Posted By: chital_shikari
Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/08/18 09:24 PM
Hey everyone. So on Friday morning for ROTC PT and lab, instead of doing a 12 mile ruck march, a few of the lower class cadets were taken to Boyert Shooting Center off of Westheimer. I was one of the lucky ones.
I've shot MSRs before and know my way around one. But it was very cool to learn zeroing technique for 25/300 meters with the standard post and carry handle sights. I also had the tightest group out of all the cadets, so that was fun.
But here's something new I learned: breathing. We were told to go prone--either spread both your legs far out or keep one inline with gun-side--and breathe from our bellies and to shoot at the natural pause either at the exhale or inhale. Growing up I was taught to breathe, breathe, breathe and when you're ready to start the trigger pull, hold your breath until the gun goes off. I modified this to inhale, exhale, inhale, hold, let half out, shoot, exhale. And lately I have been just doing whatever I need to to keep the rifle as steady as possible, rest and scenario dependent.
The issue I was having was that with this never-before-handled rifle, I didn't know its trigger. The mil-spec pull was considerable harder than my bolt rifle's ~3.5lb 2-stage and the lever gun we have. So I would have to stay in the exhale, at the bottom of my breathing cycle, longer than the natural pause dictated. It wasn't an issue as we were only 15m away and only zeroing, but it got me thinking.
How can I make myself better at this kind of stuff? I immediately think dry firing, as that's how I've become proficient enough with our bolt guns to know exactly the length of the trigger and when to start my trigger pull in sync with my breathing, so it goes off exactly when I'm at a standstill.
How do y'all breathe when shooting?
How am I supposed to "build up" behind the gun and spread out legs in the prone? My issue is that I'm so skinny that the top of my shoulder area is hard to find a place to put the recoil pad. Shooting standing or sitting is different, as you all know, because you have the meaty front of your armpit to hold it against.
Thanks for any input.
I've shot MSRs before and know my way around one. But it was very cool to learn zeroing technique for 25/300 meters with the standard post and carry handle sights. I also had the tightest group out of all the cadets, so that was fun.
But here's something new I learned: breathing. We were told to go prone--either spread both your legs far out or keep one inline with gun-side--and breathe from our bellies and to shoot at the natural pause either at the exhale or inhale. Growing up I was taught to breathe, breathe, breathe and when you're ready to start the trigger pull, hold your breath until the gun goes off. I modified this to inhale, exhale, inhale, hold, let half out, shoot, exhale. And lately I have been just doing whatever I need to to keep the rifle as steady as possible, rest and scenario dependent.
The issue I was having was that with this never-before-handled rifle, I didn't know its trigger. The mil-spec pull was considerable harder than my bolt rifle's ~3.5lb 2-stage and the lever gun we have. So I would have to stay in the exhale, at the bottom of my breathing cycle, longer than the natural pause dictated. It wasn't an issue as we were only 15m away and only zeroing, but it got me thinking.
How can I make myself better at this kind of stuff? I immediately think dry firing, as that's how I've become proficient enough with our bolt guns to know exactly the length of the trigger and when to start my trigger pull in sync with my breathing, so it goes off exactly when I'm at a standstill.
How do y'all breathe when shooting?
How am I supposed to "build up" behind the gun and spread out legs in the prone? My issue is that I'm so skinny that the top of my shoulder area is hard to find a place to put the recoil pad. Shooting standing or sitting is different, as you all know, because you have the meaty front of your armpit to hold it against.
Thanks for any input.