I am causing Vertical Stringing--its at 100 yards and its real obvious at 1k. (we also have chronos so those high flyers aren't faster). I read body position it the culprit, but is there any specific practice or exercise to cure me of this? Its a small effect (about 1/2-1 MOA) but its pretty damn obvious as its almost always vertical and usually high. Horizontally i can make em touch at 100, but i can get 2-3 calibers of width vertical (Angry fist at swirling winds for LR)
Vertical Strings
- Thread starter DocRDS
- Start date
Three things are the most important: fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.
Are you pinning the trigger after the shot?
The muzzle is coming up so the butt pad “wants” to be lower on your shoulder than it is. Can you lower it on your stock such that when the gun “looks” right to you, the pad is lower…where it “wants” to be in recoil?
Are you pinning the trigger after the shot?
The muzzle is coming up so the butt pad “wants” to be lower on your shoulder than it is. Can you lower it on your stock such that when the gun “looks” right to you, the pad is lower…where it “wants” to be in recoil?
Let is know what position you shoot in, what front and rear rests you use, and walk us through your shot routine.
Ill be honest that doesn't make "logical sense" (No offense) but on the other hand, my buttpads tend to be very high, so I will go ahead and start lowering it/them (It may not make sense, but if it works, I'm all for it). One of my early faults was pinning the trigger, so I will try and watch for that.
"Seated Prone" primarily for short range. Prone for long range. My best success comes off a bipod (I have not yet mastered a front rest). Seated Prone straight behind the rifle. My main focus is steady cross hair, breathe, squeeze. I may or may not be pinning the trigger. My rear rest is a squeeze bag usually. I have a protektor (13b irrc) for F-class but like I mentioned (I think its too narrow for my rifle), I have a hell of a time getting that setup consistent, and do about 15-20 points better with a bipod and squeeze bag. Front rest is a Farely Big Wheel when I use it. "Squeeze bag" is the armageddon squishy bag. I have about 103 bags, but that squeeze one fits about everything.
Ty for the assistance and maybe I do just go back to practicing fundamentals.
Hold the trigger back ALL the way through the follow through. No need to crush it, but don’t let it go.
If shots are going high, your rifle’s back end is slipping down in recoil….it “wants” to be lower than you are placing it. So, lower it. Not by actually holding the rifle butt-down, but by slipping the recoil pad down a bit. Then, you shoulder the rifle to what looks right to you and the contact with your shoulder will be lower…down where it would otherwise be sliding to. Thus, no slide under recoil and no shots going high.
Thanks--that makes sense. I couldn't figure it out, but the fact that all my butpads are high said you were onto something. Just how my brain works.
Your bag may be collapsing out from under the rifle on recoil. Are you smashing the gun down with your face? Try pulling more pressure into your shoulder and as little face pressure, particularly downward as you can get on the comb. Lower your comb all the way, remove an adjustable piece if you can. Try no face on the gun for a few shots. Don’t worry about cheek weld just yet. Smashing the gun between face and gun is a recipe for thrown shots. High and or left shots is often a symptom of over enthusiasm for cheek weld.
Make sure your rear bag is setting on the bench and that you aren’t making an hourglass type shape by squeezing it to increase its height. The rear squeeze is small and mainly to remove vibration, not to increase the height of the bag. If you are making the bag taller, there’s a good chance that the squeezed bag material is moving around/collapsing under recoil.
Try a big heavy sand bag like a game changer or fortune cookie for a few shots. Try to set it up so the height is just about right without any squeeze.
I’m no rifle instructor but these things have worked for me.
Just the opposite of you.
When I first used a bipod, I had even worse vertical. I could string a 300WM 2MOA real consistently.
It's embarrassing when you are 16 and your 14 year old brother and even the nerdy 12 year old neighbor kid can shoot the rifle off of a bipod better. A 300WM. I probably weighed near twice that nerd and had a good 20-30 pounds on my brother (he grew fast not long after though).
We called it a 2 inch group then, who the fuck had ever heard of an MOA let alone a fucking MIL?
Using my pack and prone or kneeling or a pack or some gloves on a fence standing, some bags on the range bench, the screw jack rests they had there, I could shoot holes (no pressure, no time). Bipod I just sucked. I'm still not very good off of a bipod and I just started not that long ago with a tripod and I think I suck but not as bad as when I first used a bipod.
I could usually shoot better using JUST the sling than a bipod.
Fucking bipods, even the expensive pieces of shit.
It's been like a45 50 (yeah, fuck you green horns) year thing I just don't talk about much.
Think how the rifle is riding on the bag or pack or whatever.
Forestock tend to slope to the smokey end. Under recoil a rifle rested on the forestock moves rearward and the barrel is moving down.
Rear stock generally slopes the same direction but with the opposite effect. As the rifles drives rearward, the butt is dropping, meaning the barrel is pushed up.
Maybe, in some weird or impossible rocket surgeon brain scientist method, there is a way to use just the right front rest (slope of stock) so it counteracts the perfect slope of stock at the rear.
BUT...if you notice HOW you string vertical....start low, end high or start high, end low (do this using several pairs of shots), you can figure out if it's your front or rear rest control. Then you can be more focused on that area.
I get my very best results just focusing on breathing and being Statue of Liberty still.
Honestly, I do not like that pinch method too much but I see tons of guys use it very successfully.
When I first used a bipod, I had even worse vertical. I could string a 300WM 2MOA real consistently.
It's embarrassing when you are 16 and your 14 year old brother and even the nerdy 12 year old neighbor kid can shoot the rifle off of a bipod better. A 300WM. I probably weighed near twice that nerd and had a good 20-30 pounds on my brother (he grew fast not long after though).
We called it a 2 inch group then, who the fuck had ever heard of an MOA let alone a fucking MIL?
Using my pack and prone or kneeling or a pack or some gloves on a fence standing, some bags on the range bench, the screw jack rests they had there, I could shoot holes (no pressure, no time). Bipod I just sucked. I'm still not very good off of a bipod and I just started not that long ago with a tripod and I think I suck but not as bad as when I first used a bipod.
I could usually shoot better using JUST the sling than a bipod.
Fucking bipods, even the expensive pieces of shit.
It's been like a
Think how the rifle is riding on the bag or pack or whatever.
Forestock tend to slope to the smokey end. Under recoil a rifle rested on the forestock moves rearward and the barrel is moving down.
Rear stock generally slopes the same direction but with the opposite effect. As the rifles drives rearward, the butt is dropping, meaning the barrel is pushed up.
Maybe, in some weird or impossible rocket surgeon brain scientist method, there is a way to use just the right front rest (slope of stock) so it counteracts the perfect slope of stock at the rear.
BUT...if you notice HOW you string vertical....start low, end high or start high, end low (do this using several pairs of shots), you can figure out if it's your front or rear rest control. Then you can be more focused on that area.
I get my very best results just focusing on breathing and being Statue of Liberty still.
Honestly, I do not like that pinch method too much but I see tons of guys use it very successfully.
Last edited:
My 2 cents
Inconsistent positioning of the stock on the front end. This leads to inconsistent pressure required on the rear bag to align the scope. In my case I now use the front swivel attachment as a marker; my shot routine includes to check front end alignment. If you find that you have to squeeze the bag more as the shot string goes on, either your forend position is changing, or you didn't compact the bag enough when preparing.
Make sure there are no protrusions on the fore end that can contact the rest under recoil. This can also give vertical.
Lastly, your butplate height. Unless your head, shoulder and chest alignment is the same between the seated and prone positions, the height is wrong for at least one of them.
Inconsistent positioning of the stock on the front end. This leads to inconsistent pressure required on the rear bag to align the scope. In my case I now use the front swivel attachment as a marker; my shot routine includes to check front end alignment. If you find that you have to squeeze the bag more as the shot string goes on, either your forend position is changing, or you didn't compact the bag enough when preparing.
Make sure there are no protrusions on the fore end that can contact the rest under recoil. This can also give vertical.
Lastly, your butplate height. Unless your head, shoulder and chest alignment is the same between the seated and prone positions, the height is wrong for at least one of them.
^ I like this in bold, and it is easy to tell if you dry fire and notice your reticle moving up a tenth or two.
There is already quite a bit of good information in the responses regarding body position and forward bipod/rest control. I just wanted to add that your rear bag control can also be the culprit...especially if the design of the stock/chassis butt end doesn't interface well with whatever bag you're using - or - if you are letting your rear hand relax at the moment the trigger is breaking, or even if you have inconsistent rear bag pressure... Those will always cause a high flyer.
Similar threads
