In preparation for the AZ State match this weekend I forced myself to start a little abbreviated offhand practice regimen not quite two weeks ago.
Typical for most of us, I don't love offhand shots, and don't often practice them. So I went into this somewhat curious if semi-regular offhand practice would improve my shooting, or if ability/inability to shoot offhand is just inherent to muscle tone/skeletal structure/etc. I tend to believe that we get better at any thing we do repetitively (practice).
Used the pistol and the rifle that I'm planning on shooting this weekend.
Any pistol offhand is tough. But the porky little Veteran is an offhand challenge. Was joking with a buddy during this experiment/practice that the Vet in the chassis stock is like trying to shoot a cinder block offhand.
Each day I took 15 shots from each gun at a one inch orange sticker placed at 25yards.
No additional offhand practice on all but one of these days. Sometimes I was putting lights out and doing it at 10pm after work. Had a few days in there were I was sore from processing a couple pallets of firewood. That was interesting, to see the effect of sore muscles on trying to be stable from the offhand position.
Shared in the order they were shot.
So what'd I learn? First, there's just as much swinging around in the sight picture now as there was 11 days ago before doing this. However, it was very apparent during the shooting that concentration CAN be improved. And I mean con concentrating on timing the trigger pull with the reticle being in the correct place, "drive-bys" if you will.
It's also a delicate balance between being quick on the trigger when the crosshairs are in the right place, versus being TOO quick and pulling the shot. You'll notice some of the pistol groups have a rightward migration/tendency....yep, I'm right handed.
As for the pistol...I don't feel like I got anywhere with the offhand pistol shots, but certainly feel more confident with the rifle now.
And perhaps 10 days/sessions simply isn't enough to make huge leaps and bounds. Realistically, I used up what little dedication I had to practicing offhand in one fell swoop, and I don't plan on practicing even this earnestly anytime soon.
Since forced position shots, specifically offhand, seem to be every ft competitors bugaboo, thought it'd be interesting to share here.
Typical for most of us, I don't love offhand shots, and don't often practice them. So I went into this somewhat curious if semi-regular offhand practice would improve my shooting, or if ability/inability to shoot offhand is just inherent to muscle tone/skeletal structure/etc. I tend to believe that we get better at any thing we do repetitively (practice).
Used the pistol and the rifle that I'm planning on shooting this weekend.
Any pistol offhand is tough. But the porky little Veteran is an offhand challenge. Was joking with a buddy during this experiment/practice that the Vet in the chassis stock is like trying to shoot a cinder block offhand.
Each day I took 15 shots from each gun at a one inch orange sticker placed at 25yards.
No additional offhand practice on all but one of these days. Sometimes I was putting lights out and doing it at 10pm after work. Had a few days in there were I was sore from processing a couple pallets of firewood. That was interesting, to see the effect of sore muscles on trying to be stable from the offhand position.
Shared in the order they were shot.
So what'd I learn? First, there's just as much swinging around in the sight picture now as there was 11 days ago before doing this. However, it was very apparent during the shooting that concentration CAN be improved. And I mean con concentrating on timing the trigger pull with the reticle being in the correct place, "drive-bys" if you will.
It's also a delicate balance between being quick on the trigger when the crosshairs are in the right place, versus being TOO quick and pulling the shot. You'll notice some of the pistol groups have a rightward migration/tendency....yep, I'm right handed.
As for the pistol...I don't feel like I got anywhere with the offhand pistol shots, but certainly feel more confident with the rifle now.
And perhaps 10 days/sessions simply isn't enough to make huge leaps and bounds. Realistically, I used up what little dedication I had to practicing offhand in one fell swoop, and I don't plan on practicing even this earnestly anytime soon.
Since forced position shots, specifically offhand, seem to be every ft competitors bugaboo, thought it'd be interesting to share here.
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