Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Wobble

Those of you that shoot or have shot off shooting sticks, tripods, etc. How/what do you do to eliminate or bring wobble to a minimum?

Thanks

Brace your strong side elbow......

I'm always surprised how accurately I can shoot off of sticks. If you place your feet a little more than shoulder width apart and sort of lean into the sticks it helps and also if you can support your elbow it makes a big difference.
Of course with trigger control you only squeeze when you are wobbling towards where you want to shoot. Practicing offhand helps.

Bingo. I have used my PH's shoulder and, most recently, a backpack on a Kansas mule deer. A world of difference.

I usually use sticks from a sitting position. If possible, I'll lean back against a tree or other solid object. Side-to-side wobble goes away.

Exactly what Buckstopper and Hunts said. If available, I also lean against a tree, fencepost, rock, etc.. A frame-pack works great too, when propped under an elbow. When leaned against something and an elbow propped, its almost bench-like for stability. I'll often use my right knee to brace my right elbow. Practice with them and you'll find what works for you.

I take advantage of any available rifle support but don't go out of my way to carry in a support of any type other than a walking stick, sometimes.

I'm just the opposite. I 'go out of my way' to always have a set of sticks on me, and if a better rest is available, I'll 'go outta my way' to go over there and use it.....

I carry long enough to use as a third balance point crossed fiberglass electric fence stays held together by castration bands. You might guess where my supplies come from…

They are long enough to use kneeling too over tall prairie grass.

Sitting against a tree Bush or post and good practiced technique yields very solid field positions for me. All rifle shooting uses the same base skill tools to shoot well.

If you are seated. Use your pack to fill the void between your torso and legs.

Buy a reasonably accurate pellet rifle, learn to shoot offhand for score so you can track your progress....and throw away the crutches.

You shoot offhand at 300+ yards? Or are "crutches" Ok at those distances?

Get comfortable, get steady and practice. Nothing helps better than practice. Personally I'd rather shoot from the sitting position, than mess with sticks. But to each their own. Especially when hunting. Sometimes you don't get a lot of time to prepare for the shot, so you make it happen.

Not too many of you shot in the Carl Ross positional match here, but if you look at some of those targets, some of the guys shot better in the sitting position, than they did sitting and using sticks. I was one of them. That was also a timed event, that more closely replicated hunting shots, in field positions.

Good advice. I often wonder how many of these guys grew up shooting stuff like running jackrabbits. Did that every day, when I was young. Nothing like actual field shooting on critters. Maybe some grew up shooting hogs or varmints, but shooting from the hind legs seems to be a dying sport man.

There's no replacement for good practice. Then when you go out in the deer, elk fields, the hard part is finding the critter. Not making/taking the shot. That's the easy part.

Put the end of the forearm on the sticks. This moves the pivot point as far forward as possible, minimizing muzzle movement. Also stand more square to the rifle.

You're right, I didn't shoot in that match. But I did lay in the dirt next to Carl at the first Icebreaker I went to. Had a 'hunters comp' after two days of banging steel next to him. The comp was a 200 yd offhand gong, next two were off shooting sticks or sitting, further out. Last gongs you were able to go prone, as far as the steel was.. You were allowed 2 shots at each gong, first round hit worth 2 points and if you needed your second, it was worth 1. Only two shooters out of 30+, hit the offhand gong on first shot. Carl, and me. Mine was luck....grin There were a whole bunch of guys who couldn't hit offhand, off of sticks, OR from the sitting. But you get them guys prone off a bipod, they didn't miss much. But falling behind on those first three gongs, put them back far enough they couldn't recoup the points to win. I was winning the thing most of the way thru, till Carl and his buddy knocked the throne out from under me, for third place......

Backpack result. SML.

I"m quite certain the OP was specifically talking about standing shots off of sticks. Lot's of places I've hunted has grass, brush etc too high to take a sitting shot so standing is the only option. As mentioned, the key to me is to somehow brace my shooting elbow on something if possible. I've even stood a little more sideways off the sticks and rested my elbow on my AGC bino harness. Works like a champ.

My mule deer was kneeling.

Thats a Dandy Ed!

I’ve done the same with the castrator bands. When a tent goes to shiit save the poles and with the stretchy cord you can make them multi length.

First thing is to try like hell to get prone, even if you have to move.

If standing, somehow get a trigger side elbow rest or you'll have to get a tripod attachment that can carry the hold the weight of the entire rifle then you can get in there....

If sitting, you can use sticks or a tall pod of some sort and then use your pack or a tree/bush for trigger side elbow support.

Lots of ways to get good field shooting positions which is THE most underpracticed issue in big game hunting.

I just got back from a hunt where the angle shooting up was so steep, I had to slide on my belly/pack about 20 yards downhill to a little nose to be able to get the muzzle pointed high enough. This was after piling almost all of my gear on top of my pack for rifle support. Being in moments like this in the field and not wasting time is critical....

Shoot some PRS matches.

You'll learn volumes about improvising and perfecting field postions.

Yup.

Thanks guys for the tips and suggestions. I spent a big part of the day on you tube also.