Offhand shooting: the rifleman's primary skill

Guns Magazine, July, 2003 by Dave Anderson

The buttplate should be seated on the pad of muscle of the shoulder. Common errors when the rifle is mounted in a hurry are to place the buttplate too high, so that only the toe is pressed against the shoulder pocket, or to seat the buttplate against the muscles of the upper arm. The head should remain fairly erect; the shooter should have the sense of raising the rifle to the face, rather than shouldering the rifle and then scrunching the face down against the comb of the stock.

Tradition Yields To Comfort

Long ago, shooters were taught that the strong-side elbow should be kept high, about level with the ear. What the purpose was I don't know, but this high-elbow business got passed down for a generation or two. I find it strained and uncomfortable, both conditions to be avoided. The elbow should be about level with the shoulder, which results in a nicely defined shoulder pocket in which the buttplate can be seated.

I hold a rifle with the thumb of the shooting hand across the pistol grip. I feel it gives me good control of the rifle and allows the trigger finger to move independently. Some top shooters, such as Jerry Miculek, like to keep the shooting thumb along the side of the rifle. Miculek feels this style is more comfortable and also gives fast access to the bolt for reloading. Try both and go with what works for you. Grip pressure should be firm but not tight -- about the way you would grip a hammer's handle while driving nails.

The support arm should be directly under the rifle. Supporting the rifle as much as possible by bone instead of muscle is more stable, more repeatable, and therefore more accurate. The palm of the support hand should be flat with the forearm of the rifle resting on it. Grip of fingers and thumb should be only tight enough to control the forearm. The sensation you want is of the rifle just sitting on the hand, the way it would sit on a sandbag or other rest.

Position of the hand on the forearm depends on the balance of the rifle. The objective is to hold the rifle steady, and at the same time be able to swing the barrel smoothly. What works best for me is to have the support hand on the forearm about 6 inches ahead of the rifle's balance point.

Now Comes The Hard Part

That's how you hold the rifle. Now look at the scope reticle and you'll see it is moving all over the target. It's not a bit the way it appears from the shooting bench. So how do you hit the target? By training and strengthening the muscles to reduce the arc of movement, and by training the subconscious to coordinate the trigger release with an acceptable arc of movement.

And that, I'm sorry to say, is going to require effort and lots of it. There are no shortcuts. It will take, not dozens or hundreds, but thousands of shots to acquire a reasonable level of skill. Those gifted with superior eye/hand coordination will progress faster, while those such as myself with just average eye/hand coordination have to work longer and harder.

Best Teaching Aid

The most useful tool with which to acquire skill is an air rifle. Air rifles are accurate, inexpensive to shoot and allow practice in locations where firearms would be out of the question. If you are truly serious about becoming a capable offhand marksman, set up a suitable backstop in your garage or basement and discipline yourself to fire just 10 careful rounds each evening. This is far more effective than an occasional marathon practice session.