How well do you shoot offhand?

[Joshua]

So, I’m self-quarantined down here in the basement, and trying to keep my self occupied. I have a 10 yard shooting lane down here, where I shoot my 5mm Sheridan Silver Streak and my compound bow. I can’t shoot the recurves because the ceiling is to low .

I have a question for you all. How well do you shoot offhand? No jacket, no sling, just offhand.

I have measured my own groups down here in the basement. Remembering that one minute of angle at 10 yard is .10” of an inch. My five shot groups average around 6 MOA. With most group sizes ranging from .50” to .70”.

This past summer I was concentrated on load development. Consequently I tried to use the most stable rests that the forest and gravel pits could offer. Lots of prone, sitting using shooting sticks, and improvised boulder/shooting benches. It seems that I really only work on my offhand shooting with my air gun. I need to change that up here more in the future.

Josh

 

[Rick]

I'm a terrible offhand shooter and every time i try it I only remind myself why I do it so rarely.

 

[waco]

Offhand is the only way I shoot my handguns. Not saying I’m very good at it. I can’t shoot a scoped rifle offhand for beans. Iron sights are a bit easier.

 

[Walks]

With 2 blown shoulders and a spine cracked in 3 places.
Not worth beans.
Oh, bad arthritis in both hands too.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Thirty plus year bullseye shooter here. I generally hit what I aim at.

CW

 

[Jäger]

Not nearly as good as I used to when shooting PPC and silhouette. And I've done very little offhand shooting for an assortment of reasons over the last five or so years.

Reminds me of that classic line attributed to Arnold Palmer after somebody remarked to him that he got lucky with one particular shot in a tournament: "The more I practice, the luckier I get".

Shooting offhand (and other positions) makes you a better shooter than what you were before you started practicing shooting offhand.

Archers are kind of stuck with shooting offhand (not to mention many can't pull their bows if seated inside a blind, which suggests they're pulling more bow weight than they should be).

 

[Cherokee]

For handguns, 21 ft groups vary depending on the day. However, I can usually make 2-3 inches depending on the gun used. I use 21 ft because at that point the target is fuzzy and gets worse beyond that. For rifles, bench. Only rifles I shoot standing is pistol caliber carbines and lever action rifles, and not beyond 25 yd.

 

[Ian]

I can hit 12"x 6" pipes about 90% of the time at 100 yards with a rifle. I tend to practice from field positions before hunting season (didn't do it this year) and get the chops up in case I need to make a shot when stalking the woods and pastures. That payed off a few years ago when I shot a bedded-down red deer between the eyes about 0.2 seconds after he spotted me from either just over 60 or 80 yards (can't now recall). Had to belly crawl a ways to get the shot and "stand" on my knees to get over the shin oak, not how I planned it but sometimes you just react to the situation and get lucky.

 

[Bill]

Let me put it this way, the only time I shot silly wets (with sarge) I killed two chickens, and one was one I wasn't shootin at.

Bill

 

[RBHarter]

Depends . I was a fair flush shooter at one time and tend to shoot better when I don't have or take time to think about it . I strive to shoot most of my shooting from field type positions chronograph work makes that hard to do . I like shooting single actions at 25 and out to 50 yd and have resigned myself to an inch for every 10 yd being as good as I'm going to get .
If I swing and squeeze/slap the trigger I do about as well as I do with diminishing circles or "slapping the rocking horse" as I wobble past pie plates at 1-200 . Wrap sling , 1 knee or 2 , post lean or a hip and elbow on the hood/fender/boulder/post/tree and at one time not so long ago a pronghorn was in a lot of trouble inside 400 yd ...... Alas the glory days are becoming days of yore as my hot footing pulse and dunlop's disorder unsettle my 2 knee sit and the pause between suck and push get closer together .

 

[oscarflytyer]

smallbore competitive shooter in HS JROTC. Was pretty good. Was taught by a 35 yr USMC MGySgt! I can still shoot all 4 positions well, even at my age (58) - even still have an old 10X shooting jacket. Don't/won't hesitate to shoot kneeling or sitting at deer. Last time was a 100 yd kneeling shot. I can hit clay pigeons at 100 yds OH with the Garand. And not long ago, 165 steel plate OH with the 94 30-30 with peeps in the wind. And will shoot a cpl OH shots at the plates with the levers after sighting them in, just to build confidence. Don't shoot groups, but to hit the target. As mentioned above, harder with a scope; MUCH easier with peeps. Don't know that I would shoot a deer over 100 yds OH, but if I had to hit or at least manage suppressive fire on a target at 200 yds, I think I could hold my own.

 

[L Ross]

Clay pigeons with a Garand at 100 is some mighty fine off hand work Oscar.

I love "Awful Hand," shooting. I average close to 80% hits with my pretty good .22's at 80 yards on 4" diamonds and prairie dogs. 60-70% on 5" diamonds with cast in my .308's and a couple of Springfields.

Push it out to NRA chickens at the 210 yard rail and I'm about a 50% shooter. Trouble is other than my smart aleck neighbor kid and my friend Jon from Minnesota nobody else really likes to shoot offhand.

Been nearly a month since I did any off hand work and I did a couple of banks at 80 yds. yesterday and today, but I'll start ice fishing tomorrow and shooting will take a distant back seat for the next three months.

 

[JustJim]

I function-tested a current 98 Krag project rifle this past week. At 100yds, ten shots went in a group I could cover with a 4" disk (about 1' left and 8" below the aiming point--gotta remember to center the sights next time).

 

[oscarflytyer]

"Clay pigeons with a Garand at 100 is some mighty fine off hand work Oscar"

Did it once/when I first got the M1. But I am damned sure going to claim it! lol! But I can still shoot decent (read - better than most) OH. And when you hit your targets OH, it is a HUGE confidence booster. I would bet that prob less than 2-3% of shooters have ever even shot OH at 100 yds...

 

[L Ross]

"Clay pigeons with a Garand at 100 is some mighty fine off hand work Oscar"

Did it once/when I first got the M1. But I am damned sure going to claim it! lol! But I can still shoot decent (read - better than most) OH. And when you hit your targets OH, it is a HUGE confidence booster. I would bet that prob less than 2-3% of shooters have ever even shot OH at 100 yds...

When I was dabbling, (I'm a great dabbler), with Schuetzen, (see avatar), I was told that if a shooter was a 4 MOA off hand shooter he/she could win most matches. Once I started shooting at a couple of matches I quickly learned that the bench guys got all of the good windless early range times and "Awful Hand" shooters were viewed as a quaint nuisance. Not to mention guys that wanted to dress up in the style of the heyday of Schuetzen.

Learned the same hard truth about cowboy shootin'. My honey and I chose 1876 as our personae's time frame. That meant strictly black powder, full loads, correct common firearms. Again we were viewed as outsiders. The point of my rambling diatribe is this. Among today's shooters, practitioners of the art of off hand are outsiders.

 

[Winelover]

Most of my handguns are shot off hand. Sometimes seated, mostly standing. Rarely use a bench with rifles or carbines, unless load testing. I believe in shooting the same way I hunt..............seated, off a tripod rest, for anything over 50 yards.

Back in Michigan, I would practice with my bow, in the basement. Shooting catty corner, I could get 15 yards. Here, in Arkansas, just go outside and shoot up to 100 yards.

 

[dale2242]

While shooting IHMSA silhouettes I was a AAA class shooter.
Nothing special but a little above average.
I shot Action Pistol in my mid 70s and came in in the middle of the pack. Better than most my age.
I have killed a number of deer with my 44 mag. No shots taken over 50 yds and all off hand.
I consider myself above average with a handgun and slightly above average with a rifle.
It can vary from day to day.
That reminds me, I need to shoot offhand more.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

I Have 100 yd a 50 yd &a 25 yd benches--crude but solid, I use them most-& the 50 about 90 persent of the time. Wish I could see good enuf to use open sights offhand---I think next year I will work on that!<< the offhand part.
Back in the mid 90's I shot archery, 3d's in summer "300" in winter, I could hold my own with the best guy's in 300---not come out on top but close.I think even today I am a better shot with one of my compound's than a revolver<<< by far !!----it's just to hard to carry concealed.
Jeff

 

[JonB]

when I was a child, shooting my Dad's Springfield 22lr, all I shot was off hand, until I tried resting the rifle against the side of a Oak tree, then I could actually start hitting stuff.
Years later, as an adult, and after I bought my first Mil surp, which became the first of many, I would always shoot offhand and I developed my abilities to where I could shoot better off hand, than resting on the side of a tree.
Years after that, I started shooting rifle league. I was quite proud of my off hand shooting, and other league goers were too, but my bench skills were quite poor compared to everyone else there. They gave me some tips and with some practice, I got to where I was pretty good on the bench, but my skills never got good enough to take any prizes, unless the events of the day were "all" off hand, which was rare in that league.

These days, I don't shoot enough Rifle to maintain the skills I once had. I think I mentioned shooting a couple rifles a month ago, and according to my range notebook, I hadn't really shot much rifle since 2017. Last month's shooting outing was off hand at 50 yards. Best groups were about 3" to 4" ...and the worst were close to 10". Honestly, considering the cast bullet ammo I was shooting was some untried loads that were loaded in 2016, which I loaded after a poor shooting session...so I switched powder for one... For instance, that one was with 2400 (two different loads) and I never shot 2400 in that rifle before.

As to pistol, I believe I can shoot better off hand, than from a rest...I just can't seem to create the right rest for me...But that's OK.

 

[popper]

I need to do more push ups to get upper arm strength. All pistol shooting is done off-hand. Beginning to practice same with rifle (well, BO pistol & carbine), scoped. Hard to do from bench. Hunting hogs would be from stand with window support of off-hand in the field.
Buddy said one snuck up on him Wed. by the time he got his ar15 shouldered, 75 yds off. Then he was at one feeder and 14 were at the other -- good 200 yds away.