Prairie Fire
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Sitting position tips
<< on: April 9, 2006, 10:18:36 PM >> Quote
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As usual, your mileage will vary. Try things out. If they don't work for you, figure out what's the problem and then fix it so it does work. If the problem is with this advice, be kind and just send a PM.
The sitting position is generally regarded to be the second-most stable field shooting position, behind prone. Some people shoot better from sitting than prone, I'm one of those. Sitting has a couple of advantages over prone: it's a bit quicker to displace from, but more importantly it gets your line of sight and boreline above terrain masking and above most of those pesky grass stems.
There are three basic variants of the position. I'd suggest that you try them all, then figure out what works best for you, and stick with it. Don't waste time trying to get handy with all three. The three positions are crossed-leg, cross-ankle, and open leg.
Briefly: crossed-leg is yoga or Indian style. Ankles are tucked up close to hipbones. Crossed-ankle is left achille's tendon over right instep, at a distance from your butt comfortable for you. Open leg is sitting with feet apart, and feet turned inward for best stability.
We use slings for support, right? The sitting position is most stable with the use of the loop sling, as opposed to the hasty sling. For me using a M1907 sling, the same length of sling works for shoulder carry with most clothing, a hasty sling for offhand position, and for a loop sling for prone. It's a good all around combination for me. That's just the way I've found it best to adjust the thing. You should try your own rifle and see what works for you.
Sitting requires tightening up the sling for most people from its length for prone. I do the tightening for sitting position by bringing my support hand backward some from its preferred prone resting place against the front swivel. Cheating some, I'm doing what saves time and what works "in general."
NPOA: natural point of aim. Since we've been talking about the sling, we will build the position from it. The support elbow goes in front of the knee, the flat of the arm above the elbow parked on the flat inside and below the kneecap. The sling will be tight and running vertical from its bicep placement up to the support hand.
The firing hand elbow goes in front of the other knee. Again, the flat of that arm above that elbow will be parked in front of the other knee. If both elbows are not parked in front of the knees, the left one will not be directly below the boreline. Bad for NPOA as regards breathing. And the right one is going to get blown off its perch by recoil.
Once this position is established, pick a target and sight on it. Then breathe, deeply, in and out. Notice how your sight picture tracks through the target. If the sights track up and down with the target somewhere on that track, that's good. If the sights track at a diagonal, your position is making the chance of a good shot much harder, because other mistakes will be amplified in more than one direction. Get the sights moving straight up and down with your breathing. Adjust your position/sling tightness until you've got this concept down good. Likely culprit for sights not tracking up and down, is that the support elbow is not directly under the boreline. Sling tightness, or the position of your support elbow, or both, may need to be adjusted. Don't go further until it's right.
How to adjust NPOA from your tight position? For me it is easier to change POA with my butt than with my feet. The position of your feet gets pretty well established (with time) as you assume the position from standing, looking at the target and visualizing your boreline as your weight hits the ground in a controlled fashion. Foot position comes first, then butt position. Once in position, do your NPOA checks (eyes closed, all that.) If there's a need for a change, and if the need DOES NOT INVOLVE EITHER SLING TENSION ADJUSTMENT OR ELBOW PLACEMENT ADJUSTMENT, then you shift your butt in order to get NPOA. Sorry to have to shout just now, but getting the sling tension and both elbows position right, must be done first. Get the position right, then work on NPOA.
Moving your butt a quarter of an inch, while staying in a good tight position, is easy to do with practice. First, you figure out which way you are off of the target in your NPOA sitting position. If you are off target right, your butt needs to move right. (For a right hander, this is nice, your position will get tighter and stronger as you adjust it.) If your NPOA is off to the left, I would suggest a radical shift in position to the right, then adjust left into a tighter body position.
To do this shift of POA, you roll left and slightly forward, just enough to unweight one side of your hipbone. Roll back and park that part of the hip, your desired quarter inch. Bring the rest of your body around to comfortably sit with that , and you will be closer to NPOA.
Now to the hard part of this post. What I've been saying here is nothing new. It is my bastardized version of what skinny little troopies were forced to learn at the point of a boot 75 years ago. The sitting postion is a good thing. If it is hard for you, then you must make some good decisions for your life that will allow its learning. Make them...now... A good sitting position allows for no excuses regarding the old or fat bod.
Time marches on for old bodies and always has. Maybe a good sitting position gets harder with age, but I sort of doubt that. It all comes down to what you as an individual are willing to do to improve yourself. I hope you all have some will to do that.
<< Last Edit: April 9, 2006, 10:33:09 PM by Prairie Fire >>