In this issue: Re: Shooting boot adjustment Re: Fitness Mirage FWB P70 vs Steyr LPG10 / CURT vs SCATT Great Rifle Email Challenge (postal) Standing position (long) Optical system ******************************************************************** > What kind of adjustments to your shooting boots are made from position > to position? I notice that the there is an adjustent on the back of the boot. > How is that used? Let us have a look at the rules first. The UIT Special Technical Rules for rifle disciplines, edition 1997 state in Art. 4.8.1.2: "Only one shooting jacket, only one pair of shooting trousers and only one pair of shooting boots may be approved by the Equipment Control for each shooter for all rifle events in any championship. This does not prevent the shooter using ordinary trousers or normal athletic type training shoes..." (I assume you are a right-handed shooter. If not, simply switch right for left in the following text). Prone: As Michael said, there are shooters that do not use them while shooting prone. Others wear normal shoes or tennis shoes that do not require to be examined by the Equipment Control (assumed they are inferior in stabilising quality to commercially available shooting boots). The choice boots/no boots depends of the needs of the shooter; some want to have more freedom when shooting prone. I would personally recommend you to put the shooting boots on, for several reasons: - They keep your feet warm better than any other allowed alternative - The stabilising effect can be used also in prone; you can make use of the shape of the sole, the firmness of the material, the weight of the boots and the high friction coefficient of the material and the side of the sole. - Once placed, they remain where you need them to have. - You will save time when changing to the standing position. The boots are put on loosened on the front, you might also have the back of the left boot loosened. This helps blood circulation and allows you to make more fine adjustments of the position (try to move the toe of the right foot when in position and watch the sights). Standing: Everything is tightened up is the simple form of the recommendation. When tightening the front, put your attention to the fact that the tying has to be firm, but has to allow for free movement of the toes and blood circulation. If you feel pain or pressure, loosen up. Tighten the boots when sitting on a chair, first tighten the front, then put the boot on the heel and let the foot slip backwards; you might help it by a soft kick backwards against the floor. Then tighten up the rest. Tips and tricks: You can alter your balance by adding cardboard under your toes or heels in the boot. When shooting, your soles are deprived of blood. Make a slight movement allowing the blood flow in without changing the geometry of the position. Make sure your nails are not too long; this causes disturbing feelings while shooting. Kneeling: The right boot is tightened like in standing, the left is either loosened completely (in case you need a smaller angle) or loosened on the back and partly on the front; however, in this case the front binding is stabilised by a knot you make on the _left side_ of the boot so that the knot does not affect your blood circulation. The second variant provides for more stability and allow you to fire more shots without abandoning the position. Any other ideas? Jaroslav Liptak ********************************************************************* > Should we aim to lower the > strength of the heartbeat by staying unfit and having a rate of 90 - 100 > bpm? The latter being easier, with training sessions at the pub rather than > the club. According to a reserarch study carried out in Belarus in the early 80's, the probability of achieving a higher result in rifle shooting is directly related to the ability to fire during the diastolic phase of the heartbeat. I can hardly imagine a rifle shooter trying to catch the short interval having a rate of 100. The error proneness of such technique is obvious. Plain statistics, nothing more. There is another aspect of physical fitness, in my opinion more important for the competitive performance: the aerobic turnover. Physical training improves the ability to supply the organism with oxygen and you need much of it during a training or match. As a result (after you are physically fit), you get better vision, shorter reaction time, better concentration and other neurophysiological processes improved. Anything that puts your lungs in a better shape would do: running, badminton, football (ehhh.... footy), endurance swimming, cycling, rowing... Forget about building up strength, concentrate on your endurance. And after the exercise, why not heading for a pub? Beer is an excellent supplier of all you have lost during the training (water, carbohydrates, trace elements, B-vitamine...) I am not aware of the quality of Australian beer, but here, in Central Europe, it is proven to be working :-) Hope this helps Jaroslav Liptak [Editor - I like that philosophy. Just don't go shooting after visiting the pub! 8^) ] ******************************************************************** Michael, Got a request from a young man in Queensland (Australia) recently on the subject of mirage. Thought that the response may also interest other ML readers. The area of mirage is primarily a local area one, and although there are some general rules, very few geographical areas will produce precisely the same situation - soil surface, angle of the sun, humidity etc. The answers will probably also have the rider.... "depends on what energy is being directed towards the mirage aspect".... what I mean by that is - a shooter can easily spend far too much time and effort "working" out or on the mirage, and in fact this takes the concentration away from production of the model (or perfect) shot, effectively reducing the production of excellence. The results are then below par, and mirage is seen as the easiest reason to blame. Mirage is known as the perceived sighting of the target by the shooter (due to climatic conditions) versus the actual sighting location. Mirage does not change the bullets path in any way, only refracts the light and makes the target appear differently to the shooter. As a consequence - to a shooter with a larger group hold, the effects can be very noticeable - and many missed shots can easily be blamed on the dreaded mirage. Yes, there is a perceived sighting change, but it stands to reason that the shooter with the smaller group hold will always be less effected. So the first solution - one should maintain the mental approach to keep the group tight and "smaller is better", no matter what, good shots with the correct preparation. A polarising filter can help to counteract the effects of what you are seeing or think you are seeing (or perhaps trying a standard coloured filter - experiment) Next is to consider the climate situation - the effects of mirage can be aided and abetted by wind. If there is a wind blowing from e.g left to right (and mirage as well) then the heat waves are also being blown with the wind - consider the implications. A mirage running from left to right makes the bull appear to be to the right of its actual position, the accompanying wind will also move the trajectory of the bullet to the right - loose shot fired slightly to the right of the mirage affected image - wow!!! The greater the distance, the more obvious the effect of mirage (ask a 300m shooter!!!). Many 50m shooters will swear at mirage, while others just work on their technique excellence and go appear to through it. Your spotting scope is one effective way to monitor mirage - as long as it does not become the ruler of your shoot. What you should be looking for is variances, and like major wind changes - back off, change sights, or aim off. Before you can do any of these however, there must be the background of rehearsal - you must have trained yourself to do any or all of these things. Back off - makes good sense! However it does disrupt your routine and if you are a shooter who like the regular nature of completing the shots in a sequence, then to do otherwise requires training. Practice X number of shots and then stopping for a minute or two with the mind set that "the wind/mirage is up....I'll wait for it". Remember - can't do in competition, what you haven't worked on in training!! Change sights - allow the shooter to maintain rhythm - again as above - practice X shots and then change the group centre over and up 5 clicks. The group should be "on the dot" of the new group centre. Repeat the above a few times in differing directions. Only negative is that with constant sight changing, your original group centre may become confused, and you are constantly "chasing your tail". I do not know of many shooters who can keep mental track of multiple sight changes. Aiming off - another good method - temporary, and allows the shooter to maintain rhythm and sighting zero. HOWEVER IT MUST BE REHEARSED AND COMPLETED WITH CONFIDENCE. Takes a lot of dedicated practice. By far the more reliable method, but also the most challenging and enjoyable. Finally - to answer the question - yes your scope is a valuable piece of equipment that ASSISTS you to attain the perfection you seek. Good uninterrupted technique and the pursuit of excellence will never be replaced. Regards Tricia Van Nus NCD Target Rifle Australia ****************************************************************** Dear Michael Would interest me to know your opinion two purchases that I am by making The first is on the Feinwerkbau P70 or the Steyr LPG10 Second is between the shooting simulator CURT or SCATT since CURT has half of price that the SCATT Best regard Osvaldo Paez Darragueira 2268 Rosario (2000) Argentina [Editor - I don't know anything about the Steyr. If it is a compressed air version rather than CO2 like most of their rifles, I would say it should hold up against the FWB. As for CURT, you can only use it for dryfiring and at 3-4m so it's good for small spaces - I'm not sure how they detect the trigger pull. The scatt can be used at 10m or 50ft and you actually shoot through it. I know we have several people on the list who have these systems (including the SCATT designer)] ****************************************************************** Michael, I have been thinking and talking to a number of shooters, and as a result, have developed the idea of the inaugural EMAIL CHALLENGE, and I ask that you publish the details in the next ML - we will see what sort of global response is forthcoming. THE GREAT RIFLE EMAIL CHALLENGE Pit your Competition PB from the months of September/October 1997 against other avid emailers. Just email the organiser with your best COMPETITION scores from these two months. Closing date for receipt of scores will be November 3rd 1997. Results will be emailed during the first week of November to all entrants. Only rifle events at this stage - should the response warrant it, then other events may be added in a later challenge. Return address for scores: tra@vianet.net.au ENTRY: Name ................................... Country .............. email address.................. SCORES: 50m Prone ................. Competition name and date............................... 3P ..................... Competition name and date............................... Air .................... Competition name and date............................... Simple yet effective - nothing too taxing for the shooter and we have kept it short. Submit your competition PB and see how you go. No geographical boundaries - open to men and women. Tricia Van Nus National Coaching Director Target Rifle Australia [Editor - I think the only hurdle to overcome is varying smallbore targets. There aren't many 50m ranges in the US. We have lots of 50 feet or 50 yard. You may need to have them specify the distance and target used to normalize the data.] ****************************************************************** CONSTRUCTION OF THE STANDING SHOOTING POSITION STANDING/OFFHAND: 1. Preparation: The standing position can be the easiest position of the three. The standing position is started by removing the shooting mat from the firing position or point. (a) Place the spotting scope between the firing line and the right shoulder position while in firing position. This will allow the athlete to view the target while charging the rifle. (b) Place the ammo block to the right of the firing position between the right shoulder and hips at a comfortable position. (c) All other items required by the athlete can be placed to the left of the shooting position but not in such a manner as to disrupt the athlete next to your position. NOTE RULE: Do not place any items of equipment on or forward of the firing line during live competitions. 2. Taking the position: STANDING/OFFHAND GENERAL It is said this is the most difficult of all the shooting positions. As a result of a very small floor area and a very high center of gravity, both the body and the rifle are subjected to considerable movement. The standing position requires a highly perfected firing technique, a properly balanced body, perfect rifle positioning, and non-dominant mental control over the neurophysical systems. The standing athlete must be able to use the non-dominant mind to stabilize the standing position. Above all the standing position must be balanced and serenely quiet with bone-to-bone contact. The position or body has a natural sway in its attempt to become stable. It is never without movement or perfectly quiet. However, it is possible for the athlete to stop body sway from one half to one second by using the QZ~. During this QZ~ period the body stops all movement and is as stable as the prone position. This is accomplished by the non-dominant mental entity directed control over the neurophysical system. It is very easy to accomplish and as it can be used in every position including prone, there is no reason the competitive athlete cannot be a Champion without peer. BUILDING THE POSITION (for a right handed shooting athlete) The standing position is established in the following manner. Feet pointing 80 to 90 degrees to the right of a reference line commencing from the target to the firing point. The upper body turning to the left about 1 to 4 degrees and the rifle firing across the athletes chest and pointing approximately 1 to 5 degrees away from the chest. The degrees specified is dependent upon the structure and build of the shooting athlete. Rifle and rifle stock forward of the pistol grip may not rest against the chest. Care must be taken to keep the trigger hand away from the body during the firing sequence. BODY POSITION The athlete leans the body slightly (1 to 3 degrees) backwards and to the right, in order to balance the weight of the rifle if necessary. Generally speaking the athlete does not have to lean backwards as long as the even distribution of weight on the legs is accomplished ensuring a balanced stance. In many cases a more upright position with just a slight counter balancing is all that is necessary for stabilizing the position. Bone-to-bone structure is required in the construction of the position and during the firing sequence, the lungs exhaust all air from the lungs until a balance has been achieved. During this phase, the spine is compressed to finalize the body shooting structure. HIPS As the body is leaning slightly backward, the hip is thrust forward a little, serving as a support for the left elbow. The last statement is always held as a truth, but, in actual practice the hip is never used in support of the left elbow. The left elbow in fact makes contact with the rib cage and rest on not less than three of the ribs. The amount by which the hip is moved forwards and the body is moved backwards will depend on the build of the athlete. An athletic person(wide shoulders, narrow hips) will move further back for example than a person with very slim hips. The hips are always level. SPINE The spine generally holds the body torso together and forms a support structure for the torso. Within the athletic position the athlete will find increased stability by compressing the spine during the optimum firing time. The spine is compressed by exhausting the lungs to achieve lung balance and of course the spine will again expand upon the inhaling of new air into the lungs. Excessive twist or back bending for achieving balance will cause the shooting athlete trouble in that the athletes indurance will be shortened during the stress and strain of the excessive twist and muscle restriction. LEFT ARM The left arm is tucked firmly against the left ribs and directly below the rifle. This means the weight of the rifle is supported by the bone structure of the left arm and is not supported by muscular effort. It is very important for a stable stance with the rifle, that the muscles of the left hand and left arm are completely relaxed, and the rifle rest on the thumb ball joint. The left arm forms a pedestal in support of the bone rifle system. The rifle is further stabilized by firmly holding the rifle stock between the pistol grip and butt assembly against the chest and shoulder or hook under the arm. KNEE The total weight of the left arm and rifle is supported by the left leg. The upper and lower parts of the leg is straight and the knee is in a normal position. This position must not be forced, otherwise the stable bone-to-bone structure from forearm to the foot will be broken and the position will become unstable. The knees will be subject to considerable stress if they are flexed. FOOT POSITIONING The feet will be in normal position with the feet not wider than the athletes shoulders. A wider foot position will produce stress and is unstable for the athlete. The feet moved closer together will increase body vibrations and make it difficult to correct the overall balance. The athlete moves the weight mass on the balls of the feet in this manner. Sixty-five percent of the body weight is positioned on the ball of the foot and the remaining thirty-five percent on the athletes heel. ANKLES The ankles are the most vulnerable part of the standing position. For this reason, they must be supported by suitable footwear. Leather uppers of the shoes must support the foot and restrict the amount of movement of the ankle. The weight is distributed evenly on both legs. The ankles are the most overlooked portion of the standing position in that the athlete seldom uses shoes that will support the athletes ankle and the position. POSITIONING OF THE HEAD It is a well known the body balance is detected by the ears(hammer and anvil transducer). This means that the head must be erect for body balance maintenance. The balance as we know it is not the balance required by a competitive athlete. The competitive balance required by the athlete is controlled by the non-dominant mind and will last 1/2 to 3/4 of a second. The athlete must time the shot to occur in a two second or less one-shot match in each match shooting position during a competition. NOTE FUNCTION: The athlete does not therefore lower the head onto the rifle but bring the rifle to the athletes head. The saying is bring the rifle to the head, never the head to the rifle. The rifle may have to be canted one to three degrees and this is no problem as long as it is accomplished the same way each shot.. In some cases the rifle cant indicates that the rifle stock is not correctly positioned in the right shoulder pocket or the rifle stock is not correctly adjusted for the body measurements in the standing position. RIGHT SHOULDER The standing shooting position, the shoulders must be relaxed and at right angles to the spine including parallel to a line between the target to firing point. The spine must be compressed in order to achieve bone-to-bone contact and stabilize the standing position. This requires compression of the spine when the lungs has expelled the air to a point when the lung balanced and failing in its attempt to inhale or exhale. RIGHT ARM The standing position, a good shoulder contact is important. But it is not always easy when the shoulders are almost parallel to the rifle stock for the hook or but assembly to be held securely under the arm or against the biceps and ball of the shoulder. Even with the shoulder pushed forward, the area of contact is not large enough. The only solution is for the right arm to be slightly raised allowing physical contact and achieving rifle control during the optimum firing period in standard rifle and the arm down when using the hook under the arm. This resistance is necessary in order to reduce or eliminate rearward movement of the rifle as a result of the trigger pull or the breaking of the shot. RIGHT HAND The right hand holds the rifle stock securely from one-shot match to the next one-shot match. The fingers must remain in their natural, curved position all the time. If the finger muscles are flexed, a `hook' is formed . The grip is firm, as the outstretched muscles of the open hand do not tire as easily as in the clenched hand. Furthermore, when the hand is clenched, the muscles of the lower arm are flexed and this must be avoided at all costs. The `hook' formed by the fingers holding the hand grip of the stock, and depending on the type of rifle, pulls the rifle stock firmly into the shoulder using the middle two fingers of the right hand. The thumb lies loosely against the stock. As in the kneeling and prone positions, the wrist is extended in a natural position. The right index finger should not press against the stock. The slight movements caused by the trigger pull could easily be transmitted to the stock thereby causing lateral movements. This could cause or result in complete misses. LEFT HAND The success of the entire position depends principally on the position of the left hand. It is the left hand that determines the steadiness of the rifle position, final height of the position and final stance of the athlete. There are many different possible combinations of hand an finger positions. NOTE: Possible left-hand grips during a match. a. The palm of the left hand is turned forwards, the lower arm muscles are relaxed and the weapon is supported. This is not recommended as it places excessive strain upon the muscles and therewith restrict the abilities of the left arm during position construction and functional work. b. The rifle is held with its weight directly supported by the forearm, palm facing toward the body and upturned with the rifle resting on the thumb ball joint. Arm muscles are again relaxed. As the rifle rest on the ball joint of the up turned palm, the shooters fingers are curved in contour of the stock without direct contact or griping by the fingers on the rifle stock. Preferred method and currently used by World Class Shooters. c. The weight of the rifle rests securely on the back of the hand, and thereby on the forearm. Palm is facing the body and the rifle is resting on the knuckles with the fingers pointing to the rear parallel to the rifle stock. This method is also not recommended to the shooting athlete. PRESENTATION OF THE RIFLE IN THE STANDING POSITION A problem arises in rifle presentation during the construction of the standing position. The big question by many shooting athletes is what is the rifle doing in relation to the body. We will review the possible methods used in placement of the rifle in the position. 1. The rifle is presented while using the shoulder pocket of the right shoulder. Such a use of the shoulder will make the rifle presentation point 3 to 15 degrees away from the chest and requires the body to twist excessively to the left in compensation for the rifle presentation of 3 to 15 degrees during position usage. The right arm will position itself along the left center of the ribcage 2. The rifle is presented while laying across the chest while insuring the trigger hand and finger will not touch the body. This presentation of the rifle requires the rifle stock butt to be placed at the upper arm instead of the right shoulder pocket. Preferred method and one that is used successfully by current World Class Athletes. Care must be exercised when placing the left arm down outside the rib cage. The arm can slip during the firing procedure upsetting the rifle presentation and point of aim. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES: Item 1 has the ADVANTAGE of placing the left arm into a fixed position which has a buttress of muscles for preventing the arm from sliding or otherwise moving during the firing sequences. This method locks the left arm into location. The DISADVANTAGE is the rifle must point out and away of the shooting position causing stress and tensions on the shooting position. The procedure also required the twist of the spine in uncomfortable stress during shooting. Item 2. has the ADVANTAGE of placing the left arm in one or two places on the rib cage, left center and left side rib cage. Additionally, the rifle is move closer to the body thereby reducing the 3 to 5 degree rifle position away from the body and reducing the amount of spine twist required during the shooting sequences. The DISADVANTAGE is the rifle is closer to the body and the shooter must be careful not to violate the rules by allowing the rifle to touch the body in front of the trigger hand grip and the forward portion of the rifle. This also includes the trigger hand touching or being supported by any part of the body during the shooting competition. COMPETITIVE SHOOTING IS 98% MENTAL, 2 % PHYSICAL AND 100% SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE. THE MENTAL ART OF WORLD CLASS COMPETITIVE SHOOTING, COPYRIGHTED 1972-1997, Mr. Chet Skinner, Entity Sports International Chet Skinner Coach meecin@tnproweb.com ****************************************************************** OPTIC SIGHTING SYSTEM: Here is one for you, light travels at the speed of light and when confronted by a mass, it bends or circles around the mass at a reduced speed. Then when past the restricting mass the light beam again regains light speed. You know this as you know of the laws of physics. What this comment is failing to inform you is which way does the light travel around the mass. We assume it travels around the outside of the mass and this is a fair assumption. What if the mass prevents the light traveling around the mass and forces it to travel through the mass. What is the results...? According to the law, light, traveling at light speed must bend around the mass and travel through the front sight to the rear sight as a mass between the front and rear sights. So now we place a black bull in front of the front sight and because of its distance we (our eyes) have trouble making it to focus. So what do we do now...? The saturated light traveling at light speed rams the front sight and bends through the apture of the sight continuing in a straight line to the rear sight. We now have a black bull placed infront of the front sight. This black bull is also a mass and light traveling at light speed must also bend around the black bull. We do not think of this because we see the black bull down range but what we forget or fail in our understanding that the black bull is another light source traveling toward us at the speed of light. Being true to the law it also must bend when it meets a mass. So now we have a pictorial representation of the black bull down range traveling at us at light speed. We know that the saturated white light traveling at light speed will compress and in so doing increase its incident of brightness. Black being a color of no light reflection will diminish when the white light increases brightness. Well maybe there is another answer to this and it may be the color black, which does not reflect light, will be over come by the bright light refracting around. Because white light and the black bull are attempting to travel through the sight apture, a refraction occurs and is viewed as a white halo surrounding the black bull. Brightness increases as it is compressed traveling around the black mass. Once past the mass the light again increases its speed. It is this compressing and slower speed that causes the athlete shooter to easily differentiate light intensities as they pass around or through a mass. The athlete will note an ability to center the black bull in the front sight by observing light refractive intensities around the black non-reflective mass by the use of the differentiated light intensities. This eye optic sensing system will cause perfect sight-bull alignment because the eye will not have the problem of distance focusing. All eye focusing will occur at or between the front and rear sight. Because of the light refraction around an object that will not reflect light causes the out side of the bull to turn fuzzy. Here we have our critical ability to sense and view the differentiated light intensities around the bull and therewith center the bull in the front sight. When the white light halo is of equal intensity on all sides of the bull is said to be centered. Once the sight is aligned, the shooting athlete will concentrate upon the front sight and black bull while insuring the rear sight is in alignment with the front sight. End of sighting procedure. Chet Skinner Coach meecin@tnproweb.com ****************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #1 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm