I'm surprised at you guys. I've seen lots of people that can make that 300 yard shot off hand. Would I try it on a live animal? Most likely not because there is a chance of missing and I don't take shots at anything that I might miss. But it certainly can be done and if I was starving or something you can bet I'd take that shot.
I can shoot my Savage 110 and hit a 10" target at 300 yards off hand probably 90% of the time. And I'm no great shot. I've seen lots of people that shoot better than I do. It is true that most people I know wouldn't take that shot because it just isn't needed where I live. There's always some place to rest a rifle even if it's just holding it against the side of a tree. And, again, not using a scope allows a person to hold a rifle more steady. Sure you have to be able to see your target and you have to be able to shoot without a scope. And I wouldn't go hunt anything without practicing first. I would think that goes without saynig. I guess that's just the way I was raised where no one ever shoots at anything live unless they have their skills down. It's easy enough to master those skills IMO. It just takes the time to do it and if you hunt without doing it then you're taking a chance on a cruel, non-life taking shot. And I'm not just talking about shooting off a rest and calling that practice. You need to practice off hand shots. I guess I just assume people do that before they go hunting. AFAIK everyone in my area gets in a good bit of practice before trying to harvest a deer.
I think the reason a lot of folks don't realize that 300 yard, off hand shot is fairly easy is that everyone is addicted to scopes these days. When I was a kid it was very rare to see a scope on a deer rifle. People hunted with 30-30's and they didn't use scopes. Now you can barely find a rifle that even has iron sights. It makes practicing hard. Try aiming your hunting rifle without the scope on it and see how much easier it is to hold the sights on a target. If you practice shooting at something where you can see where your hitting without needing a scope then you will be able to figure out how to hit a shot like that pretty quickly IMO. I've seen lots of people do it.
I guess I have more faith in you guys than most people. I believe you can do it because I've seen people do it often. They would generally practice at around 300 yards on our farm because that's the longest open space we had. They did not take shots n animals at that distance though. In fact they rarely even got a shot at a whitetail and they wouldn't risk wounding one of the few bucks in the area on a long shot.
1858 said:
you have to wonder about the real-world experience of some here
If I couldn't hit a 7" ten ring at 300 yards from the prone position I'd quit shooting. Obviously no one would hit it every time. But you seem to have left out that much of that 300 yard NRA shooting is rapid fire.
You also seem to like following me around to contradict what I say. Have you noticed how often people hit those 10 rings in those competitions? And who said you needed to hit a 7" area to kill a deer? BTW is that target you are talking about the rapid fire target they use for 300 yards? Why don't you try learning to shoot instead of swearing that no one else can because you can't? I've seen kids make the shots you're saying can't be made.
Personally I don't like to shoot anything off hand if I can help it these days because of a back injury. But I can still do it if I try. I could probably show you how to do it too 1858. Wouldn't you rather learn something than slam others because they already know it? Again I'm just an average shooter but I know what can be done with a rifle and some practice.
