Just over 12 months ago I started to notice that my forearm and wrist were starting to strain slightly whilst shooting (which is probably down to old age) and I ended up modifying my support of the fore end with more of a pistol grip type hold. This required almost a completely square block shape to be added onto the front of my stocks but I soon found that my 50m grouping improved and, it enabled me to shoot a maximum score in two out of the last six 1500 centre- fire matches that I shot at Bisley, so I’ll stick with this new type of hold for now as it certainly seems to be working for me at the moment.
As well as profiling the end of my stocks, I have also altered my Marlin fore-end so that it gives me a more stable position when shooting from the kneeling and sitting positions. It did take some time to achieve but the end result allows me to adopt each of the shooting positions both quicker and easier, whilst saving me a fair amount of time in the process.
The final and possibly most important point to look at is your ‘head to scope’ alignment and it is crucial that you replicate the same position every time the rifle is brought up into the aiming position. In order to ensure that the same point of impact is maintained on your target, you must line up the cross hairs at exactly the same level and angle in relation to the ocular lens and especially when shooting from the kneeling or sitting position.
Making sure that you keep your head and upper body upright whilst shooting. This perfect alignment is achieved through the constant contact between your cheek and the comb of the stock. Most people tend to mount their scopes using the lowest mounts possible so that the objective lens sits just above the top of the barrel and this maximises the use of the elevation turret and also reduces the amount of hold-over needed at each distance. If this is the case, you may well end up having to alter the height (either higher or lower) and maybe even the profile of the comb until the correct head/eye/scope alignment is achieved.
Whether you end up making your own or buying one of the excellent Stockade adjustable cheek-pieces, you may well want to consider investing around £17 in one of the adjustable butt-pads that also are available. They won’t add much in the way of length to your stock but they will make it much easier to fine-tune your head position and are well worth the money in my opinion.
And the raised pad for support in the sitting position
I use the block for offhand .
The narrower middle part for kneeling
The wider contour prevents bunt fingers during a high round count match.
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