That 10 inch paper plate.

Bought the 504 new, at a salvage company's sale in Fairfield, ME...perhaps 20 years ago. It was a real bargain and I bedded-tuned it a bit. The model had lots of problems with bad barrels and was dropped within a few years. This one is an especially good rifle, being an early production piece. Stock has nice grain also.

May not be germane to this discussion, but when growing up I used to shoot BB guns offhand, about 10 tubes a week of Winchester BBs. The attached picture shows me around 13, with the third BB gun I wore out (a passed-down Daisy Red Ryder and new two Pumps). I used to shoot quart soda bottles on top of our covered "burn barrel"...chipping from the top to the bottom, behind the house in Waterville, ME. I got pretty good, even shooting from the hip.

My future B.I.L., behind me, used to coach me and often with my older brother, take me shooting in gravel pits, since my dad didn't own any guns. The picture was taken about 1955, before TV antennas were on the houses below. It was a grassy area behind the house, about 150 yards long where lots of kids flew kites and played games.

200yrd offhand shot, unsupported/slung is not welcome in my hunting philosophy.

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200 meters is the Chicken on the Highpower Silhouette Range. It's not a lot bigger than 10". And I can honestly say I have yet to go 10/10 or even 5/5. My personal best on the chickens is 7/10. yup, 3/5 and 4/5. One time. I am only an "A" class shooter, though.

Silhouettes are fired offhand without support. No slings, no tight fitting clothing, no gloves. The 'animals' are life sized steel silhouettes. Chickens (200m), Javalina (300m), Turkeys (375m) and Rams (500m). There are some master class shooters in our club that consistently score 35+ out of a possible 40 score. It can be done. It takes lots and lots of practice with an accurate rifle, though.

Poper said:

200 meters is the Chicken on the Highpower Silhouette Range. It's not a lot bigger than 10". And I can honestly say I have yet to go 10/10 or even 5/5. My personal best on the chickens is 7/10. yup, 3/5 and 4/5. One time. I am only an "A" class shooter, though.

Silhouettes are fired offhand without support. No slings, no tight fitting clothing, no gloves. The 'animals' are life sized steel silhouettes. Chickens (200m), Javalina (300m), Turkeys (375m) and Rams (500m). There are some master class shooters in our club that consistently score 35+ out of a possible 40 score. It can be done. It takes lots and lots of practice with an accurate rifle, though.

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Yup. On a firing line, shooting at inanimate steel. Been there too. Note what you quoted: “hunting” is the operative word.

It’s too easy to find better support in the field, rather than hobble yourself with unsupported shots.

On the silhouette range if you hit the ram in the butt you get a point. In real life you get sore legs and a lifetime of regret.

The time has come to remind the Navy man, IHMSA isn’t the only game which shoots at silhouette steel.

For Highpower and hunting rifle divisions, the chicken is at 200, ending with rams at 500.

I used to shoot handgun metallic silhouette with a 10" Ruger Super Blackhawk and cast bullet handloads, back in the seventies. I could group 3" at 200 meters from prone with no support. That was fun, but it got old after a while.

These days, the target moves around a lot more than it used to.

I don't shoot game animals offhand at 200 yards.


Even when squirrel hunting I generally move tree to tree so that I have a support. I have made some great offhand head shots on squirrels but I always try to shoot supported because the odds of success are greatly improved.


Offhand shooting is an important skill, but I don't know why anyone would eschew finding a position that will allow you to have a decent support.

When hunting, of course you can sometimes stumble upon an animal that will offer only a quick offhand opportunity. In my experience those situations are almost always 50 yards or less.



That being said, I am fortunate to have ready access to a range where I can shoot out to about 700 yards.

100 yards with my favorite rifles offhand into a 10 inch plate? Just did that yesterday . But it wasn't 10 shots. There were 3 steel plates and I think I cleaned them in 4 or 5 shots.

I took a knee and propped my handguard on a barricade for the plates at 225, because I know how much better my hit percentages are with a good shooting position. Much MUCH better.

But I applaud your efforts to get people standing up.

I despise lead-sleds and sand bags for anything other than load development and zeroing. Field positions are the kind of shooting I enjoy.


Some of my favorite props are wire spools, the fork of a tree, the roof or hood of a junk car, etc.....

Picher said:

These days, the target moves around a lot more than it used to.

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I have shot 3-gun matches with Jerry Miculek. The only thing holding that man back is his eyesight. He can't keep the front sight and the target in focus.

Someone asked him what he does when both the sights and the target are fuzzy.
He said, "Put the fuzzy on the fuzzy and let it rip."

How about standing offhand, supported standing, and supported kneeling on 10" steel plates on the clock?

Varminterror said:

Yup. On a firing line, shooting at inanimate steel. Been there too. Note what you quoted: “hunting” is the operative word.

It’s too easy to find better support in the field, rather than hobble yourself with unsupported shots.

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I love it when people deliberately miss the point of a post. My post was not critical of you not taking an offhand shot at a critter. Just to keep it simple: Hitting a 10" paper plate, or the kill zone of a critter offhand AT ANY DISTANCE CONSITENTLY or ALWAYS is not an easy thing to do. And those that CAN do it CONSISTENTLY or ALWAYS (as in a NRA Master Class shooter) ARE EXTREMELY FAR AND FEW BETWEEN. Master Class shooting takes oodles and oodles and oodles of practice. Much more practice than most of us can possibly do, and is completely out of the realm of this mere mortal.

Now, have I taken game shooting offhand? As a mater of fact, yes. Over the years, I would guess about 50-50 have been taken offhand. Most at less than 100 yards and many at 50-75 with a very few of them at less than 50 yards. My favorite field position, when time allows, is kneeling, because as a youngster (ages 14-16.... before I discovered girls and cars), I used to regularly shoot Master Class scores at indoor NRA 50ft smallbore in prone, sitting and kneeling positions. Offhand was, and is, a rifle position I cannot seem to master, though, and A-Class is as good as I seem to be able to get. (I'm now 63)

The reason I take so many offhand shots at game is that when I see most of my game is while I am slow-walking a still-hunt. Nine times out of ten deer "magically" appear directly in front of me. Usually within 75 yards. Last year's doe was only 40 yards away when she stood up out of her bed, perfectly in front of me staring directly at me, just a few seconds after I had stopped moving. That's when they usually perform their magic on me. Mostly I am looking in a different direction and when my eyes return to their previous sight line, poof! A deer has magically appeared where I was just looking! Time to find a rest? I wish. It is then "Take the shot or not. You decide. And be darn quick about it!" Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. At 200 meters? Not very often. 300 meters? Rarely. 400 meteres? No. A 500 meter offhand shot? Never. Not ever. In my book, under no circumstances could that be considered an ethical choice by an ethical hunter. Even for a Master Class IMSA competitor. But then again, that's just my opinion, and we all know about opinions.

I'm absolutely fascinated that this thread has gone 5 pages and almost 2 weeks and there is only one posted attempt at the OP's challenge...and that one displays REAL shooting as opposed to the "I can hit a thumb-tack at 100 yards offhand every time" type of boasting we normally read. It's both encouraging and humbling to see 6/10 and 8/10 hits on a 10 inch target in real life. Kudos to someguy2800!

I want to put an entry in, but don't have a 200 yard range in the area. Anybody want to redo this as a 100 yard challenge?

berettaprofessor said:

I'm absolutely fascinated that this thread has gone 5 pages and almost 2 weeks and there is only one posted attempt at the OP's challenge...and that one displays REAL shooting as opposed to the "I can hit a thumb-tack at 100 yards offhand every time" type of boasting we normally read. It's both encouraging and humbling to see 6/10 and 8/10 hits on a 10 inch target in real life. Kudos to someguy2800!

I want to put an entry in, but don't have a 200 yard range in the area. Anybody want to redo this as a 100 yard challenge?

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Agreed, get out and shoot people! If you only have 100 yards to shoot cut down the plate to 5 inches.

I thought we’d decided on page 1 or 2 scales targets at 100/150 were fair game. No prizes, and the game is too humbling for bragging rights even, so no use in limiting folks from getting out and making noise!

someguy2800 said:

Agreed, get out and shoot people! If you only have 100 yards to shoot cut down the plate to 5 inches.

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I would rather not shoot people!

Poper said:

I would rather not shoot people!

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Unfortunate wording.

someguy2800 said:

Unfortunate wording.

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Yes, but it made me chuckle just the same. A comma following 'shoot' might have helped.
A body does need a sense of humor these days!
Thank you for the smiles!
(I loved that scene in Caddyshack, by the way.)

Today I got back on after who knows how long away to ask a reloading question. I find this and a pop can thread. Well, the 'yotes haven't been coming out so I have a few rounds to spare. (I am away from all but one rifle and only brought enough for hunting and occasional sight checks with me for it).

Worse, I see not many have gone out to try it yet!

I will see how this goes. I could use a good laugh at myself trying to do this in the 29 Palms wind with a .243 youth handi rifle. Should be entertaining.

So if I have the guts to get out there and embarrass myself why not everyone who has posted the "I only hunt supported" posts? I do too, but this is for fun. No one is going to do more than laugh and you should do that too.

I'm the old dog on the porch here but I can watch.
There was a day! Maybe I just remember big.
Try a safari sling, always worked best for me.

M118LR said:

just remember that projectile drop and wind effects are less of a consideration at distances less than 200 yards.

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The wind and drop isn’t that much to manage at 200yrds, unless a guy were trying it with a 22LR or some low velocity round. For my target with the 6 creed, I was shooting in 10-13mph wind from 135*, full value correction 7-9mph. At 200, I am up 0.3mil, and needed 0.2-0.3mil wind call - so my windcall bracket was only ~3/4”... not enough to make a difference. Wobble area is the crux - the rifle is sub 1.5” at 200, 3/4” wind hold error makes it 2.25 - I certainly wasn’t holding a 2.25” wobble area.