the key to a good jacket.

Cheers

Nick

I've had good fitting stiff jackets and good fitting worn out jackets. It does seem that I shoot better with the closer to worn out ones than the new stiff ones. The biggest problem to me is after you find a really good fitting jacket and start trying to replace it, anything else by comparison fits and feels like crap. It seems to take me about two years to get a jacket in a worn out enough state that I can actually shoot great prone scores with it.

Eric U