The biggest initial obstacle to kneeling is being able to sit in the position with comfort and stability. Comfort does not mean hot chocolate, good book and a warm fire comfort, but the absence of distracting pain is enough. Then you sit down solid, no leaning up off the ankle or shifting your weight. Take a short step forward with your left foot, facing maybe thirty degrees from the target, and then just fold down, keep your hips square to where your legs are pointed as your knees bend, make sure your arse comes down on your heel without twisting either the leg or the back and sit square on it.

If your discipline lets you use a kneeling roll, then adjust it between the foot and the knee so the weight is firmly on your heel. If you can imagine weight distribution between your front foot, your back foot (on the theoretical kneeling roll) and your right knee on the ground, then it should be about 40-40-20 front-back-knee, and if anything, less on the knee is better. If you can't use a kneeling roll or anything under your ankle for support, then make sure the sole of your boot stays stiff and takes the weight.

For your front elbow, either in front or behind or on the point of the knee is mostly a function of where it falls most naturally. Try not to stretch out much or pull it back or you're just unbalancing the top half of the position by moving it away from where it sits comfortably over the base. For me, my elbow is behind the kneecap, but almost feels like it's pushing down into the back of it. That's just where it falls naturally.

When you're holding the rifle, you should be fairly vertical, with your weight mostly towards the left, over a line between your front and back foot. The closer the rifle is to this line, the better your recoil will be and the easier it will be to group consistently. Even without a sling, if your elbow is neatly relaxed on your leg and your position is well balanced and arranged over a stable base, you'll be able to hold very steady. At this juncture, breathe through your nose and slowly, keeping your chest and shoulders relaxed, and watch for regular slow movements in the rifle. Shoot in time with the pattern the rifle follows.

If you can use a sling, it should be firm, but not so firm that it pulls your left shoulder around. You don't want to rotate in the torso. You should have your hips pointing the same way as your feet, and your shoulders over your hips. Then you just fold into the base, breathe easily and the rifle will hold still enough and move steadily enough that you can get in a good routine. Above all, keep relaxed in the chest, arms and shoulders and your shots will be fairly predictable at least.

And for the love of your joints, if you buy a kneeling roll, get a tupperware box and empty half the stuffing from the new roll into it and then seal it up and put it away. You may need that stuffing for adjustments later, but new rolls always come fully stuffed and they're sooooo not meant to be used that way.

Oh, and all those pictures of the kneeling position tend to show your forward-pointing leg and your bent-up-under-your-arse leg as having a set angle between them. Nuts to that notion. If your left foot is forward, you want your right knee to be at whatever angle it takes to get your combined (rifle+you) center of gravity under the rifle (and it's usually a bit forward from your butt, but it's the under the line of the rifle's barrel bit that's important for recoil control). I seem to remember having a pretty awful angle myself (something like 110-120 degrees), but I was a bit odd so I don't recommend doing that unless you had to.

I couldn't find any images of Barry Dagger shooting kneeling, but if you do, study them carefully - he was the best kneeling rifle shot in the world when he was competing (he was also not very tall, so you might not be able to do what he did, but you take what you can and do the best you can with it).

Oh, and the rifle can still be low, so long as you can build up the sights enough. This can lead to unusual positions in some cases, mind.



I wouldn't use Debevec as a guide mind you, not without thirty years of practice He's a great example of extremes; not so great an example of the mainstream. Really, if you want to study this position, The ways of the rifle is the book to get.

You might also find it helpful to rotate your hips forwards - not so much to lean you forwards, but to stop you arching your back and kindof slumping down over the rifle. That tends to mess up your position in a subtle, pain-in-the-fundament sort of way, but if you keep the back straight, it seems to settle more. (It's a bit hard to explain in text, and you'll more feel it internally than see it externally, but it stops you rolling off to the back left and kindof pops the position a bit so if feels more readable -- that's a terrible description but I can't really put it in words. Just give it a try, even now without the rifle, you'll see what I mean. Just imagine an axis running through your hips from left side to right side, and rotate your pelvis forward ten or twenty degrees around that axis).

edit: actually, this diagram might help. Fig 5 is what you don't want, but which always seemed to just happen to me in kneeling; Fig 6 is what you do want (for the hip rotation and effect on the spine, not the sitting part):