Re: When did everyone start "driving" rifles?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lowlight</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Papa Zero Three</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Carter, can you please explain what your definition of "driving" is? For me, this is a term used in the pistol/carbine arena and is not applicable the way I know it to be defined as when talking about a rifle. Incidentally the term driving is also indicative of a physical movement that cannot be said when using it when talking about a rifle, which is why I think another term would be more appropriate.</div></div>
You can also be mentally "driven" ... so driving doesn't always mean an physical action.
When we say drive the rifle through recoil, it is more a mental term, although it does mean to follow through. When people are disengaging from the rifle, something seen a lot when training people. They are moving. Many employ a type of free recoil, or "hands off" method. This causes inconsistent recoil, or more specifically recoil that is only applicable to that shooter. So what does that mean.
If your gun is zeroed, and you give it to another shooter and it is no longer zeroed, odds are you are not properly driving the rifle. This is why at Rifles Only 6ft tall Jacob and 5ft tall me were interchangeable behind the rifle. When it was zeroed it was zeroed, both of us could shoot it and hit in the same place. We drove the rifle consistently controlling recoil so ti was not specific to one shooter. Taken a step further, if we moved from prone to a barricade, shooting sitting and kneeling or even standing, our impacts did not move. We understand that driving the rifle in the prone was slightly different, but the same when driving a rifle in the kneel off a barricade. You had to move your center of gravity forward like the support you get in the prone. No deviation in shot from prone to bench.
Mentally driving the rifle through recoil is telling your brain to stay engaged with the system. It does not mean we steer it, but prevent it from steering us. It does alter our position if we move from prone, a necessary adjustment. If you want to see an example of a rifle not driven, watch that Wind Video from the AMU with S. Gallagher in it. That 300WM is fishtailing in her shoulder pocket attempting to exploit her crooked high power position. She is not properly driving a rifle of that type so it moves where it wants too, as opposed to moving in a straight line as it should. I bet her zero won't work for me. Get a sniper and spotter to properly drive the rifle, and it becomes interchangeable without having to rezero. Because recoil in straight... no fishtailing or exploiting a weakness in one's position over another.
You can ride it the same, as long as the mental part is understood, but riding implies free recoil. Driving is more in line with the tactical mindset </div></div>
Frank, thanks for taking the time to explain that. In comparing the 2 ways the word "drive" is used from pistol/carbine to rifle it is apparent that they address different things entirely. With regards to rifle, based on your explanation above, it is a term used to describe both the mental and physical aspects of dealing with recoil management (please correct me if I am mistaken or have left something out). I would also assume it covers the other aspects of the users input(s) to the rifle in order to hit ones intended target as thats the implied intent to begin with, again, correct me if that is not the way it is defined in your mind.
Seeing how these 2 distinct definitions contrast one another, from an instructor standpoint and from a students, there is a very real possibility that there could be some confusion on the students part IF, the instructor did not give the student an explanation of what he means by "drive" when speaking about shooting a rifle,especially if the student already has in his mind what drive means from hearing it used in the pistol/carbine world. For this reason I think there might be a better term to use, or perhaps call it what it is, Recoil management. Instead of saying "make sure you drive the rifle" to students it could be said as "make sure you think about recoil management" as this directly addresses what the instructor is trying to convey the student to do.
Your thoughts Frank/everyone?
