Rifle Shooting, Standing Up

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charlesb
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Rifle Shooting, Standing Up

Post by charlesb » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:40 pm

Today I decided to try shooting on my feet for a change, instead of from the bench.

I had some military surplus .308 ammunition, FMJ that I had bought for my son's Ruger American bolt gun, but the American didn't like that ammo. - It would chamber it, but only with some effort. - The American chambered regular sporting .308s just fine, though.

The only other .308 around the house is my new BLR... I cycled a couple rounds of the milsurp ammo through it in the shop, and it did just fine, and that's when I got the idea about shooting from a standing position, as the BLR was specifically bought as a hunting rifle.

When I got to the range, it turned out that some kind soul had recently put up a new 100 yard gong, a steel plate 2" thick and about 18 inches in diameter, swinging from a couple of chains.

The old gong had really deteriorated, it looked like Swiss cheese.

I filled the magazine on the BLR and tried some offhand shots with the scope at it's highest magnification, 7X.

I haven't shot a rifle standing up in years, I almost always get hunkered down behind it on a bench, these days.

It didn't take me long to discover that my old silhouette shooting technique did not work out well for the little BLR, and that a firm grip on the fore-end was required.

After a couple of clips the BLR's barrel got pretty warm, and I remembered that I had a second gun in the van, a Mauser in 7mm Rem mag that I had been shooting earlier in the day, trying to burn up some factory ammo so that I would have once-fired brass to reload. The Mauser has a hard plastic butt-plate and had hurt my shoulder a bit on the bench, so I still had plenty of 7mm mag ammo left...

Shooting it standing up though, it was much more comfortable so I alternated between the two rifles, letting one cool while I shot the other.

I considered the idea of sitting, or laying down to shoot, but I had no pad and the goat-head stickers endemic to west Texas kind of nixed that idea... I decided to just shoot from a standing position, today.

It's a good thing that I did. The two guns are my big game hunting rifles, and trying to shoot them offhand reminded me that shooting from a bench does not really prepare one for a hunt.

I developed a hold for both of the rifles that worked for standing up. Next time, I'll bring a pad so that I can try other positions.

For a hunting rifle, the bench is good for getting it sighted-in, but after that I guess it's really best to shoot it like you might do in the field, in various positions.

The new gong hanging on chains worked out OK. If I shot to the right or left, it would rotate instead of just swinging back and forth, so I had an idea about how well I was doing without having to walk all the way out there to hang up a paper target.

It sure was fun!

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Post by Bullseye » Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:49 am

Another benefit; your head position on the stock while standing is different than it is shooting from the bench.

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Post by greener » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:04 pm

You can shoot one standing up? :lol:

Every now and then I remember that I should remember how and shoot a few rounds.

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charlesb
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Post by charlesb » Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:09 pm

Well, I didn't say anything about shooting it real good - but after some initial confusion I finally did get to where I was shooting the gun while standing up.

Next time I intend to pursue the other extreme, and try to shoot it while laying down.

That ought to be pretty relaxing, if I remember to bring my pad so the goat-head stickers don't get me.

As far as I can remember, I have never shot a firearm while laying down, if we don't count that time I accidentally shot a hole in the ceiling from bed, trying to clear a Walther P-38 while half-asleep.

The hot brass landed on my chest and for a few seconds there, I thought that I had shot myself.

I had a few stents put in a couple of weeks back... With the medication they have me on, goat-head stickers can be life-threatening. - I just bleed and bleed, once anything gets me started.

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Post by bigfatdave » Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:19 pm

Odd, I've never managed to find any interest in shooting from a bench.
Position shooting is much more interesting, as far as I'm concerned.

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Post by charlesb » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:33 pm

bigfatdave wrote:Odd, I've never managed to find any interest in shooting from a bench.
Position shooting is much more interesting, as far as I'm concerned.
I agree about that.

Most of my shooting is from a bench because I enjoy working on guns as much, or perhaps more than shooting them. Shooting from the bench is more about what the gun will do, and less about what I can do. It gives me a better idea of the gun's condition by eliminating as many variables as possible.

Having recently moved into an area where the hunting is interesting though, I am getting set up to hunt so learning how to shoot from position is a must.

It sure is fun! Maybe by next hunting season I'll have practiced position shooting enough to make the 3k lease fees worthwhile.

To be honest though, if it were practicable to haul a concrete bench with a sun-shade around with me, I would. - But that's just me. As it is, I'll be happy if the cactus and the goat-head stickers don't perforate me too much when I do get a shot at a trophy Muley, Elk, or Aoudad sheep, etc..

It's fun to be doing something different in any case, I'm glad that I moved to west Texas.

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