pain when shooting prone

[jpd5184]

i have recently started shooting prone and am getting some pain that believe to be unnatural because i know there will always be a little. first of all i have pain in my left hand(rifle holding hand).it starts to fall asleep. second i get pain in my left arm in the bicep area. it starts to hurt and when i take my jacket off the arm as all spots on it like blood splots. not sure what this is from.

[CZforlife]

And that is exactly why we stand up when we shoot!

[jpd5184]

in three position competitions you have to shoot prone

[Innocent]

Circulation is being cut off probably by the sling too tight or in the wrong place.
Mary

[Jason]

If you haven't tried asking this on the Target Talk forum, you might want to go here and ask this question.

Olympic Rifle Forum on TargetTalk.Org

That forum is dedicated to position shooting and would be the place to get position shooting advice. The SteelChickens forum here is focused much more toward silhouette shooting, which is usually done standing up unsupported by slings or shootings jackets. While some shooters who shoot silhouette also shoot position rifle matches, we don't have nearly as much collateral knowledge of position rifle shooting here as they do on the Target Talk forum.

[Jason]

Nevermind. I see that you have already posted this there.

[tenx9]

Prone shooting is alot harder than most people think. For me, it was somewhat unconfortable to get the scores you need to be sucessful. Make no mistake, your hand does get numb. You need to make the sling hold up the rifle (ie: make it tighter) to take pressure off your shoulder. Also try putting the cuff of your sling higher up on your arm. I put the cufff above my bicep and just under my shoulder and find that the best. The lower your setup the more stress on your left arm. So, there is a trade off, lower position more stability, but more stress. When your hand gets numb, just unsling while keeping your left elbow in place. Relax your hand until your blood returns, resling and continue. You have plenty of time. Might not be textbook but it worked for me.

[Innocent]

tenx9, great description and yes the numbness does occurr if you stay in position too long.
Mary

[tenx9]

yes Mary, but only the hand. Like i wrote, just unsling while keeping your elbow in place. The targets are so small that if you move your support or left elbow, you'll have to go back to your sighter targets. Prone is fun, but you really have to shoot perfect in order to do well. I remember I was shooting high power prone and dropped just 1 point. I ended up in 4th, LOL! Still I was happy, it was a personal best.

[Innocent]

tenx9...in my days dropping a point in prone or sitting threw out of the top ten, more than 2 points in kneeling was bad. It was all won in offhand.
The width of the slings has increased but also the width of the cuff for the sling has increased since I shot prone and position.
I do agree with moving the sling to above the bicep as a bit of a way to help with the numbness.

Mary

[tenx9]

Very true in the big matches, where you have lots of competitors in a class. Basically, I'm a nine shooter offhand, so the hit/miss structure of silohuette drives me crazy. If I was a baseball pitcher, I might do well. "Just a bit outside!!" Enjoy the upcoming season.