Long Range ShootingMarksmanship

Mechanics of the Support Hand and Rear Bag

What does the support hand actually do during the firing sequence?
It’s very hard to see and understand the role of the support hand when it comes to shooting your precision rifle in the Prone. It’s hidden by our body position and the subtle movements are masked by the attention put on the firing hand. We know, the firing hand has two tasks:

  1. To Manipulate the Trigger without disturbing the lay of the sights
  2. To hold the rifle in the shoulder pocket supporting Trigger Control
What does the support hand do when the firing hand is off the rifle


We know it’s holding the back of the rifle, but many people only see it holding the rear bag. We use a rear bag to support the butt of the rifle in the vertical plane. The support hand controls this by relaxing or squeezing the bag. So if we are holding the rear bag, how do we support the horizontal plane with the butt of the rifle?

The support hand has to do several things at once, manipulate the rear bag elevation, and then hold the butt of the rifle. It has two purposes just like the support hand however this one is more a dance. Let’s look at this part of the rifle and how we interact with it. I use my thumb and index finger to hold the stock, and my, Middle, Ring and Pinky to adjust the rear bag.

Recoil Management

Marc Taylor Driving his AX308
A great example of the proper hold for the rear of the rifle note consistency throughout the image sequences presented here.

Part of our job when shooting the rifle dedicated to recoil management. This helps up maintain consistency and rapidly follow up by minimizing movement. Recoil management is not just about loading the bipod, especially with Magnums. We can affect the recoil of the rifle by how we hold the rifle, manipulate the trigger and support the rear of the rifle. It’s cause and effect, we can cause a different effect, or in this case, change the recoil pulse from a straight line to one that exploits the weakness in the body position.

How do you hold your rear bag?

Recoil is just like electricity, it follows the path of least resistance. If you give it an exit, one you were not aware of, it will take that exist moving the barrel to a different position on bullet release. Remember recoil management tells the bullet where the barrel is during the shot. Changes in management mean changes in barrel position.


The rear of the rifle is very important, why because any movement at the butt will be magnified at the muzzle. Consider the 10th of an inch difference between the front and back of a 20MOA Rail. In order to add 20 inches at 100 yards, we only about .12 of an inch. Movement takes many forms when it comes to the firing task. This can be by shooting with an unloaded bipod, a poor grip on the stock with the firing hand, or not supporting the rear of the rifle.

Support Hand- Running the Bolt
Marc Taylor supports the rear of the rifle while running the bolt. His support hand maintains contact with the rifle.

We don’t want to let the rifle fishtail in the shoulder pocket on recoil. This moves the muzzle in an inconsistent way and has the potential to beat the bullet out of the muzzle. So be sure to support the rear of the stock. We see this when the shooter only supports the rear bag and not the buttstock of the rifle. You have to manage the buttstock.

Supporting the Rifle
Marc Taylor runs the bolt while supporting the rear of the rifle. This holds it in place with the least amount of movement.


Lastly, the support hand has to take over for the firing hand when we run the bolt. After the shot is taken, we have to reach up with the firing hand to run the bolt and reload the rifle. We put movement into the shoulder pocket, so the support hand has to hold the rifle in place. If we don’t hold it in the position we need to start over and reset out position. It’s this dance that gets overlooked because of all my research, nobody mentions this as it pertains to recoil management. But holding the butt of the stock in the shoulder pocket, we have a better position from shot to shot, and it makes our follow up shots that much quicker and more accurate. The ill-effects of movement can change our NPA if we let it.

Support Hand
The right bipod also has a bearing on the rifle movement during the running of the bolt.


Understand the support hand has a job to do beyond holding the rear bag. The pressure is not nearly the same as the firing hand, I would say, if I had to put a value on it, to be about 1/3 of the pressure used by the firing hand. The value for the firing hand is equal to the weight of the rifle, the support hand is 2/3rds less. The best way to begin is to bring the rifle stock up off the ground, raise the body up to meet it, marrying the stock to the shoulder with the appropriate amount of pressure. From there, you want to just settle or slide down into your proper prone position and maintain this hold on the rifle and shoulder connection. Others have demonstrated this well by showing you how the body pressure and bipod will hold the rifle in place.

Different Disciplines Approach this in different ways

You can slide your hand right in and out of the TAB Rear Bag via the strap.


I will say, that with something like an F Class rig or Benchrest, this would be much less. They use a much heavier rifle and a more robust support system. So the personal interaction between shooter and rifle is a lot less. They depend on not only the design of the rifle stock but the front and rear rest to do a lot of the work for them. We see that happening with competition rifles too where the rifle weights over 20LBS and caliber are considered very small or light recoiling.

It’s attempting to manage the recoil by the addition of weight to dampen the movement. The concepts are very similar, just in these other disciplines the support system, rest and stocks are designed to move in a straight line on a very specific path with as little input by the shooter as possible. One of the reasons they lower the trigger weights down to 8oz or less.

Putting it all together

Straight Back behind the rifle


Once you have the dance of hands mastered, the transition from supporting the rifle to the rear with the firing hand to holding the rifle to the rear with the support hand you will see the rifle staying on target much better. It’s one of the reasons we recommend the bipod being up a bit higher to fit the shooter. It gives us better access to the back of the rifle and keeps it in a straight line. When the bipod is too low the angle changes.


We build the position in a straight line. Come in directly behind the rifle, raise it up, bring the body to it, settle down into the position. Keeping that rearward pressure in place. Even though many rifles can be very accurate with less, practicing this will afford you more consistency. Consistency is king, and the less you have to reposition the rifle between shots, the better more consistent you will be.

It’s a balance, starting at the front you want the rifle bipod too easily manage the load. Then looking at the rifle set up and stock, you want it to fit the body so it does not push you away from it, as with rifles where the length of pull is too long.

And finally, look at the rear bag to hold the butt up, but not create a situation where you cannot manage the rear of the stock. Picking the right tool for the shooter and the job is important. We get it, we adapt a lot of stuff to work, and people can learn to dial in bad habits. Starting on the right path first is a shortcut to success. The success will be more easily recognizable across multiple platforms versus only working in select situations.


You can find more discussions like this in the Sniper’s Hide Forum. We have a series of lessons and forum sections dedicated to learning your precision rifle.

Excellent write up!
Very informative. Thx
Manage the rifle not the bag.. Thanks
Good information, thsanks for sharing
Good stuff, thanks!
Learned quite a bit from this, thanks!
Outstanding Frank.
SF,
Robin
Very informative! Thanks
Good article
That was alot of good info that probably gets overlooked. I now know what I'm going to be working on next range trip. Thanks a bunch, excellent article.
Thanks Frank, on point explained, will try to implent it.

There is one thing in this subject I´m struggling with and that is the rear bag itself.
I have two different ones and one seems to small, the other to big (high) for me
Also how much granulate someone will put in, less means less stable, more means less flexible.

There are so many points to deal with and find out in only one thing like the rear bag, I love it.
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    LatLongLost
  • June 13, 2020
Great teaching point! Thanks!
Thanks Frank. This is very right stuff. I don’t remember seeing this bit in your book, but I do recall you covering this in our Precision Rifle Class. Great reminder! It’s one of those human factors things we don’t give much thought to. I might have to come up to MHSA and pick up a new rear bag.
Thanks for the information! I am going to have to get me one of those rear bags, or make my own sand sock!
Yeah.....I've got some habits to break. Great read!
Thanks Frank! Excellent read
I am new to this and have read this post multiple times now. I am using a rear bag now and have noticed a huge difference in my shot placement. So much to learn and so many bad habits to break.
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    DOA
  • June 24, 2020
That was exactly my issue yesterday at the range. Not supporting the stock but just the rear bag. Thanks for the reminder!
I have totally missed this piece of holding the stock not just the bag. Thanks
Nice Read. :)
good info hopefully I can implement it
    I am new to this as well and trying learn and practice what I'm learning. Each time I read this, something new stands out. Thank you for this article
Great instructions, I'm going to start practicing this. I almost never hold on the rear of my rifle, just the bag. The reticle always ends up high and left after I pull the trigger.
Great article for beginners and a refresher for more experienced shooters. Lots of easy to understand instructions ! Thanks my friend!
Awesome 👍
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    SteelShooter1021
  • August 17, 2020
Very informative. I’m going through bag selection now looking for what works Best for me. Your article put the mechanics into perspective.
Thanks!!
Two questions
1) Just as Jayjay1 asked back in June- how much fill do you put in the bag? I'm guessing it ends up being shooter preference but what's a good start...1/2 full, 3/4?
2) How do you hold pressure on the stock when it's solid? I have a 6.5CM Axis 2 I'm going to use for hunting and it's still got the flimsy factory stock. I'm planning to get a Boyds but even those aren't open like the chassis systems and I'd like dope out to 500.
thanks for the insite, looking at ordering a new rear bag. been using the sand sock for years, and I get laughed at every time
Will try to implement this knowledge at the range today. Thank you for the article.
Frank, between this form, YouTube videos and podcast you are helping me a ton!! Big thanks!!
Very useful for the noob. Improved right away.
Good stuff. Like the thumb and index in the butstock trick.
I too tend to manage the bag and become totally disengaged from the rifle when doing so, rookie mistakes on my part.
Good stuff. This article clears up a few things.
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    Neil
  • March 24, 2024
4 years later, your article is still helping ppl.. Thanks for the info! Been a bit? Please don’t stop sharing your knowledge. Guys like you make this a better platform. Thanks!
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