All of my early shooting was prone and with no sling, no jacket, and often no mat to lay on. It always seemed to be dreary and cold when we went to the range. Our typical range session included being yelled at by the school caretaker Captain Strongman who had served in the British Army during WWII, or Mr. Bachelor who had been an officer in charge of a Gurkha regiment in India during the war. No. 4, Mk2 Lee-Enfields, five rounds of .303 British in a stripper clip, brass butt plates, and LOAD!!!! For many the stress was almost too much to handle.
We always laughed as Captain Strongman would walk down the line, stand in front of each cadet, call us to attention and have us declare "I have no live rounds or empty cases in my possession, Sir!" We could all clearly hear the brass cases bouncing around in our pockets as we snapped to attention.
Yep, I've always liked shooting prone, and ideally with a sling since for me it's a very stable position. The problem with hunting in Montana though is that you won't see anything but grass doing that. I need to practice improvised positions, shooting sticks and such. I used the A-pillar of a pickup truck for support to make a standing shot at a deer a little over 200 yards out last November. I was shooting a POF P308 with a suppressor and Premier Reticles 34mm scope mounted so it was a heavy setup. I would much rather have been prone on a bipod but the deer was at least 60 feet above me so there was no way to lay down behind the rifle. Come to think of it, I've only shot one deer from prone and that was using an Accuracy International AW with an Atlas bipod and in about 12" of snow.
We always laughed as Captain Strongman would walk down the line, stand in front of each cadet, call us to attention and have us declare "I have no live rounds or empty cases in my possession, Sir!" We could all clearly hear the brass cases bouncing around in our pockets as we snapped to attention.
Yep, I've always liked shooting prone, and ideally with a sling since for me it's a very stable position. The problem with hunting in Montana though is that you won't see anything but grass doing that. I need to practice improvised positions, shooting sticks and such. I used the A-pillar of a pickup truck for support to make a standing shot at a deer a little over 200 yards out last November. I was shooting a POF P308 with a suppressor and Premier Reticles 34mm scope mounted so it was a heavy setup. I would much rather have been prone on a bipod but the deer was at least 60 feet above me so there was no way to lay down behind the rifle. Come to think of it, I've only shot one deer from prone and that was using an Accuracy International AW with an Atlas bipod and in about 12" of snow.