Highpower standing tips

[unclesam099]

Does anyone have any tips for shooting standing? Specifically for a Garand. Shot my first match and scored 89-1x, 87-1x, and 53-0x (OUCH); aggregate 229-2X. I haven't practiced much standing, but would appreciate any tips.

I know about shooting jackets, do they really make a whole lot of difference? I feel that yea, it's a competition, but you might not have a shooting jacket available "in the field", and I'd prefer to be adaptable. I will likely get one eventually for competition, though.

[Shawn.L]

Offhand...... always the crusher.
I take my support hand and tuck the elbow into my side, and jut my hip out to form a shelf for it to sit on, then lay my hand flat like holding a platter and this rests right under the internal magazine on the Garand. Its not an AR, so I need some shoulder to the stock, but my cheek weld is way back further than other positions. Get used to how this effects your sight picture.

remember, natural point of aim ! and prrrrrreeeeeeessssss

good post here from another forum:

Originally posted by Tim Ault
Since Hawk has been bringing up some good topics I thought I would add a one to it to start the New year off with.

First is NPA (Natural point of aim) If you dont have a good NPA while in position you'll be constantly fighting to get or hold the sights on target for every shot and that equals inconsistancy shot to shot.You should not be using muscle power to hold the rifles sights on that black dot . Lets go throught the positions and how to achieve a goo NPA for each.

Standing , In your prep time Get into a Comfortable(more about this later) solid position ,with your eyes closed shoulder the rifle .OK open your eyes and look down the sights.Where are you aiming in relation to the target? If the top of that front sight post or blade is at the 6:00 or COM position or real close to it great thats a good NPA ,If its not you need to adjust your position,DO NOT move the rifle, swivel your hips or lean forward or back in the OH position ,adjust NPA by moving your feet slightly it dont take much to move your POA on the target so move one or the other a small amount . OK drop the rifle down from your shoulder and try it again with your eyes closed ,Was it closer to the black this time? Keep adjusting the foot position till your satisfied that sights will be on the black when you open your eyes.When you get where you want DONT move your foot position till you fire off your 10 rds ,This is where a stool or bucket for range chair is handy to put in front of you to rest the butt of your rifle till prep time is over,keep the 10 rds in a holder or pocket so you wont be bending over getting them off the floor or stool every shot. One way to really help is to practice at home,Take a buff colored paper and a black pen and color a circle about the size of a marble or dime . hang it on the wall or door at chest level.Now practice getting your NPA and dryfiring your rifle 10 or so shots each day for a week next week shoot 15 each day and 20 the next week .You will see your shots landing closer to that X ring.
Next is the Standing to sitting position.Again in prep time sling up and get a comfortable seated position either cross leg or cross ankled.with your eyes closed shoulder the rifle pointed towards your target,Wheres it pointing?If an adjustment is needed do it by moving your butt on the mat left or right,If its pointing to high or low move your hand forward or back on the handguard to adjust for that. Even after your first two shots and mag change /reload take a half second to get that NPA back before you fire those last 8 rds.dont worry you have lots of time.
Onto the rapid prone and slow prone position as for this issue are one in the same. Again sling up good and assume a comfortable prone position close eyes and shoulder the rifle .On target? if not dont move your upper body move your hips legs on the mat to adjust which direction the rifle needs to move left or right If its up or down again move your forward hand on the HG to adjust.In the slow prone you have time to establish NPA after every shot if needed .

Another issue that alot of shooters overlook is being comfortable when in position . Simply put if your not comfortable your not going to shoot upto the best of your ability.And there is no reason not to be comfortable in any of the 3 positions. Standing! Alot of people automaticly think Oh no its the worst of my shooting positions well it shouldnt be what do we all do 1/3 of the day every day? Stand on our feet! its a natural position and can be a stable position if your comfortable while doing it shooting For a right hander keep your left arm in close to your body resting on your ribs.And dont wing your right elbow way up in the air keep it at a natural position.Another thing I see alot of shooters doing is craining their necks way out to get to the same head position as they use when shooting prone or sitting with the nose on the charging handle. Bad move! simply put this can not be either comfortable or natural unless your arms are 5 ft long and have a realllly long neck.Look where your head is if you do that ,way forward of your body and where your head leads the body will follow and you'll want to start to lean forward and your barrel will drop and your arms will try to compensate ,There goes your NPA! Next the sitting position, In my case I have limited flexibility in my knee's and ankles so I sit cross ankles instead of cross legged ,This also works better if you have a more "ample " mid section Both offer good solid bone on bone support .Dont worry what it looks like or if its different than what the guy next to you is doing find the sitting position that works for YOU.
Prone, This is a fairly easy position to be comfortable in except maybe the elbows ,Stay off the points of your elbows as they are a pivot point.You actually want your body to be as low as possible to the ground this way there is less weight that needs to be supported by your arms.Feel your arm about an inch or two forward of your elbow ,That bone is what you want resting on your mat not the point of the elbow.Another thing that will help in prone is not to lay your chest directly on the ground right hand shooter roll your body slighty to the left hand side and bend your right leg up a bit this will help with your breathing. Again its you shooting so even if it isnt exactly what was written in a shooting book or video the guy in the book or vid. isnt you and may not bend or twist the same as you So do what works for YOU.

[Shawn.L]

[Kramer]

I miss the days of shooting in highpower competition.


The smell of gunpowder in the morning...it smelled like...victory! LOL

[Rosco the Iroc]

I reverse my left hand from the way she does it and just sit it in the web of my hand.

I shoot my offhand M1 elbow in, hand flat on clip well fingers pointing fwd.
I also use a Champions Choice jacket and a leather glove. Yes it's a big help the right jacket can mean the difference between shooting ok or getting leg points.

It got me a bronze the 1st time I shot it in '09 at Perry at the Garand match.

Where where your shots hitting?

[unclesam099]

I reverse my left hand from the way she does it and just sit it in the web of my hand.

I shoot my offhand M1 elbow in, hand flat on clip well fingers pointing fwd.
I also use a Champions Choice jacket and a leather glove. Yes it's a big help the right jacket can mean the difference between shooting ok or getting leg points.

It got me a bronze the 1st time I shot it in '09 at Perry at the Garand match.

Where where your shots hitting?

I've played with the .22 at the range offhand. I recently took my brother out to shoot the Garand and took a few offhand. WOW, practice helps and that video really helped. I shot with my hand in both positions and the reverse grip feels pretty good, so that's what I'm using.

My shots were erratic at Perry on the standing stage. I bet that I wasn't finding NPOA properly and was pulling shots all over.

Can't shoot the local match til maybe November, but we'll see if I can get some more offhand practice with the .22 so that I can create a repeatable process.

[Rosco the Iroc]

Welcome, your on the way.

if really useful rep would be nice

[Up In Arms Designs, Inc]

Hope this helps:

http://odcmp.com/CoachingResources.htm

http://www.jarheadtop.com/default.htm

[libertydog]

if you are serious about the sport you should compete at New Holland. The very best HighPower rifle shooters in the state compete there. My schedule has not permitted me to shoot there this year but I have several friends that do. You will learn much but simply going to their matches, watching and learning from some serious shooters there. I think they have one more scheduled match in October 17th.

[Hawk]

The thread is a bit old, and I didn't read every reply completely, but here's my two cents. The CMP has a Small Arms Firing School held once a year. They use AR's instead of Garands, but the position building for off-hand is pretty much the same for both.

Check it out here: http://www.odcmp.com/nm/safs.htm


If you want to learn on your own, it's possible. Do some research and find out what you can about building the off-hand position and NPA (Natural Point of Aim). Someone mentioned Jarhead Top, Jim's books and CD's are a good inexpensive start.

If you can't get weekly range time to practice (my recommendation), you can practice at home dry firing. Get a black magic marker and place a 1 inch circle on a piece of paper and tape it to a wall at least 10 ft away at shoulder height. Build your position and see if you can eliminate as much wobble as you can until the top of the front sight stays in the black all of time even through your hammer drop. Once you can do this 10 times in a row, each and every time, decrease the size of the circle to a half inch, rinse and repeat, until the circle is no more than a quarter of an inch. Do this a few times a week for a few month's, your off hand score should dramatically increase (provided you don't have a flinch) .

One tip: after you think you've built you position correctly, hold your position and close you eyes for 15 seconds, open you eyes, if you are still on target, your good to go. If you've drifted left or right, up or down, you haven't obtained NPA, move you rear foot to correct for the left/right drift. I won't go into correcting for elevation at this time because I'd have to type 3-4 more paragraph's.