https://www.thearmorylife.com/aim-with-your-feet/


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There are lots of photos and anecdotes about famous shooters in the article:
John Hunter, Francis Sell, Herb Parsons, Al Topperwein, Tom Frye, Gary Anderson, Lones Wigger and more.

I was privileged to meet and talk and shoot with Lones Wigger when my son and I shot with the Florida team in smallbore at Camp Perry in the mid/late 90's.

SECRET TO OFFHAND ACCURACY: AIM WITH YOUR FEET!

By Wayne van Zwoll

"Whatever the stakes, every offhand shot starts before you pull the trigger, before you aim. Good or bad, it’s slave to your footprint. A bullet goes where your feet direct."

"Offhand is an abominable option, as it permits only two points of ground contact and jacks center of gravity well above belt level. About all you can say for offhand is that it’s fast. It’s acceptably accurate only when you’ve positioned your feet so the rifle’s natural point of aim — where the rifle points when you aren’t pressuring it — is on target. Your body will naturally relax at the shot. If you’ve forced it on target, relaxing sends the bullet off the mark. When natural point of aim is on target, the rifle has no reason to move elsewhere at the shot."

"Because we’re all built differently, an ideal stance is hard to pin down. It can vary with shooting style, terrain, even the rifle. In offhand competition, a backward arch of the lumbar spine puts the weight of a match rifle squarely over the hips, a twist of the waist coming to a “stop” with the rifle pointed at the target over feet nearly perpendicular to sight-line. In defensive-style shooting with AR rifles like Springfield’s SAINT, many shooters “square up,” almost facing the threat."

"With hunting rifles, I get best offhand results placing my feet shoulder-width apart, a line through my toes at a 30-degree angle to sight-line. Legs bear weight equally, with a bit more pressure on the balls of my feet than on the heels. Knees are not locked. Moving game begs a forward lean, adding weight to the balls of the front, pivot foot. Like a shotgunner setting up for a skeet station, you want natural point of aim to come on target when the shot occurs."

"Montanan Lones Wigger distinguished himself in Olympic competition, earning two gold medals and a silver. He set 29 world records, 13 as an individual, and garnered 111 medals in four international rifle competitions. Posted with the USAMTU at Fort Benning, he drilled “three or four days a week, up to 200 shots, four hours a day.” Disciplined practice is work, he assured me. “When you can’t trigger good shots, quit! Don’t practice poor form! No matter the position, the rifle must become an extension of your body. Load your bones, not your muscles. Learn to relax.” An ace offhand shooter, “Wig” practiced that position most “because it’s most difficult.”"

" Offhand, you must contend with a sight picture that is never still, with wobbles of greater amplitude and higher frequency than plague you in more stable positions. The longer you aim, the more desperately you want to breathe. Your pulse speeds up as eye fatigue burns a target image into your brain. Wobbles become more intense as your muscles accede to the rifle’s weight. Your body shakes. You feel the shot unraveling, so you hurry it. And miss.

Try this after aligning your feet: Close your eyes, cheek the rifle, let it settle. Open your eyes. If the sight is right or left of center, lower the rifle, adjust foot position, breathe deeply. Repeat until when you open your eyes the sight appears centered. Given a foundation that puts natural point of aim on target, the sight will spend most of its time there, maximizing odds for a hit.

What if your sight won’t settle? Don’t shoot. You can’t miss or cripple game with a shot unfired."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RichardC,

quote:

Offhand, you must contend with a sight picture that is never still, with wobbles of greater amplitude and higher frequency than plague you in more stable positions. The longer you aim, the more desperately you want to breathe. Your pulse speeds up as eye fatigue burns a target image into your brain. Wobbles become more intense as your muscles accede to the rifle’s weight. Your body shakes. You feel the shot unraveling, so you hurry it. And miss.

one of he hardest things to do it accept that you don't have a shot and put the safety back on and break position, take a breath and start over,

had a couple of mentors that told me that over and over when I was learning the sport of Service Rifle,

This type of body positioning is known in many shooting schools as Natural Point of Aim -- NPA or NPOA. Attend a course at Rifles Only in Texas, and NPA becomes a constant part of shooting technique. NPA is a cornerstone of the fundamentals of marksmanship.

Depending on shooting position and the presence or lack of gun support, feet positioning is just a part of the NPA equation. Rifles Only starts with:
- Align rifle to target.
- Align body to rifle.
Body alignment includes feet, knees, hips, shoulders, and elbows. Even head position.

One challenge of a bladed shooting position -- i.e. shoulders not perpendicular to the bore axis -- is that the shooter has greater difficulty in controlling the gun's recoil. Meaning that sights don't often stay on target all the way through the recoil process. But for the many shooters in off-hand positions, good NPA often trumps good recoil management for accuracy.

Simple method of finding your Natural Point of Aim:

Close your eyes.
Aim rifle at target in your most solid, bone supported stance.
Open your eyes.
Adjust your FEET until you can close your eyes and open them with the rifle aimed directly at the target.

You will soon develop a sense of what is your centered natural point of aim.

If you have to adjust to the target with muscles that is exactly what you DON'T want to do. You are steadiest when relaxed in the center of your natural point of aim.

I highly recommend the David Tubbs book on High-power shooting if you can find it. He goes into the details of finding your NPA in all three positions.............DJ

This is done as a matter of course in the clay target shooting games, the first thing taught to new shooters.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
This is done as a matter of course in the clay target shooting games, the first thing taught to new shooters.

Having shot different styles- and being taught basic rifle in the Marine Corps, I get the Natural Point of Aim.
But that's with a stationary target.

How are you doing that with a moving target (like a clay pigeon)?
Are you keeping the toes pointed just "down range" or are you keeping the lead foot moving towards the target at all times?

(I was taught to keep your feet planted toward down range and hips/centerline pointed at the moving target)

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

How are you doing that with a moving target (like a clay pigeon)?
Are you keeping the toes pointed just "down range" or are you keeping the lead foot moving towards the target at all times?

(I was taught to keep your feet planted toward down range and hips/centerline pointed at the moving target)

Feet are planted towards your proposed break point and never move, hips/centerline swivels to your hold point.

With skeet and Sporting Clays, it works perfectly. With trap, it's a compromise.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

How are you doing that with a moving target (like a clay pigeon)?
Are you keeping the toes pointed just "down range" or are you keeping the lead foot moving towards the target at all times?

(I was taught to keep your feet planted toward down range and hips/centerline pointed at the moving target)

Feet are planted towards your proposed break point and never move, hips/centerline swivels to your hold point.

With skeet and Sporting Clays, it works perfectly. With trap, it's a compromise.

Ok, so I've been doing it right!
Trap- I just quickly pivot on my feet in the "general direction" (no more than 3-4 ish inches) while my center line (chest) is going towards the target.