Rifle Shooting Basics

The Position - General

The most fundamental aspect of any shooting sport is the shooting position. The position has to be practiced, refined and learned with the goal that the established muscle memory allows the shooting athlete’s subconscious to control the entire process such that once he or she is in position and the rifle mounted, and the shot fired, with no conscious intervention. The shooting position is a twofold entity: the relative relationship of the shooter’s body to the rifle and the relative position of the shooter-rifle unit to a target. The shooting positions used in Olympic Style Shooting are: prone, standing and kneeling.

The shooting position must be comfortable and arranged such that the rifle center of gravity and body are over support points. Every attempt should be made to keep the head as erect as possible to take full advantage of the body’s vestibular system in establishing balance. The head position should also be adjusted relative to the rifle and sights to position the eyes as centrally in the orbits (sockets) as possible.

A well constructed position emphasizes maximum bone support. The rifle and body must be maximally supported by the skeletal system; only enough muscle support to keep from falling over should be used. The shooter’s creed for stability is “bone to bone” which means the center of gravity must, as much as possible, be in a direct line to ground, through bone. The body must be relaxed; any muscle tension other than that needed to support the rifle and body will cause undesirable fasciculation.

A good shooting position must provide a relaxed, steady natural point of aim which is aligned with the target: rifle should be on the target and close to the target bull even with the shooter’s eyes closed. The rifle should by no means be “pulled” to the target with muscle activity.

Preparing the Shot – Aiming and breath control

The rifle is aimed by aligning the eye, rear sight, front sight and target bull. The relative alignment of the front sight to the rear sight is defined as the sight alignment; the front sight must be centered with the rear sight. The sight picture is the alignment between the aligned sites and target; the target bull must be centered in the rear aperture and front sight. As noted above, the head should be erect and the eyes centered in the orbit. The shooter must focus on the front sight and not the target.

Coordinating the shot with the breathing cycle is known as breath control. Once “settled-in,” controlled breathing is used to fine tune the vertical component of the sight picture (alignment of the rifle sights with the target). The “hold” is the composite of the essential universal elements described above as applied to the positions, whether it be standing, prone or kneeling. To fire a shot, the athlete must build their position; wait for the hold to settle-in, and breath slowly while watching the sight picture; the shot is “let off” by inhaling normally, exhaling normally but stopping to fire the shot once a good sight picture is acquired.

Sight Picture Control

Sight picture control is reference to the need to maintain a steady sight picture at the time the shot is let off and is the culmination of the physical (position and hold building) and mental aspects (the quiet zone, see below) of shooting. Sight picture control is most difficult in the standing position and easiest when prone. The best sight picture control is achieved with physical training to the point where the entire physical process of shooting enters the realm of the subconscious.

An important concept to keep in mind is that after you have learned the position and hold mechanics, developed the muscle memory, and learned to truly relax all unnecessary muscle tension, your conscious self (your logical and reasoning right brain) will be your biggest barrier to allowing your subconscious to let the shot off. This is the most difficult of all barriers to break, as we have been trained by our schools and by our technical society to apply logic and reason to all tasks we hope to master. The problem is that the integrated function of maintaining balance, timing what your eye sees as being centered and steady, and gently pulling the trigger at just the right moment is not a product of the logical mind. The energy and creativity of the subconscious must be harnessed and freed from its “logic-prison”; you must have faith in the fact that once the body is trained, the subconscious mind will not make an error. The key to freeing yourself is to focus on allowing your “subconscious self” and your body to fire the shot for you; your subconscious knows what to do, but you have to get out of the way! This understanding of how we free our inner energy was described in the Zen of Archery and is well understood by Olympic shooting athletes, who understand this state of mind and body as the “quiet zone”.

This may come as a surprise, but relinquishing oneself to the quiet zone requires concentrating one’s thoughts and focusing on the imaginary perfect bull’s eye which lies beyond the target while one’s eye focuses on the front sight; the target is in the blurry background. As you focus, release all muscle tension and allow yourself to slip into the quiet zone; the subconscious will take control and pull the trigger at just the right time, independent of any conscious thought or volition. We observe this same process everyday while driving a car. The myriad micro-corrections made to the steering wheel are squarely in the realm of the subconscious mind. If one consciously and logically tries to correct the wheel, one may find themselves driving off into a ditch.

Trigger Control

Trigger control is a global term used to describe the process by which the shooter smoothly and without upsetting the sight picture, displaces the trigger to release the rifle’s hammer to fire the shot. The trigger hand should gently but firmly secure the rifle with the trigger finger “suspended” by the knuckle. No part of the trigger finger other than the “fleshy” finger pad which is on the trigger should contact the rifle. The trigger is activated by gently and deliberately displacing it to the butt of the rifle with no sideward (left or right) pressure and by contracting the finger with the finger joint closest to the hand as a pivot point.

Follow-Through

A finite amount of time is required from the time the trigger is pulled to the time the bullet exits the rifle barrel; any movement during this period will displace the bullet from its intended path. Follow-through is the discipline of maintaining the position, hold, breath control and sight picture control several seconds after the shot is fired.

Building the Positions

Standing Position

The feet should be placed approximately shoulder-width distance apart. The body should be aligned to the target such that natural point of aim (NPA) when in position, is on the target as described above. The legs should be straight, not locked. Corrections for windage and elevation when aligning the NPA are made by slight adjustments of the right foot; the left foot stays planted. The back should be arched slightly backward so that the center of gravity of the shooter-rifle unit is over the feet. The rifle is supported by the left hand held in a loosely clinched fist under either the rifle’s center of gravity or just behind it. The wrist should be straight with respect to the forearm. The left arm should be supported either by resting the upper arm on the rib cage or by the elbow resting on the hip. Remember, bone support; there should be no muscle tension other than that needed to remain upright. The right hand functions to support the trigger finger and to hold the stock in place against the shoulder. Unlike high power shooting in which there is significant recoil, the right elbow should be kept as low as possible while retaining a “shoulder pocket” for secure and consistent butt plate location. The idea is to make the position relatively compact so that the center of gravity is not too far forward.

Prone Position

The prone position is the steadiest of all positions, but it is also the least comfortable. The essence of the position can be reduced to an inverted triangle of support whose apex is the elbow, sides the upper arm and forearm and the base the sling. The forestock of the rifle is cradled and supported by the left hand with the rifle lying across the meaty base of the thumb, wrist straight and the hand relaxed. The elbow should be extended a comfortable distance from the body, and slightly left of the rifle; the sling should be positioned at the mid to upper arm, parallel to the ground and support the weight of the rifle. The stop should be positioned and butt plate adjusted such that the rifle is firmly cradled in the shoulder without undue pressure on the left hand. To minimize motion from breathing and heart pulsations, the body weight should be supported with a slight preference for the left side by arranging the body approximately 20 degrees to the right of the target with the spine straight, left leg parallel to the spine and foot pointing straight back or to the right, and the right knee drawn up by flexing the hip. The right elbow helps stabilize the potion; the right arm should be relaxed and positioned so that there is minimal movement required for reloading, the hand should apply firm, gentle rearward pressure to the grip. As noted in the standing position, the trigger finger should contact the rifle only at the trigger and the head should remain upright. Bone support is provided by the rifle-left hand-left wrist-left forearm-elbow-ground and stop-sling-upper arm-elbow-ground support. The left elbow and relative position of the body as it is positioned to pivot around the planted left elbow is the key to establishing the natural point of aim. Once the NPA is established, the left elbow should not be moved. Every attempt should be made to move the right arm as little as possible while reloading, to avoid upsetting the position. Fine tuning the NPA can be achieved by moving the relative position of the right foot. The final fine tuning of elevation is achieved with breath control.

Kneeling

Kneeling is intermediate between prone and standing both with respect to stability and comfort. Support is via the same inverted triangle identified with the prone position, but rather than the apex (elbow) resting on the ground, it rests on the shooter’s knee. The bone support path is rifle-left hand-left wrist-left forearm-elbow-left knee-left calf-foot-ground. Rather than the body being supported diffusely by the ground, it is supported largely by the tail bone (coccyx) resting on the heel of the right foot. The right knee provides lateral support as the right elbow does in the prone position. Like the standing position, the center of gravity of the rifle-shooter unit should be over the area of maximal support which in the kneeling position is a platform defined the right foot, right knee and left foot.

As noted above, the body rests on the heel of the right foot, a roll placed between the front of the upper foot/lower ankle should be used to help support the foot. Once the foot is positioned, the body is positioned to bring the NPA to the target, the right thigh will point approximately 30 to 45 degrees to the right of the target. The right foot bears most of the body weight, with some on the left foot and a minimal amount on the right knee. The left leg should be approximately parallel to the right thigh, and the lower leg perpendicular to the ground. The left hand and sling is arranged as with the prone position. The left elbow should rest on the flat of the knee just behind and medial to the “bump” made by the knee cap; the left arm should be slightly to the left of the rifle. The right arm is positioned as in the standing position. The head should be upright. Windage corrections in the NPA are made by pivoting around the left foot. Large corrections in elevation are made by adjusting the relative positions of the right and left foot, fine adjustments are made by breath control.

In summary, always remember that shooting is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.

References

1. Herrigel, E. (1999) Zen in the Art of Archery. Vintage Books, Random House, New York

2. Skinner, C. (2002) The Mental Art of World Class Competitive Rifle Shooting. Entity Sports International, Wilmington

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