This is also from Lou Hallamore's book IN THE SALT.

This is the WRONG way to use the shooting sticks

This is the RIGHT way to use the shooting sticks.

What do you think?

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

I think he has it the wrong way around.

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Regards

Richard

It would depend on where the gun shot when held this way, but unless it was a hard kicker I don't see why you need to hold it like that.

Also this hold would only work with a tripod type of setup like he has here. If you only have 2 sticks then you have to hold it like the "wrong" way, otherwise they will fall.

I think you need to have Walter teach him the proper way of using them, like in his video!

Hallamores - "wrong" and "right" are O.K. for him if that is what works for him. I can't criticize because I haven't seen his results.

I've used both the tripods and bipods. Tall ones for standing and short ones for sitting. The tripods are more stable because they don't wobble forwards and backwards but they can become annoying after dragging them around for several days. I also use them as a walking stick but too many legs flail around and have to be laced together which slows down aiming while unlacing them.

On standing shots out to 150 yards I don't need sticks. Out to 200 - 250 yards I find that a tree gives me a better rest. And in low brush and open country a sitting position with a sling works just fine.

For 300 yard, plus, shots sticks just won't cut it - for me.

Kendall

Like a lot of British Stalkers, I use crossed sticks extensively. My own method is probably nearer what Hallamore considers wrong. I have two problems with his prefered method...the first is that in his system, the sticks could act as a "pivot" as you have 3 points of contact, and secondly I prefer some sort of cushioning between the sticks and the stock...this usually takes the form of my hand. Now personally I don't care which method he uses if he has success, but to say in print that the "normal" method is wrong could be very misleading to some people....

Pete

From my limited experience with sticks (using 2 not 3) I would rather lean against a tree or something but I have found that the closer I put the sticks to the trigger guard (within reason) the steadier the shot. For me this is about half way between the end of the stock and the trigger guard. If I get to close to the forend I get an "up & down" pivot effect.

Personally... I agree with the pictures. I shoot better using this method. Heck if you are standing there is no reason to hold the fore end. Just hold the sticks steady and take the recoil. Kinda like shooting off the sand bags.

I used them as in the 1st picture. My rifle has a sling and I used it as a buffer between the sticks and the rifle.

Everything died so it works or I'm really lucky.

Ski+3

Hey... I guess I read the captions wrong...
I DO NOT do it as the pictures recomended. I DO NOT hold the fore end. I hold the sticks and just steady the rifle with my left hand... Like I shoot off a sand bag.
Sorr for my confused state...

I don't like either illustrated technique. I prefer the tripod sticks with the rifle's forearm resting out near its tip and my hand gripping the forearm in the normal manner I would shoot off hand.

It does seem that the sticks are derigueur in Africa, so some practice with them before hand will ingratiate one with most PH's.

How does Saeed think the technique is best executed?

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Good huntin', shootin', and spear chuckin',
RAB

I must be all screwed up. I put my left wrist into the joint of the sticks and hold onto the rifle with that hand. Of course I've only shot four animals with sticks so what do I know?

Sarge

First let me say I don't shoot well off the "STICKS", but when I do, I hold the rifle in my hands, and use the sticks to steady my hand under the forestock, as Oldsarge describes. I never let my rifle touch a rest of any kind.

The only place I find the sticks to be of great value, for me, is in high grass, where one must sometimes shoot at distance from a standing position, for a precice bullet placement. Otherwise I snapp shoot, lean my fore wrist against a tree, or drop to my butt, and brace over my knees.

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..Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY DESIGNS
Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art

I have not hunted Africa and have never used a tripod set up.

I do use bipod sticks quite regularly around Wyoming. I always wear a leather glove on my left hand and rest my hand within the V of the sticks. With my .375 I use a wrap around grip at the forenend of the stock again with my hand in the V. I prefer to avoid stock contact with the sticks.

This has worked very well for me. Whether it is feasible for African hunting I cannot say.

Regards,

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~Holmes

"Those who appease a tiger do so in the hope that the tiger will eat them last."
-Winston Churchill

I was taught to shoot in Army, although I had been target shooting at Bisley with 303 No4 rifle with target aperture sights and a two point sling since the age of 13.

I clearly remember the advice to NEVER EVER rest the rifle fore end on a hard object.

That is good advice but I have always used my twin sticks as in phot one. I find it so much more steadier. I have had very good results with this method.

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Regards

Richard

I do not like the shooting-stick set-up illustrated above for the simple fact that it is not that stable. I used a similar set-up as above when shooting plains game at distances of 180 to 300 yards and really did not like it...after some practice (missing)I was able to control the tripod and the rifle sufficiently to make clean killing shots and I did so by standing sidways and grasping the tripod and the rifle where they met. And I still did not like using that set-up. And it was the wrong way to use shooting sticks according to the illustrations above. I think that when using shooting sticks--bipods or tripods--the dame things have to be thick and sturdy and stable....the tripod above looks to have none of these characteristics.

Robert

I dislike using shooting sticks, and thus try to avoid them as much as possible...

However I have shot a few animals using them. I try to place the rifle�s forend along the sling on the shooting sticks and I grab the forend firmly. I have brained several hippo at around 100 m with my 416.

I think that the "right" or "wrong" setup depends on the caliber of the rifle, and how you sighted it in. Due to the high recoil, I cannot shoot my 416 properly in the usual benchrest manner. So I sight in the rifle holding the forearm... I guess I would shoot high if I did not hold the forearm.

Antonio

The shooting sticks I encountered in the Tuli Block and the Okavango were anything but sturdy. They sucked big time. Flimsy springy affairs of crooked skinny saplings bound together and wrapped on the ends with rubber straps from an innertube. They were not a solid/hard/firm object to rest the forearm on. Placing a cap or glove in the crotch of the sticks, if they are not well wrapped in rubber and if you have time, makes a good place to rest the forend and allows a good grip with the supporting hand. And the "rest" of the forearm is a light one, just enough to control the weeble and wobble. The shooter's hands bear the weight as if shooting off hand. The sticks merely steady the rifle.

Of course one never should rest a barrel on anything. The method of resting the hand or wrist of the supporting hand on the sticks is good, except for powerful rifles that might drag that gripping hand or a protruding knuckle back violently through the sticks. That can be painful.

Some of my best shooting has been done when I whip my hat off and stick it between the tree branch and the rifle forearm/forend, leaning up against a handy tree trunk or off the top of a fence post. I shot a fallow deer at 342 yards with a 416 Rigby Ruger No.1 rested against a tree trunk and my hat. And a coyote at 250 yards with a 25-06 rested on my hat off a fence post. Like shooting off the bags of a benchrest almost.

I have always done well shooting from the sitting position also. For example, one shot instant kill of a 350 pound black bear at 200 yards.

The shooting sticks did work great in Africa. Forearm on rubber crotch of tripod, both hands gripping rifle firmly:

Buffalo heart dead center at 75 yards.

Wildebeest dead center at 175 yards.

Red Lechwe Portuguese heart shot at 150 yards.

Impala dead center at 75 yards...all good first shot hits off shooting sticks.

Kudu at 200 yards wounded due to brush deflection, not the shooting sticks' fault, tracked for seven hours and finished offhand on the run.

Warthog shot offhand at 150 yards, required a finisher too.

Sometimes I get lucky one shot kills of running game offhand: Kodiak Sitka deer at 150 yards, Coyote at 100 yards. But for long range shots at standing game, I know I seem to get more one shot kills with the sticks than offhand. They do help.

I think shooting sticks are O.K. if you have time and stealth enough to set them up, and if you can't get a sitting or prone or leaned-up-against-a-tree rest.

My PH told me to advise anyone coming to Africa to practice with the shooting sticks. He didn't have any corrections to make on my style, but maybe he was just thinking of his tip. Do what works best for you. Try them and find out.

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Good huntin', shootin', and spear chuckin',
RAB

[This message has been edited by R. A. Berry (edited 09-26-2001).]

The shooting sticks have always been a source of fun for all of us in Africa.

I love to use them. My PH is taller than me, and he tends to place them far too high for me. So I have learnt to just grap them from the top and lean them towards me - holding them just where Mr. Hallamore says is the wrong way to do it.

Last year Walter was trying to shoot some francolines, and when he missed a couple, Roy put up the shooting sticks for him to use - with a shotgun on flying birds!

Walter was not too happy about this, so as soon as Roy put the sticks up, Walter fired 4 shots in quick succession - before Roy had a chance to put his fingers in his ears!

Roy was swearing like mad, saying he cannot hear any more. We tried to help by talking in whispers.

That made it worse, as Roy did not appreciate our concern for his ears.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

You can't really base your decision on whether you like sticks until you've tried a few different types. There are many and varied configurations. In the UK a straight sturdy beech stick of eye level or a pair which can be uncrossed to act as a bipod are very popular.

There are other types one of which can be seen in the product review section of Deer-UK. These are 4 sticks which unship to allow the butt to be supported aswell. You may laugh and right now ,I do to, but if I get the 500acres of arable Roe stalking I'm after they'll be arriving the next day. Dead flat country with no cover means 200-250yard standing shots may have to be taken at small targets.

So it's horses for courses but don't judge all from one.

(Will I be able to do without a stick Moose hunting? - feels like taking a crutch away)