FTR first impressions and "jump"

[Tim N]

Hi All,
My foray into the black art of FTR shooting has just begun
I'm planning to borrow a few different bipods to see what works best for me.
Coming from F open the joy pod is most familiar with it's joystick function, although it took longer to set up than a pedestal front rest it worked quite well when in it's window of travel.
The recoil produced the jump to the left(Not quite Rocky horror style), then to re position I had to reach forward -most inconvenient to a civilised F open shooter without the Hall clan reach advantage.
I see the aus pod has an extension arm to assist, which may help restrict the sideways jump if you leave your hand there?
So any tips on how to control the jump due to recoil?
Plenty of stories about hitting the wrong target with this issue.
If I can get Mahoon to send his flex pod (why pod after everything?) It looks worth a try too.

[Pommy Chris]

Hi Tim,
Bipod jumping around is the nature of ftr. Shoulder position can assist ie good position can reduce the amount rifle moves.We made the windage handle on the Auspod to make it easy to move bipod left and right for taking a shot. Handle goes in the left leg for right hander or right leg for left hander. I dont advise trying to stop rifle jumping, just except after each shot you are going to get back on target to some degree with all bipods. One of the most important thing with a bipod imo is it being a very solid shooting rest. We loose sight of this in the quest for light bipods and convenience. Can only really speak for the Auspod, but it was made to be very stiff where it matters, nothing will be an F open stand in this respect, but I feel we have got darn close considering weight. Re Auspod if you have any questions feel free to pm me and I will give you my mobile number.
Cheers
Chris

[Tim N]

Hey Chris
Thanks for the advice
Rod has one of your aus pods and it looks like I might get to try it before he does.
Keen to see how the windage handle goes.

[jasmay]

What is the advantage of the windage handle? It looks like just a solid extension stick to move the forend around, with bipods being physically attached to rifles, would you just move the whole rifle by pushing on the stock?

What Chris says is spot on in regards to position, just try a few different techniques and positioned and you will see the differences, eventually working out which works best for you.

One important thing I see open shooter doing wrong in FTR beginnings is shooting very square to, or parallel with the rifle, i.e. right behind it, one off on an angle to your rifle somewhere around 15-30deg and allow your shoulder to roll with the shot.

If you shouldered your rifle against a brick wall, the recoil is going to go somewhere, imagine your body needs to be the shock absorber to minimise recoil and jump, not the brick wall.

Unlike open, I am yet to see anyone use free recoil techniques with huge success in FTR.

Advantage with joysticks rests are once in position, small changes can be made without upsetting your body... there is a couple of new and good looking joystick bipod making their way into the market slowly..

[Pommy Chris]

What is the advantage of the windage handle? It looks like just a solid extension stick to move the forend around, with bipods being physically attached to rifles, would you just move the whole rifle by pushing on the stock?

What Chris says is spot on in regards to position, just try a few different techniques and positioned and you will see the differences, eventually working out which works best for you.

One important thing I see open shooter doing wrong in FTR beginnings is shooting very square to, or parallel with the rifle, i.e. right behind it, one off on an angle to your rifle somewhere around 15-30deg and allow your shoulder to roll with the shot.

If you shouldered your rifle against a brick wall, the recoil is going to go somewhere, imagine your body needs to be the shock absorber to minimise recoil and jump, not the brick wall.

Unlike open, I am yet to see anyone use free recoil techniques with huge success in FTR.

Advantage with joysticks rests are once in position, small changes can be made without upsetting your body... there is a couple of new and good looking joystick bipod making their way into the market slowly..

The new windage wand and new collar is very stiff so the bipod can be moved subtle movements ie edge of x ring or across to 5 ring very quickly without loosing shooting position in a similar fashion to the Joypod wand. Just pushing on the stock you cant achieve tiny accurate movements. The wand is positioned close to the ground so the hand you use the wand with is braced to the ground allowing very accurate windage adjustments, kind of in the same way as you write with a pen easily as arm and wrist is resting on the table, but if you try to write with arm and wrist in mid air and try to control a pen it is impossible. Pushing on the stock is like the latter, but using the wand you have control as arm and wrist is on the ground like the arm and wrist on the table when you write. The wand type windage system wont work on most bipods as hips etc are not stiff enough. The hips and headpiece on new Aluminium Auspod are a transition fit so the Auspod is very very stiff so it works very very well with the windage wand on the correct mat.
+1 to what Jason said many F open shooter are too lined up behind the rifle, FTR is better with a more target rifle position behind rifle.
With anything we all need to find what works best for us personally so trying a few different things is a good idea.
Chris

[jasmay]

Now I think I need to try a Auspod.. more experimenting...

[Tim N]

Chris,
What is the correct mat to use?

[Barossa_222]

I find that my rifle doesn't jump left or right any more. I put this down to rifle set up and may hours of training with one of South Australia's premier FTR gurus.

[Pommy Chris]

Chris,
What is the correct mat to use?

Hi Tim,
I use a steel plate with marine carpet glued to the top. One customer reported having great results putting silicon spray on carpet, but I have not tried this myself yet. Remember you need something wide enough for when the Auspod is all the way down.
Chris

[Tim N]

Hey Chris
Would you have dimensions ?
What’s allowed ?
Thanks

[RJNEILSEN]

......Unlike open, I am yet to see anyone use free recoil techniques with huge success in FTR.

Jason, how firm is a successful hold in FTR then? I am unsuccessfully experimenting at the moment. Firm hold is difficult to repeat, however the "jump" is mostly gone.

Cheers,
Ryan.

[Pommy Chris]

Hey Chris
Would you have dimensions ?
What’s allowed ?
Thanks

Hi Tim
Rules say wide enough to accommodate bipod at its widest setting, and be 2 inches extra on each side, I however did mine only 1 inch. Front to back cant exceed 12 inches.
Chris

[Pommy Chris]

......Unlike open, I am yet to see anyone use free recoil techniques with huge success in FTR.

Jason, how firm is a successful hold in FTR then? I am unsuccessfully experimenting at the moment. Firm hold is difficult to repeat, however the "jump" is mostly gone.

Cheers,
Ryan.

I free recoil as do most shooters I know, holding is very hard to do well and I only know of a couple who hold and do it well.
Chris

[Quick]

I hard hold and have no problems. Its all about body position and firmness of hold. If I free recoil, she jumps around and its just not consistant. Learned that when I started out in F/TR. Then Jason told me to hold and it works.

[Pommy Chris]

I hard hold and have no problems. Its all about body position and firmness of hold. If I free recoil, she jumps around and its just not consistant. Learned that when I started out in F/TR. Then Jason told me to hold and it works.

Do what work for you. Re holding there are only a few in Aus who do it well as you can never hold the same every time and pressure moves the rifle, but if you are like Liam Hall (he does it well) do that way, but it is not something I advise as it is hard to get right.
Chris