Southern Hunting Rifle

hanshi said:

Crescent butt plates on small bores (.40 & under) don't hurt no matter how you shoulder them. But if you have one of those in a larger caliber it does have to be seated on the right spot. Think of the shoulder as a ball. Most guns are shouldered in the "hollow" on the inside of the shoulder ball. But crescent butts must be seated just on the outside of the shoulder ball. Some refer to that as "mounting the butt on the arm"; but that can be misleading for the rest of us. It should be thought of as either "inside edge or outside edge" of the shoulder ball. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Bob McBride said:

Deep crescents are designed for a specific type of erect crossbody offhand shooting popular in the south and in the Ohio area for a few decades before , through the ACW, and up until the turn of the century. If you raise your right upper arm 45 degrees and look at the crook between your pectoral muscle and bicep you will see a hollow. That is where the butt goes. the rifle is fired across and parallel with the chest with your left tricep resting on the upper part of your latissimus dorsi closest to your arm for stability. Here's a video where I try to demonstrate.

Shooting Southern Deep Crescent Rifles

Click to expand...

Flinty Scot said:

Bob, Thank you for that link. My Southern Mountain is the finest rifle I've owned but I'm still adapting to it. I've heard that explained beforet, but that's the clearest and - finally- makes sense. Can't wait to try it.

Click to expand...

jonathan butcher said:

Bob, great tip and video! Would enjoy being introduced to your back wall, I’d like to meet pretty much every item on it.

Click to expand...