Texas Hunting Forum

Prone shooting, breathing, and questions

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.
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/08/18 10:44 PM

I would consider getting to do the ruck March as lucky. Shooting paper is boring.
Posted By: luv2brode

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/08/18 11:45 PM

should have done both hit the range then run the march or half march to range and half back done
Posted By: jeffbird

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/08/18 11:50 PM

Chital,

take a few breaths, exhale normally, and when the breath cycle is relaxed at the bottom of the cycle there are a few seconds squeeze off the shot. Do not inhale and hold your breath as that is less consistent than shooting at the bottom of the breath cycle.
Posted By: 68A

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 12:06 AM

Originally Posted By: SapperTitan
I would consider getting to do the ruck March as lucky. Shooting paper is boring.


I’d agree with this.

If you really wanna practice though, stick your cleaning rod in the muzzle and have someone balance a washer or dime on the rod. Practice until you can breathe and squeeze the trigger without it falling. Do this with whatever weapon they issue you.
Posted By: Texas buckeye

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 01:28 AM

Nah the real fun is when you put on a gas mask and you can’t even aim anymore but just kind of make the gun and extension of your body and can still hit every mark...that’s fun.

But I was in the Air Force and we didn’t do 12 mile ruck marches, we drove or flew... roflmao

To answer your question, I shoot the same way you were taught, breathe and at the exhale shoot. I do end up
Taking some creep out of the stock triggers and holding tension some, but not a lot, and then on the exhale will Pause for a bit and squeeze the shot off. On triggers I know (my guns) I know exactly how
Much creep to take up during the cycle before squeezing just enough to get the shot off. This would be my AR with two stage Gisselle, excellent trigger. On my bolt rifles, they are set low enough and with such small
Amount of creep (none) that it is easy to get a crisp squeeze and shoot at the bottom of my exhale. I also try to get a good follow thru on the shot, similar to bow hunting and try not to jerk off the gun or look for the hit, just let the recoil be absorbed by your shoulder and “follow” through.

One of the most important aspects of marksmanship is good breathing cycle and trigger control. You can almost walk up and down the shooting range and see who is getting good groups and who has bad groups based on jerky trigger and poor breathing control.
Posted By: chital_shikari

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 12:35 PM

Originally Posted By: luv2brode
should have done both hit the range then run the march or half march to range and half back done
That wasn't an option.

Originally Posted By: SapperTitan
I would consider getting to do the ruck March as lucky. Shooting paper is boring.
I don't get to shoot enough to find any type of shooting boring. I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.
Posted By: jeffbird

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 04:26 PM

Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Posted By: wp75169

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 04:30 PM

Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.


Plus eat right. If your frame is as you say that’s fine, you can build what you want in 6 weeks but diet will be the key
Posted By: RiverRider

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 05:10 PM

Yup, and do it while you're young. It'll pay off as you age.
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 06:18 PM

Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
14 minute 2 mile isn’t gonna cut it as a platoon leader lol.
Posted By: jeffbird

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 07:34 PM

Originally Posted By: SapperTitan
Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
14 minute 2 mile isn’t gonna cut it as a platoon leader lol.


If he is only walking 1.5 miles and passing on marches during nice weather, then a 7 minute pace for two miles is going to be a significant goal.


Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 08:01 PM

Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: SapperTitan
Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
14 minute 2 mile isn’t gonna cut it as a platoon leader lol.


If he is only walking 1.5 miles and passing on marches during nice weather, then a 7 minute pace for two miles is going to be a significant goal.


if he wants to be the slowest LT in his unit that will be a good goal.
Posted By: jeffbird

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 08:08 PM

wink Not disagreeing, but he is not going from walking 1.5 miles to running a 6 minute pace in one move.

Give him goals he can attain.
Posted By: Brother in-law

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 09:33 PM


Not gonna make it
Posted By: chital_shikari

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 10:26 PM

I walk 1.5 miles just going from my car to my classes and back to my car. That's what I was referring to. It's no big deal.
The point of bringing that up was to respond to ST comment about how shooting paper is boring. For me, walking is boring. Shooting isn't boring for me. Not yet and probably never. And while I relatively enjoy ruck marches, this was the first opportunity to go shooting with ROTC and I wasn't going to pass it up.

I'm not worried about my 2-mile. I'm taking the spring record APFT on the 20th, if you're so inclined to know how I do, I'll post my results.

back
Posted By: jeffbird

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/09/18 11:01 PM

Good luck to you chital, I really hope you succeed.
Posted By: RiverRider

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/10/18 12:25 AM

Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Good luck to you chital, I really hope you succeed.


+1
Posted By: chital_shikari

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/10/18 03:24 AM

Originally Posted By: RiverRider
Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Good luck to you chital, I really hope you succeed.


+1
Thank you so much!!!
Posted By: luv2brode

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/12/18 12:14 AM

Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: SapperTitan
Originally Posted By: jeffbird
Originally Posted By: chital_shikari
..I do walk 1.5 miles every day and that got boring pretty quickly.

Thanks for the input everyone.


Chital,

if your goal is to be a leader of men, a leader of fighting men, you have to start living a life of being in the lead.

How you do anything is how you will do everything.

Instead of walking 1.5 miles, get up at 5 a.m. and run 3 - 5 miles 6 days a week.

Make it a goal to be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes - i.e. sub 7 minute miles.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
14 minute 2 mile isn’t gonna cut it as a platoon leader lol.


If he is only walking 1.5 miles and passing on marches during nice weather, then a 7 minute pace for two miles is going to be a significant goal.




shoot I don't know that any of our butter bars were any better than that. unless they had a tab, maybe, heck my best run was 11 min usually pushing 13-14 minutes myself but I was the old man when I went in. I was 26
Posted By: RiverRider

Re: Prone shooting, breathing, and questions - 04/12/18 01:11 AM

When you're a young buck going from zero to hero isn't such a tough road. Different story once you're in your 30s.
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