Holding your rifle for consistency revised

[apache12]

So I was messing around at the range today and trying differnt rifle holds. Thought I'd throw it out here to see what most folks have found provids the most consistency and accuracy. I guess this would be in a perfect world because we all know that when we finally get on that Coues we are laying down hill and sideways with a prickly pear in our butt cholla in our knees and draped over a boulder

But the question is for non Bipod shooting using a bag as a rest. Do you use the sniper hold with left hand back under the stock and forestock not held. Or old school military with your sling wrapped around elbow and holding forestock. Or hand rest down on top of rifle scope?

 

Those are the three I tried. All different point of impact.

 

Any method proven to work best. I'd have thought left hand under the butt stock but that didn't work best for me even with a 26 in #3 barrel.

 

 

I didn't really explain it well. Was kinda wondering more about rifle hold than shooting technique. Like these pics. I know the one is on a bipod. But it's the sling wrap tech. Wondering about holding the rifle forestock vs not as in pics. Anyway. May just be prefer me. Didn't know if anyone ever compared both

[oz31p]

I shoot with my right hand griping the rifle in the palm swell.solid in the pocket of my shoulder with the less amount of additional human input as possible

[KaibabHunter]

I also found the less I touched the gun the better I shot. I rolled up a towel an duct taped it and carried it in my pack. Supporting the butt stock with that, loose right hand with just the trigger finger doing the work and either no left hand involved or wrapped the sling. Worked with a bipod or pack supported. Of course u may have to adapt/improvise with field conditions. No idea if that's proper technique but I was confident out to 600 yards. I took my ram prone using the above with my bipod, but it was only a 266 yard shot. I practiced quite a bit and that's what I found worked for me.

[shanehamblin]

The title says how do you hold your rifle. For consistency I don't Think holding your rifle at all is the answer. Somehow someway building a rest that is rock solid and as close to shooting off of a bench as possible. I know that this is not always possible for quick shots but this is on the long range thread. I think being as consistent as you possibly can no matter what way you choose is the main thing and eliminating human error as much as possible works best for me.

[PRDATR]

Never heard of any of those. Do your self a favor and go shoot High Power Silhouette for a year. Too many people pigeon hole them selves by only shooting under perfect conditions and never really become full fledged shooters.

 

Shooting from the bench will give you an insight for the rifle, but for field condtitons nothing beats the real deal. If your rifle is accurate enough then you need to be proficient enough to take and make a 50 yard to 300 yard off hand shot in under 3 seconds.

Only way to do that and have the confidence is practice, lots of practice. Shooting jackrabbits in the off season is a start. Most people can shoot targets, even out to ridiculous distances from a rest using their "App".

Rarely have I been in an actual hunting situation where that was practical.

[300RUM]

Do you have a level on the scope and was the rifle level for all 3 holds?

[Mike S]

Given a choice I would shoot prone with a tight sling over my pack, I've also killed game offhand and everything in between.

 

If you get a chance, come out to our hunting rifle shoots at PRGC! I set the course of fire up to better simulate the the field conditions you describe, minus the cactus! It gives you a great feel for what you can and more importantly cannot get away with in field conditions. It's better described on Bill Poole's webpage below.

 

http://arizona-rifleshooting.com/hunting-rifle-shoot-PRGC.html

[Big Browns]

Personally if I can't shoot prone or very close to prone I'm not taking the shot! I learned my lessons in Canada last year and will never make those mistakes again. I will never take shots from positions I'm not 100% confident in agsin!

[PRDATR]

Do you shoot doves prone? Start out with something reasonable like an open sight 22. Shoot targets at 50 yards offhand and see what your groups are. Then move on to a 30-30 with open sights at 100 yards and see what kind of groups you can get.

Then take a rifle like your 6.5 and shoot offhand at paper plates at 200 yards and from a sitting position. Remember though don't beat yourself up over the size of the group if it doesn't meet your expectation, work on getting it to something you can consistently do and it minute of quarry in the kill zone.

I used to go out to Congress and shoot Jack Rabbits with a 22-250 just walking around. Once the rifle is on your shoulder and your eye into the scope get the shot off in three seconds or less.

There are a lot of tools like bipods out there and they are useful but not applicable to every terrain. Lots of experimentation and practice creates ability and gives you confidence.

[pwrguy]

The original poster asked about holding the rifle vs shooting position. In my humble opinion the answer is whatever is comfortable as long as you stick to the same technique every time you will see consistency. If you are shooting long range (600+) you need to be very comfortable and I don't know anyone that shoots their best groups in anything other than prone.

[Zeke-BE]

The original poster asked about holding the rifle vs shooting position. In my humble opinion the answer is whatever is comfortable as long as you stick to the same technique every time you will see consistency. If you are shooting long range (600+) you need to be very comfortable and I don't know anyone that shoots their best groups in anything other than prone.

 

Except at coyotes on the run