Just a thought, might not get further...

[Frostbite Slim]

I was dry-fire practicing and thought (I am a bit new to this "thinking" stuff, I wear ACU's for a living), "Hey dood, try this without your left hand gripping the stock (I'm a left-handed firer); just press the trigger as you normally would with the rest of your fingers off of the rifle." I did so for the remainder of my practicing. Do you think that there would be a measurable benefit to doing so during live firing? I'm leaning towards, "Yes" as I seated the rifle as deeply in my shoulder as I normally would with my right hand, and I know that there would not be any side forces acting on the rifle provided by my left hand's grip.


Like I said, it's just a thought; what do you all think (or know) about this?

 

[smokebomb]

That is a technique used by some benchrest shooters. It has less merit for hunters and people that shoot people for a living, as you need to be 100% accountable for when a shot breaks. Shooter's particular grips are as different as their taste in women, but good shooters use a grip that doesn't disturb the rifle.

 

[HuDisCo]

@frostbite

Interesting signature...

 

[0311 Hesco]

If I am understanding right, you mean to have no part of you firing hand on the grip?
I would think that it would be hard to have any repeatability. Like with a MCM or Manners stock, you put your palm on the grip and thumb up, well that helps locate your trigger finger to a repeatable spot. Also, you would then be using a larger muscle group to press the trigger, which I think, would be harder to reproduce vs. just using the muscles it takes to squeeze your trigger finger.

 

[Frostbite Slim]

If I am understanding right, you mean to have no part of you firing hand on the grip?
I would think that it would be hard to have any repeatability. Like with a MCM or Manners stock, you put your palm on the grip and thumb up, well that helps locate your trigger finger to a repeatable spot. Also, you would then be using a larger muscle group to press the trigger, which I think, would be harder to reproduce vs. just using the muscles it takes to squeeze your trigger finger.

I took my fingers off after seating the rifle. The MP joint of my index finger remained on the stock simply as a locator. I misunderstood your muscle group question as I perceive that my index finger muscle group is the only one that I am using to press the trigger.

 

[sib1948]

When I shoot my DTA, I always keep my left hand on the monopod at the rear off the stock and even my right thumb above my trigger finger on the right side of the stock,so it does not reflexly squeeze the pistol grip when I squeeze the trigger. The only thing moving when I break my shot is the rearward motion of my trigger finger. Worksgreat once you get used to it!

 

[BPaulk]

We do this in 22rf Benchrest guns but we are shooting at 50 yards or meters at a dot with a 1/4 circle with 35 plus scopes you can see the dot in a scope move when you touch the gun. I would not do this with a 308 rifle.

 

[damoncali]

This is similar to what benchresters call "free recoil". (Technically, free recoil is not touching any part of the rifle but the trigger.) The idea is that if you do not touch the rifle, your body will not be part of the "system", and therefore you cannot impact the rifle's vibration by moving your foot or arm (for example). And while this is true, it loses its practicality very quickly if you shoot something much bigger than a 6PPC. In benchrest, they go to great lengths to set their bags up so that a quick shove will get the rifle back on target almost perfectly. You can't do that with a .308 unless it's huge.

In other words, you might see a slight impact with this technique but it tends to be impractical for anything but extreme paper punching. And given that you're still contacting the rifle at the shoulder, it's not a given that the impact will be a positive one. Even true free recoil does not necessarily mean smaller groups - it's just not that simple.