I hear a lot of people saying you can't you can't shoot longer ranges from "feild positions". What is a "field position". Mine starts out with standing then sitting , kneeling and then prone. But I also use a long harris bi-pod with the last three. Then a tree a lots of times for the standing.If I am in heavy cover the bi-pod is in the pack. If Iam going to be wacthing a large opening for a time the bi-pod goes on the rifle. Also wants wrong with useing a pack or log or other object to help you shoot. Yes you can make long shot from "feild positions" if you just think about it. Nothing says you have to shoot with out surport. Again only shoot as far as you can hit your target with a killing shot. But saying you can't make long shoot from feild positions is wrong. Those who can't have to shoot more.
Posts: 19605 | Location: wis | Registered: 21 April 2001
I normally won't take shots over 100 yards from an offhand position, but in a sitting position I'm as comfortable as if I'm shooting off a bench. From a prone position using a log or backpack as a rest I am very comfortable out to my personal limit. I don't shoot much off a bench.
After practicing a lot at a 100, 200 and 300-meter range I�ve taken my longest shots on game using the sitting position with my elbows supported on my knees. Were I hunt it�s usually easier, and faster, to get into this position than finding a fallen log or such.
[This message has been edited by Wachtel (edited 01-02-2002).]
Posts: 544 | Location: Sweden | Registered: 27 October 2001
In regard to field shooting, in my part of the country, fields are usually pretty big, so I have little trouble hitting them even from an off-hand position.
Posts: 13245 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
Pdog: Believe it or not, we had a guy whose elevation was so screwed up on his rifle that he kept shooting over the hump of the fencerow into the next field and his bullets landing out of site, so we couldn't call his shots. In other words, he missed the entire field!
On another occasion, a greenhorn was shooting across the bed of his pickup using the near bedrail for a rest. Because he couldn't see the opposite bedrail in his scope, his first two shots hit it and never made it to the field. Another clean miss of the entire field!
I wonder which is harder to miss: the side of a barn, or a field?!
Posts: 13245 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
quote:Originally posted by Wachtel: After practicing a lot at a 100, 200 and 300-meter range I�ve taken my longest shots on game using the sitting position with my elbows supported on my knees. Were I hunt it�s usually easier, and faster, to get into this position than finding a fallen log or such.
[This message has been edited by Wachtel (edited 01-02-2002).]
I'd vote for the barn, if you are inside. Sitting has been the most useful for me, and I do about 70 percent of my practicing from it, the other 30 percent is kneeling. Get them elbows out ahead of the knees, and let your back muscles pull 'em into the hollows inside the kneecaps. Use a tight sling, it really helps, the Ching sling is fast enough to use in heavy cover.
I frequently shoot prone off a fanny pack, from a spot set up early in the day ( deer and antelope ). Closer shots I might take from sitting, rarely from standing.
Tom
Posts: 14620 | Location: Moreno Valley CA USA | Registered: 20 November 2000
I use whatever is available(tree,rock,dirt mound,etc). If that is not available,I like to use my backpack,from the prone. I shoot sitting pretty well,when using the upright stanchions on my pack frame. I thread the rifle between the two,keeping the pack's bag against my right knee and my left knee on the inside of the pack. It is sort of a twisting motion to get into,but lends itself well.
If the distance requires a solid rest,I find one. I've yet to pass up a shot,because I couldn't find suitable means of additional support.
Most shots I pass,are not due to not having a suitable "field" rest. Wind is the singlemost limiting factor(for me)...........
In the brush the shot often comes quick, and it is hard for me to remember to get into my sling, but I do as often as I can. I always try to find a good rest; tree, fence post, rock, or something. If I am in a sitting position, as in watching a good crossing or a creekbank, then I will often make a rest if I have to. I found that there is almost always a forked limb close to where I am sitting, I trim it for length and fit, and bot-a-bing, one rest made to order. Hardly ever shot at anything in prone, other than targets. Ground to unlevel for that.
Good luck and good shooting
Posts: 849 | Location: Between Doan's Crossing and Red River Station | Registered: 22 July 2001
My general rule of thumb is. I get as close to the ground as terrain will allow. Exept sitting position. To many corn chips My fanny pack, logs, fence posts and my friend Jim have all made good rests in the past. I'm thinking about getting and trying some sort of shooting sticks. I'm just getting to old to through myself to the ground anymore.
By the way stonecreek. My step brother missed the broad side of thier barn when he was a kid. He's lucky streak didn't end there either. The bullet struck a rock, and came back to hit him in the stomach. He is alive and well, but he hates it when someone asks him about that scar X-Ring
------------------ Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!
If your living like there is no HELL, you better be right!
I shoot my best from the prone position if shots will be long and the terrain will allow it. Most of my shots on game animals have been offhand inside of 100 yards though but the biggest buck I have killed I was standing when I spotted him but had to risk being caught setting down to take a rest off of my knee cap because buck fever set in and my left arm just refused to cooperate.
When the shot permits, I prefer a kind of half sit half kneel that gives me good stability. I can assume it quickly by just plumping down. I virtually never shoot pure offhand, although my biggest bear to date was precisely that.
Posts: 36231 | Location: Laughing so hard I can barely type. | Registered: 21 April 2001
My fanny pack, logs, fence posts and my friend Jim have all made good rests in the past. I'm thinking about getting and trying some sort of shooting sticks. I'm just getting to old to through myself to the ground anymore.
