Shooting with IBA on???

[FhvnLT4A]

Ok Im down here at beautiful Fort McCoy, and Im going to the qual range tomorrow. After shooting at the EST trainer today, I noticed a few serious problems with shooting with body armor on and I was wondering if anyone here has worn the army or marines BA and could offer a couple of tips.

1. while in the prone position, my kevlar tends to get pushed down over my eyes by the back of the vest.


2. in the kneeling position, my support side leg tends to push the body armor up in such a way that there is no pocket on my right shoulder from which to place the butt of the rifle.


I placed a couple of magazine holders high and in the center of my BA and that helps with the prone positioning, but i am at a loss as to how to correct or minimize these two issues. Any ideas i can get before tomorrow would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[ochmude]

Regarding issue #1, that was a huge problem for me. I always canted my kevlar way to the left (assuming you are a right-handed shooter) to keep it from getting in the way. That only slightly helped, though. I'm not sure if you're shooting with optics or iron sights, but whenever I shot using my ACOG I was able to catch the front lip of the kevlar on top of the eye piece of the scope. This results in very minimal eye relief, so you need to hold tight to your shoulder to keep from wacking yourself in the face when you pull the trigger, but it works. Basically, you rest your kevlar on top of the scope to keep it out of your eyes. With the new USMC LWH this problem was actually fixed a little because you could just cinch down on the straps at your cheeks and it would pull the brim up out of your eyes. It works pretty well. Simply put, though, shooting prone while wearing kevlar and a flak is a PITA.

Regarding issue #2, I'm not really sure exactly how your body is positioned in the kneeling for your qual, so I can't really make a suggestion. It would help to know if you're fully square with the target or if you are bladed at all. When wearing PPE you should be completely square so that the largest surface area of armor is facing the direction that potential rounds are coming from. If that's the case, you just put the buttstock on the armor and pull in tight. If you're body isn't square with the target, then I don't know what to tell you. We only shot that way for the KD course of fire, which didn't involve any armor.

EDIT: Good luck with your qual!

 

[Admin]

Shooting prone with armor and helmet just plain sucks. Like the devil dog above me said a slight side shift side to side in the helmet might help. I you didn't have to check in your weapon to the armory today dry fire in the barracks and try the helmet shift.

For the kneeling if you're not allowed to open the front of your jacket the armor is going to ride up with your leg pushing it. A solid firm rearward pull on the pistol grip will help maintain it in the shoulder. There isn't going to be much of a pocket so you just have to deal with it the best way possible. If you have time before the shooting string, make sure you get a good natural point of aim so that if you are fighting the weapon you'll have your best odds at staying in the black on your "loose" shots.

 

[sgtdemeo]

hey, i know your pain.. i did the same thing as you, i put a ammo pouch as close to the position i could, to make a shelf for the bottom of the buttstock to rest on, and also rolled my body as far to the side as i could. i also canted my kevlar as far to the side as i could, and it seemed to help a bit.. but yea, it sucks.

 

[wolf223]

teenage mutant ninja turtles!


i've seen this more with the vertically challenged. but even me, at 5'11" - need to adjust.

you'll get used to it (for qualification anyway)... remember, it's only for a couple minutes.

do you have old school kevlar w / webbing & john wayne chin strap or the new suspension system? -that helps too.

 

[FhvnLT4A]

Old school Kevlar with SAPI plates. Thanks to all for the advice, somehow... I shot 37 out of 40 !! thats Expert in army manual... 50 to 300 yards. I got 14 out of 20 on the Night fire and 18 out of 20 on the NBC...... The two mag pouches up high helped alot on the prone, and my helmet was fine. I made a point to have a higher stance and used my gerber tool on the outside of my shoulder armor to " create" a pocket and just pulled it in tight and tried not to move... it worked !!! Thanks for the advices!

 

[Dench]

brain i feel your pain.
i ran into a world of hell when i got deployed at had to start shooting with body armor on. its so drasticly different then shooting without it i literaly had to reinvent my entire shooting technique (since no one on the range had any advice better then "get used to it" )

it really, really PISSES me off that the army did not put any sort of focus on shooting with body armor in. in my opinion, in todays world of armor, every time you shoot that damn rifle you should have the full body armor on. what ever happened to "train as you fight"?

i just got done watching a show on the m16 on the history channel with some basic training recruits on their first day firing the m16 (the zero range). they didnt even have kevlars on! rediculous!

the best advice i can give you is to get into full battle rattle, and work on your posistioning while you have some time off. thats what i did.

 

[wolf223]

nice shootin there big sarge!