Sling. Your ability to hold the rifle steadily in any required position will be greatly increased by the proper adjustment and use of the sling. Indeed, you cannot hope to hold the rifle steadily unless the sling is properly used. The following photographs illustrate the correct way to get into the sling.
No. 1. Notice that the left arm is slipped in between the sling and the gun from the left side. It is then run through the sling from the right side of same. Notice how gun is held against leg. Notice that the muzzle of the gun is pointing up, not down. The bolt should be drawn back while you get into the sling. This is to avoid accidents. Notice that the sight leaf is down.
No. 2. Notice that the sling has been slipped up and over the large muscles of the upper arm. Also the left hand after being run through the sling is grasping the gun to that the sling is to the right.
By turning back now to the photographs illustrating the correct body positions you will see how the sling is used.
2. Aiming. An error of one one-hundredth of an inch in the amount of front sight seen, at the instant the gun is fired, will cause you to completely miss a man 500 yards away. Hence, the eye must be trained unless the firer has at all times a mental picture of how the sights and the bull's-eye look when properly aligned. You should acquire this mental picture during your aiming exercises and by the time you go on the range you should have the eye so trained that you will focus it properly on your sights and target without mental effort.
3. Trigger Squeeze. If you convulsively jerk the trigger to discharge the rifle, you disturb your hold and aim and the mark is missed; this is the recruit's most common error. To properly squeeze trigger observe the following suggestions:
(a) As you place your rifle to the shoulder, take up the loose play in the trigger (called the creep).
(b) When the gun is properly aimed, don't endeavor at that particular moment to fire it but be content to apply additional pressure to the trigger and then hold this pressure until the gun is again steady and properly aimed when a little more pressure is added and so on until the gun is discharged. By using this system, the firer does not know the exact instant the gun is to go off and the common faults, namely, flinching and jerking the trigger are unconsciously avoided.