Target Sports

TARGET RIFLE BASICS: TELL THEM WHAT YOU HAVE TOLD THEM

Created on 14th May 2009

CHRIS WHITE sums up the basics of TR shooting that we should all remember

SHORTLY AFTER completing my stint as a graduate trainee and just into my first managerial appointment the company sent me on a supervisors' course.

One of the instructors outlined the classic drill sergeant's technique: "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them it, tell them again and then tell them what you have told them!" This of course was an attempt to illustrate that such patronising and draconian methods had no place in the Brave New World of 1970s industrial Britain. However, it does not hurt to revisit our old lessons. What we have covered in the series so far is the technical, mechanical aspect of Target Rifle shooting, which when we are established, experienced shooters we should do without thinking; and there's the rub! The beginner needs to continue to think about it until it becomes second nature, and the old stager ceases to think about it and drifts into bad habits. Most of what we will cover from here on is the more intellectual aspects of the sport, things we need to apply conscious thought to.

So now let's have a look back at what we should have learnt over the past two and a half years and remind ourselves of what is important and what will lose us points if we don't pay proper attention to it.

Safety must always be uppermost in our minds. As late as March 2008 I felt the need to reiterate some basic safety rules. This should not be necessary. The rifle must not be loaded until the RCO has given the command to "load and carry on". Then the bolt should only be closed with the rifle parallel to the ground and pointing towards the target. This does not mean that the bolt can only be closed with the rifle in the shoulder. To avoid doubt, here is what the current (2008) NRA ‘bible' has to say on the issue in paragraph 271: "The bolt must not be closed (or opened after being closed) on a live round if the barrel is elevated more than 70 mils (approximately 4°) above the horizontal...It is recommended that the butt should not be held in the shoulder when the bolt is being opened or closed on a live round (including a misfire)." The reason for this is that there is a possibility that certain rifles can fire the round as the bolt is being closed if they have a broken firing pin. The rifle must not be removed from the firing point until the scorer/register keeper and/or RCO has checked it clear with either breech flag inserted or bolt removed. As we pointed out in March, the presence of the breech flag is not proof that there is not a live round in the magazine or on the loading platform. Always double check.

Most of us when we were taught to shoot were given a safety brief and then laid down with some experienced shot who told us that the aperture sights consisted of a series of concentric circles and that we should line them all up with the aiming mark in the middle and deliver the shot by squeezing the trigger and not pulling it.

If we were lucky we may have been told not to hold the rifle with the right hand and to achieve vertical alignment by breathing. We were almost certainly told to hold our breath as we fired the shot.

Unless this is the first time you have read Target Sports you will appreciate that there is much more to it than that! What also should have happened is that we should have been checked for eye dominance. If you are left-handed and are shooting from the left shoulder because that comes naturally to you even though you are right eye dominant, or vice versa, it is probably a bit too late in the game to change things now. Fortunately most right handers are right eye dominant (and vice versa) but in my (unscientific) estimate about 10% have the dominant eye opposed to the hand they write with.

Here's how to check. Identify a distant static object. With both eyes open point at it with the index finger of one hand. Close one eye and then the other. With one eye closed the object will appear to move relative to the finger. The eye which is closed when the object appears to move is the dominant eye and that is the one you should look through the sights with.

In the mechanics of firing the shot what is of fundamental importance is that we exert no muscular input to the rifle at all. Recoil and torque will happen and the muzzle of the rifle will not be in the same place when the bullet exits the bore as it was when the brain said, "Go!" What is important is that whatever place it is in is repeatable from shot to shot. What we are striving for is consistency. The more sophisticated the rifle the easier it is to achieve this Utopian state. A small bore rifle with a fully adjustable stock and very light trigger will allow this. An NRA target rifle with a 1.5kg trigger pull will not. It is important that any input is repeatable from shot to shot and the foundation on which we build this is the prone position itself.

Almost all successful small bore shooters will adopt the modified Estonian position, as will most TR shooters. Some of the latter will adopt the modified classic position. Whatever the relative merits of these positions, the fundamentals are the same. The weight of the body is taken by the left (for right-handed shooters) elbow and the hips. The hips and shoulders should be parallel to avoid twisting the spine and there must be no muscle tension in the legs.

The left arm acts only as a prop and the weight of the rifle is taken by the sling (the dragline analogy).<<Fig1>> So that the sling can do its job properly the left elbow (right handed shooters) must be under the sling and not the rifle. <<Photo 4>> Conventional wisdom says that the sling should be attached to the arm above or below the biceps to avoid restricting blood flow and causing nerve compression. In reality this is quite impractical. The sling should be as far up the left arm (right arm for left-handed shooters) as possible. There will still be some impingement on the muscle block but this will be minimised and should not be exacerbated by a sling which nips the arm. This is easier said than done but for TR where the rifle is in the shoulder for a relatively short period of time it does not pose a serious problem. Contrast this with the smallbore shooter who has just completed the third 20 shot detail. Blood flow to the left arm is often so restricted that the rifle has to be lifted off the left hand with the right. Not ideal!