TargetTalk

As I said in my previous post, I'm having problems with pain & numbness in my arm & shoulder. My susceptibility to this is aggravated by OA.

I talked to my Dr. and had him look at my positions. I made a couple minor position changes, but he said that the sling is a big problem as it bears directly on a major nerve and it pulls in opposition to the shoulder.

I was using lighter tension on the sling, but I when I do that, my groups loosen up far, FAR too much.

I asked the Dr. if there was some exercise I could do, but he said that it was like being hung from a ceiling - eventually it *will* break you down.

What do you old guys do to alleviate these problems?

How good / old is your jacket ?

I had problems with my old jacket being too soft which led to bruising in the (brachial ?) nerve running up the upper arm. I had to stop shooting for a few weeks until it healed. My new jacket has the grip material running higher up the arm and hence that cushions the sling.

Other options are really just to try different sling positions, and try and get away from the nerve.

Rob.

To get technical (or medical) about it, there is a whole nerve bundle that runs down the inside of the arm, called the brachial plexus. However knowing its name does not make it feel any better.

Past the points by RobStubbs about the jacket, are you shooting strict ISSF (or USAS) or are you shooting conventional NRA?

The NRA competition allows for a wider cuff on the sling so something like
http://www.championshooters.com/store/p ... 248&page=1 with a wide cuff might help.

Note, this is just one example, I am a USAS/ISSF rules compliant shooter so I do not use a sling like this and am not necessarily recommending this particuar product. Just finding you a picture.

Hope this is some help.

Good Luck,
'Dude

Mat I sugest a no pulse sling ? Thai type sling places the sling presure diferently than the conventional slings do and may give you a solution to your problem. Good Shooting Bill Horton

I'm shooting CMP Highpower & smallbore prone.
I use a cotton M1 sling; it is easy to switch from the standing parade setting to the sitting and prone position if you don't touch the clamp. Therefore, the arm loop is loose enough to slide up my arm.

I haven't tried a no-pulse 1907 sling. They look like too much of a PITA to rig during prep time. I don't want waste any time fuxoring with a sling during prep.

Beau wrote:I'm shooting CMP Highpower & smallbore prone.
I haven't tried a no-pulse 1907 sling. They look like too much of a PITA to rig during prep time. I don't want waste any time fuxoring with a sling during prep.

Well it was you who said;

As I said in my previous post, I'm having problems with pain & numbness in my arm & shoulder. My susceptibility to this is aggravated by OA.

Now you either want to do something about the pain and numbness or you don't. May be a pain but so is permanent nerve damage, but hey your call.

Rob.

If you are willing to take an old shooters advice, Junk the canvas sling. it is very dificult to return to an exact setting with them and they are prone to streaching in position. Please look into a two buckle sling as produced by Mr Tubbs and used by him to set a national aggragate record. Also NancyTompkins has one out in 11/4 in sold by Sinclair. The Tubbs sling comes in ISSF legal demensions as well as a wider sling for high power and is sold through Creedmore. As for simple, I worked with some ten to fifteen year old youngsters that won six Texas State championships in a row with Daisy BB guns and using this type sling. You can have on made by most leather shops if you can get your hands on a sample . Good Painless Shooting Bill Horton

I got one a month or so ago and with my ISSF Jacket, the sling does not pinch around the inside of your arm and being synthetic it doesn't stretch.

With respect to the service rifle, here's a trick I saw one of HP shooters use at our club. Use the cotton sling for Offhand, with the clip on the bottom and the buckle on the top, you take the sling off after the offhand stage. Then have your 1907 rigged and ready to go in the no pulse configuration. All you do is slide it on your arm, lock it in place and slip the long end thru the front swivel and you're done. It took longer to write this than he did to switch slings.

Nimrod