RE: 3 out of 5 on 9" circle at 40 yds
I agree with offhand shooting being difficult. I practice a lot offhand and I agree with an earlier post - shooting offhand with open sights (at least for me) is easier. That made it tough for me to put a scope on my ML. I had tried it on my 30-30 for a while, and determined a scope was a hindrancce.
I challenged some guys at the range a while back to shoot offhand. These guys were great shooters from the bench - but shooting offhand gave some downright funny results. A lot of downright bad misses.
I often wonder why more people don't practice offhand? So many folks shoot offhand while hunting yet I whenever I go to the range people are sitting at the benches?