Huh?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_power#Other_contributing_factors

As mentioned earlier, there are many factors, such as drug and/or alcohol levels within the body, body mass index, mental illness, motivation levels, body part strike (e.g. "armpit hold") which may determine which round will kill or at least catastrophically affect a target during any given situation.

.

Back in the day they used to call the full Nelson the "armpit hold".

Not sure if that has anything to do with what you're referencing.

True that.

.

Kinda interesting question since I long ago learned to put the butt of the rifle centered in that "pocket" between the shoulder and the collarbone.  So that's what I would consider to be an "armpit hold."

But before I got an AR-style rifle I had been noticing that photos of folks shooting it held it with the toe of the stock held high up near the point of the shoulder.  When I finally got one just because I wanted to find out what all the AR fuss was about, I found myself holding it the same way, toe of the stock near the point of my shoulder.  (Definition:  To me, the "heel" of the buttplate is the top part, the "toe" is the bottom part.)

That was OK with the light recoil of that puny little varmint cartridge the AR-15-ish rifles use, but I felt that if a more powerful cartridge were used, as in the AR-10-ish rifles or a conventional deer rifle, that would tend to hurt a bit.

So I guess the term "armpit hold" is the way I hold a conventional rifle, to absorb recoil, and the "not-armpit hold" (or maybe "point-of-shoulder hold") is the way one holds the AR-style rifle.

Am I on the right track here?

Terry, 230RN

Thanks for all the replies but I think Q is probably on the right track, that some idiot edited the Wiki page.

The context of the question is that the stopping power effects depend on which part of the body the bullet strikes, and the words "armpit hold" were used as an example of a body part that the bullet strikes.

So as you can see, it doesn't make sense.