Longguns
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Ok, same with handguns, you have to first determine your dominant eye. If you have already determined this after reading the handgun section, it is the same eye, so no need to perform the test again.

If you still have to determine which eye is your dominant eye, read on. One easy way to do this is with both eyes open, make a ring with one hand, or a tube, and circle any object you see in your room that's 5 feet away or more. Now, without moving that rang, close one eye at a time to see with which eye does the object stay within the ring and with which eye does it appear somewhere else. Obviously, the eye with which the object stays within the ring is your dominant eye.

With handguns it is somewhat acceptable to "crossover" your grip if your dominant eye is not the same as your normal dominant hand, but with long guns, it is far more important to shoot using the side of your dominant eye. So for the purposes of this guide, your "strong side" or "dominant side" will refer to the side of your dominant eye.

There are several different ways of doing everything when it comes to long guns because there are so many different types of them out there, but I will try to cover as many of the more popular ones out there. If you own something that is different and what I show in this guide does not apply, please email me with your weapon type and what questions you have regarding the correct operation and I will be happy to try to help.

With the grip, there are two popular grips that appear on long guns. There is the regular small-of-stock grip and the pistol grip.

Depending on which long gun type you have, with your strong side hand, you will grip where it is marked "grip" in the illustration between your thumb and your other fingers, similar to the strong side grip of the handgun as described in the other guide.

The butt of the weapon goes in your shoulder. It does not go under your armpit, on your hip, none of that, it goes just under your shoulder blade, right where your chest meets your arm. Put some rearward pressure with your strong side hand so the butt of the weapon is snugly into the shoulder. If the weapon is loose, not only will it be less stable, but also you will feel the recoil more since it will go back and actually hit you in your shoulder and it will hurt more. So don't be afraid of the recoil, and if the recoil intimidates you, holding it away from your shoulder is the worst thing to do. Pull it snugly into your shoulder.

With your weak side hand, grip the handguard or foregrip lightly to provide support. Do not muscle it, the grip should be fairly light with slight rearward pressure. But again, don't tense up your muscles with this hand it should just be there for support.

Your cheek should be on the cheek-weld of the butt stock. Try to keep your head as erect and straight as possible while doing this. So if you can bring the butt of the weapon up slightly to bring that cheek weld up, do it, but if you can't bring it up any without taking the butt off of your shoulder, then you can just tilt your head down tot it. Some weapons have an adjustable cheek weld, in which there's a piece of the stock that can be raised or lowered to meet with your cheek. If your weapon has that feature, adjust it up to meet the cheek weld to your cheek to keep your head erect while you shoot. This is the preferred way to keep your head while you shoot.

There is the exception with some weapons such as the M16/AR15 because of the fact that these weapons have very little recoil, some people shoulder these weapons to where only the toe of the butt is on their shoulder so they can get the stock high enough to meet their cheek without tilting their head. While this works with a weapon like the M16/AR15, doing this with weapons that have harder recoil can be very painful since all of the recoil will be concentrated on that corner of the butt.

A very important aspect about the way you hold your rifle, is your eye relief; that is the distance between your dominant eye and the rear sight. If you change your eye relief, you will alter where your shots go. So once you zero your rifle's sights, each and every time you shoulder your weapon, you have to do it the same way so your eye relief is identical. On the AR15 platform, there is a very easy way to accomplish this. All you have to do is, when you fire your weapon, just barely touch the tip of your nose to the charging handle of the AR15, and zero your weapon that way. Then every time you fire it, do that same thing. Unless your nose changes size, this should result in the exact same eye relief each and every time.

The posture while shooting a rifle or shotgun is the same as with handguns. The reason being, handguns are really meant as a backup for your primary weapon. Whether that is a rifle, submachine gun, or shotgun. So you're supposed to transition from one to the other without having to modify your posture. So please refer to this link for the correct posture while using a long gun.

There are many different types of sights used by various firearm manufacturers throughout the world when it comes to long guns. There are different combinations of different types of rear sights and front sights and I will try to cover as many combinations of the two as I can think of.

Here are some of the more popular types of front and rear sights:

Rear Sights

• Notch - A "U" shaped notch.
• Peep Sight - A small hole you "peep" through.

• Front Sight Post Unprotected - A small skinny post by itself.
• Protected Front Sight Post (Butterfly type) - A skinny post with a curved "wing" to each side of it, used to protect the post from being impacted and bent.
• Protected Front Sight Post (hood type) - A skinny post that is enclosed within a ring or a tunnel.
• Bead - A small round bead, mostly seen on shotguns.

In this illustration, it shows the correct sight picture for the different combinations of sights you're most likely going to encounter.

Breath control is a very important aspect of shooting with rifles, especially at moderate to long ranges. You want to either time your shots at your natural pauses, or you want to breathe in normally, then while breathing out, hold your breath half way through, shoot, then release the rest of your breath. While you're breathing, you'll notice your sight picture moving up and down, you should time it so you hold your breath right as the sight picture is correct, hold it there, fire, then continue breathing.

Do not hold your breath too long, if you cannot make the shot, continue breathing and try again. If you hold your breath too long, you'll start to shake and your shot will be way off. An important aspect of this is that your breathing remains calm. Try to relax yourself, because the more tense you are, the less stable your sight picture.

The first thing to know about trigger control, is how to properly press the trigger. First of all, you don't pull a trigger. Pulling on it will tighten up the muscles in your wrist and cause your aim to be thrown off. You either squeeze the trigger or press the trigger. Both ways, you focus only on the muscles used to manipulate the trigger finger and nothing else, and you do so in a steady and constant pressure. Most beginners jerk the trigger anticipating the recoil of the shot. Don't do this, the shot SHOULD be a surprise to you, you shouldn't "know" when it goes off. You should be squeezing, squeezing, squeezing, and bam, it goes off. This way, you don't anticipate the shot and you wouldn't throw it off completely.

Secondly, remember where on your finger should contact the trigger. You should squeeze or press the trigger using only the meaty part between the tip of your index finger and the last knuckle.

This is a hard section to write about since there are many different ways to reload a long gun depending on what model it is, who makes it, etc.

I guess my first example will be one of the most popular examples, the AR15 family.

There are 4 parts of the AR15 that is important to know about in order to fully understand the correct procedure of loading and reloading the AR15.
The first is the magazine well:

This is where the magazine is loaded into.

The second is the charging handle:

While the bolt is not held in the rear position, use this charging handle to open the bolt. If there is a round chambered in the weapon, pulling back on this charging handle will result in the ejection of that round. If there is a loaded magazine inserted at the time, releasing this charging handle will strip a round from the top of the magazine and chamber said round. If an empty magazine is loaded in the rifle, the bolt will be held in the open position; you would then need to manually push the loose charging handle forward until it is locked because it will not automatically slap forward in this situation. If there is no magazine loaded in the rifle, the charging handle will automatically spring forward upon pulling it back and releasing it, and it will not chamber a new round.

In the AR15, the charging handle is known as the non-reciprocating charging handle, in that it does not go back with the bolt when the weapon is fired. Some weapons, like the M14, AK47, M1 Garand, has what is known as a reciprocating charging handle, because whenever a shot is fired, the rearward movement of the bolt is observed in the rearward motion of the charging handle as well.

Third, is the bolt stop/release:

This has two functions: it locks the bolt to the rear and it also releases it. When there is an empty magazine loaded into the weapon, this will automatically lock the bolt to the rear if the bolt is pulled back. Or, you can manually lock the bolt back by pushing and holding down the small portion on the bottom of this when you pull the bolt to the rear position via the charging handle. To release the bolt whenever it is locked back, you simply slap on the bigger top portion of this.

Lastly, there is the magazine release:

This is the simplest, it serves two functions but only one needs your attention. When you insert a magazine, this automatically holds the magazine in place. And if you want to release the magazine, just depress the button and the magazine should fall out. If the magazine has bloated and does not fall free when you depress the magazine release button, simply hold down the button and pull the magazine out with your other hand.

Reloading an AR15 is very simple. Upon firing your final shot, the bolt should automatically lock to the rear. When you get accustomed to shooting your AR15, you'll notice the sound difference between a regular shot, and your last shot because you won't hear the bolt slamming back forward. But maybe you won't recognize it in the beginning, so to confirm you are out of ammo, visually inspect the ejection port to see if the bolt is locked to the rear. If it is, you should see right into the chamber of the weapon. If not, you'll see the bolt in the "home" position. If the bolt is locked to the rear, make sure there is no more ammo in the magazine by looking down through the ejection port. If the magazine is empty, proceed with the reload procedure:

1. Visually inspect the ejection port to ensure that the weapon is indeed empty.
2. Put the weapon on safe.
3. Depress the magazine release button and either let the empty magazine drop (on the field) or grab it with the other hand while depressing the magazine to keep it from falling and smashing on the ground.
4. Load a loaded magazine into the magazine well with the side with the exposed rounds facing up and the bullets facing toward the muzzle of the weapon. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to insert the magazine along the curve of the magazine. Don't do this, it will get jammed up. Insert the magazine STRAIGHT up. Ignore the apparent curve in the magazine.
5. Slap up on the bottom of the magazine to ensure that it is seated correctly. Don't be afraid to slap it pretty hard, the magazine is made out of aluminum or steel, it will not break.
6. If the bolt is locked to the rear, all you have to do is slap the top of the slide stop (the bigger part) and the bolt should release and load a round into the chamber. If the bolt was not locked to the rear, pull back on the charging handle all the way, and release. DO NOT guide the charging handle forward, you must let it SLAP forward with force to properly chamber and lock the weapon.

If by any chance, you encounter a misfire, meaning you are shooting and you know you have not shot off all of your rounds, but you press the trigger and nothing happens, you should perform immediate action, and for the AR15, the proper procedure is given the acronym S.P.O.R.T.S. It stands for:

S	Slap the bottom of the magazine to ensure that the magazine is seated correctly in the magazine well.
P	Pull the charging handle all the way back.
O	Observe the round ejecting out the ejection port, and observe into the chamber to ensure there is no round stuck in the chamber. If there is, do not proceed to the next step, instead, hold the charging handle to the rear position, and lock the bolt back using the bolt stop like I explained earlier, drop the magazine, then release the bolt and pull the charging handle again to see if it will properly eject the round from the chamber. If there is already a round inside the chamber and you release the bolt with the magazine inserted, you will cause what is called a double feed, and there is a danger of the tip of the round striking the primer of the round inside the chamber causing an accidental discharge which could result in injury or death since the chamber is exposed. But if you see that the chamber is empty, proceed to the next step.
R	Release the charging handle, stripping and loading another round from the magazine.
T	Tap on the forward assist.
S	Squeeze the trigger. It should fire another round. If not, there might be something wrong with the rifle.

Please refer to the firearm's operator's manual to learn about the proper function and the proper way to clear a malfunction. Do not try to fix or alter the weapon yourself, if the problem requires alterations to the firearm, leave it to a trained professional to do the work. Most manufacturers provide some sort of warranty on their products, so contact them first for any problems you may encounter. Also, the first thing you need to check regarding constant malfunctions is the magazine. Change magazines and see if the problem persists. A lot of weapon malfunctions are rooted in a problem with the magazine. Buying a new magazine will be a lot cheaper than paying for service on your weapon that you don't require.

Even with the same rifle, there are many different ways to present the weapon. It depends on if you have it on a sling or not, and even with a sling it depends on the type of sling. But there are a few fundamentals to remember and you should be able to figure out the most efficient way to present the weapon from any position or combination of conditions.

First of all, is muzzle awareness. Knowing where your muzzle is at all times and remembering not to point the muzzle at anything you're not ready to destroy is one thing you still have to keep in mind. But on the same note, if you have a target in front of you, presenting the rifle so the muzzle is pointed toward the target at the earliest moment is also important. Similar to the way you draw a handgun, how you twist the handgun as soon as it's out of the holster so that the muzzle is toward the target right from the beginning. This is the same concept for the rifle. If the target is close enough, you can shoot from the hip if you really needed to be and at the very worst it would force the enemy to temporarily withdraw the attack, giving you time to bring the weapon completely up to your shoulder to take more accurate shots.

Also part of muzzle awareness, is if you're moving or turning with the rifle, and you're close to a wall or you're strafing through a door and for whatever reason you do not have enough room to keep your weapon up, the best thing to do is to keep the butt of the stock on your shoulder, and simply pivot the muzzle of the weapon down to the ground. Pointing it up is not a good idea, and taking the rifle off your shoulder is not a good idea. The fastest, and safest, thing to do is to point the weapon down for the moment that you need to, then back up when you can. Also, if you are on the move and need the visibility, just drop the muzzle, while keeping the butt of the stock on your shoulder, slightly so you have full visibility, this way, if someone pops out, you can just quickly snap the muzzle back up to fire.

For the quickest presentation, I would recommend something like a 1-point or a 3-point sling. If you can get a 2-point sling that attaches to the side instead of the standard sling loops and the forward part attaches close to the slip ring instead of the gas block, that would work very well too. A 1-point sling is very fast and simple, but it doesn't provide as much weapon control while it's resting on the sling as with a 3-point sling. But all of these sling options will allow you to have the weapon slung, and then present without having to unsling the weapon, while the conventional weapon sling that hangs off the bottom standard sling loops will force you to have to unsling the weapon and swing the muzzle around before you have it at a ready position.