• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Offhand shooting, need some help

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Some good advice has been posted so far.

From the look of the targets, I would try to address two aspects of shooting.

1) Horizontal stringing can often be attributed to "dragging wood". Dragging wood means the trigger finger is applying pressure to the side of the stock while pressing the trigger. Try rolling your hand around the stock, so that there is very little or no contact between your trigger finger and the side of the stock.

2) Not focusing on NPA or Natural Point of Aim can push your shots off to one side or the other. The technique you use to shoot off the bench sometimes won't yield the same POI. Think of your rifle as a long coil spring pointed toward the target. If after you build your shooting position you have to push the rifle to the left to index the sights on target you are bending the spring and the shots will go right during the recoil sequence after you fire the rifle. This is due to the spring trying to come to rest during the recoil sequence. Try presenting the rifle toward the target, closing your eyes, relaxing, then opening your eyes and seeing where the sights are in relationship to the target. If the sights are not on target, shuffle your feet until they are and repeat the process.

A couple of other points:

Sight wobble is a fact of life. As you age and accumulate wear and tear on the body, sight wobble tends to increase. My sight wobble area has it's own zip code. So long as the target is in the middle of the sight wobble area and you follow through after your shot, you should get your share of good center hits on target.

Follow through is important. Think one shot = two sight pictures, two shots = three sight pictures, etc. After you press the trigger, hold it to the rear and stay focused on the front sight. Wait until the sights settle down on the target again, then count one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, before relaxing. After one thousand three, slowly move the trigger finger outside the trigger guard and lower the rifle. Move about as fast as molasses moves down a frozen fence post until you get the hang of things, then you can speed up to molasses moving on a hot summer day.

I've had the opportunity to train hundreds of shooters over the years. This stuff has worked for me and 99.9% of the shooters I trained.

Shooting is hard work, but don't forget to have fun. Relax and enjoy the day.
 
I have just finished this thread. No one has talked about hunting. You do not have time to get in a stance or to get your hand in the right spot. You might have to shoot in a direction which does not lock up your body or your sight picture. You may be sitting on the ground or in a tree stand which is totally different. You may not have anything to rest your rifle on or brace against. You may also have to be moving as the deer is walking etc. Does anyone have any good suggestions to improve accuracy in these situations. Thanks
 
Constant practice in all these situations. That's about it (and KNOW YOUR GUN)

I would NEVER shoot at a game animal while I was moving, the deer maybe :nono:
 
Ike said:
I have just finished this thread. No one has talked about hunting. You do not have time to get in a stance or to get your hand in the right spot. You might have to shoot in a direction which does not lock up your body or your sight picture. You may be sitting on the ground or in a tree stand which is totally different. You may not have anything to rest your rifle on or brace against. You may also have to be moving as the deer is walking etc. Does anyone have any good suggestions to improve accuracy in these situations. Thanks

I thought the OP was talking about target shooting. People do shoot at moving deer, so we might as well cover it.

If a deer was walking, I might take the shot. If the deer was running, I would not shoot. If I did not have a clear, unobstructed, view of the moving deer, I would not take the shot. If I did not think there was a high likelihood that I would hit a walking deer in a place that would ensure a quick kill, I would not take the shot and wait for the next deer to come along.

I would not shoot while I was moving. I would stop walking and plant my feet before trying to take a shot. If you are moving your feet, you might fall down and that would be extremely dangerous for you and anyone within a few miles of your location.

If the deer was walking, not running, and I was absolutely certain there was a good backstop behind the deer to catch a missed shot, such as a large hill not covered by trees, I would point my support hand thumb toward the deer and use the push-pull technique to steady the rifle. You grip the rifle tightly, push forward with the support hand and pull the buttstock tightly into the shoulder with the firing hand. This steadies the rifle for a swing shot and has the added benefit of cutting down felt recoil.

On a moving shot, I would be stationary above the waistline and pivot my upper body like a turret on a tank. I would follow through, i.e., keep the sights on the deer and keep the rifle swinging until I lost sight of the deer. If I had to swing faster than the second hand on a clock, I would not take the shot.

I would never, ever, count on a group of trees to stop a missed shot, I would prefer a bare mountain behind the moving deer. I would never shoot uphill regardless of the backstop. If there were trees between the deer and the hill, I would not shoot.

It would be a rare occasion when I might shoot at a moving deer. There are too many things that can go wrong and you have to have your head screwed on tight while taking a shot on a walking deer.

When in doubt, let it go, wait around for another doe. When in doubt, don't push your luck, wait around for another buck.
 
I was talking about the hunter shooting stance or sitting position if you are on a stand and the shooter cannot get into a classic target shooting position. How do you get a good steady hold to get the best steady sight picture.
 
Ike said:
I was talking about the hunter shooting stance or sitting position if you are on a stand and the shooter cannot get into a classic target shooting position. How do you get a good steady hold to get the best steady sight picture.
Anyone should be able to make ”˜1 good shot’ even if not in the ideal or a ”˜natural point of aim’ (NPA) position.

You will be holding this shot with muscles and should be able to do it for 1 or more shots. Please understand that in position shooting, to give you the best basis for the typical 20-shot match ... that is why the NPA is preferred, as your muscles cannot sustain a well aimed shot by muscles alone for what a marksmanship course of fire entails.

For hunting, I do practice from a sitting position using the same clothing I’ll be wearing in the woods.
 
Ike said:
I was talking about the hunter shooting stance or sitting position if you are on a stand and the shooter cannot get into a classic target shooting position. How do you get a good steady hold to get the best steady sight picture.


For one shot, not a string of shots, it's pretty simple. Establish respiratory pause, hold what position you have through muscle tension and follow through on your sight picture. Keeping the head erect through the process helps a great deal too.

If you have the place to do it, try practicing shooting from a stand and ground blind. Twist your body into awkward positions you think you might encounter while hunting.
 
Completely agree. Hunting deer you will get in some of the most awkward shooting positions that you can imagine ”” and some you can't imagine ”” and I've done about all of them, except on my head.
 
Back
Top