Off Hand Shooting Technique

[dbHunterNY]

i'm with Dinsdale on shooting steel.  instant feedback. we've got them at the club at 100, 200, and 300 yards.  I use them all.  pellet gun or 22LR is the same idea. lots of shooting without breaking the bank.  I've got something around a case (5,000 rnds) of 22LR for pistol competition.

[Doc]

Are there any good books around on the mechanics of proper offhand shooting techniques?

How about internet sources from credible experts?

Edited December 29, 2017 by Doc

[Hunter007]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

Are there any good books around on the mechanics of proper offhand shooting techniques?

How about internet sources from credible experts?

I am sure if you look around on YouTube you will find plenty of credible experts . 

I got into Pcp airguns to shoot more I think it helps a lot any trigger time helps a lot and just  practice  practice practice. 

 

 

 

[vizslas]

I listened to this guy once say pull the trigger like you were pulling a pencil to you. Always use the front pad of your finger. Now this can vary by weight of trigger, light trigger is more of the tip of the pad a heavier break weight i would shove a little more finger on the trigger closer to the first joint.As far as breathing goes you can go two ways with this. Exhale all the way then shoot or go with the half breath exhale. either way its going to take a lot of rounds to improve your muscle memory good luck.Practice practice. Length of pull is very important , the gun must fit you. I shot an expert score in the military and I give thanks to my dad for putting a gun in my hand at the ripe old age of 5.

[Buckmaster7600]

I have taught thousands of Marines and civilians how to shoot rifles and the biggest thing I have learned is that some people can shoot and some can't.

My best piece of advice is to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Offhand shooting is something that can be learned but only with practice "unless you have natural talent, I wish I did!"

I am a decent shot and I shot a little over 3000 rounds through my deer rifles last year and probably 2950 of them were off hand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hunter007]

6 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I have taught thousands of Marines and civilians how to shoot rifles and the biggest thing I have learned is that some people can shoot and some can't.

My best piece of advice is to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Offhand shooting is something that can be learned but only with practice "unless you have natural talent, I wish I did!"

I am a decent shot and I shot a little over 3000 rounds through my deer rifles last year and probably 2950 of them were off hand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Question  how does the rifling in those barrels hold up to all that shooting do you change guns often or you have had  no problems ? With burning out barrels?

Edited December 29, 2017 by Storm914

[Nomad]

Breath control, sight alignment , trigger squeeze .

[Buckmaster7600]

Question  how does the rifling in those barrels hold up to all that shooting do you change guns often or you have had  no problems ? With burning out barrels?

Different guns and light hand loads. Never have shot out a barrel but if/when I do I'll replace them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

26 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I have taught thousands of Marines and civilians how to shoot rifles and the biggest thing I have learned is that some people can shoot and some can't.

My best piece of advice is to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Offhand shooting is something that can be learned but only with practice "unless you have natural talent, I wish I did!"

I am a decent shot and I shot a little over 3000 rounds through my deer rifles last year and probably 2950 of them were off hand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s a lot of rounds but I figure if I shoot 100 rounds a week mostly pellet but mixing in powder burners, I will improve.  I have seen improvement in a week already.  More consistency on grip, butt placement and cheek weld. Not sure I have natural talent but that has never stopped me before.  Lol. 

[Buckmaster7600]

That’s a lot of rounds but I figure if I shoot 100 rounds a week mostly pellet but mixing in powder burners, I will improve.  I have seen improvement in a week already.  More consistency on grip, butt placement and cheek weld. Not sure I have natural talent but that has never stopped me before.  Lol. 

Just shooting helps but shooting the way you hunt is very important! For my style of hunting tracking/still hunting I'll set the gun against my bench and go for my daily jog, as soon as I get home I pick it up and pick a steel target from 10-150yds and shoot 2 shots as fast and as accurate as possible. Then the other 3 at different targets. This is the most realistic I have figured out how to practice being out of breath and fast shooting. If I was more of a stand hunter I would shoot sitting down without a rest or leaning agains a tree as much as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

10 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Just shooting helps but shooting the way you hunt is very important! For my style of hunting tracking/still hunting I'll set the gun against my bench and go for my daily jog, as soon as I get home I pick it up and pick a steel target from 10-150yds and shoot 2 shots as fast and as accurate as possible. Then the other 3 at different targets. This is the most realistic I have figured out how to practice being out of breath and fast shooting. If I was more of a stand hunter I would shoot sitting down without a rest or leaning agains a tree as much as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Then I probably should practice while sitting and surfing the net.  Lol.  

[rachunter]

11 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Just shooting helps but shooting the way you hunt is very important! For my style of hunting tracking/still hunting I'll set the gun against my bench and go for my daily jog, as soon as I get home I pick it up and pick a steel target from 10-150yds and shoot 2 shots as fast and as accurate as possible. Then the other 3 at different targets. This is the most realistic I have figured out how to practice being out of breath and fast shooting. If I was more of a stand hunter I would shoot sitting down without a rest or leaning agains a tree as much as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

this is how I did it when I first started bow hunting.  a few wind sprints then shoot it taught me to calm down and shoot under pressure.

[wolc123]

It definitely pays off to practice more difficult situations than you would expect while hunting.   Look at some of the stuff "Chief AJ" does on youtube.  That guy can hit a flying aspirin with a BB gun, or a clay bird with a .22LR, every time.   There is no substitute for shear volume of practice.   No matter what your skill level when you start, anyone can make it better thru practice.   Those who say you need to use your actual hunting weapon for all your practice are just feeding the ammo industry and making a lot of unnecessary noise.   100 practice shots with a BB or pellet gun will do you more good than 10 with a 30/06 and cost you a fraction of the money.   I use a fair amount of 20W oil to keep my daughter's Red-ryder in shape, but I think it would be tough to wear out that Chinese-steel, smooth-bore, $30 gun.   It has over 5000 shots thru it now, and is still going strong.   

[Buckmaster7600]

Just now had time to read all the posts.

Trigger control is something I don't worry about with offhand shots, if I have enough time to worry about trigger control I'll find something to rest on or take a knee. When the sights or crosshairs are where I want them I want the gun to go off now! This is something I learned when I was instructing on Parris Island on down days we would have competitions shooting freehand at 500yds. By the time you were on target and started a slow squeeze you would be off target. Learning to "pull" the trigger without pulling the shot is something that takes a LOT of practice.

Breath control is another thing I don't think about when shooting offhand in the woods. I may do it without thinking about it but I'm not sure.

Sight alignment is something we should all do without thinking about and it's just as important with a scope as it is with sights.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wildcat junkie]

35 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Just now had time to read all the posts.

Trigger control is something I don't worry about with offhand shots, if I have enough time to worry about trigger control I'll find something to rest on or take a knee. When the sights or crosshairs are where I want them I want the gun to go off now! This is something I learned when I was instructing on Parris Island on down days we would have competitions shooting freehand at 500yds. By the time you were on target and started a slow squeeze you would be off target. Learning to "pull" the trigger without pulling the shot is something that takes a LOT of practice.

Breath control is another thing I don't think about when shooting offhand in the woods. I may do it without thinking about it but I'm not sure.

Sight alignment is something we should all do without thinking about and it's just as important with a scope as it is with sights. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When I make a shot on game, the gun seems to go off "unconsciously".

The same applied when I was shooting muzzle loaders in off hand competition. (on the days that I did well) When the sights lined up on the bulls-eye, the gun went off. If I had to make a conscious effort to "pull" the trigger, I usually didn't do well.

Edited December 30, 2017 by wildcat junkie

[nyantler]

I've found that leaning into the shot with firm shoulder pressure and cheek firmly on the stock has always been the key. I've seen hunters that when too upright tend to rock back a touch with the recoil allowing the barrel to rise a bit as they shoot. Leaning in keeps the barrel down and steady after squeezing the trigger.

[Dom]

26 minutes ago, nyantler said:

I've found that leaning into the shot with firm shoulder pressure and cheek firmly on the stock has always been the key. I've seen hunters that when too upright tend to rock back a touch with the recoil allowing the barrel to rise a bit as they shoot. Leaning in keeps the barrel down and steady after squeezing the trigger.

I have to agree with you on this recoil of some rifles/shotguns do make a shooter move a good bit,this is why myself I place my 8x10 target on a larger back plate 4x4 foot to see where my shots are then can ajust sites/scopes, off hand shooting can be very challenging I was suprised as to how much I moved durring target practice.I did learn shooting with a scope does allow you to see your movements,more than open sights shooting

[vizslas]

Notice how they are not using their elbows as a point of contact. The elbow should be on the inside of the leg as this will give you tons more stability. This photo is the rifle team at MSU 1920's.

[coonhunter]

This is a tough one for me. I have always been good at it, and to try and break it down as to the why and how, I don't know. I can say that I never even shot a rifle with a scope until I had shot thousands and thousands of bb's, pellets, and .22 shells through open sights. Hell, probably the first hundred woodchucks and squirrels were with open sights.

Once I had a scope on a .22 and a .22 mag, I couldn't believe how far a person could shoot and be right on the money. 

I guess my advice is practice a lot, and find out what is comfortable to you, and works. Hit a wall that you feel is inadequate, get someone there with you that is good at shooting offhand. There is a good chance they can pick something small that you are doing to get going ahead again. And, clear your head. Shells are cheap and you can get more. Don't let a bad session get you down.

[Buckmaster7600]

One thing that might have been said but I could have missed is a rifles fit. I'm over 6ft and prefer a 12.75" length of pull that's in between the average adult and youth stock and requires modifications. A proper stock and scope placement is absolutely critical in shooting offhand both for accuracy and speed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

15 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

One thing that might have been said but I could have missed is a rifles fit. I'm over 6ft and prefer a 12.75" length of pull that's in between the average adult and youth stock and requires modifications. A proper stock and scope placement is absolutely critical in shooting offhand both for accuracy and speed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No doubt I shoot the smaller guns better off hand.  My 3030 is my favorite but I am going to make due with the others.  Don’t want to deal with modifying.  

[eagle rider]

My meaty this year was low light 70 yards inside the fiddle sticks off hand.  She was on the move trotting uphill along a stone wall that was 90 degrees to a ridge.  The first round with the scoped BAR missed her, I watched one of the saplings explode.  She paused  at an opening and I drilled her in the boiler room.  I agree, slow and deliberate trigger pull is everything.  

[vizslas]

you need some new targets. these tell you what your doing wrong and what your doing right according to where you hit.