jaybez101099

I guess my ? was a little off in asking, I have noticed even on the best shooters here it seems the first shot is a little off then they seem to be in the 10 ring from then on(after barrel fowling). Icheck a fewtarget pics out and everyone seems to have a few flyers, more so on the first

mrlnfshr1

When sighting in, I swab thoroughly between shots so that subsequent shots are as close to the first shot as possible. Doesnt matter how tight the group is if the first shot is off target.

dustyr

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 himIt 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

spaniel

With my long range Omega, yes, with my standard 100gr 777 200SW load. I virtually always have a bipod on it.

With my X7 and open sights, probably 50-75% of the time.

mountaineer magic

It would be a piece of cake with my Triumph a 100 gr triple 7 and a 250 shockwave . But several of my guns I am confident could do the shot also. My Lyman with either 90 or 100 grains and a Hornady GP bullet is dead on at that range.

lemoyne

I think practicing for the Mountain man and the Hawken matches is an easy way to learn a lot, when you shoot off hand with out a sling and you are not allowed to touch your elbows to your body mistakes show up very quick. You need to be able to shoot a 19 inch string to feel like you have a chance. For the non competition shooters a string is measured to each holes center to the X in the center of the target and all are the added together, that means that shooting 2 off hand 2 kneeling and one prone as I remember you need to keep all 5 shots within 4 inches of the X. That was tough for men even when I did not wear glasses those open iron sights are beyond what my eyes are capable of now. Lee

nchawkeye

I'll hit it with either my .40 caliber flintlock or my .54 caliber flintlock as well as my Knight Disc...

Mojotex

For me, standing off-hand ... very iffy! Who am I kidding ... it be luck for me !! I cannot use open sights at all now a days. Eyes gone south ! And I'm getting too old for being steadyat standing off-handshooting. Kneeling or prone, I think I'd be OK. But frankly I don't practice that stylemuch at all.Though I definitely practice a bunch from the bench before muzzle loader season, with a good rest, I'd be dissapointed if either of these would not do inside 3" at 75 yards, first shot, out of the gun-safe. I have a Savage ML-10 in which I use smokelessand a CVA Optima Pro in which I use Triple 7. Both are scoped. The ML-10 really groups great - a legitimate 1.25 MOA. The CVA groups good - under 2 MOA. I think the ML-10 groups are that good because I have been able to fine tune thepowder charge/bullet match. I use the Hornady sabot in this rifle. With the CVA, I use 2-50 gr. pellets and the looked for a bullet that worked good. Power Belts have been nicely accurate but have had some problems with seperation at close range. I may try going back to lose Triple 7 and fine tune the charge to the Hornady sabot... but not sure it's be worth the effort. Where I hunt, Ihave yet to have a shot at deer farther out than about 125 anyway. A legitimate 2 MOA is a dead deer at that distance and I have had zero problems recovering.