Offhand shooting: the rifleman's primary skill

Guns Magazine, July, 2003 by Dave Anderson

"Define your mission" is an important adage that applies to many projects. In talking about shooting it is inevitable that we talk about technique -- how to hold the rifle, align the sights, release the shot. The danger is getting so caught up in looking good we forget our original goal.

Shooting is not a sport like diving or figure skating, where proper technique is the goal. Hitting the target consistently, efficiently, on demand and under time and psychological pressure is the goal.

There's a story, probably apocryphal, about a discussion in which several golfers were arguing over what was the single most important factor in playing the game. One said it was having a proper grip. Another felt it was the swing plane. A third insisted the most important thing was the position of the club head at impact. The fourth dug through his bag for a scorecard and pencil.

"You're all wrong," he said, "What's most important is the score you write down at the end of each hole."

Technique Is The Foundation

There's something to that, though I'd argue that sound basic techniques are what lead to better scores. The point, though, is not to get so involved in technique that we lose track of our objective. A friend I shoot with regularly has what I consider a flaw in his offhand shooting position. He holds the support elbow well out to the side, while I feel strongly it should be directly under the rifle. But I don't say anything, because the guy is a terrific shot.

He shoots well because he has superb eye/hand coordination and truly marvelous trigger control. Would he shoot better with a different technique? Maybe, I don't know. I do know he shoots very well now, and that after 35 years of doing it his way he isn't about to change.

My interests are in practical shooting techniques for big game and varmint hunting. Techniques for competitive shooting are certainly interesting, but may not have practical utility. The skills and achievements of top competitors in shooting from the standing position are amazing and much to be admired.

Field Verses Range Methods

But some competitive methods, for example standing shooting techniques that involve a heavy, tight-fitting leather jacket, a heavy glove, palm rest and so forth don't have much application in the hunting field. The standing position as used by competitive shooters is a slow fire position, with the body leaned back to get the center of gravity over the legs, and the forearm supported by a palm rest or by bracing the elbow against the body. It is quite different from the classic offhand position, used when speed is required.

The methods discussed here have proven to be effective. Just remember they are means to an end, not the end itself.

Offhand Shooting Standards

The late Ned Roberts (of .257 Roberts fame) was taught to shoot by his uncle Alvaro Annis, who had been one of Berdan's Sharpshooters during the Civil War. Roberts wrote that his uncle "insisted that a good rifleman with a good rifle should be able to hit a silver dollar at 10 rods (55 yards] offhand, five times in succession." (The Breech Loading Single-Shot Rifle).

In another book (The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle), Roberts wrote: "Uncle Alvaro... frequently told me that the "real rifleman" should be able to keep his bullets in an 8-inch bull's-eye at 40 rods [220 yards] offhand shooting."

The old sharpshooter's claims are supported by historical record. The NRA's first publication, The Rifle, (Vol. 1 No. 1, May, 1885), records that in 1884, H.G. Bixby fired 28 straight hits on an 8-inch bull's-eye from the standing position at 200 yards. This, of course, was with black powder, lead bullets and iron sights. His rifle was in the sporting class (maximum rifle weight 10 pounds, minimum 3-pound trigger). With similar equipment, W.F. Fitch fired 10 shots standing at 300 yards and scored 48/50.

Top international competitors with modern equipment can do considerably better, but I wonder how many big-game hunters could hit an 8-inch target, eight times out of 10, shooting standing at 300 yards. I suspect some of the better metallic silhouette competitors could do it, using scoped rifles, but darn few others.

Somewhere along the way, shooters mostly abandoned the challenge of "standing on your hind legs and shooting like a man." Writer Lucian Cary (author of the "J.M. Pyne" stories of the 1920s and '30s), expressed the views of many old-time shooters when he had one of his characters say,

"Any man who has the guts can learn to shoot offhand, but nowadays they haven't got the guts. Nowadays they all learn to shoot lying on their stomachs and resting their elbows on the ground, all trussed up in a sling strap... when they try to shoot standing up and can't make more than half a score, they quit." (reprinted in The Gun Digest, 1972).

Competitive Relevancy

Frankly I don't feel this is quite fair, I suspect the reason hunters lost interest in formal standing competition was because it had little practical value. Those who achieve extreme accuracy in standing shooting use specialized equipment, and usually take from 10 to 30 seconds to fire the shot. In the field, if you have that kind of time you don't shoot standing. You sit, go prone, or find a rest.