Thread: Prone LOP

I’ve never really done much paper punching shooting from the prone position until recently.
How do you guys set up your stock LOP ( length of pull ) fo shooting prone compared to from a bench or standing?
What’s the perfect setup for quick shots standing etc seems way short for prone shooting .
Any suggestions or advice ?

Ok, for me its all about a clear site picture without any neck & shoulder straining.

Like any other position set up, close the eyes get down behind the rifle, open your eyes and see where your sight picture is and adjust the LOP accordingly until you can do this without having to re-adjust your position top get the scope or front rear site alignment to where you like it.
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Experts my chip in with a more detailed explanation of what they do.

Competition shooters in the prone position tend to have adjustable butt pads (even if made out of aluminium) and generally have them raised higher than the butt section. Competition shooters in the standing position usually have the adjustable butt pad in the lowered position, that is lower than the butt section. Of course, that doesn't apply to hunting rifles.

As ihmsakiwi says, "it's about having clear site picture without any neck & shoulder straining". One thing that helps in the standing position is to have your eyes level and your head straight up rather than craned forward - not always possible though. If your head is cocked to one side it affects your balance, especially in standing.

Originally Posted by 10-Ring

Competition shooters in the prone position tend to have adjustable butt pads (even if made out of aluminium) and generally have them raised higher than the butt section. Competition shooters in the standing position usually have the adjustable butt pad in the lowered position, that is lower than the butt section. Of course, that doesn't apply to hunting rifles.

As ihmsakiwi says, "it's about having clear site picture without any neck & shoulder straining". One thing that helps in the standing position is to have your eyes level and your head straight up rather than craned forward - not always possible though. If your head is cocked to one side it affects your balance, especially in standing.

I’ve got some butt spacers ordered and will play with different lengths, but reading your observations about butt pad height has got me thinking and I think I’ll also play with raising it as well .
I’ve put an adjustable cheek riser on the stock and it has had the effect of lifting my head position but obviously not the pad height.
At least it gives me something to play with while I’ve got spare time now .

Your sight picture is also affected by how far forward or aft you position the scope in the rings (and by the ring height and your cheekpiece of course).
So, my opinion is that the length of pull is mostly a matter of a comfortable grip for your trigger wrist. As said, prone usually requires a longer LOP than standing. Kneeling ought to be similar to standing and I find sitting is more similar to prone.

For prone specially, the angle of your body to the rifle axis will affect the head and thus required sight location and too. The "straight behind the rifle" position might allow a shorter LOP and more rear located sight, I suppose.

As you know, the way to check for natural sight alignment is to mount the rifle to your shoulder in the position you'd like to shoot from, with eyes closed then open them. That's not to say of course that your pre decided preferred position is going to get the best results on target; you should experiment and see the results. David Tubb advocated using your standard technique as a benchmark (control) and testing to see whether a variation gave higher scores.

With a prone small bore rifle changing the but pad relative to the stock changes the point of impact. So you can not just move it between positions and not expect to have to resight. At least that my experience. Same with adding spacers.

In smallbore prone, that change is typically a couple of 1/4 moa clicks which can be quite noticeable over a 10 or 20 shot card.

More common applications in NZ are hunting and multiposition "precision rifle shooting", where attaining a good stable neutral position tailored to the shot is more important and sub moa variation can be absorbed.

Even in F Class and Fullbore target rifle, variations in the slope and shape of the mound might render minor adjustments to the LOP on the day beneficial. Someone who shoots those disciplines might be able to comment if that is true.

Originally Posted by Ground Control

I’ve got some butt spacers ordered and will play with different lengths, but reading your observations about butt pad height has got me thinking and I think I’ll also play with raising it as well .
I’ve put an adjustable cheek riser on the stock and it has had the effect of lifting my head position but obviously not the pad height.
At least it gives me something to play with while I’ve got spare time now .

Put a thumb tack into the wall a foot off the floor, get a blanket and do half an hour to an hour of concentrated dry firing. You'll soon know what the rifle needs doing to it for best setup.