Support side - specifics?

[davere]

In general... is "support side" intended to be "everything opposite of normal" - that is, for a right handed shooter, use the left hand for fire control, rifle on the left shoulder, left eye in the scope, etc? Or is something in between acceptable? (left eye in the scope, rifle on left shoulder, but use right hand for fire control). The latter is obviously a little easier, especially for bolt manipulation. Seems like both would be good to practice, but I'm specifically thinking about what the various drills are requiring? (dot drill, PRS standards, etc)

 

[Lowlight]

Yes,

it's a mirror image of strong side shooting. You simply transition to the opposite side and do the same thing.

It's funny aside from a place like Rifles Only you see people moving away from traditional support side stuff cause a lot the PRS type shooters don't like it so they allow you to "cheat" the way it is done. You see guys using the wrong eye, or wrong hand in order to cheat it as they would rather not practice it but instead just get it over with it.

Support side was a mainstay for a long time but has since faded.

The Dot Drill was originally meant to shoot one line from the support side

 

[davere]

Thanks, Frank - appreciate the clarification. The trickier parts seem to be not losing the target in the scope when I take my hand off the rear bag to work the bolt... and not punching myself in the face doing same... ha ha

 

[davere]

It's funny aside from a place like Rifles Only you see people moving away from traditional support side stuff cause a lot the PRS type shooters don't like it so they allow you to "cheat" the way it is done.

Was thinking about this a little more last night... there's a funny parallel to USPSA here, too. For a long time, the USPSA Nationals (and IPSC World Shoot) had notorious 50 yard timed fire standards. Many of the Area level matches featured them, too - as well as stages that featured some pretty heroic shots on things like head shots at 35 yards, and the like. Real marksmanship fundamental challenges. Over time, those challenges disappeared, because shooters complained that they "weren't fun". So, the matches tended to become more about speed and less about marksmanship. Strong hand and weak hand shooting became rare, as well. But... over time, the pendulum swung, and we saw some return of marksmanship - both in terms of long range, timed fire standards, and in terms of longer, harder shots in regular stages. Maybe the same will happen eventually in the long range rifle game, too... In the meantime, God knows I have plenty of shit to learn, so...

 

[Lowlight]

I saw a post on the PRS match director page where the speed and the positional shooting reduced the average to about 300 yards. They have weighed so heavily on the reduction of time as well as the various obstacles that it forced them to cut back the range.

it was, the average range was about 600 yards, that slowly reduced to 400 yards, and now we are seeing it shrink again. Bringing attention to it, tends to reverse the trend, but unchecked, you can see what happens.

Marksmanship should be the goal, and not just short to medium range while moving fast, but to the max effective range of the system you using. To me that includes both strong and support side shooting.

 

[davere]

It seems to be the way of things... It's also why various sports have age divisions, special categories, classifications, etc... Everyone thinks they need to win something, but not have the ability or have done the work to win it heads-up against the best.

 

[bribassguy]

Newer shooter here... at most local matches I've shot support side means support shoulder & Eye, bolt manipulation and fire control with either hand

 

[ballison]

Brian, practice with EVERYTHING opposite. That way, if the MD says that's how you need to shoot, you're prepared. The hardest part (IMHO) is getting a good site picture, and that has nothing to do with what hand is on the trigger. Personally, I love support side stages because I practice it, and most other shooters don't! It's also an easy thing to practice with dry fire drills.

 

[bribassguy]

Thanks for the tip Bill, and congrats on the Win. I shot the last support side stage pretty well (7 shots with 6 hits) for me. I am actually cross dominate (left eye and right handed) so I can usually get a pretty decent sight picture but it's hard to switch back to right eye under the clock so I'll shoot the whole thing support side.

I'll make sure I practice it both ways.

 

[OzTRG]

I find that I actually shoot a bitter better support side as I have to concentrate a little more, I spend about 10-15% of my dry and live fire practice on support side drills. Just my 2cents worth

 

[Twinsen]

I favor forcing the more realistic support-side shooting. If it isn't in matches, a lot of guys aren't going to learn it. Give them a reason to.