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Most can't hold 8" at a hundred yards off-hand. Field positions is definitely a different story.

I can hold my own, but wouldn't shoot at an animal off-hand at any real distance. Sitting, prone off a pack, hat on a log, stix, etc. and the critter is in danger...

Good post.

We hung up on terminology here?

Off hand is used in the "field" all the time.It's simply less well supported.

I shoot a lot and found it requires much more practice to be good at it than just about anything else. Is there some official definition of "field position" that I missed?

What's the difference between a "field position" and "off hand"?

In my case, pretty close. Which is why, 1. I like to think of myself (however false this may prove in the field) as a "carefull" shooter, rather than a good one,

and 2. I always try to get a rest if possible, at any range, even inside 100 yards, where I am confident of my off-hand shooting. My rifles are all near or below MOA. Im not.

And knowing the actual range vs guestimating (I had 'way too many years of that!)....

The trots in public would sum this up.

kawi can you quit the bong?

I shall try.

eh76 I tried to be funny bad rabbit.I am sorry .

Hay No bong needed plum nutts

A more precise rifle was noticeable for me on the firing line shooting highpower matches.

Not so much in the field, especially at the distances I shoot big game. Heck, my longest shot on a deer in the last 10 years was with a 44mag handgun. From a practical standpoint, there has been no difference at all between my 1.5 MOA shooting .270 and my .75 MOA shooting .308. (MOA being measured at 1-300 yards, no further)

The best advice I ever got about off hand shooting came from an army competition shooter. He said zero a 22 off the bench at 50 yards then stand up and shoot 100 rounds off hand and look at the off hand group. Take the heaviest group of holes and rezero that to your bullseye. Then shoot 10 rounds and correct it if its heavy to one side. by doing this several times I found my off hand zero was very different from the benchrest zero. So I tried a sitting zero and found it to be in a different spot. One other thing I found was that by doing this I could get even moderatly price Aquila standard velocity ammo to shoot well enough to be competative in shooting the 50 yard 22 silhouette shoots. Beyond that range I shot Lapus, Ely or Wolf for a lttle more consistancey. A very accurate rifle with a very light trigger helped compensate for some of my bad habits like rushing the shot a little. It enabled me to win more shoots than I lost. This technique works for my centerfire rifles as Well.

rvp, that is excellent info! Thank you!

I don't think so.
It is a question that causes one to pause and ponder.
<1 MOA vs 2 MOA is a big difference.
Shooting paper, various positions, various ranges, yes I think that would show.
Most hunting I do is pretty close, good margin of error, and prolly wouldn't notice there.
Prone position open country - sure.

No, not even maybe. I do a lot of shooting at SR-1 targets (the 200 yd. standing target reduced for use at 100 yd.) standing at 100 yd. with all my rifles, and keep track of the results. The bench rest accuracy of one of my rifles doesn't mean better standing scores for me with that rifle.

Actually, no. Without offense to rvp, that's terrible advice. With a free-floated barrel your zero is your zero. Changing zero basesd on position is some golf course non-sense. It would be the equivalent of zeroing based off of where your rounds hit when flinching instead of correcting the flinch. If your zero changes based upon your shooting position it is because your shooting fundamentals are off.

Maybe you should try it before you criticize. When suporting the weight of an Anchutz 64 and standing in the broiling sun or in the cold it is very different than shooting off the bench free recoiling. Thats not my magic it was the expert Army rifle teams shooter that shot 2 perfect scores back to back at our range magic. Maybe it was his imperfect golf course shooting fundamentals that allowed him to clean the round twice. He had a whole trunk full of Eley 10 x and said he tried to shoot several hundred rounds each day when he could. He was shooting an Ancutz 54 with a 10 x scope. My barrel and his were floated. I shot a 38 and a 39 and he shot 40 both times. Its not the rifle changing so much as it is the holding position and trigger pull variance. Along with cheek pressure which varies as you get tired. Which might be construed to be shooting fundamentals. IT works well for me rimfire and centerfire. Its probably my 70 yr old eyes and old stiff back.

Need to see more targets posted in the positional match Carl Ross started a few months back

This..

First you got to bring the right ammo for the rifle...