Learning to Shoot Prone - Having Issues

[roscoe53]

Ok, really enjoying shooting LR, but up until this point I had only shot from bench. Went out today to shoot prone and had major difficulty in seeing through scope when lined directly behind rifle with butt close to midline. much of the time I was only seeing out thru lower half of the scope. it was puzzling because when at home practicing I could see full view with no issues. For me to see full view today I had to move rifle off midline where butt was more in shoulder pocket and kind of angle my head/body behind the scope. Came home frustrated and was planning to reposition the scope, but decided to line up behind rifle with butt close to midline and with little effort was able to see full view with no issues! What the heck am I missing! Hope my description makes sense, thanks for any help you can provide. I will say I was AMAZED at how much more stable it felt and was recoil was managed much better (rifle didn’t have tendency to bounce and recoil off target).

 

[diverdon]

It sounds like your rifle is too low. Try letting your bipod out another notch or two.

 

[HiDesertELR]

Rifle and scope setup took a lot of tweaking for me, but it was well worth the time to suck it up and do it, redo it, do it again, until it was just right.

I had to average it between between the shooting positions, and make adjustments to my interface.

 

[Newbie2020]

It sounds like your rifle is too low. Try letting your bipod out another notch or two.

This worked for me. This was the first thing @lowlight suggested at a class last year. It is way more comfortable and consistent. Problem was I then needed a taller rear bag. Now I use an 8” rear bag.

 

[rangerroy]

Along with the above suggestions, you may also need to set up your eye relief on your scope. If you set it up from the bench, it's probably a little off in the prone or alternate positions. Are you having to fight the eye box when in the prone to see everything or to get behind it with no shadows? I usually get my rifle close to zero off the bench and then do the final adjustments in prone as well as setting the eye relief (how close I have to be to the scope at max magnification in the prone position to see clearly with no shadow). Hope this helps...and welcome to the LR addiction!!

 

[roscoe53]

Thanks for everyones response as it all good information and helpful. I'm going to tweak a bit at the house and try again next week. Like anything new it takes getting used to.

 

[Baron23]

Thanks for everyones response as it all good information and helpful. I'm going to tweak a bit at the house and try again next week. Like anything new it takes getting used to.

Do you have an adjustable comb on that rifle? If so, and if the top is being eclipsed, could you just not be high enough.

Now, from my limited view, proper comb height adjustment follows building a proper position.

 

[roscoe53]

It does and thats one adjustment I made last night and i feel it improved things. I tried it at the range but was probably making adjustments that were too large.

 

[Holliday]

This worked for me. This was the first thing @lowlight suggested at a class last year. It is way more comfortable and consistent. Problem was I then needed a taller rear bag. Now I use an 8” rear bag.

Took me a while to figure this out on my own. When I first started, for some reason I felt my pod should be at it’s lowest point. Not really sure why. Finally I realized that getting it elevated a bit, made things much more comfortable and therefore I shoot better.....

 

[rustyinbend]

I too struggle with getting comfortable in the prone position. Thus far I've found that the scope needs to be further down the rail, the cheek rest needs to be higher, the bipod needs to be higher, and I need to focus on body alignment. Thus far I've been "lazy" and mostly shot off a bench with a rear bag and on fixed distance targets. This past weekend I shot in a match that was (a) prone, (b) single-shot feed, (c) multiple varying distances, and (d) no rear bag.

I ... um ... I ... well ... I SUCKED !!!

Committed now to working prone and bouncing between distances. That is MUCH harder than shooting groups from a bench at 100 yards. (Duh!)

 

[roscoe53]

I too struggle with getting comfortable in the prone position. Thus far I've found that the scope needs to be further down the rail, the cheek rest needs to be higher, the bipod needs to be higher, and I need to focus on body alignment. Thus far I've been "lazy" and mostly shot off a bench with a rear bag and on fixed distance targets. This past weekend I shot in a match that was (a) prone, (b) single-shot feed, (c) multiple varying distances, and (d) no rear bag.

I ... um ... I ... well ... I SUCKED !!!

Committed now to working prone and bouncing between distances. That is MUCH harder than shooting groups from a bench at 100 yards. (Duh!)

Good advice and I’m feeling a little better to know that many have struggled a bit getting acclimated to prone. You make some good points that i will include. Now that I’ve heard from and others raising the rifle up should help as I now remember how my neck was lifting up inducing a lot of stress which I knew wasn’t right. Sounds like you picked a difficult match, but I‘ll bet you learned a lot. Thanks again for your input.

 

[roscoe53]

This worked for me. This was the first thing @lowlight suggested at a class last year. It is way more comfortable and consistent. Problem was I then needed a taller rear bag. Now I use an 8” rear bag.

Just ordered an 8” bag. Measured my current and it was 6” at best. The additional 2” will make a difference. Thanks again for your comment.

 

[Steel head]

Get up a bit
Get comfortable
Get square
Relax

Bang,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ping!

Rifle setup takes some time to learn but makes a HUGE difference.

 

[roscoe53]

LOL, I can tell you're not 68! I think you're correct and sounds like others are saying much the same as I was really low and when trying higher here at the house it feels much better. My next tweak is making sure the scope is in best position....I think it's close, but could be improved. Thanks for your help!

 

[Holliday]

I have the opposite problem. I can’t shoot for shit from a bench. Sitting in a chair and shooting just seems counterintuitive to me. Not really sure what my malfunction is.....

 

[roscoe53]

It’s different for sure. when shooting bench you have to insure you are not influencing the rifle as you mount. Some of my rifles prefer free recoil or very close to it whereby my trigger finger is about all that is really in contact. I also find it helps to get as much behind the rifle as possible although some benches can make it difficult.