Head Position

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BJ
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon May 26, 2008 11:56 am
Location: Raleigh, NC

Head Position

Post by BJ »

Hi Everyone,

Last night I was doing some dry firing in my attic and decided to get my sister to take some pictures of me in position so that I could see what my position really looks like. In reviewing the pictures I took special notice of my eyeball looking through the rear sight. It seems to me that I am not looking out of the center of my eye but more so out of the top. Should I try to tweak my head position such that I am looking more so out of the center of my eye or does it really matter at all?

Thanks
Brian
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bruce
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Location: Scotland

Post by bruce »

I have a feeling that you might get a stack of different opinions :)
Are you having any issues with your sight picture?
Do you see a flat line at the bottom of your rear sight instead of round?
If you're not seeing any artefacts caused by your eye brow, and your position is working ok, I wouldn't bother chasing a marginal improvement in your head position without an end result in mind.
Soupy44
Posts: 411
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:37 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Post by Soupy44 »

I'm with Bruce on this one. Being someone who sees you shoot firsthand, it doesn't seem to hurt your prone scores. Some people argue that your eye can tire from having to look up for the length of a match. Most any prone position you shoot will require you to look up some, that or cock your head way back which is probably worse.

If you want to try to fix this, move your sling swivel in one or two notches, move your butt plate in half that distance, and tighten your sling one notch. This will get your cheek further back on the stock and your head more upright. It will also make it much easier to load, but I haven't noticed you having trouble with that.

See you Saturday.
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WarWagon
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Post by WarWagon »

It's hard to tell from the pictures as the angle looks far more exaggerated in the first pic than the second.

The first thing I noticed was how far up you are on the stock. Have you played with moving your buttplate back and getting that shoulder to drop some?
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RobStubbs
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Location: Herts, England, UK

Post by RobStubbs »

Is the sling also touching the gun stock ? I thought that was not permitted (?) Very difficult to tell in a picture, but the sling also looks too slack around the trigger guard. My sling goes over the back of my hand, yours looks lower down than that.

Rob.
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Post by Guest »

1. I am not having any issues with my sight picture so that is good.
2. I do not see a flat line at the bottom of my rear sight instead of round.
3. I haven't played with moving my buttplate black to drop my shoulder but I'll give it a try. I think that part of the reason my shoulder looks so high is that my coat really bunches up there and sticks up a good couple inches.
4. I believe that the angle of the picture made it look like the sling was touching the stock. In the following pictures you can tell that its not touching.

Thanks for the feedback everyone and any more observations are welcome.

Brian
BJ
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon May 26, 2008 11:56 am
Location: Raleigh, NC

Post by BJ »

Oops the guest reply was really me I forgot to log in and couldn't figure out why in the world it wouldn't allow me to attach any pictures. Anyway here are the pictures.

Brian
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Telecomtodd
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Location: Saint Charles, MO

Post by Telecomtodd »

Brian - I had to chuckle at the very first picture, it looks like you have a rubber cheek. I had never noticed that about you before, ha...

Does your coat allow you to pull the fabric back on the right shoulder? That might fix the "bunching up" issue. I had my old coat hitched all the way to the back to do that. it might be possible to add two straps and two buckles if your coat doesn't have that on it already.
CJ Wallace
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Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:34 am
Location: U.S.

Prone

Post by CJ Wallace »

by the way, if you're prone scores are high 90's/100 don't worry about fixing something: consistency is one of the best "techniques" there are.

some of the best prone advice I had was to stretch out more. The NRA rules have the angle between your forearm and the ground at 30 degrees (last I knew) minimum and we were told to aim for 31 degrees :)

We were also coached to drop into position by: 1) standing square to the target, 2) reaching out for the target (like your holding your stock) and sighting on it all the way down into a prone position. We didn't slant our bodies at all left or right. The general effect is a relaxed body position which is easier to maintain (meaning better scores).

from your pics it looks like the only thing not really stretched out is your front elbow and your right hip (best if it is flat to the ground), but it really looks like you have a great position and don't need to worry about changing it unless you think it is affecting your score :)
Soupy44
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Location: Raleigh, NC

Post by Soupy44 »

CJ, the current line of thinking in prone isn't to be near 30 degrees anymore. All the international coaches I talk to say 40ish degrees firstly so you never have an official come by to check your angle in the middle of your qualification.

Second is to get more of your upper body behind the rifle. It's very difficult to do this if you have a low position. You're trying to make the angle between the rifle and the line between your shoulders approach 90 degrees. 90 is likely not an ideal angle, not to mention probably impossible, but this gets your upper body in line with the rifle to absorb the recoil.

Lastly is the ease of loading. I was a 30 degree shooter until November. I have pretty long arms, so I could reach the chamber, but it wasn't as easy as it should be. To fix this, I raised my position by bringing my sling swivel in 4in, shortening my butt stock half an inch, and shortened my sling two notches. I was amazed at how much closer the chamber is and how much easier it is to load. This keeps you from "combat rolling" as I like to call it when you load.
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bruce
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Location: Scotland

Post by bruce »

Soupy44 wrote:CJ, the current line of thinking in prone isn't to be near 30 degrees anymore. All the international coaches I talk to say 40ish degrees firstly so you never have an official come by to check your angle in the middle of your qualification.

Second is to get more of your upper body behind the rifle. It's very difficult to do this if you have a low position. You're trying to make the angle between the rifle and the line between your shoulders approach 90 degrees. 90 is likely not an ideal angle, not to mention probably impossible, but this gets your upper body in line with the rifle to absorb the recoil.

Lastly is the ease of loading. I was a 30 degree shooter until November. I have pretty long arms, so I could reach the chamber, but it wasn't as easy as it should be. To fix this, I raised my position by bringing my sling swivel in 4in, shortening my butt stock half an inch, and shortened my sling two notches. I was amazed at how much closer the chamber is and how much easier it is to load. This keeps you from "combat rolling" as I like to call it when you load.

I would agree with all of that.
One of the major benefits of shortening the the stock and squaring the shoulders, can be reduced effort when loading. And rolling to load is best avoided.
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