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The Back Position

by David Minshall

 

The back position (sometimes referred to as the Creedmoor position) was known at the end of the 18th century. Captain Ferguson demonstrating his famous breech loading flintlock rifle in 1776 was noted to have fired from this position at a target 100 yards away. Below is a picture from Ezekial Baker's "Remarks on Rifle Guns".

Back position c1800

Note that the sling is looped around the foot and it is this that takes the recoil. There's no support of the butt from the body and the head also remains unsupported. Colonel Beaufoy (c1808) noted that "as the position is not only awkward but painful, this method is seldom used as a position of practice."

The position was revived by a small number of shooters early in the 1860s with the introduction of competitive long range shooting at the NRA(GB) rifle meetings.

The back position really developed during the 1870s when there was a great interest in long range shooting associated with the international matches held at Creedmoor (USA), Dollymount (Ireland) and Wimbledon (Great Britain). American long range marksmen had much success with the position, which provided a most stable platform for the rifle. It should be noted that in competition no artificial support (including slings) was permitted and the back position was superior to shooting prone unsupported. British riflemen began to adopt the position following American triumphs at long range and the position continued in use into the 20th century amongst match riflemen.

Following are pictures of the back position in use with muzzle loading match rifles. Note that the shooters use heel mounted rear sights.

The back position

The back position

To support the head the shooter at the top has attach a rubber loop to the sleeve of the jacket which is clenched by the teeth. A variant of this is to loop a belt around the neck through which a hand is passed, as shown in the lower picture.

There are a number of variations of the position. Sir Henry Halford, Captain of the Great Britain team to the USA in 1877 is picture below:

Sir Henry Halford

Two further contemporary views of shooters adopting similar positions as above are top, G.W. Yale (USA) and bottom H. Fulton (USA). Both illustrations are from the 1870s. Yale has a Sharps and Fulton a Remington breech loading rifle.

G.W. Yale (USA) and bottom H. Fulton (USA)
© 2006 DB Minshall
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