How To Compensate For Heartbeat Movement

[DSheetz]

I grew up not having any teaching on guns of any type the only training I ever got was in the Navy and what I picked up on my own after the service . No formal training except in some books that I bought at times . I have done most of my coyote shooting from the setting position with my back against a cut bank so as not to skyline my self and using my knee and elbow to support the fore end and just enough backward pressure to keep it from falling or moving around . In the service my shots were from setting or laying using a log ,rock elbow ,ect. getting as low as I could I would have gotten under a rock if I could have .

 

[DSheetz]

I'm going to say that my time in the Navy wasn't what typically takes place . I arrived at boot camp 12/21 and spent 3 weeks cleaning barracks and heads . Got hair cut and issued dungarees 3 sets first day . Was put in a company was there 3 weeks then sent to the armory for 2 weeks and taught how to dissemble 1903's , m14's and 1911's clean and reassemble them . Sent to a company again for 2 weeks then to slow swim school for a week . Sent to another company went to fire and damage control for 2 weeks then to basic first aid combat corpsman school for 2 more weeks drivers education for a week and then graduated . Sent on leave for 30 days went to A school graduated 2 weeks early . Sent to a fleet oiler in the gulf of Tonkin spent 3 months there came back to the states for 30 days then sent to a little boat in Cam Ranh BAY for 3 months . They finally figured out where they had sent me and put me on a fleet oiler again and sent me back to the gulf of Tonkin for 6 months . We came home and I was put on a supply ship and sent on west pac within 30 days . We were there for 6 months then came home to the states . I was on two oilers that were decommissioned so that's why I got bounced around so much I think . In boot camp I fired a total of five rounds from a 1911, 45 cal. . So in the service I didn't get much formal training with fire arms mostly OJT in panic mode .

 

[Rifleman97]

Thank you for the prompt reply. I wasn't really thinking about elevated heart rates. I'm just talking about the regular old +/- 60 BPM heart rate an average person has. Roughly every second, my crosshairs take an infinitesimal jog...well, infinitesimal until I magnify it 24x which makes every bit of difference in striving for sub-MOA groups.

There's nothing you can do to counteract it, just simply avoid it. Take some slow deep breaths and notice your heart rate. I personally fire at the bottom of my breath in between the beats. So in, out, in, out, in, out...fire!
Our heartbeats always affect our aim, it's just more magnification gives us the ability to actually see it happening. Just clarifying since you specified needing it when using 24x.

 

[ATH]

The heartbeat movement is a real thing if you are tied up into the gun tight enough. Competing in 3-position all slinged up, this was a real thing. I ran 80+ miles a week at that time in my life, my heart rate was in the low 40s, it was pretty easy to set natural point of aim and break the trigger in between beats.

In hunting situations I've rarely found myself in a position where the heartbeat movement comes into play. Often it's fall, I have heavy clothes on, even if I'm tight into the gun that mitigates things.

I go back to, if you're in a position where it's an issue, calm yourself as much as possible and get your natural point of aim right then let it fly when it syncs up.