From the M16 to M4 to the M7. History and evolution of the Army's shooting stance and grip.

Comments · 481

• MO

  @montanatacticalhomesteader3777 · 7 months ago · pinned

  You took what I thought would be a sleep through video and made it good!

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• KL

  @KLAYCO47 · 7 months ago

  If the History Channel were still relevant, you would most definitely have a dedicated show.

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• AC

  @acem82 · 7 months ago

  One of the main reasons we were taught the magwell grip was due to actions in Fallujah and Ramadi where the Marines were clearing buildings for hours and hours. They just couldn&apos;t hold their M16A4s up that long, and holding further back on the magwell meant less effective weight to hold up.<br>If you&apos;re too tired to do it any other way, it&apos;s the only real option!

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• OX

  @OxCart762 · 7 months ago

  I’m a simple man. I see Modern Tactical Shooting upload and I click. And leave a comment as an offering to the algorithm Gods

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• DA

  @DanFalcon-x3d · 7 months ago

  In Marines was taught chicken wings, with M16, and M14. In the Army I was taught keep elbow down. Makes sense in close quarters. &nbsp;To this day i still use both, it depends on my mood..Semper Fi . Keep up the work, stay the course.

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• BP

  @bpm990d · 7 months ago

  let me add some earlier history. If you look at the M1903 or M17, they had straight stocks. If you try and bring your firing hand down and lower the elbow, it&apos;s awkward and uncomfortable on the wrist and the trigger finger engages the trigger awkwardly. When the M16 got issued with a pistol grip, it&apos;s much easier to keep the firing elbow down, but the manuals just kept the same old positions.

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• MA

  @MavHunter20XX · 7 months ago

  Tactical Turtles are people too!

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• DE

  @deltatangobravogroup3000 · 7 months ago (edited)

  Another great video, thanks for teaching. Regards from an Old mexican marine, trained by USMC and fought the cartel war in my country from 2006 to 2014, today I´m a Firearms Instructor. I enjoy your videos because you show the FM´s throug history and personal experience and it´s a great value fo the community.

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• ST

  @stinkydinky9419 · 7 months ago

  Always a good day when Jeff uploads

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• BA

  @badgertheskinnycow · 7 months ago (edited)

  Can I add a note from a Brit perspective. I have checked my SLR manual from back in the day and the illustrations for the standing position show the &apos;Chicken wing&apos; stance. Whilst this was the text book position, our instructors did not insist on the high elbow. They tended to rely more on the Marksmanship Principle of &apos; The weapon should point naturally at the target without any undue strain or effort&apos;. So if the low elbow was more comfortable and reduced muscle effort to support the position - that was OK. And in the coaching notes it says that the correct pistol grip hand position is what determines the right arm position. Left hand goes as &nbsp;far forward as is comfortable and supports the rifle with the palm - but is only held not gripped tight or pulled in. Foot stance is Left leg leading with foot pointing forward, Right foot is perpendicular to the Left foot and body weight is tilted forward. When moving in CQB the rifle was held by the same hold but in the &apos;Alert&apos; position which means the barrel is pointing forward but is lowered to a 45 degree angle. As a target presents the rifle is brought up to the aim. With the introduction of SA80 we didn&apos;t change much except there was no requirement for the raised Right (pistol grip hand) elbow. This takes us up to around the 1990 period. Great vid as always Jeff.

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• PR

  @prizrak-br3332 · 7 months ago

  That bit about not relying on your plate carrier reminds me a lot of the concept of the survivability onion taught in armor schools.<br><br>It goes like this: <br><br>Ideally don&apos;t be there,<br>if there don&apos;t be detected,<br>if detected don&apos;t be acquired, <br>if acquired don&apos;t be engaged,<br>if engaged don&apos;t be hit,<br>if hit don&apos;t be penetrated,<br>if penetrated don&apos;t be killed.<br><br>In both cases your armor is a passive countermeasure at the last layer of a long list of mostly active measures in case all else fails, a countermeasure you can&apos;t even be sure will work, you shouldn&apos;t be using it as an active measure.

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• FR

  @frankdamsy9715 · 7 months ago

  A big reason why I think the chicken wing caught on was because if your weapon lacks a pistol grip (as did the M1 Garand and M14) the chicken wing puts your hand in a much more natural position to be holding the rifle (this I feel becomes somewhat obvious when you look at hunters and skeet/trap shooters who almost always have their elbow out when making quick shots with rifles and shotguns that lack a pistol grip)

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