Shooting prone

[warriorjon]

What solid methods/techniques are there for shooting prone? Often when I shoot prone and keep my forearm, hands on the ground and in a high thumbs position, I find that I shoot decent groups but they do not impact in the same place as when I am standing.

Someone recently introduced me to a technique where, while prone, the strong hand maintains a high thumb grip high on the pistol and the support hand’s index finger interlocks with the pinky of the strong hand. The support hand is curled into a fist, which becomes a post that rests on the ground and elevates the gun a fist distance. The grip worked well and I impacted much closer to where I do when shooting standing. However, I was only shooting an M9 9mm and it seems to me that the pinky/index finger link may be too weak to shoot larger calibers. Has anyone seen this technique before?

What techniques do other shooters use for prone pistol work?

[Flexmoney]

I am guessing that the difference there [point of impact] might come from eyes...how they end up positioned in your eye-socket perhaps...or, more likely, from parallax from looking through the top of your glasses.

[Alan550]

When shooting off-hand standing, during recoil the butt of the gun can go down as well as having the muzzle rise. From prone, the butt can't drop so the POI will be slightly different. For Bianchi shooting at the 50 yd line where we go prone, that's where we sight-in from and adjust point-of-aim at the shorter distances to compensate for any difference.

Some shooters tend to shoot higher and some lower from the prone, so you'll have to test for yourself to see what the differences are for you. I tend to shoot lower from prone and blame it on a firmer grip, not letting the muzzle rise as much before the bullet gets out than from my standing off-hand shooting. Another guy that shoots with us tends to shoot higher that way and says he's "heeling" the gun from prone, pushing too much on the bottom of the grip. That's also one reason we don't use a Ransom Rest to sight-in, only test for group size. POI will be different in your hands from the machine results because of grip differences.

Alan~^~

[S-Hurt]

I took a private shooting lesson from Dave Sevigny a few years ago. Dave taught to drop down into the prone and put the bottom of the gun on the ground! I laughed a little and then watched Sevigny ding the gong about five or six straight times. With a little practice, I started dinging that gong myself. Two weeks ago I shot an IDPA match in Memphis Tennessee and they had a stage that required six rounds from around 32 yards. There was a bench for reloading and I thought about Sevigny. I used the bench much like the ground at the prone and dropped 1 point at the 32 yard line. Five perfect shots and one about one inch off the center. Again, I learned from a pro that it is better to put the bottom of the gun on the ground ... try it ... it works.

[Lawdawg112]

Some people call it "roll over prone" where you roll up on your strong arm shoulder and then get your cheek into your strong arm bicep. This helps me stay behind the gun and the sights where I need to be. I prefer to use the support hand to be the contact with the ground, it seems to keep the gun more stable for me. I'll have to try it Dave's way too.

[Boats]

Problem I have with Prone is the stage in IDPA often requires some unusual prone positon. From many years of shooting rifle matches prone can tell you the way you positon your body makes differences in impact. Best for me is square to the target hands just like my freestyle standing position as netual recoil as possable. Can't always do that so if modifying try to get as close to square as possable. If IDPA keep cover in mind too. Best positon may get you dinged. If you rest the gun on something it's steady but impact will be different than hand held. As long as you know what the impact is going to be that's fine. Getting into the positon quick and easy is another thing to pratice. I drop to my knees then elbows then down on my belly dead square to the target.

Boats

[calishootr]

because of crappy eyesight i have to wear glasses and going prone for me presents its own sort of problems, going down flat prone, I tend to, in most if not all cases, look overthe top of my glasses, an EVERYTHING is blurry, so ive adopted the 'rollover prone' approach, which has served me well overthe years, added benny, with a leg pulled up, the pressure is off the diaphram and you can BREATHE whilst your down there in that uncomphy position

[ChuckS]

because of crappy eyesight i have to wear glasses and going prone for me presents its own sort of problems, going down flat prone, I tend to, in most if not all cases, look overthe top of my glasses, an EVERYTHING is blurry, so ive adopted the 'rollover prone' approach, which has served me well overthe years, added benny, with a leg pulled up, the pressure is off the diaphram and you can BREATHE whilst your down there in that uncomphy position

Checkout the Decot sport glasses. They have an adjustable bridge (~ 1/2") that you can set high for stages with prone positions or very low ports.

Later,

Chuck

[Singlestack]

I use the Ninjer Drop technique.

Ninjer Drop

[Resjudicata]

I use the Ninjer Drop technique.

Ninjer Drop

At least after eating all those Swiss Cake Rolls you bounce really well.

Chris

[Graham Smith]

Did some drills using a version of the rollover prone position this weekend at a class - prone from 25, 50, and 75 yds. Try this: cock your off-side leg to roll your body a bit and give your chest room to move, then get your forearms and the butt of the gun planted. Lay your cheek on your arm to aim.

It's an off-angle, off-axis position that takes some getting used to but I was shooting pretty much right on my normal point of aim and getting solid hits.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Graham Smith