Off hand shooters any tips

[Tangent]

Plenty of good advice here in not going to repeat. I shoot mostly offhand competitions. The best way I've found to improve my 25m scores was to shoot the same target at 50m. Much more difficult, a lot more concentration required, trigger control has to be a lot better.
I shoot with my right hand gripping as if I was holding a pistol, firm enough to control the rifle. My left arm has my elbow into my side and rifle supported on my finger tips.
I shoot with a .44 Marlin 1894 and a custom 10/22, they'll both shoot surprisingly small groups of you do your part.

I started as a pistol shooter which is also recommend as cross training for rifles.

 

[Wolfdog91]

Appreciate all the advice eveyone! Honestly not sure how to respond to all of it but thank you !

 

[chkunz]

Additional resources would be David Tubb book on Highpower shooting.

Do not do this for the standing position. David Tubb was a champion silhouette shooter and could use that experience to shoot high power standing with the sights "approaching" the bull as he delivered the shot. If you are not experienced with this technique, it will do you great harm.

 

[ebb]

Practice with the best stance and position you can muster 3 to 4 times a week. Back in the day a jar head about my same age and I used to go to a parking area on a farm that was unpaved. We would assume the stances and pick a rock about the size of an egg and shoot 22LR single shots at the rock until it was gravel. We would start close and pick rocks further away as our day progressed and we started to get better.

 

[jds holler]

I didn't read every response, but for me, DRYFIRE!! jd

 

[Mudeat]

Carl Bernosky:

How to Shoot Standing — Nat’l Champ Carl Bernosky Explains « Daily Bulletin

Some folks say you haven't really mastered marksmanship unless you can hit a target when standing tall 'on your own hind legs'. Of all the shooting positions, standing can be the most challenging because you have no horizontally-solid resting point for your forward arm/elbow. Here 10-time...

bulletin.accurateshooter.com

 

[cmysix]

Hold still.

 

[jds holler]

For many years we had an annual Memorial Day campout and party for the long weekend. (30+ years) On the last day of our weekend we had simple shooting contests, one of which was 100 yd rifle, using the targets below. Rules were simple -- 3 shots, standing, off-hand, any rifle you chose to use. There were usually thirty-ish of us shooting, and most folks used the same rifle they shot for deer/elk every year.

The results were abysmal, with frequent unscathed targets, or only one or two hits. First, second, and third place was usually won by just a few of us who were more frequent shooters, and at least knew that our rifles were sighted in. I came to realize that this crappy shooting is the norm for most hunters out trying to kill a deer. EVERYONE blamed their poor performance on the off-hand rule.

I think that target and those rules would still be a pretty good assessment of a persons shooting skills. jd

 

[ELR LVR]

I might also add here, I am use to light triggers.
And any gun I shoot accurately, has a light trigger in order to get the shot off at just the right moment
Even my practice .22 bolt rifle is a 1lb trigger, my target 22 pistol is 2 lbs.
I don't know how I would do with a trigger 3 lbs or above.
------------------
A light enough trigger will greatly improve the amount of repeated hits

 

[chkunz]

The best standing training exercise that I found was "ball and dummy".

Mix five live rounds randomly with 15 dummy rounds and then shoot the 20 rounds in a standing training practice exercise. Concentrate on accepting the area of wobble, trigger control and follow thru. Call the good shoots and the bad shots.

Put the gun down and take a five minute rest period.

Then repeat the five and 15 exercise followed by a rest period.

When your hold starts to deteriorate due to fatigue, you are done for the day. The first time you try it you will probably be able to do two of the training sessions before fatigue says to stop.

Repeat this exercise once a week for several weeks while maintaining your normal dry fire sessions and other live fire practice. You will eventually get to where you can shoot four to six twenty round ball and dummy exercises without fatigue. At that point you will be as good as you are ever going to get shooting standing.

I tried it all and this training exercise is all that made any significand improvement in standing scores. It moved me from the high 170s to the high 180s for the standing stage of xtc but that was good enough to move me to the NRA high power rifle master class and a DCM Distinguished Rifleman Badge with the M14.

By the way, skeet shooters shoot off hand, we high power shooters shoot standing.

 

[jds holler]

The best standing training exercise that I found was "ball and dummy".

Mix five live rounds randomly with 15 dummy rounds and then shoot the 20 rounds in a standing training practice exercise. Concentrate on accepting the area of wobble, trigger control and follow thru. Call the good shoots and the bad shots.

Put the gun down and take a five minute rest period.

Then repeat the five and 15 exercise followed by a rest period.

When your hold starts to deteriorate due to fatigue, you are done for the day. The first time you try it you will probably be able to do two of the training sessions before fatigue says to stop.

Repeat this exercise once a week for several weeks while maintaining your normal dry fire sessions and other live fire practice. You will eventually get to where you can shoot four to six twenty round ball and dummy exercises without fatigue. At that point you will be as good as you are ever going to get shooting standing.

I tried it all and this training exercise is all that made any significand improvement in standing scores. It moved me from the high 170s to the high 180s for the standing stage of xtc but that was good enough to move me to the NRA high power rifle master class and a DCM Distinguished Rifleman Badge with the M14.

By the way, skeet shooters shoot off hand, we high power shooters shoot standing.

^^^ That right there shows some serious dedication and would also show some serious results. I've never been that disciplined about my shooting and these days it really shows. Through most of my life, I've been a better shot than most of my buddies, but it was simply because I did more shooting, and also knew where my rifles were shooting. I grew up with one kid who blew the socks off all of us with any type of gun. He had the natural talent that I suppose most exhibition shooters have. I think being around him during my formative years kind of gave me something to strive for.

My first serious pocket money came from trapping and shooting muskrats. Shooting them involved popping them in the skull while they were swimming, at a range of ten to twenty yards. Sounds like a chip shot, but they were chugging along, at various angles, and a bad shot like an inch behind the ears would turn a four dollar rat into a buck fifty. I'd rather miss one than make a bad shot. Back in those days I was pretty skookum with my off-hand shooting. jd

 

[dk17hmr]

I'm involved with the local 4H shooting sports club. We have the kids doing positional 10m air rifle. Some of these kids in our club are pretty phenomenal taking 1st in the state shoot in their age bracket.

I ended up buying a couple used Daisy M853 target pellet rifles from the CMP for like $125 each for my own kids and myself......super fun

One thing I do that has been surprisingly effective for me shooting the pellet rifle as well as my traditional bows, I get my aim and than let my subconscious take over while execute the shot. I literally set my sight picture, mentally say "perfect" than stare at the spot I want to hit and concentrate on my trigger squeeze, or my release/expansion.

 

[jpjulian]

Dryfire. Dryfire some more. Then practice some Dryfire. Focus on performing one good shot. Repeat. There is no need to accept a poor shot. In practice, if I sent a poor shot downrange, I'd put the rifle down and take a break then return and start my string all over again concentrating on performing one good shot at a time. If using a scope turn the magnification down to reduce the apparent wobble. Increase the magnification as you improve. One year I sent over 4,000 rounds downrange in offhand practice as that is where I needed to practice most.

 

[karrarararararar]

NPA, NPA, and more NPA. and dryfire....

 

[mongo chicago]

Dry firing is tedious and boring BUT IT WORKS!!!! Also remember, practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!

 

[TXJM]

Years ago, the AMU at Ft. Benning had a High Power clinic for civilians. My brother n I attended. At that time I was classified as a Master XC shooter with my M14. I had been working on shooting standing for most of the year. Many of the marksmanship manuals indicated to accept ur wobble area n slow squeeze. Just was not working for me so I sought the AMUs help.
When the AMU instructors had me on the electronic trainer ( Noptel) they observed: u have a 10 ring hold for the first 3-5 sec and u are not shooting. Don’t overhold the shot, shoot the first 10 u see. Best advice I ever received.
My standing scores went up into the 97-99 range. Try as I might, could just not seem to clean standing.
I saw a few who could clean that 200 yd standing target and I asked them how they did it.
Easy, just do not accept a bad shot. Wisdom!

The last sentence seems to be the key. If you take a shot that you know isn’t perfect, you are reinforcing bad habits. Put the rifle down and start the process over.

 

[Steve Donlon]

From years and years of rifle Silhouette shooting.
1) There is no "easy button" find a position that you can repeat and start training.
2) Muscle memory and conditioning go hand in hand. DRY FIRE IS YOUR FRIEND, even if only 10 good dry-fire shots per day, if done correctly you will develop the process and get more proficient.
3) Accept that you have a wobble area and work with that fact. Try to minimize it but accept what you can in regards to the amount of time your aiming device is ON the target.
4) Trigger timing, since you cannot hold a perfect center sight picture for an extended period of time, simply train your eye and trigger to coordinate when the gun going off will result in an on-target impact. It doesn't matter if it is the edge of a steel plate or the edge of the 10-ring, accept what your ability gives and keep working, the results will start to show up.

That is really great advice. I thought something was wrong with me because that was the only way I could even hit the target. For me off hand shooting, rifles or pistols is very hard. The only way I've learned to do it is to hold above the target then come down on to the bullseye and start pulling the trigger when I'm just above where I wanted the bullet to hit. Exactly the same each time. Any other way the wobble is to much. I really respect people that can master this type of shooting.

 

[jpjulian]

It takes work. A lot of work. It won't come easy and it won't come quick. But when you fire a shot, call it a center X and it IS a center X, that is a very satisfying feeling.

 

[Guybo]

Any animal that I've ever shot at off hand is still walking or running because i can't hit the broadside of a barn off hand and I've tried many times. My hats off to anyone who is a good off hand shooter.

 

[FNSafari]

In a hunting situation, IMO, do all that is possible to find some kind of rest...a tree to lean against, seated with elbows on knees or at least a sling to steady the rifle. The game you are hunting deserves a controlled shot.

Now if you are talking position shooting, the match is won prone or sitting and lost offhand, so practice!