[frostfire]

Originally Posted by longrange1947

Hold Hard is a quote from a Marine CPT when they were out numbered. As the Japanese advanced on them at range, he told his troops to Hold Hard, (Steady) or it would be a long night.

On holding the weapon, the weapon needs to be held firmly into the shoulder and the weight of the head rested on the stock of the weapon. This reduces recoil movement of the weapon and allows your body to absorb that recoil. It allows the shooter to sense his shot placement and permits a rapid follow on shot. Many advocate pushing hard into the tripod to "load the tripod", I am not an advocate of that as it can only be accomplished in some shooting situations. That means you must change your technique as the situation changes. I prefer to keep my bipod neutral and maintain good head weight on the stock. This can be accomplished in all situations. It also allows for recoil reduction and shot follow on shot placement.

In standing off hand, it is important to bring the weapon to your head and set your jaw line on the top of the stock. Maintain good steady pressure into your should wiht your shooting hand but using only the middle and ring finger, not the little finger. This sets up a steadier and repeatable position while "reaching" for he stock means as your neck gets tired you will change your body position. One thing about shooting is that you must be consistent.

My thoughts on the subject.

call me crazy but I tried the middle and ring finger trick on pistol some time ago. It works! It allows easier straight squeeze to the rear and quicker recovery. A good test is simple. Hold the pistol with death grip all over, then suddenly relax the ring finger. You'd see the front sight jump up a little. I'd venture to guess that as the grip gets tired this can occur, resulting in "unexplained" thrown shots. Now keep the death grip only on middle and ring, them suddenly relax the two. You don't see much movement at all. Using the bore as the main axis, it makes sense that force being applied furthest from the axis creates torgue.

That offhand tips is dead solid. I remember the few "looks" I got during vendor day at the range when I rang offhand the 400m half silhouette with my OBR and IIRC, the 16" KAC rifle used by the 2011 winner. I still can't make tiny hole without loading the bipod with semi platform though. It's doable with bolt.....but with semi I keep getting the bipod hop