Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JOC: Range Accuracy vs Hunting Accuracy

I shoot well off hand,just not as well as with sticks. Ive shot a lot of coyotes at 200 to 250 yds off sticks that I wouldn't have killed off hand. Same with deer and elk.

Are you actually from Texas, or are you just pretending to be from Texas?



Dave

South 150 miles from you. How are those geovids?

A lot better than my memory.

Obviously.




Travis

I'd agree with you there. I'd also add to that (based on my own experience) being startled by something bounding out unexpectedly, and rushing your shot.

Often (not always) you've got more time than you think, and often too you can improve your odds by bracing up against a handy tree, or dropping to a kneel. Not always of course, and that is where practice plays a big part - getting that muscle memory working for you.

Should I take a drink because heavy traffic makes me nervous or I need to steady my nerves before driving in rush hour?
How about NASCAR drivers before a 500?
Anyone condoning mixing guns and alcohol is one of the stupidest ideas there is. That's one thing that isn't a joke, nor a crutch. If you have to drink to get steady nerves, what made you so nervous to begin with? Work on that, then practice shooting sober.
Can't enjoy it without having a drink? You've got problems Bud.
Oh yes, if your hands shake because you need a drink, you should be in rehab.

Why would shooting or driving in heavy traffic make you nervous?



Travis

Try driving in Minneapolis during the first snowstorm of the winter. I get nervous and have lived here all my life.

Don't drink and drive.

In Minneapolis.




Travis

I'm more of a walker than a sitter so most of my shots are offhand. I don't use bipods or sticks.

Killed this deer from the kneeling position at about 110 yds away.



I use the kneeling position far more than any other shooting position when hunting big game and varmints. For coyote calling I use a Harris bi-pod.

I really assumed by this day and time folks would know that an offhand zero and a slung up sitting or prone zero can be different.

And that just because the gun is on for me, doesnt' mean its on for you.

My best friend and I are consistently 3/4 inch off of each other. I forget which direction but its horizontal.... not enough to matter at 100 though even with head shots, but we've confirmed it often enough.

Doc, you should have posted a WTB in the classified for the O'Connor books as chances are some fire members would have sold you copies, myself included.



Back in the 1960s I completed the SEVEN-LESSON RIFLE SHOOTING COURSE found in O'Connor's COMPLETE BOOK OF RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS...Copyright 1961. It was a tough course especially shooting at targets inside of truck tires rolling down hills.

My take on this has always been I'd never try it. Just flat to much risk to wounding game which I think they don't care about.

I've shot moving targets, with the AR, and we used to have a match that was a blast at moving targets at 300, I got to where I knew how much of my front post to lead with and could really rattle em off.

That being said, the shooter moving, the gun moving, the game moving AND obstacles in the way... thats beyond my personal ethics by far.

Sounds a bit elitist to say someone like Franz doesn't care vs you and your stated position, especially since he cares enough to master the discipline for his hunting end use.

You owe it to the animal, to yourself, and to anyone you may be assisting, to practice your offhand, and to practice moving, as it may be needed during a follow up on a crippled animal. Same as if you intended to use that AR or a handgun to defend life. You owe it to those that would depend upon you, to practice and learn to get off the X, while being proficient at shooting off hand with you and your target moving. Some would say to snub your nose to that skill set as being poor, not good.

Quite a few do not care and do lob unvetted Hail Mary shots at game, but I do not believe that hunters who perfect their craft with shooting on the wing, or shooting on the flush, are somehow "They", and as a group, "do not care".

Best

I have shot a fair number of moving coyotes,trotting, or loping, inside 50yds while they were working my dog. Still shoot them off my sticks. It's amazing the leed needed to not hit behind them. I've found that if I end up shooting off hand,its because things have really gone to crap.

I sight all my rifles in off hand. I don't have a bench out at the gravel pit.

I do load development off the bench, and usually initial drop confirmation.
Then most of my shooting is from field positions.
I typically do well from field positions.
I rarely shoot off-hand, but if I think I will be shooting that way I practice more from that position.
I look hard for any kind of rest to get more solid in the field.

" Ernie the UN-tactical"

I like that !

Like J Foxworthy about clothes style.

I take 'tactical' only so far. !


Jerry

Actually, no. Most folks still don't know that. The majority still believe someone else, like the store deskclerk, can sight-in their rifle for them. Old wives' tales die hard even in "enlightened" high tech times.
You must remember that we live in an age when few of us have even been in the military and practiced slung up and offhand, sitting and prone. The majority males under 60 were busy with "other responsibilities" or were "too smart for the military" as it has been put to me numerous times in rather arrogant and defensive ways. Then these same guys tell me how experienced with firearms they are. Yep, Uncle Bill took them out to plink a few times.
The average guy actually is barely aware of how his rifle works. He puts in "bullets" and it goes bang. I've been at the range and had someone ask me "how to put the bullets" in his rifle or pistol.
A coworker (a retired Navy Chief no less) told me his "dad sited in the rifle before he passed" so he "didn't need too". That's a quote folks.
Most people who post here don't fall into the category of dork I've just illustrated above. If you do fall into that category, ignorance is easily fixed, stupid isn't.