Have you ever felt that you are not sufficiently strong to hold a rifle or shotgun long enough and steady enough to take an accurate and ethical shot while hunting, or have the confidence to know you will absolutely hit your target in a shooting match? Many women have felt that way, but recognizing that many women can do these things with skill should encourage you to start working. Let’s look at a few strategies to build the muscle you need to hold your rifle or shotgun. These tips are not geared toward women who are strong enough to do this already, but you might find a couple tips to help you become more accurate and use better mechanics. This is for women who are starting at square one.
Perfect Practice makes Perfect Performance
Sure, we’ve heard that 1,000 times, but what does that mean for rifle or shotgun shooting? It means starting out and continuing to do things correctly so that you build good habits, and use good mechanics. Does your technique have to be 100 percent the same as what I do? Not necessarily. Everyone has their own body proportions, strengths, weaknesses, perhaps even injuries. Here are some key starting points to help you.
Stand and face the target. The most important advice for setting yourself up for success with shooting a rifle or shotgun is to consider how you stand. You don’t want to fight your body. Almost every person who has fired a gun has heard the term “natural point of aim.” And while many people think this plays no role in hunting or action shooting, they will also talk about “indexing” or “mechanics,” or what others call natural point of aim. It’s just more generalized with fast-paced shooting. It can be distilled into: Face the target.
Many experienced instructors will tell you that stance doesn’t really matter or how they can shoot with a gun held upside down in their non-dominant hand and still hit a target. That’s great. But it’s not ideal. If you’re a small person holding a heavy firearm, doing things with some thought about how your body works will make it easier to manage the weight and the recoil. This starts with how you stand.
Stand facing the target. Think: belly button pointed at the target. This is a cue I’ve used teaching skiing, and it applies to the shooting sports as well. Where your belly button or torso is pointed, your upper body will also be facing, and your feet are generally pointed at the target too. Think of it simply as: If you are looking at something (a target) and want to interact in the direction of the target, you should be facing it. We don’t blade or turn sideways to someone if we’re throwing them a ball, and the same applies to shooting firearms.
If we blade or have our torso pointed away from the target, the gun is generally only behind the shoulder, and the recoil will “push” your torso more than it does when you are facing the target and the gun is tucked into the “pocket” of your shoulder. Experiment with this. Stand bladed and stand facing the target. Look at your sights or optic during recoil. Where do they move? Generally, it will be off the target more if you are bladed, and usually off to the right and high, if you are right-handed.
Standing bladed also means you are using different muscles to hold the gun up. When you face the target, you can shoulder the gun and pull it back against your body with both hands and create pressure against your body making it easier to control the gun under recoil. If you are bladed, the amount of force you can create by pulling the gun into just your shoulder is decreased. If you experiment with this in dry fire, you will be able to feel the difference.
When we face the target our weight is also better utilized to control the forces of recoil. We can kick our dominant side foot backward a little. Even a few inches makes a difference—think about every video you’ve ever seen of someone shooting full-auto and their leg generally very far back to create leverage.
If we are bladed, the tendency is to allow our weight to transfer to the back leg (and with smaller statured people, this tends to be exaggerated because they are attempting to hold the gun up and on target with mostly the support side of their body.) This is why many women and smaller framed people can look awkward the first time they hold up a rifle or shotgun to shoot. And it’s also why stance matters. For a 6’ tall, 180-lb. man with upper body mass, recoil might be nothing to fear, but for a 5' 2" tall, 125-lb. woman with much lower upper body mass, recoil might actually hurt if the gun isn’t backed by their body properly.
Exercise 1: Hold the gun properly, with the stock in the pocket of your shoulder, pulling it tight to your body, and trace the numbers on a clock (Roman numerals are extra fun because you have more stop and start points). As you get better and can get all the way around the clock, add in dry fire and starts and stops, transitions across the face from 3-9, 12-6, etc.
Try it with one hand (I do this with a rifle often). It’s do-able with the support hand for most people, but with just your dominant hand, it gets more difficult with heavier guns.
Exercise 2: Practice mounting the gun and getting your sight picture. If you’re going on your first hunting trip, this is great practice. Check that it’s the same with your hunting gear on too—make sure your jacket or waders won’t be in the way!
Understanding your sights or optic and what it takes to get on target with or without magnification is also something to work on while you work on strength. So ensure your gun is empty, and find a “target” (think, lightswitch plate on the wall, or go online and find something to print for yourself) and practice bringing your gun up and on target and dry-firing.
Exercise 3: Hold the rifle or shotgun with just one hand and time yourself. This is almost impossible with some shotguns and just your strong hand. So don’t strain yourself.
I also carry my shotgun with one hand when I walk to check targets or reset targets, I swing my shotgun, using my thumb to create pressure and work wrist and forearm strength. I usually get about 12 to 15 reps each time I reset targets. It’s nothing big, but it adds to your ability to comfortably manage the gun.
Exercise 4: Do the same rocking or swinging exercise with your rifle. It will build wrist strength immensely! This is much more difficult for some people. And you might have to start very small and work your way up to more time or holding it closer to your body to start.
Outside of those specific tasks with your firearm, hit the weights. Do pushups, bench press. Work on your shoulders … Find your favorite 10-lb. dumbbell workouts and do them! And see what just a month will do for your strength holding your rifle or shotgun. If you want to enjoy hunting or a shooting match more, get working on the small stuff you can do each day to slowly build your strength. It will make it so much more enjoyable.
And lastly, use support when appropriate. Even if you are working to have more skill and strength for a big hunt or a big match, don’t forget that even the most experienced people use support, if it’s available. Hunters want an ethical shot, so they will use a tripod, or a supported position when possible. And competitors do the same. This doesn’t mean that you don’t need to get strong with your firearm. The stronger you are, the faster and quicker you will be able to set up to get on target. And the more time you have behind your gun, even if it’s just dry fire and manipulation, the better your fine motor skills will be to help you get the hits when it matters.
