Shooting Sticks...

[Guy Miner]

Practice session today at 100, 200 and 300 yards with the 375 H&H, Ruger Number One. Scope is a little 1.5-5x Leupold. Ammo was handloaded 270 grain Hornady soft points and 70 grains of RL-15 for about 2700 fps.

The sticks... I'm going to have to keep working with them. I'm pretty good with them from sitting, but from standing, it's tougher for me:

Regards, Guy

 

[Thebear_78]

Try running your sling under the tripod and hooking it to your belt. It will provide a constant down pressure. On the barrel. It’s surprising how much it helps from a tripod.


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[Guy Miner]

Try running your sling under the tripod and hooking it to your belt. It will provide a constant down pressure. On the barrel. It’s surprising how much it helps from a tripod.


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Is that going to be fast enough for a hunting situation? I've never tried that.

Guy

 

[5shot]

I prefer to have the sticks further out towards the end of the forearm. I find the gun doesn't wobble as much when it isn't supported right near the balance point.

 

[Thebear_78]

Try running your sling under the tripod and hooking it to your belt. It will provide a constant down pressure. On the barrel. It’s surprising how much it helps from a tripod.


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Is that going to be fast enough for a hunting situation? I've never tried that.

Guy

Yes, I have a piece of string that goes to a flush cup, quick releases of the sling to a belt loop, can leave there, not an issue. You could easily do the same with a loop of paracordand you quick release swivel.

You can also hold the sling and grasp the vertical part of the tripod with the sane hand, the goal is the downpressure


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[Slimfinn]

I never realized how unsteady sticks/tripod were until I took them for my daughters to help when hunting and neither could get steady. One pulled off and shot kneeling and was successful the other never took the shot. When she did take a shot it was using a branch on a pine tree to successfully take her first deer and said how much easier it was to get steady. I chalked it up to them being young and not having experience, but the next year i tried using them once and boy is it tough to get steady. I haven't had any time to practice with them and unless I do im not going to worry about carrying them it was a false sense of security. I can still get prone, and i know that's why you're using them. Keep practicing! You'll be hitting the bull every time!

 

[Thebear_78]

With a little practice it can be very steady. I like to do a lot of standing tripod practice with my rimfire. You get lots of trigger time in for a fraction of the cost. You can’t really hear it hit steel at 300 yards but shooting pigeons off a sawhorse can be a lot of fun and challenging.


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[remingtonman_25_06]

Standing should be the last resort. I'd rather go prone with a bipod or a pack first, then sitting with shooting sticks, and lastly standing with sticks. The higher you are off the ground, the less stable you are...

 

[Thebear_78]

Sometimes it’s your only option. Snow, tall grass, low brush are all pretty common. Having a foot standing hievht tripod can be a very effective option. All the more reason to train with one. It’s immeasurably better that free hand.

Given the ideal situation anyone would choose prone


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[baltz526]

I use a mono pod. Fast, easy to get ready, Easy to carry. I also use it for binocular stabilizing. I can pull the V rest off and use it for my camera. In my pack I sometimes carry a bipod. For seated hunting.

 

[Guy Miner]

Standing should be the last resort. I'd rather go prone with a bipod or a pack first, then sitting with shooting sticks, and lastly standing with sticks. The higher you are off the ground, the less stable you are...

Ya, the PH is telling me that the grass height in Africa is tall enough that standing is often the only choice. Not always, but often.

I've actually been surprised in recent years, how often I've taken game with a standing shot. Used to do almost all of my game-taking from sitting. Still prefer it.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

I prefer to have the sticks further out towards the end of the forearm. I find the gun doesn't wobble as much when it isn't supported right near the balance point.

YES! I tried that and it's helping a great deal. I don't know why I had them positioned as shown in my photo, but that was like a teeter-totter. No bueno.

I've been doing some live fire and some dry fire training since that photo. Getting better.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

My son and I were back at the gun club this morning. We did some practice with our 45 handguns (photos in the handgunning section of our Nosler forum) and also with our 30-06 rifles:

Years ago John put the old 30-06 1917 rifle on a tall Harris Bipod. I'd already mounted a 6x Leupold. Today he was smacking the gong at 300 yards with 165 grain Nosler Partitions.

Guy

 

[muleman]

Guy,
Standing with the tripod. Try holding the gun and tripod with the left hand together and really lean into it with your shoulder while pulling back with the left hand. The opposing pressures really help to stabilize you and the tripod. Learned this in Africa. Your son's form is great - hard points to hard point create stability. I'm working on the sitting position using a tripod on the front and a pair of light weight shooting sticks under the stock right in front of my shoulder. Bracing my lower back against a tree or rock it makes me steady out to 5-600yds.
Scott

 

[Guy Miner]

Ya, the standing-tripod thing is new to me.

John has done some great shooting from that tall Harris bipod. Varmints with his 6mm Rem, and much bigger varmints with the ol' 30-06 1917.

Guy