Elcan Reticule Explanation

Bolivar said:
You gonna share that standing technique with the rest of us? :D
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Way back when, (probably 3rd hand from someone else, but attributed to Ron) I picked up something from Ron about "circles" and I always remember it - but I do something with straight lines that I like better.

Essentially - Ron does a bit of self-talk..."smaller, smaller, smaller" while he circles is muzzle. And it gets tighter and tighter -- releases the shot somewhere in the V bull.

Why not just hold it steady? Seems that there is ALWAYS movement - so by doing his circles, HE is in control.

I do same thing but vertically. Between the wind and "fat and old," the reticle tends to wobble around the bullseye a lot... So I take control of it and begin a deliberate sweep-- up and down. Somewhere between Issac Newton and Karma -- this momentum takes over and seems to eliminate the horizontal movement. (Good! One less thing!) And the movement that is there, vertically -- I am in control of --- so I slow it down (smaller, smaller, smaller) and release wehn I want to.

Accuracy demands are more onerous in US National Match 200 y standing "slow-fire" (with irons) than in our Match 4 with the massive 12 inch bullseye. But our match has different challenges, since it is a rundown, and a snap. The process I described needs to happen after sweinging up from low-ready, and you have to be done with it in under 5 seconds...

Holding -- I used to hold the mag well, and I still do in most matches out of C7 habit -- but the little bit amount of shift you might get from supporting a fore-end with your hand, even with an un-floated barrel is no big deal on a 12 inch bull at 100m. So I now hold up further on the fore-end. Not way up near teh gas-block --- just a comfortable and well-supported grasp. (Finger pointing at the target..)
 
NavyShooter said:
TB,

It's my thread, and I like where it's gone...derailed or not.


NS
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Since I figure you're in the Navy... I will give you a teaser. The shopping in SOHO thing is Bruce D's fault. It's a long story. This is as short as I can get it... and it was becasue we had just watched "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" in the shacks the night before. (Bruce and I had to translate for the team which was mostly R22eR)

We were looking for a gag purchase to slip into the Team WO's carry-on baggage for the return trip. I was "marvelling" at the immense cost of an all-inclusive package with devices and attachments for every conceivable need -- and Bruce tells me-- "That's a rip-off.... you can get the same thing in Copenhagen for half that price!"

Kind of unsettled me that the navy feller has done "comp shopping" for this sort of thing in every Atlantic port....
 
OK...officially de-railed as we segue into Soho shopping...LOL

As for learning the Standing? Well, c'mon out to the range with me and I'll show you. Easiest to show rather than tell...basically though, instead of moving my body to break aim between exposures, my left arm simply slides down the fore-stock, allowing the barrel to drop. When the target pops up again, my hand slides to the rear on the forestock, ends at the mag-well, pushing the rifle up into my LOS, my eye finds the optic, the rifle settles into place, I exhale as the rifle rises, slowly squeeze, and BANG, drop another one in the chops.

:)

NS
 
NavyShooter said:
OK...officially de-railed as we segue into Soho shopping...LOL

As for learning the Standing? Well, c'mon out to the range with me and I'll show you. Easiest to show rather than tell...basically though, instead of moving my body to break aim between exposures, my left arm simply slides down the fore-stock, allowing the barrel to drop. When the target pops up again, my hand slides to the rear on the forestock, ends at the mag-well, pushing the rifle up into my LOS, my eye finds the optic, the rifle settles into place, I exhale as the rifle rises, slowly squeeze, and BANG, drop another one in the chops.

:)

NS
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Agreed on the position. Many moons ago, one school of thought on this was to maintain the rigid position of the rifle in your shoulder and your arm alignment -- coming into the low ready by craning forward down below 45 degrees, and lifting your head away fromthe sight to keep it legal. Essentially "gaming" the rulebook as far as "coming out of the aim" goes.

Problem being - fat and old (relative terms, of course) are interfering with that technique. Plus, it turns out that the tight position, etc. etc. aren't as critical with the huge 12 inch bulseye as getting up into position SMOOTHLY (Smooth is fast)

What you described is what I sort of evolved into doing.

I think the craning around and cheek weld thing was a hangover from C7A1 (and FNC1) days with iron sights when it was harder to get alignment and eye relief quickly...
 
The physics of it work in your favour as well when moving the rifle instead of the body.

Consider the movement of a pendulum. Swing it into place, and the inertia of it will cause it to swing past. The heavier the item, the more inertia it has.

Move your upper body...how much inertia does your upper body have? Lots. Especialyl when compared to just a 7 pound rifle. If you swing your upper body, it's going to go past, and you'll have to correct. If you move just a 7 pound rifle, there will be less muscle required to control it as compared to your upper body.

That alone makes it better...but consider what happens as you slide you hand along the handguard (headed for "home" at the front of the mag-well)....the initial push UP as your hand moves along the hand rail transitions from an upward push into a rearward push...the rifle settles at the peak of your hand's upward motion, and is then pressed rearward into your shoulder...giving you firm seating into the shoulder for recoil control.

All that, plus the consistentcy factor....your hand always goes to the same point on the mag well.

YMMV, but this has been a VERY successful position for me. That said, I've fired probably 20,000 rounds (between fullbore and smallbore) to practice this motion. Be prepared to invest time in dry-fire practice and live to get this down pat.

NS
 
Good stuff guys! I have a different take on standing that works very well for me and really translates into the same thing whatever position I'm shooting from. Since my focus is making each shot truly subconscious, whatever the position I'm in, my only job is to break the shot when the sight picture is correct. Therefore I don't worry about what my body is allowing the rifle to do ie: how large or small my holding pattern is. My body is only capable of a certain size holding pattern and trying to hold smaller is both distracting and not really possible. I just focus on correct sight picture. When its correct its like the rifle fires itself. This is why I train with a single shot .22 from the standing position only to reinforce the subconscious aspect of breaking the shot when the sight picture is correct. Something else to think about/try.
 
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