Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Offhand shooting

Practice mainly as the others have said. Reduce the magnification on your scope as well. The more Xs you have on the scope the more it magnifies the wobble. A good trigger is very important.

Just loaded a bunch of .357 pistol bullets in Whelen cases this wknd so I can do a little OH practice. I get a fair amount of close range opportunities. Ave distance off all the deer I've taken is well under 50 yds. I don't do running shots and will take advantage of any tree I can find as a rest.

Scott has great points.

One other thing you need to see with a scope, so you understand it rather than someone telling you to shoot quick...

Put the gun up, learn to mount it while staring at the target. Then notice how wild it is at first, and then it starts to settle some as you concentrate. Then it starts to get worse, and way worse.

When you realize you might have 5 seconds to shoot without it getting to the 2nd wild, you know what we are talking about.

As another post says... if you are in the killing zone you need to be pulling the trigger. You can learn by dry firing to snap it pretty quickyl, but you have to not jerk. And you have to know when to give up and take a breath and start over again. Pressure while teh crosshairs are moving towards center, if it starts moving out or away, stop the pressure... start it again as its coming back in.

You likely won't see this without some practice....

And for live fire stuff, ball and dummy rules IMHO... always have some blanks loaded, dead or no primer, and a bullet but no powder. Drop in your pocket or bag with live.. do not look as you load....

And follow through. I've seen guys dropping rifles and lifting heads to see what was going on the millisecond they pulled the trigger.

Yep. An air rifle is a very good tool to teach follow through. If you're not going all the way through it will become very obvious.

And for live fire stuff, ball and dummy rules IMHO... always have some blanks loaded, dead or no primer, and a bullet but no powder. Drop in your pocket or bag with live.. do not look as you load... This is how I conquered flinching:-)

We ain't talking about flinching, we are talking about improving shooting offhand. I don't want nor need dummies for practicing shooting offhand.

Another couple of points.

Squeezing the trigger has been mentioned. At least as important is the follow-through. You can't believe how far you can miss a shot with the reticle in exactly the right spot, if you get excited and get jumpy on the trigger. especially when your air starts to run out, because you are of course holding your breath.

Stance. What is your weight distribution like? It should be slightly on the front foot.

Also, concentration! You have to focus on making the shot. Not be thinking about missing.

Balanced weight distribution, neither front nor back. Shoulder width stance. Focused controlled breathing and timing.

It might be a situational thing, dependent on such things as cover, but I actually do shoot a fair bit of game from kneeling, braced up against a convenient tree if I can, or not. I find it steadier than standing, and takes but a moment to adopt.

I think it is important to adapt yourself to the situation, and take the best option depending on time, cover, distance etc. To that end I think that it is valuable to practice from a range of positions, and also to practice adopting positions smoothly and quickly. It is also worthwhile when hunting to be conscious of where you might take a shot from. For example, if you see an undisturbed animal, or even if you flush one "do I take him from here, or step up to that tree and brace up?"

Of course, you have to make the shot, and sometimes don't have much time to think about it. This little bloke was shot offhand at a distance of less than a yard, pi$$ed off and coming in fast:


And these were shot offhand by me and a mate, all going hard in various directions, over a few noisy seconds. Distances probably less than 60 yards for the longest shot.


I've shot a fair few like that. There again though, I've shot a fair few critters from kneeling and sitting too, and prone. I've even shot game from a fair approximation of a benchrest, such as a big boulder with my backpack on it.

When I am doing well I bring the crosshair over the target the same way everytime.I anticipate crossing the 10 ring.It is not a attempt at a steady hold on the 10 ring...just my way.What do others do ?

This do make things easier. The real lightweights are tough to shoot offhand, I find a medium weight ( 8 lb) rifle with a mag contour barrel about the easiest.

And personally speaking, I don't like a sling on a rifle for offhand shooting, and don't like to shoot all wrapped up in a sling either...JMHO

A nice trigger is a big benefit, too. The rifles I do my best offhand work with all have light crisp triggers, and my favorites have double set triggers. One can't possibly conquer the wobbles, but one can snatch the shot accurately with a good trigger as the sights linger on the aiming point. Harry Pope, the esteemed barrel maker and champion offhand target (Schuetzen) shot was asked by a bystander what he considered the most important part of a good target rifle (expecting Harry to say the barrel, of course), gave the reply that it was his trigger.

The most important aid IMO though is the one between your ears. Be smart enough to know what your deficiencies are and work to correct them, be smart enough to ask for and heed advice from guys who've been there and succeeded, and be smart enough to practice practice practice.

I was told to use a figure 8 if it helps.

Lots of wobble, figure 8 and inside 60 yard shots when we discuss the real world hunting applications of offhand shooting. It seems that folks practice at longer ranges, but only see it as a tool for short range hunting and I agree.

Anyone with a little experience will take a field rest of some kind if conditions allow. From a steady field rest even moving targets are much easier if it is anything but a fixed bipod providing your extra stability.

For the shotgunners who stand exclusively - Turkey shots are much closer to big game shots and most of those are taken sitting with a rest to get the precise pellet placement in a head or neck.

My hunting conditions and methods haven't resulted in tons of closer than 60 yard shots but I'm almost exclusively hunting arid mountain areas with patches of thicker forests rather than thick woods with occasional clearings. But even at inside 100 yards I take a rest if I can and think you are foolish not to get as steady as you can.

Good post.

General Comment: I would not begin to know how to shoot moving game off bipod or shooting sticks, but from a sitting position or off hand,MUCH easier.

The sticks or bipods would do noting but handicap me. In open country I will grab what I can for a rest and have used jackets, hats, bins, branches,rocks etc but depend primarily on a shooting style sling like Brownell Latigo. I

By far, IMHO thats the best way to set up the quick offhand shot..... bring it in the same wobbly slow speed every time and start to break the trigger as you get there... usually goes bang when it should... but to me this also means not trying to start that trigger break until you are at least in the vitals of the chest and then breaking it fast.

I can say, if you wait till its there, its going to usually be too late...

I do use a bench for sight in and checking sights. My air gun is my offhand practice tool. I don't shoot anywhere as much as competitors do, but a few hundred shots offhand prior to the season is a great tune up and confidence builder.

Jack

Yes practice of course but trigger control, knowing when to break the trigger as it crosses your target. You are going to move so your job is to dictate the movement rather than chase it.

Practice calling your shot.

For me it was years of shooting Cross Course High Power which was a wonderful teacher.

Honestly for me shooting a moving target off-hand is easier than shooting a stationary target off-hand.

Practice at the range, practice in the field are all good.

I just got back from Romania hunting Roe deer and took three nice animals. The first was off hand at about 80-90 yards at a steep uphill angle while sucking wind trying to keep up with my young ranger. I was able to bring the cross hairs down across his vitals and break trigger just right for a good behind the shoulder double lung shot. The 2nd was a fast 50 yard shot at a spooked Roe quartering strongly away.(a bit if skeet shooting helped there)As I broke the trigger as I swung through vitals.
The 3rd was a kneeling shot at about 50 yards at low light with a full frontal neck shot.

The only shot I was able to use a rest was the kneeling shot but the point is conditions dictate my shot. I will always opt for a rested shot anytime if available and if not I have to feel good about it. That comes from practice.

All of this interesting conversation makes me want to get to the range that much sooner and practice:-)) I think about 40 rounds @ 100yds with some clay pigeons will get me warmed up for 220 yards.