Thread: Offhand

I shoot Hunter Field Target with PCP airrifles. The furthest off hand target has a 40mm kill at 32m and that is pretty hard to hit consistently. It takes practice on technique, a calmness you won't have if you just trotted up an incline and a finely set trigger. So with a powerful hit-anywhere-to-kill-caliber maybe you can stretch it to maybe 60m, but if you shoot a smaller caliber, want a clean kill and maybe preserve the meat, i would stick to maybe 30m. On the UK forums they shoot rabbits with 12 fpe airguns but they hit them between the eye and the ear with a direct brainshot, rested out to something like 40m max.

Originally Posted by gundoc

50-60 metres on rabbits, out to 150 on deer etc. Consistent offhand shooting is a technique that takes time to develop, involving stance, breathing, and trigger control. Ping-pong balls with an air rifle out to about 25 metres is good practice. You are wasting time and ammo to try offhand shooting with a poor trigger. You need a clean break at exactly the right time to get results. Nobody can hold a rifle still offhand, experience, breathing and trigger control is the secret.

Practice doing it, is the only way! My go to practice was liter water bottles at 100m, and my method was to move onto the bottle and shoot, not spend time trying to be steady on it.Did hundreds of them, would steal bottles out of bins for ongoing supply. Got Chas Forsythe exited down at the Bruce range a lot of years ago (yes i've been there,and not a redneck nutbar in sight) offhand shooting liter coke bottles with a 300 Weatherby at 200m. (Wood blued Vangard with a basic 3-9x40 Dusk and Dawn) Should never have sold that rifle, it hit everything I ever aimed at and it killed every animal ever shot at.

Practice is right - I like the air-rifle idea, that combined with a good trigger (I usually shoot with a Winchester M52 with the "micro-motion" trigger, its pretty good) is just what the Dr ordered (pun intended).

Now what is a modestly priced air-rifle with a trigger that can be made really "good"??

The two (modestly priced/really good) don't usually go together. Good luck.

I take a wrap of my sling for longer shots
Or shoot off my knees

id recommend practicing on clay birds as practice targets

Hey Bill - thats a good idea for a target

Originally Posted by Tentman

Hey Bill - thats a good idea for a target

yea a friend and I use a mix of them and cardboard sun shaped price cards that are easy to staple to things

Must start shooting off my knees again, as soon as I get a new one (soonish I hope.)

What gundoc said...

Another couple of points... It is generally harder to shoot offhand with a light rifle, so that counts against most of the plinking type air rifles and 22s. Whatever rifle you use, it needs to be well ballanced. I added weight to the stock of mine and that helped a lot.

In my experience you have 2 broad choices when it comes to position. For snap type shots, I found it better to hold the rifle normally and track up in a short arc from below the target and learn when to pull the trigger as the sights hit a certain point. For controlled string, I ended up talking to a smallbore 3p coach, and used a target stance, with the non trigger arm close to my body in a side on stance. Feet turned slightly in, grip with your toes. It is a very specific skill and requires a lot of practise.

Most sporting rifles' true spread at 50m is about 1 inch or more. I appreciate that many people may report that their rifles have done a 3-short 1/4 inch group.

The chest kill zone on a rabbit is probably 3-4 inches wide. So that gives you about 2 inches or so margin of error. It is not easy to never miss such shots.

Take small bore silhouette shooting, the pig is placed at 60m, its size is 11x7cm. People that compete silhouette seriously use high end rifles that does about 1/2 spread in at 50. See these two links:
1. Shooting Sports USA - October 2018. This is a $2,000 USD high end sporter rifle - Cooper 57M , about the same class as Anschutz 54 sporters. Out of 31 different 22LR ammo only one did better than 1/2 in at 50 m.
2. 55 Rimfire Ammo Types Tested by AccurateReloading.com . This is a $10K USD bench rest grade rifle - Blieker. 55 types ammos tested at 50m, most were target grade ammo and they achieved good accuracy, but some less-than-target-grade ammos did about 1/2 inch or worse.

If you have ever shot silhouette you would know how hard it is. I would say shooting a rabbit at 50m using a mid-low end sporting rifle and hunting ammo, is about the same level of difficulty as shooting the 60m steel pig with a club grade rifle and club grade target ammo. So if you cannot consistently get it, I say it is pretty normal and dont beat yourself up about it, especially if you do not spend a lot of time practising.

When I shoot small game, I always kneel unless it is not possible. You do not loss much height by kneeling about you get way better accuracy from kneeling.

If you really want to get good at offhand shooting the Tokoroa Rifle Silhouette club holds 2 day matches the third weekend in the month they shoot .22RF and Air Rifle 40 shot matches
easy to shoot up a brick in a weekend

I know a rabbit over 30m away is a challenge for me to kill cleanly offhand. I have also found I can miss them a pretty much any distance.

A goat yesterday freehand at what later ranged at 225 yards had me feeling pretty good. But I then missed a sitter at 250 off a good rest!