The effects of litter carrying on rifle shooting

This study investigated whether the use of a shoulder harness would affect shooting accuracy after patient litter carrying. Two- and four-person teams, 12 male and 9 female soldiers, fired at targets before and after (1) a 15-minute bout of rapid, short litter carries and lifts, and (2) a moderate speed 30-minute litter carry with and without a harness for both types of carries. Shooting accuracy was 10% poorer (p < 0.05) after the 15-minute bout (mean +/- SD = 8.9 +/- 1.9 mm) than after the 30-minute carry (8.1 +/- 1.7 mm). Four-person teams using litter-carriage harnesses had 17% tighter shot groups (45.5 +/- 30.4 mm2) (p < 0.05) than four-person teams that did not use harnesses (54.5 +/- 26.1 mm2) and two-person teams with (56.3 +/- 29.1 mm2) or without harnesses (54.9 +/- 30.7 mm2). The harness can potentially improve shooting accuracy after litter carrying.