Question for those at Master/High Master in Service Rifle:

How do your (practice) scores compare in standing stage wearing a t-shirt as opposed to a proper shooting coat. If you're a high level competitor and haven't shot standing in just a t-shirt, it would be awesome/interesting if you'd try it and let us know how much it changes your score (if at all).

I've only competed in four matches so far and, at this stage of my (rather low) skill development, I shoot the same scores with or without a coat in practice (~180ish average).

**To be clear, I am NOT asking whether or not a coat is a good idea. I am just very curious as to whether or not a high level shooter can do (almost) as well in standing stage without a coat.

Thank you.

3% due to pulse transfer affecting wobble vertically.

I don't like the "fence post" perception of aid of a tight, rigid coat. It may be fine indoors, but a little wind will ruin any sense of control, and be as bad or worse than no coat. The extra layers and friction between the tricep and ribcage do most of the work.

At 90%, I recommend picking one and not going back and forth.

I used to shoot silhouette when I was younger. No hardback coats in that game. It is the only game that might give some insight to your question, but even then it doesn't really answer it.

The shot was a hit or a miss based on knocking the plate down, so no resolution in terms of central accuracy like in SR. Silhouette is a naked offhand game in terms of clothing, but is nearly unlimited in terms of the gun, trigger and scope compared to SR. So, it is still difficult to use as a direct comparison.

Some of the answer to your question is going to be rare because no SR competitor is likely to want to give up points in any serious match to find out.... maybe as an academic exercise to play with theory or technique, but the results are a foregone conclusion. The score will be lower in a club match because of the fatigue factor by the time you take shot 22.

The scores will go down when the sample is large enough to be valid, but maybe a short string of say 10 shots it may be possible to equal the performance without a coat. I can tell you without any doubt that the hardback coat works, I just can't put a definition to what you might call "almost" or how many points it is worth.

Maybe someone with a SCATT is willing to plot a few with and without samples of their hold to illustrate the difference. In silhouette, we shot 5+5 per string at each distance in most venues. So the fatigue factor is different between the two games, not just the equipment rules.

Its a great question if not from a competition standpoint at least from a practical marksmanship standpoint.

I agree with Brony that some wind will have a greater effect.

I feel like I get the most benefit from my coat in consistent buttpad placement and keeping my support elbow from slipping.

Maybe I'll get bored and shoot some SCATT offhand without a coat.

Lately during this nice spring weather we've been having a lot of evening family time in the back yard and I've been shooting air rifle offhand in a t-shirt. I've been doing it casually and not keeping score but I'd estimate I'm shooting 91-93 average vs my in-a-coat 96 average with SR.

Disregard - I had something posted but I made a bit of a factual mistake.

Thank you for the replies. I have been shooting the CMP Rimfire Sporter COF with my CZ452 and was hoping to participate in the Eastern Games until we got Corona'd...

Standing practice with the .22LR is more viable for me right now due to ammo cost and shooting in t-shirt got me thinking about the difference between coat/no coat for HP standing.

Some people have told me that rimfire practice will help my high power skills, and yeah, I think any trigger time helps, but honestly I believe high power has helped my rimfire 3 position more than the other way around.

At any rate, my interest is practical marksmanship, and what I would really love to see is a high master that can shoot his normal standing scores in a bathing suit - or better yet her scores in a bikini

50ft Smallbore on the A36 or NRA50 target. White is a miss, and an 8 or less within the black puts you toward the bottom of the board.

It's been about 10 years since I had to adjust my NPoA to account for chub.

This is one of the first videos that inspired me to pursue marksmanship and that led me to 3 position rimfire then high power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtPE6yoWM0E

Me, too.  I shoot with a loose coat.  The main feature that helps me is the sticky rubber holding my left elbow in place (I'm right handed).

I can try it next time I do a practice run, and run 10 shots.  I'm going pretty often these days anyway, since there's not much else you can do.

I will say, when I'm out in the field hunting and decide to glass a tree-line or such; I'll often do a High-Power offhand hold to do it, wearing whatever.  I find it's decently stable, and I can keep the gun up for a long time that way too.  

It's a good skill to practice.

It works well for photography, too.

https://www.ocabj.net/use-bone-not-muscle-rifle-shooting-and-photography/

The little bit of HP range time I get these days has been spent mostly on my feet. I continue to shoot in t-shirt and results are even with or better than with a sweatshirt and army coat.

Times are uncertain at the moment but in the future, when/if finances allow, I will be looking to get an all-leather hardback from the big C.

In the meantime, I'm learning a lot about my own physiology and day by day refining my process and trigger control.