Look at the attached photo (just a sample of a point).
Notice the shooter is standing quite erect. Similar (but with drastically different results) to my offhand posture … and I believe that of most match shooters.
Now, contrast this with Keith Sanderson’s pistol posture – a pronounced FORWARD lean to both neck and head.
Sure, he’s in a combat mode, but still …
Why the difference?
The goal.
The 10 ring on the AR-5 target is a 0.5mm dot surrounded by a 5.5mm 9 ring. That means scoring a 10 has to be within the 4.5mm pellet’s diameter to hit that dot, which works out to a roughly 1.7MOA 10 ring. Plus, scored electronically, shooters are awarded tenth of point values based on how perfectly centered that ten actually was.
Air rifle is shot exclusively from standing. At the Olympic level, nearly perfect scores are common. In the 2012 Olympics the top 32 shooters shot 590 or better with 60 record shots. The worst shooter at that match shot 575. Consider High Power uses an SR target for standing with a 3.5 MOA ten ring and standing accounts for 20-40% of the total score.
Recoil recovery is a non issue. Consistently breaking centered shots on an insanely-small target from standing is. Positions evolved toward the end goal.
Firearm User Network 
David B. Monier-Williams
Mar 05, 2016 @ 14:26:36
This shooter is skeletally aligned and in balance. To accomplish this, the shooter is leaning far enough back to push his hips forward so that his elbow rests on his hip joint. Thus the weight of the rifle is borne by the bone structure.
This and other techniques were developed from a time in the mid to late 50’s by AMU while the famous shot Gary Anderson was there. It was a time when the US was getting badly beaten not only by the Russians but also the Swiss. At one of the international meets someone did a Government job on the Russian Training Manual. It took two years to translate and implement it and from then on we won many ISU and Olympic events.
By contrast, Keith is out of alignment and out of balance. He brings all his muscle power to muscle the recoil. The theory being more muscle more control. This leaves out the small framed petite women all together. Yes, I’ve seen top women shooters and they’re not petite.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 05, 2016 @ 19:17:59
>> This and other techniques were developed from a time in the mid to late 50’s by AMU while the famous shot Gary Anderson was there. It was a time when the US was getting badly beaten not only by the Russians but also the Swiss. At one of the international meets someone did a Government job on the Russian Training Manual. It took two years to translate and implement it and from then on we won many ISU and Olympic events.
So, upon a series of defeats, shooters from the AMU decided to look to what the winners were doing, emulated what they learned, and they started winning themselves.
>> By contrast, Keith is out of alignment and out of balance.
Yet, this Olympic-caliber shooter consistently won international Service Conditions matches against the best shooters on teams sponsored by NATO militaries. Other shooters that also performed equally well continue to use similar technique, as do people winning various practical pistol competitions around the globe. Like the AMU, Service Conditions competitors looked to what the winners were doing, emulated what they learned, and started winning themselves.
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David B. Monier-Williams
Mar 06, 2016 @ 06:09:57
Unless, of course, you develop a fully aligned and in balance pistol technique that is not muscle dependent and simultaneously adsorbs and dissipates recoil, thereby opening competition up to all types of physical shape and slender opposite gender.
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David B. Monier-Williams
Mar 06, 2016 @ 06:14:54
>> “So, upon a series of defeats, shooters from the AMU decided to look to what the winners were doing, emulated what they learned, and they started winning themselves.”
Actually, the motivation…a good one…was gold medals.
What is lacking is the pistol network is a motivation to do even better while bringing in more competitors into the field.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 06, 2016 @ 17:36:59
>> What is lacking is the pistol network is a motivation to do even better while bringing in more competitors into the field.
Agreed!
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Colorado Pete
Mar 09, 2016 @ 11:31:00
David, the forward lean pistol posture is not about muscle controlling recoil. It is about using your upper body mass against recoil in a way that absorbs and suppresses recoil without the recoil pushing your body out of position. The recoil pushes your shoulders rearward, so you put your body in a forward out-of-balance position (which is held in place by muscle) so that GRAVITY applying itself to your upper body mass dampens recoil, especially when firing successive shots at a very fast pace which have a cumulative effect on pushing your body out of its shooting posture.
Muscle is not used against recoil, your body weight is. Muscle is only used to hold a stance with a forward bias, and anyone can do that with minimal effort. This does not mitigate against petite women, since the smaller the body, the less muscle effort it takes. However, the smaller the shooter’s body, the less mass there is to counteract recoil. Target shooters firing at a slower pace (even in “rapid fire”) don’t have to worry about this the way handgun speed shooters do.
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