Practicing off hand

[Mike128]

I reliaze it's been a LONG time since I practiced off hand shooting. So I took my 22 out and shot about thirty or so rounds to see how my skills have degraded. I could hit the two inch by two inch spinner plate about 75% of the time from ranges varying 25-35 yards. And around +85% of the time at 20yards. The rifle did have a scope on it and is very accurate so misses were me pulling the shot or wobbling.
It was Ok shooting but when I was younger and practiced regularly I'd shoot off the handles of clothespins at 30yards without a problem. (If you hit the clamp you cut rope or knock the plastic off the wire. Mom's don't appreciate that.)

What do you guys consider decent hunting accuracy while standing shooting off hand?

 

[Dave R]

FWIW, Art Eatman has sometimes said that a good shooter should be able to hit a tin can from 100 yards, offhand, with his deer rifle.

I can't do it offhand, but can from other positions.

 

[GD]

I only bench shoot when I first get a rifle so that I know what it is capable of. After that, I rarely shoot off the bench. I practice off hand at 125 yards nearly every week. I have no problem hitting clay pidgeons off hand at that distance (I hit them about 50 percent of the time most of my rifles). With my K31, M1917, and M91 VKT I hit the pidgeons 90 percent of the time. That is what I like most about milsurps. I can afford to practice often. I have yet to not bring down a deer that I shoot at (not counting the stupid 300 yard offhand shots I made when I first started hunting:banghead: ).

 

[cracked butt]

golf balls and pop cans at different distances and lots and lots of practice.

 

[Roudy]

I love shooting golf, the new way of course. One of the oddities I've noticed when shooting golf balls is that it seems that the ball will fly further when hit with a 22 LR than it will when hit with a 44 magnum. This just doesn't make sense to me, but it sure seems that way. Guess I'll just have to perform some more experiments....darn!

 

[perpster]

Why is it called "offhand" ???

I'm a handgunner who's relatively new to rifle country (but learning every day). Am I correct that "offhand" means firing from a standing, 2-handed stance? Previously, I thought it meant shooting lefty if you're a righty, or righty if you're a lefty.

What is the actual definition of "offhand" shooting, and how'd it get that name???

Thanks all.

Perp

 

[30Cal]

Offhand is shooting from an unsupported, standing position. You are thinking of weak hand.

 

[perpster]

Offhand is shooting from an unsupported, standing position. You are thinking of weak hand.

Yep, you're right. But to this weak-minded shooter it doesn't make much sense.

 

[MechAg94]

That caught me as well. I was thinking of shooting from the hip or something. I guess I would normally just call it 'standing, unsupported'.

I shoot well enough that way (could get a man easily enough), but some days I just can't keep still for small targets. I need to practice more to get the pigeons with that high of a percentage.

 

[wanderinwalker]

Offhand is something I find can only be learned from practice and refinement. When I'm in the middle of Highpower season, I think I practice 2-rounds offhand for every 1-round fired from all other positions. Not that it helped me much last season (standing average around 90% at 200-yards).

What I funny is how different rifles seem to be better suited for offhand shooting than others. I took my 1894PG out for the first time and was hitting decent groups at 50-yards, offhand, iron sights (25-yard pistol bullseyes, 95% of rounds in black). With my scoped .260 bolt-gun, I can't hold groups quite as nice. The converse is that the .260 will fire nice, neat little groups out to at least 200-yards, while the .44 is limited to about 100-yards with any accuracy.

Of course, I can reload for that .44 and shoot many, many more rounds more cheaply than I can with the .260. We'll see which one comes out most frequently next deer season.

BTW, I consider good accuracy offhand if you can hit a paper plate at 100-yards every time.

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

For kicks we used to shoot the glow lights tell they drained out at night with a pellet gun at about 15 yards. Went the light got low from leaking we just opened up another one and we were set for a few more minutes. More fun than using them in your mre bombs in the snow at night.+

A small fire going to keep warm and some nice liquid refreshment and maybe a few laughs. Made you use a good off hand position and follow threw if you wanted to hit them at over 50% of the time.

LOL

 

[1911 guy]

Offhand accuracy

With the usual disclaimer that "It depends", I'll say less than six inches at 100 yards every time. A flyer open it up? Not good enough. That's for a deer rifle. The trick is to know that unless your groups are tighter, you're limited to 100 yards, even with a rifle capable of much more. When your groups are three inches, two hundred is doable. Remember to match target size and shooter ability to the range to the target.

For a competitive target shooter, though, that's abysmal performance. They usually expect not much more than 1 moa an any range. I've found that if I spend the most time shooting offhand, my other positions get better, too, because trigger and breath control are universal.