What does recoil tell you about your form..

[Kramerica]

So I was testing some ammo that I rolled up myself at 300 yards today. I noticed after the shot every time the reticle would land high and to the left about 1 to 2 Mils (at 300) measured with my reticle. The question is,is that normal or excessive and what in my form do I need to change? Shooting prone off a bipod and rear bag.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Youre doing good if you have a regular bipod (not a ski) because itll bounce to a different loading

 

[Kramerica]

Never heard of a ski bipod I just googled it though. I have a Atlas bipod

 

[dcali]

If you don't want it to jump, you need to experiment with your position- the alignment of the rifle, butt plate height, bipod height (the atlas is not great for that), your hold firmness, location of your hips, legs, etc. If you get it all just right, it won't move much.

 

[T-shooter]

Reduce your cheek pressure on the stock to keep it from going to the left.

 

[Kramerica]

Reduce your cheek pressure on the stock to keep it from going to the left.

I’ll keep that in mind next time And try that out. It was more left movement the vertical wasn’t as bad. Thanks

 

[1shot]

Reduce your cheek pressure on the stock to keep it from going to the left.

Assuming you are a right handed shooter. If you are shooting left handed, it will be in the reverse.

Lloyd

 

[fatelvis]

Youre doing good if you have a regular bipod (not a ski) because itll bounce to a different loading

Could you please elaborate on this? I assumed the skis were good, as they permitted sliding under recoil, instead of torquing, like on a bipod. Thanks-

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Could you please elaborate on this? I assumed the skis were good, as they permitted sliding under recoil, instead of torquing, like on a bipod. Thanks-

Exactly. A ski will slide

 

[Bart B.]

My windage zeros shot standing without a sling as well as sitting and prone with a sling have always been 1 to 2 MOA right from zeros got sitting at a bench shouldering the rifle as it rests on bags under fore end and butt stock.

 

[ShootDots]

Recoil and form are intricately tied together.. EXAMPLE: let's say I am at a 600 yard F-Class match and there is a very mild, say 3m.p.h. wind, running left to right. I find from my sighters to hold just outside the 10 ring at the 9 o'clock position. I start my "going for record" shooting. I am pounding the X ring and I get on a roll. At some point I may get laxed in my shooting, getting too comfortable and I don't pay attention to my shooting. All of a sudden I FEEL the rifle recoil differently and I am thinking "this 'taint good, it is not going to be an X or maybe even a 10".. Low and behold, the target comes up and the shot is in the 9 ring somewhere. WHY? I may have held "slightly" "wrong / differently" doing something inconsistent with the previous shots. But "slightly" different, translated into "slightly" missing the 10 ring! Holding the rifle the exact same way, with the exact same pressure, will translate into shooting to the same point of impact! I have done this same thing many, many times..

 

[Ray B]

Back in the day, I fired an M14 for qualification, using a tight sling. One string I recall well was sitting position at 200 yards. We had 50 seconds from standing to drop into sitting position, check our body alignment, when set fire 5 shots, change magazines, fire five more, clear the rifle. In proper position the shooters offside bicep rested on his shin and his body was wrapped around and to the rifle. When relaxed, not using muscles to push the rifle one way or another, the shooter should be able to look through his sights and see the front post resting on the target. On this day when I sat into position, closed my eyes, took a breath, opened, looked through the sights, I was off target; so I squirmed around to get my alignment on target. I moved my body relative to the ground, not the rifle relative to my body. closed, breathed, opened; wrong place again. Seconds ticked off, shooters around me firing away, I had yet to fire a round. Squirm around some more. Close, breath, open. Ah ha!! Front post in the bottom of the black of the D target. Fire away, The rifle recoiled back and straight up. My body rocked back forward, dropping the barrel straight down through the target, In the black, fire, recoil, recover repeat, change magazine, close eyes breath, look- in the black, fire, repeat. To my surprise the targets didn't drop down leaving me with a bunch of saved rounds, to the contrary, I fired all ten, then sat there for at least 15 seconds before the 50 seconds elapsed. I recall my trigger squeeze being a little slow on one occasion, which resulted in a low hit, just below the 5 ring, but the remainder were in the 5 ring and a nice pattern of about 4" in diameter. Since it took 10-15 seconds to get situated, and I had about 15 seconds remaining, another 5 seconds for magazine change and recheck- that means I fired 10 shots in the span of 15-20 seconds placing 9 in the bull, 1 just out. That score was possible because I used no muscles to keep the rifle aimed and my alignment was such that at rest, the rifle pointed at the target and the hold was such that the rifle recoiled straight back and slightly up each time, sliding back down to the pre-fire position.

I the hold of the rifle allows for the rifle move differently during recoil from shot to shot the barrel will be pointed in a slightly different direction as the bullet leaves the muzzle, which will result in less than desired groups. Practice at keeping the various things into which the rifle recoils the same and you will see your groups shrink.

 

[370bc]

After shooting my T3x Tikka in 270 win for about a year now, with one of the poorest designed stocks I have ever encountered, (In my Opinion), The recoil management is almost unmanageable w/o an almost bearhug type hold on the stock. This experience is leading me to believe that the higher top of comb, like what a Manners stock has, (So high, the cheek is routed out for bolt removal), would be what I would need to reduce felt recoil, and manage it with at least a 70% increase in improvement. Also, add an adjustable butt plate to fit in the shoulder pocket more repeatable.
Can I shoot good groups with it as is? Yes, for me. Would a Manners type be an improvement with recoil management, with the elements you describe? I would certainly think so. I might be wrong, not having owning a custom stock yet.

 

[Bart B.]

As long as the rifle recoil the same from shot to shot, all's well in Accuracyville.

It's normal that several people will have different sight zeros shooting the same rifle and ammo. A 1 to 2 MOA difference is common. Rifle will recoil repeatable for each but different amounts and directions compared to each shooter. Seen this happen every time hot gunning the same rifle and ammo in team matches.

 

[ClassCat]

No matter what your technique, consistancy is the key.