Precision Rifle Marksmanship: The Fundamentals - A Marine Sniper's Guide to Long Range Shooting. Frank Galli

Back Behind the Rifle

      We have all seen images of service rifle shooters using a sling in the prone position shooting offset at an angle. They point the foot and raise their knee to establish a good prone position. This works great for a sling shooter. But for the tactical shooter using a bipod, especially with a heavy caliber, the proper position is straight back behind the rifle. Recoil will exploit any angle between the body and stock. So, while the little green Army man position might look good from a historical perspective, it’s not a position we should be using in modern times.

      Manipulation of the trigger without disturbing the lay of the sights sounds easy, but some shooters can put a lot of movement into their shots because the rifle is not properly set up for them.

      Demonstrating the different variations is important, as not every shooter is built the same. Set up the rifle to the individual, not some arbitrary idea of why, simply because someone else did it that way.

      On the firing line, the author focuses on each shooter’s position throughout day one. He is building clones.

      The reason a sling shooter gets off to the side of the rifle is to place the support arm directly under the stock, so the forearm is straight, and in line, underneath it.

      Being straight behind the rifle is going to pay off down the road. It’s going to allow the recoil to move down your body and exit your legs equally. If you are properly squared up (your shoulders straight across, regardless of being in the standing or prone position) the rifle will recoil and return to target. The movement will be minimal, allowing the shooter to maintain sight picture throughout the firing process. When we ask shooters to demonstrate a supported standing position, they will always blade to the target; there are many things wrong with this position. When shooting from the standing position, practice being square and creating a tripod between your body and the support. You’ll see the benefits right away.

      The position needs to be consistent and repeatable behind the optic. We are aligning our head and body behind the rifle. It needs to be automatic.

      Use this straight behind the rifle method to set up the stock and cheek piece. This is also the way to set the eye relief on the scope. Get into position before mounting your scope. Get a good natural feel for the rifle in your shoulder pocket, making sure your bipod is correctly adjusted for your body. After your cheek weld is established, put the scope on the Pic rail and bring the sight picture to you. By mounting the scope this way, you get a good natural position with a comfortable sight picture. Remember, we don’t want to have to work for edge-to-edge clarity. We want that good sight picture when we address the rifle. This is the proper way to set up the scope and fit the rifle to the shooter.

      Set up the rifle in the position you feel most likely to use most often. Put your shooting discipline into context when adjusting the rifle system. If your local range only lets you shoot off a bench, set up the rifle for the bench. If you are shooting multiple positions, set up the rifle so you can address each position with a minimum amount of compromise.

      Breaking Down the Fundamentals of Marksmanship

      OK, now we’re going from the analogy about our car to a discussion of golf. And trust me, I am not a golfer by any stretch of the imagination. In any sport we engage in, soccer to football, golf to shooting, they all have a specific set of fundamentals. We want to break down those fundamentals, wiping away the flourishes that have been added over time. We are looking at original intent here, with a twist. Most of the original intent was written with iron sights in mind, as well as being shot unsupported or with a sling. Today we have bipods and front rests, so we need to consider those tools in the context of our fundamentals.

      Natural Point of Aim

      Stepping up to the tee, we have to address the golf ball with our body and align the club. This adjustment of our body position to launch the ball at our desired target is similar to natural point of aim.

      Natural point of aim is a very simple concept, but is often misunderstood. In order to establish a good firing position, we want our muscles to be relaxed. When the body mentally perceives recoil, it will subconsciously relax for a microsecond. This relaxation of the muscles can move the rifle to the point where it is naturally aligned. So, if the shooter is forcing the position, even a little, the body will subconsciously steer the rifle off target during firing. This is why we want to establish our natural point of aim.

      The way to check for our natural point of aim is to align the sights on the target. While in position, go through a couple of breathing cycles with your eyes closed. Upon opening your eyes, see if the sights moved off the target. If the sights have moved, realign the rifle and your body as one unit on the target. Small movements will go a long way here. The movement should come from the shooter’s core and not the shoulders and/or arms.

      Demonstrating the proper prone position to each student helps establish a quick baseline. Once demonstrated, it’s the instructor’s job to tweak the shooter’s position to fit his or her body type.

      Edge-to-edge clarity, with no shading, is key. Be sure you are not hunting for a clear sight picture.

      Taking a couple of deep breathes relaxes the body just enough for the brain to change our position, should it find that position uncomfortable. When we opened our eyes, if the sights are off target, we have to fix this alignment. We call this the gross adjustment for natural point of aim.

      By practicing getting into position straight behind the rifle repeatedly, one can help shortcut this process by being square not only to the target, but behind the rifle. Indexing with the legs and the knees, the shooter wants to point his or her body to the rifle, which is pointed at the target. This will help align the shooter quickly and effectively in the field.

      The fine-tune adjustment for natural point of aim is the dry fire. This will show the shooter if his position is perfect. Given time and opportunity, always dry fire before going live. If the reticle moves, that is a clue to adjust your position ever so slightly.

      Sight Picture, or Aiming

      Those shooting iron sights will first consider sight alignment and then sight picture. Because we are using a scoped rifle, we don’t necessarily need to discuss sight alignment in the same way. By setting up the rifle correctly in the beginning, we have, it is hoped, determined a good cheek weld. This is very good first step when it comes to sight picture. However, as a tactical shooter, we might find a situation where our cheek weld is slightly compromised. The way to fix any potential aiming issues from this is to use the parallax adjustment on the scope. The parallax adjustment, if set correctly, will essentially turn the day optic into a red-dot-type scope by putting the reticle, the target and the shooter’s eye on the same focal plane. As with a red-dot sight, most understand the dot does not have to be in the center of the optic for the shooter to hit the target. The red-dot sight is a parallax-free system; by using the parallax adjustment on the day optic, it will basically do the same thing.

      Instructors see when students are holding their breath when shooting. The negatives far outweigh the perceived benefits of not breathing. The author teaches students to breathe through the shot, with it breaking at the bottom of a natural respiratory pause. If