Introduction
During the 1998 CMP matches at Camp Perry, Ohio I was "hutted" with one of my coaches from the Virginia State Rifle Team, Clair Carlson. Clair and I worked on my sitting position one night for about 2 hours on the floor of the hut. The following day I shot a new personal record using that position in the Ohio rain. Later than month at Fort Meade, I shot another personal record, a 99-4X.
This is the development history of my current sitting position for others to use as a sort of guide for developing theirs.
Here to address this again on the third week of July 1999:
I am currenly using a crossed ankles position, the key to which is using the maximum sling length I can along with interlocking the insteps. The outside of the firing foot pressing the length of the outboard side of the support side foot into the ground. There is much muscular tension in this position and I think that I may go back to a crossed legs position.
In the current crossed ankles position, the tendency to cant the rifle in minimized for me, however, I am not having great success in fixing a firm support for the firing elbow.
In my attempts to shoot crossed legged, I have the BEST groups, shooting a 99-4 at 7 o'clock with a knot on the edge of the X ring and one shot, which I saw , out at 7, about one bullet diameter shot of a ten. Also shot that same weekend at Fort Meade a group even better but on the 7/8 ring line at 7 o'clock.
As I write this I have decided to allow the rifle to cant at a confortable angle in the sitting position, use the crossed legs position. The primary reasons are:
The position is more erect and yeilds a better, clearer front sight, and allows me to breathe more freely, which will help me to maintain that front sight clarity for the duration of the string.
I have also been playing with a subsix hold, but have today determined to go back to a six o'clock hold.
I am currently
corresponding with several really good shooters and will be refining the
advice in these pages as I improve.
Hope your improvement is as fast as you want it to be.