The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

If this is second nature to you, I beg your indulgence. If this is a revelation to you, I hope it helps you.
In any event, I apologize for the length of this post but I felt strongly enough to tell the story.

My son came home this weekend to see his mom and to go shooting with his dad.
I recently got a new scope for my old Glenfield Model 25 bolt action and wanted his help sighting it in.
We went up to the club on Saturday and only found an open 50 yard booth. Had all sorts of trouble getting the .22 on paper.
Decided to table that and take it home to reset the mounts etc. Had my 91/30 along just to play a bit.
We got her set up and I shot a 5 round clip and was really in pain. The kid jumps in and shoots 5 rounds and says: "I'm done"

He's rubbing his shoulder and so am I.

An older gentleman who's sort of the self imposed Rangemaster on the weekends comes over and starts talking to us. We're talking about Mosins and Milsurp weapons in general. Then out of the blue he says you're doing it wrong. If you're in that much pain, you're doing it wrong. He'd been watching us and came over as we packed up.
He says unpack that rifle and get out 2 rounds for each of you. So the kid gets the rifle out and 4 rounds. Get the sandbags set up and sits down on the bench seat.
The old guy says stand up. Son does. Old guy says now straddle the seat and sit down. Son does. Old Guy says now set up and take a shot. Son does and you see this sort of light bulb moment come over his face. He cycles the bolt and takes another shot. His smile was from ear to ear. He says Dad, it's sweet to shoot! No pain.
I jump in and did the same. WOW! No pain at all. We WERE doing it wrong. Since mama was waiting dinner for us we thanked the Old guy and raced home.

Sunday we get up and my son has the rifles in the truck and wants to give it another go.
We get up to the club and the only one there is our Old Guy friend. We set up on the 100 yd range and get the Glenfield out to sight her. Get her all dialed in and my son says lets get the Russian out. We see our friend over on pistols sort of glancing over occasionally.

The kid sits down as recommended and proceeds to put 10 rounds downrange all in the black. We didn't notice our friend quietly moved over to watch. We let her cool down a little then my turn. I dump 10 rounds through in the black with a few flyers. WOW again! no pain, steady and in the score zone with these old eyes.
Our friend says Hmm, I don't hear any complaining about recoil pain. The change of torso angle allowed us to put the buttplate into the meaty part of the shoulder. Prior to this it landed on bone or non meaty parts. It also allowed us to have a much stronger foundation

The point of this long rant is, if it hurts, you're doing it wrong. I had honestly begun to think I'd made a mistake buying this old rifle. It was a chore to shoot. This little tip has completely changed my opinion of shooting this old lady.

Here is a photo of the shooting bench style. Don't sit down like you're at a picnic table. Straddle the bench and begin shooting that way. You'll be pleased at the comfort and accuracy improvement

Excellent Story! Your right on that... If it hurts, your doing it wrong.

and listen to the old timers when they give advice, they been at it for years and have picked up a thing or two along the way I was trained by just such men as the one you describe, all vets of WW1, and in one case the Swiss army.

Nice story!

What do u mean straddle the bench ?

One leg on either side as opposed to parking your keister directly on it with legs on same side.
You're basically sitting sideways but when shooting your torso is twisted to the front.

Thanks for sharing that. Great story!

Nice story with a great piece of info for all the new Mosiners, here, thanks.

Your never to good or old to learn something. I have been shooting longer than some members here are old. A friend of mine, a world class long range shooter, showed me how I had been placing my off hand wrong for bench shooting all those years

Hmmmm I'm gonna give that a try. The range I use has the same style benches and it always felt a little uncomfortable holding the rifle (and I have left black and blue a few times). Thanks for the tip.

Ive been shooting this way for quite some time, it always just felt right. on top of this ive posted my best groups shooting this way. thank you for sharing with us!

Thanks for sharing this with us.

I use a small stool when shooting off my bench so I have always sat holding the rifle that way. It's how I was shown many years ago.

i am going to be in the outh0use again! i have been shooting for about 65yrs.(yes i am old) shot my first non-gun a bb gun. then by first was a .22 stevnes single shot crack shot. anyway kick is all there! !BIG cal, guns like 762x54r KICK. i have shot all to up 470 nitro not to say in the military. put a slip on pad on the mosin and stand up!!! kick is kick have fun! popgun

I'm a pretty-new shooter, but I think Popgun has a point, saying "stand up": if you practice without the chair twisting your body around, it might be easier to get into a natural position.

Completely agree about standing position. However sometimes old arthritic knees like a break. But producing old arthritic shoulders when sitting isn't any fun.

When the arthritis kicks in shoot the .22, it's what I do more and more of late.

Yeah, I love that little rifle. Glenfield Model 25. It's my first gun. It's beginning to show it's age and wear. Trigger group has been reworked and repaired a couple of times. Getting difficult to get parts for her. She may have to be retired. Thinking a 10-/22 just for punching holes.
But there's a whole lot of satisfaction in shooting a 70+ year old Milsurp with iron sights at 100 yds and hitting the black. Whole lotta boom and a whole lotta fire.

Marlin still makes new .22 rifles and slightly used Model 60's turn up all the time, I saw three at the spring flea markets.

Many years ago a friend of mine who mostly shot pistols told me when you shoot a rifle from a bench always try and put more mass of your body behind the rifle regardless of what you may look like or feel like. Basically it makes me look like some kind of spider because I have real long arms but I rarely ever get any black and blue or pain when I shoot. I am totally comfortable shooting any kind of high powered rifle from a bench. Stand me up and that is another story, with bad legs and back I am candidate for hospital traction when I get home. Even shooting a pistol drives me nuts with pain standing so I just shoot from a bench period anymore. Small change in the program to allow for just plain being old and falling apart I guess. Bill