Shooting offhand

lemaymiami said:

... a Benjamin .22 cal air rifle....

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I, too, had one of those ... along with a small forest behind the house.

Pumping that pup up before each shot (20-22 pumps for max as I recall) really served to strengthen & fill out my upper torso because I shot it a LOT ... and almost exclusively offhand.

Good suggestion, LoonWulf!

Basic question: have you checked your rifle's zero at 35 yards? Your zero might be off just enough at that particular range to have shot a bit low (or high, depending).

Squirrels are pretty small targets, so you don't have to miss by very much. I used to zero my Marlin .22 squirrel rifle at 25 yards and then check the impacts at closer distances (5 yard increments) to see how much sight/bore offset would mess with me.

A lot depends on your rifle. A rimfire AR clone with sights mounted up high will have more offset than a typical .22 with barrel-mounted sights. Same thing with a scope mounted in high rings.

JudgeHolden10 said:

Excellent question. I zeroed at 50 yards, but I tried to hold right at the top of the squirrel's head, figuring I'd hit a little low at that distance.



That's a good idea. I'll have to check my zero in five-yard increments next time I go to my range.

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I’ve had these “growing pains” come up big time when switching over to subsonic hollowpoints for my squirrelin’. Took a while to figure out where to hold.
I love a lot of things about the subs but the trajectory at longer ranges is wonky. I may switch back to the trusty mini mag once the leaves drop here and shots are longer.
Happy hunting gents

JudgeHolden10 said:

... I know intuitively when I miss before checking to see if the bullet or shot hit the target...

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Maybe you're anticipating the shot and thereby subconsciously affecting your trigger pull or grip? Try making your mind a blank just before you pull the trigger. Needs some dry-fire practice before real shooting, of course. (w/ snap caps, natch, unless your rifle is OK to dry fire per owner's manual).

At least in my little part of the world, it is rare to see people at the range shooting their rifles from anything but the bench. As I wrote here a while back, people look at me strangely when I shoot rifles from seated or prone at the range, and I have even heard mutterings that someone ought to go get the range officer. By the same token, it seems to me that a lot of folks mistake what they can do from a bench for what they can do in the field, and are then surprised by a lack of results.

When I am serious about riflery, I keep a "running group". This is a target that goes into the case with the rifle. Each trip to the range, I put the target up at whatever distance I expect to find my critter (typically 200 yards for big game, 30 to 50 yards for small) and, with the rifle cold, clean, and fresh from the case, take one shot at the target from a field position. Then I roll up the target and put it away until the next range session. Eventually I wind up with a good representation of what I can expect to do in the field, and believe me, it's sobering. I have used sub-MOA rifles to produce two foot groups at 200 yards with the technique...

Another facet of field position shooting, especially offhand, is "calling the shot". That is, knowing the approximate location your shot will strike when the trigger broke. This is invaluable for big game hunting, but is also useful to know your misses. This can only be confirmed with shots on paper, but can be practiced dry firing. Sounds like you had some issues with this as well as you thought you had a good shot, but the squirrel scurried merrily away.

I am a practiced high power shooter, and have found that at least 9 times out of 10 I can call my misses down to target quadrant and scoring ring +/- 1 ring, or 2 MOA on the offhand target at 200 yards at least 90% of the time. The exceptions would be the occasional "wild" hard pull, where I'll simply call hard out the right (they usually go right for a RH shooter offhand) or the occasional random 8 off- call for which I named my handle. This is an important skill to divine what you may be doing wrong and correct, and should not be overlooked, especially for offhand shooting.

https://www.amazon.com/Scale-IHMSA-...6K6XQFEWZ38&psc=1&refRID=Q8887B6XS6K6XQFEWZ38 I've found these to be an invaluable and fun tool to improve my offhand shooting. They also make air rifle versions that are significantly less expensive. They make extremely challenging targets to hit offhand, especially the turkey target at 75 yards. The pig at 50 is a good simulation for targeting a squirrel or rabbit. I like to mix up the ranges and set up a field course with some targets partially obscured. Makes for a pleasant day of shooting offhand, sitting, kneeling, improvised rest.

Dave DeLaurant said:

Basic question: have you checked your rifle's zero at 35 yards? Your zero might be off just enough at that particular range to have shot a bit low (or high, depending).

Squirrels are pretty small targets, so you don't have to miss by very much. I used to zero my Marlin .22 squirrel rifle at 25 yards and then check the impacts at closer distances (5 yard increments) to see how much sight/bore offset would mess with me.

A lot depends on your rifle. A rimfire AR clone with sights mounted up high will have more offset than a typical .22 with barrel-mounted sights. Same thing with a scope mounted in high rings.

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I have had this problem as well. A drawback of scopes vs open sights.

Its all about stability. Practice positioning.

Shooting small game with a .22 LR, especially in the woods, where shots are rarely beyond 50 yards, I think a rifle works best with a low receiver sight with the screw-in aperture removed. I've been able to shoot about 1-inch groups at that distance with a Marlin 39A and such sights. The problem with a scope on a .22LR is that its higher than the bore, so is only perfectly zeroed for two distances, the one its sighted-in for and where the bullet crosses the line of sight again. Those points are often not at distances that we encounter/shoot game, especially small game.

Barbaroja said:

I’m with ya, don’t feel too bad squirrel heads are tiny and move a lot. I rarely take a shot not leaning on a tree if one is available.

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If I don’t have some type of support-I’m really bad.

Practice away from the bench; learning to breathe during your aim and trigger press, using a sling properly, having a load your rifle likes, knowing the zero of the load you've chosen and the resulting bullet arc as it travels from the muzzle to the zero point and beyond are all parts of riflecraft you can practice almost anywhere you can shoot.

Once you've nailed these, or at least have the basics down, you've got a .22 that's itching to fill a pot full of squirrels for the stove.

Stay safe.

I shoot my tree rats and deer almost always offhand. Dont use the sling as an aid either.
Keep the scope mag at 4x or less, have a rifle/ ammo combo thats tested good and preferably w a slight weight fwd feel.

Also, if youre close to a tall tree w a rat in it.....you shoot it for the horizontal distance, not the slope.
So you proly ought to see where your rig hits at 10 yards.
Its not magic. There may be work arounds. But once you understand what is going on its super easy.
Relax and drill em.

Another point is the assumption that since you sighted in at 50 yards your rifle will be shooting low at shorter distance. I have noticed that my 25 yard zero is close to the same as my 50 yard. That would make the arc of trajectory above the line of sight between those two points. That is using slower target ammo.

I shoot in a competition where one stage is 200 yards offhand. No palm rest allowed. Sling. sling. sling. Alternatively, and this is a function of body shape, offhand 100 yards with a 22 and no sling, I use a hip and finger rest. Left foot out forward, left hip canted forward, left elbow on hip, and rifle rested on fingers of left hand, just in front of the trigger guard. It really only works with light rifles and, frankly, looks a little swish to say the least, but, for me at least, it provides a pretty solid rest.

DocRock said:

I shoot in a competition where one stage is 200 yards offhand. No palm rest allowed. Sling. sling. sling. Alternatively, and this is a function of body shape, offhand 100 yards with a 22 and no sling, I use a hip and finger rest. Left foot out forward, left hip canted forward, left elbow on hip, and rifle rested on fingers of left hand, just in front of the trigger guard. It really only works with light rifles and, frankly, looks a little swish to say the least, but, for me at least, it provides a pretty solid rest.

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That stance is what some of my peers used to call “The Feinwerkbau Waltz” back in High School when I aspired to become an Olympic air gun shooter. That was a dream quickly quashed when I realized the fact I couldn’t hold a candle to those folks!

Biathlon shooters use a variation as well



It is amazingly stable once you get it down .

Stay safe.

Shot a doe quartering away w the old hip n finger tip method.
178 yards
Iron sights ( barrel- not peep ).
Pinwheeled it.

Had a spot on background tree that looked to be at proper hold for drop.
Lined her up 3 times before touching off, she never moved
Used the set trigger ( always, no matter what shot ).

Gun was shot in, would cloverleaf at 100.
Wicked good.

Too bad my Hawken SE aint as good

Reg no support hold w Knight .50 cal and 4x was 150 yarders and in, no sweat.

That machine made it too easy IMHO

Got a couple buds that wont shoot past 50 yards offhand. Not sure all the reasons why they have problems, heck might be more psych than physical.

But they wont without a rest, and they adhere to their limits, so take game clean.

And that is certainly good enough.

I was a small sized kid and spindly too. Used full size guns and it was a bit of work.
Starting around jr high offhand shooting just got easier

But i spent a fair amount of range time. Learned how to be pretty repeatable, calm and time my shots.

Think confidence/relaxation big components

Ive often seen critters take the hit in the scope, even w stuff of some recoil.

Lack of confidence may result in peeking?
I dunno.

After my critter falls is when i get kinda jittery

Riomouse911 said:

That stance is what some of my peers used to call “The Feinwerkbau Waltz” back in High School when I aspired to become an Olympic air gun shooter. That was a dream quickly quashed when I realized the fact I couldn’t hold a candle to those folks!

Biathlon shooters use a variation as well

View attachment 950799

It is amazingly stable once you get it down .

Stay safe.

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Exactly. I did biathlon in school and that was the method we were taught. I was a decent shot and a slow skier