One for the firearms aficionados - at the end of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Blondie shoots down Tuco from a noose by aiming his rifle, which I think is a lever action repeater, in a quite unusual way, he rests it on his forearm as he fires, as opposed to holding it normally.
Would this increase accuracy? Was it ever done, or is a cinema invention?
Your first link must not allow hotlinking, because it’s not showing what I think you want it to be.
EDIT: You can also read your whole spoilered part in the mouseover preview by the way.
Hmm, that’s annoying. Try this link instead.
Forgot about mouseover space, but it was more of a courtesy anyway. Hopefully its in ‘it was his sled’ territory by now.
Cinematic invention, is my guess. It just added to Clint’s coolness quotient.
Doc Brown uses the same trick in Back to the Future III.
You know, I asked myself the same question when I saw that scene.
I have never used it. I’ve had a lot of friends come over and shoot over the years, and I have never seen *anyone *use it. I just thumbed through Art of the Rifle by Col. Jeff Cooper, and he makes no mention of it.
So I don’t know. Maybe I’ll try it this afternoon and let you know my impression of it.
If we’re talking specifically about balancing on the elbow joint, I would have to think it improve control of aim in the vertical dimension while degrading it in the horizontal. Your arm would be working against less gravity-induced torque and using fewer muscle groups, meaning less fatigue and twitching. However, in order to displace aim horizontally, you’d need to use larger muscle groups than normal, potentially rotating your whole body.
One standing position I’ve seen that is supposed to provide maximum stability is to brace the elbow on a hip so that the rifle is stabilized against gravity by a continuous column of bone going directly to the earth. It looks pretty, um, strange, but that’s probably the better way to do what the forearm trick purports to do.
It is called the standing position, and is often used in competition. The “regular/standard” upright shooting position is called offhand.
The standing position is steadier, but more restrictive and slower to assume. Personally, I prefer offhand for upright shooting. That is, *when *I shoot upright… I ***much ***prefer prone. The vast majority of my shooting is done in prone. Prone rules.
I’ve done something similar hunting squirrels. You hold on to something (like a tree) with your left hand, rest your elbow on a limb of the tree, then rest your rifle on the forearm. Yes, it’s more stable, and can increase your accurate range. I’ve never tried it with a full-power rifle, though, just .22s and pellet guns. I don’t know how it would work with a rifle that large. And, btw, I’ve seen it mentioned in hunting and shooting magazines, which is how I got the idea to try it.
Just curious, what’s the difference between offhand and that shooting style I’ve seen R Lee Ermy use? (It looks like offhand except his hand is rotated 180 degrees.)
Blondie’s left hand seems to be grasping something that projects downward. If it is a horse bridle, no gain, but if it is a rigid post of some sort, or a stable point of some sort, then this method would provide a more stable support than offhand shooting (your second link). If he’s on a horse all bets are off and it is pure Hollywood.
Something like this?
I don’t know… that’s an oddball position. I guess an argument could be made that steadiness is improved due to the forearm being pressed against the magazine. I’m skeptical, though… if it were any good I would expect to see people using it. I’ll give it a try.
Yeah, there’s no substitute for prone supported, but Clint Eastwood is too manly for that.
Yup, that’s pretty much it. Every time I see Sgt Ermey shoot a rifle he holds it like that and I was curious what the deal is. (Since he knows what he’s doing)
Here is a pic of Josey Wales using a log to support his rifle. I *think *this is where he shot the rope spanning the river, thereby sending the ferry downstream.
That was a Sharps 1874, which was a single-shot cartridge breech-loader. I have one.
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Damn, colour me jealous. An anachronism though, since the film’s set in the U.S. Civil War.
Those standing techniques look awkward and uncomfortable as hell, would it be worthwhile doing in combat?
Thinking of selling it. I’ve had it for probably 17 or 18 years and I haven’t gotten round to firing it yet!
The Gatling gun was demonstrated in combat, but wasn’t adopted until 1866. Lee Van Cleef carries cartridges for his percussion Remington. IMFDb says that there were cartridge-converted Colt 1851s used, which weren’t available until after the war. This seems to be a ‘film expedient’ though. That is, they were supposed to be percussion ones, but needed to use ‘close enough’ ones for filming purposes.
I can’t answer that one directly, but I can say that bison hunters – who frequently used Sharps rifles – used ‘shooting sticks’ to stead their aim. These were simply a pair of sticks that were crossed and tied several inches from the top, and often had a leather sling between the short ends. Improvised bipods, basically.
Do what works for you.
prone is very good except in 2 feet of water. Of hand may be good but not in a shallow trench. Bi-pod is good except for quail hunting. See the problem here.
What ever works for you. I NEVER criticize a persons methods until I consistently out shoot them and know for a fact they do not have a problem that precludes their doing it a different way.
Guy I know was shooting off his mouth about some dude using the wrong eye to aim with and why would he not do it right. That guy shot the pants off the guy I knew. Turns out he had one glass eye.
Just cause it don’t work for you don’t mean it don’t work for somebody.
Now that’s some fancy shooting! :eek:
