Just my 2 cents on this . . .
When I was in the service, the warrant (weapons) officer I was under was a big shooter, especially ML. Having a range behind the security office was one of the perks working with him
It was pretty normal when things were slow to go to the range and shoot whatever struck our fancy (ML, M16, shotgun, M60 - whatever). One of the things I will always be indepted to him for was teaching me how to shoot offhand effectively and consistently.
When I first got the Hunterbolt, not really knowing what I was doing load wise, I was able to put a round on the target at 50 yds offhand pretty regularly. Once I did find the sweet load and had the sights set for 75 yds, I was able to shoot groups 3 1/2 - 4 inches offhand regularly. Now that I have had my surgery, can't wait to get cleared to start shooting again and see if I can get that closer.
Offhand shooting is tough - although it is somewhat easier with a sling. The one point the warrant officer kept drilling into my brain was find the balance point of the off hand in relation to the stock. With most people, this is usually accomplished by shouldering the weapon normally and keep moving the off hand towards you until your upper arm/elbow is snug against your rib cage. Pretty awkward feeling in the beginning because your upper body is so compacted. He also showed me that how you place your feet can have an impact on accuracy (has to do with how stable your body is side to side). The wider your feet are in relation to a line drawn down range (say at a 45 degree angle) allows your body to sway more side to side. He advocated no more than a 30 degree offset - which works very well for my skinny a##
The closer your feet are to a line drawn down range the better. Lastly - breath control. Breathe in, look down range, let out half and sight in.
He first taught me this using the M16, and then refined it using a Kentucky smoothbore (my first intro to ML)shooting at a turkey target. I swear that thing was longer than I am tall
