General Update at 14th March 2011

I've left this alone because due to academic commitments and lack of consistent training opportunities my shooting results have not been usefully progressive lately. Since I've had a bit over a week of solid training sessions now though, I feel justified in doing some writing up.

In the first place, the new position I've been developing so long has been battle tested and has come through with flying colours. It's solid, stable and comfortable for the length of a match, which is something I've never had before. I played around with a couple of variations on it over the last while to refine it and the following are the results.

1. A straight wrist, at the expense of some hand contact (it sits slightly more into the V of the thumb and forefinger than along the base of the thumb is much more solid, and doesn't compromise the comfort enough to make it a bad idea as I can still comfortably get twenty or more shots off quickly with no numbness or discomfort.

2. The left shoulder is slightly cocked. This allows for very strong contact between the trigger hand elbow and the mat, allowing freedom of movement and grip strength from the elbow down.

3. A slight cant allows a comfortable head position and a good attack on the trigger with a strong grip.

4. A high left knee gives plenty of pressure behind the rifle in the left shoulder, good ability to breathe and locks the right hip solidly in place, which seems to give a distinct feeling in the right elbow and leads to the left elbow dropping comfortably and consistently into place and locking the structure together.

5. A head position which is solid without being forceful complements the other elements of the position to give a firm clamp around the rifle, leading to small recoil and tight groups. A firm clamp around the rifle also makes good trigger control easy.

There are some tricks to this new position, which I'll outline now for future reference and to give voice to the process.

When I get down on the mat, I pull the corner of the right side of the jacket under me down towards the groin, then let it slacken very slightly as I settle on it.

I clip into the handstop and push my right elbow forward in a straight line until it rests naturally on the back of the elbow. There must be no tension in the tricep and the position should feel relatively high at this point.

I make sure the right side of me runs straight to the foot by extending the leg so I can feel the straight extension of the spine. I then turn the heel of the foot outwards which digs in the edge of the foot and locks that element of the position in place.

I raise the left knee until the sensation of the right hip digging into the mat is experienced and breathe deeply to confirm that the ribcage is limited in contact. The knee remains in place and the leg from the knee down can be used to very slightly tweak zero position.

When placing the rifle in the shoulder, the top of the buttplate should be drawn in until the hook cannot be felt contacting under the arm. When the rifle is loaded, the cheek is located on the cheekpiece, the shoulder is rotated until the buttplate sits without tension, the cocked shoulder is flattened slightly and the left elbow is leaned into, with the final check being a relaxation to feel the delicate pressure balances between the shoulder, the elbow and the pistol grip. A breath will confirm that the zero position is good and if not, this last step is the most likely source of issue and can be easily repeated until satisfied.

While delicacy is required to construct the geometry from the left shoulder to the hand and to ensure proper placement of the buttplate and hook, when achieved, fast shooting with an extremely good hold, good recoil and an easy follow through is readily achieved. This can only be built on, so I'm happy.

Scores have fluctuated quite unpredictably lately, but I'm beginning to get to grips with my consistency and comfort and expect good things in future. I shot fifteen quick shots tonight, and dropped two I called and one I didn't, which could be something I didn't see or might be the cheap ammo. It's not important in any case. Far more significant is that I buried almost all of the rest in the inner ten, including those I shot rapid, without a scope, to check the flexibility of the position under pressure.

I hesitate to be too optimistic when the position still needs a successful match to advocate it, but I do feel I'm on the brink of a useful step forward. There's a match in Midlands on the 3rd of April which will hopefully verify this.