Shooting a Straight Stocked Rifle

[Suvorov]

The standard technique that is being taught by all the "Jedi Masters" when shooting the AR type rifle is to keep the strong side elbow down and tucked to prevent "chicken winging." This works well for me as the AR does not recoil much and the pistol grip makes such a hold comfortable for my wrist. I am not one to argue with the likes of Paul Howe and Kyle Lamb.

I was however, taught from early on with straight stock rifles and shot guns to keep my elbow up to form a nice pocket for the stock to rest in. This seems to be especially important for me as I am somewhat barrel chested and a heavier recoiling rifle or shotgun will quickly begin to slid onto my bicep. The other main factor here is that holding down my elbow twists my wrist to such a degree that it is not comfortable and makes it harder for me to actuate and index the trigger well.

Given that I live in Kalifornia and the resulting limitations of Kalifornia legal ARs and the fact that I have a soft spot in my heart for the M14 and its family, I find myself shooting this platform a fair amount.

So my questions are:

- Is it wrong to utilize a different shooting stance with straight stock rifles versus pistol grip rifles? Will this create any training scars?
- Is there something I'm doing wrong with my grip that is causing me issues when shooting straight stock rifles?
- Is the current train of thought to shoot all rifles regardless of stock, from an elbow low position?
- Other than presenting a bigger target, what are the advantages of not "chicken winging?"

[JMS]

I tend to think of actively torquing on your arm to either tuck the elbow OR hold the elbow up in the air to be little different, with those kinds of firearms. Consider experimenting with simply letting your arm relax, instead of expending effort to hold it in either direction, and let it fall where it may. You'll still have a pocket with which to work.

No muscling involved, and your own physiology will let your relaxed arm rest where it wants to rest without putting any undue stress on your firing-hand wrist. No real training scars, because your elbow will still be somewhat down, anyway, but you simply have to mentally shift away from thinking about it being down (presuming you're conscious of that to begin with...). Had a couple of opportunities to futz with this...

Most recently, I kinda-sorta saw to what I thought of as a "hole in my swing" by taking a shotgun class -- after having not done anything with any since a M1014 fam-fire in 2007. I borrowed a 870 for this class, traditional-type stock w/o pistol-grip, and I just let my elbow hang; if I applied tension at all, it was only to keep it from flopping about under movement where necessary, but I wasn't pushing either up or down. More concerned with keeping the stock BACK in my shoulder to keep my mass mated to the gun (plus doing push-pull on the gun for recoil mitigation).

More commonly and for far more years, shooting M16s in the USMC qualification/service-rifle competition manner; traditional, positional marksmanship. Even with pistol-gripped weapons, one can still form a shoulder pocket without potentially adding tremors from muscle tension caused by cranking on the elbow in either direction, but the principle is the same with M14s, Garands, etc., which I've also fired in this fashion. Bear in mind, when one is doing that, it's often only the toe of the stock resting in the pocket (particularly in the standing and kneeling; the off arm is completely unsupported), but it works when the butt of the stock has more meat behind it than that, too.

[David Armstrong]

If you are wrapping your thumb around the stock you might try leaving it on the side by your hand. That is the way we were taught to use our straight-stock Lee Enfields, and it allows an elbow-down hold that is similar to that of the pistol grip stock.