Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
Army manuals from before World War II were explicit about the need to slide the right hand from the small of the stock to the butt of the stock when assuming the prone position. The manuals included step-by-step sketches or photos showing how to do it, and that was in the days of walnut stocks.
However and as is often true, what the manual shows and what Joe does are often quite different. As I said above, we don't train well -- we teach a lot but we don't train. We don't because it's tedious to do it to build the necessary muscle memory and most trainers are too lazy to spend the time and effort required.

Incidentally, that technique is one reason the M1 stock is much thicker at the small than was the 03 or even the 03A1. It worked with the M14, did not work with the M16 and couldn't work with the adjustable stocks.

The Micarta stock on a BAR would take it though it got chewed up on gravel in the process. It flat did not work with the M1A1 Carbine...