Muley Hunter

Ron,

I've never shot any other way than offhand. Whether hunting or shooting targets. (unless I was sighting in and then i'd use a bench). That's why I hate scopes and stock fit is so important.

I suggest you move closer at first. Keep moving closer until you can shoot a good group. Stay there and get consistent. Then and only then start to move back in small steps. We all have a distance we can shoot offhand good at. It will get shorter as you get older.

Don't even try to hold the sights steady. Nobody can do that. What you want to do is time when the sights pass over the bull with the trigger pull. Squeezing the trigger has never worked for me shooting offhand. By the time you get a slow squeeze off the sights are past the target. I use what I call a controlled fast squeeze. Set triggers were made for offhand shooting. All they take is a light tap and is easy to time as the sights go over the target. I use a figure eight movement on the sights. As the center of the eight passes the bull. Squeeze off the shot. The better you time it the more accurate you'll be.

Also, don't try and look at the rear sight, front sight, and target. Concentrate on just looking at the front sight. The other two will line up even if they're blurry from not looking at them. Try it for awhile. It works.

The last thing and it's very important. Try and stay calm and relaxed. If you tense up the barrel will move around more and you'll jerk the trigger.

Good luck.

deer655

I was a bowhunter for years efore I took up a gun of any kind. Its strange, if I try an offhand shot at a target I am just average at best. Somehow when a deer is walking past my shooting just becomes smooth and accurate. Its only when I take my time and try to over think a shot that I get in trouble. Granted I never take long distance shots at deer with any weapon. I tried shooting a round of silhouette targets with a 22 and I was just average. The ones that practiced that type of shooting were awesome.

ronlaughlin

God Bless Pete












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bronko22000

Muley is correct. You will never hold the barrel dead still. I guess you can use the "swing past" technique that Muley talks about. If you think about it, it's really the same thing I was saying. And if your feet are positioned correctly, which will become habit after a while, you will use less muscle tension and your "swing bys" will become smaller and you will notice that the sights are moving in a circular motion around the bull as you build up muscle memory.

Muley Hunter

I agree they will get smaller, but you still need to pull the trigger as they pass over the target.

super_hunt54

Actually Pete, you want to learn to time the trigger break to just BEFORE passing over on a dead still target. Takes time for the break, hammer fall, ignition, and expulsion of the bullet. Granted not a LOT of time, but time no less. Especially on a front stuffer. Even a fast inline takes a good bit of time for all things to happen. That's why training with your specific load when free hand training is of UTMOST importance. It's all a matter of proper timing.

Granted, practicing with a little .22 may HELP some, it won't cure your specific problem. In all actuality, it could actually make things worse. If you were working on your freehand skills for CF then it would really help you on your timing. But since you are training for ML then it would in essence screw up your timing. Not to mention that the triggers would probably have different break pressures as well as takeup and follow through.

Muley Hunter

Exactly, but that's what I meant by time the trigger pull. All guns are different.

A good reason to stick to one gun for everything. Something I always did. Never owned more than one gun at a time. To buy one I sold one. Everybody rags on me for selling my guns all the time. Now you know why. I never wanted to have two guns at once.

bronko22000

LOL reminds me of the old adage: "Beware of the man with only one gun - he probably knows how to use it."
Muley I couldn't agree more. Not sure if you read my post on Grouse's thread about my episode with my Savage and the Accutrigger. Even after shooting that rifle all summer long when I jumped a nice buck my instincts took over and with all that movement to depress the "slack" on the accutrigger threw me off causing me to shoot well behind that deer resulting in a clean miss. Had I had my Browning or Tikka with me that buck would likely be on my wall.

Grouse45

You guys think way to much. Ron needs to get a shooting stick. When that Deer comes out, put the sight on we're you want to hit and pull the trigger. That's it, that simple. The bullet will hit were your aiming period!!

Muley Hunter

Simple isn't always better. I find shooting offhand more rewarding and it's totally humane if you practice enough and shoot at a range you know you're accurate at. I'm a still hunter. How would I do that while carrying a stick?

Most of the time I barely have enough time to shoulder the gun and get the shot off.