Doug100g

Once you sighted in your muzzleoader at 100 yards in a sled....how good do you shoot off hand?

Looking for averages in a hunting environment. Shooting off hand or using just a pair of shooting sticks (or branch from tree).

50 Yards
75 yards
100 yards



D

bronko22000

Something I never tried doing at 100 yds. I realize your question is hypothetical but I know I am plenty good enough at 50 and probably 75 to easily kill a deer. But for one thing, I would never shoot at an animal at 100 yds without some sort of rest. To me it is just unethical and there is a good chance of wounding the animal. At 100 yds, you should have ample time to find some sort of rest. Even if its our knee or sitting, or whatever. But if you are realistic about this, the rifle doesn't know how far away the target is. So if you do your part, you should not have any trouble hitting what you're aiming at.

Johnmorris

Can't hit for squat at 100yds w/o a rest.

falcon

+1

Shooting off hand with a rifle is not my thing. In 2008 i shot a deer looking at me at about 80 yards. Tried a sitting position but the grass was too tall to see the deer, so i did it off hand. The 240 grain .430 XTP bullet hit that deer to the left of its chest. It traveled the full length of the body cavity without tearing up the heart, lungs or diaphragm. It did not even tear up the entrails. The bullet exited the inside of one ham in two pieces.

Waited about 20 minutes, went after that deer and jumped it twice. The deer ran for a total of 350-400 yards and needed a finishing shot.

Never again: i'll pass on an off hand shot if it's much over 40 yards.

7.62NATO

I can shoot well at paper but I shoot even better at live animals. My first kill was a turkey at 150 yards, iron sites in the seated position (knees as rest). I killed a buck last season in the same position at 130 yards scoped. The pressure actually helps me.

Muley Hunter

With a long (32" +) heavy barreled gun like a Hawken. Pretty good. With an inline? Crappy. Too light.

cayugad

I have been shooting a lot of off hand. And it has helped in my accuracy. But to be very honest.. I just stink at off hand. Still if its a deer moving, for some reason I get into a zone and tend to make the shot. But if there is any thing I can do to NOT have to shoot off hand, I do it. I have shooting sticks, or I have a alder walking stick that I use also.

Doug100g

Thanks for the replies guys. So it seems that 50 yards off hand no problem. But 75 to 100 we need sticks or a rest.

Thats good. Because I shoot 50 yards very well off hand. But 75 to 100 my groups get larger. It looks like I am in the average range then.

oldsmellhound

I haven't really tried shooting groups offhand. But I've done pretty good in the field taking deer offhand. I use a sling wrapped around my arm to help steady, this helps a lot. Offhand I've taken deer at 90, 94, 104 and 108 yards and 2 of those were neck shots. 1 shot was a bit far back in the liver- that one convinced me to not shoot at a moving deer. Without the sling though, I would not shoot that far...

smokey92

I spend more time, on the sticks, shoulder against a tree, sitting on a 5 ga. bucket elbow on knee, and offhand, than I do at the bench. Bench practice does have it's place, but hunting situations need to be practiced more, for me anyway. I'm not very good offhand, have got lucky a couple times, but found in most cases I can get in the sling, or on the sticks in plenty of time.