I shot about a dozen rounds through my lyman .54 flint this morning after I got done coyote hunting. Good news is the only misfires I had were because of the dull flint, and it was constantly misting or drizzling the whole time. I was correcting the sight so I was shooting off a rest on the bench at 25 yards and was having no problem shooting like a 2 or 3 in. group(my flintlock skills aren't so good). Then once it looked like everything was good I took a couple of shots off-hand and missed the entire corn seed bag twice! I don't think I'm flinching and I practice at home with a fake flint, what am I doing wrong and how can I fix it? Thanks.
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Difference B/W off-hand and Bench Shooting?
- Thread starter luieb45
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Follow through is extremely important with a flintlock. Take a breath, let out half, slowly bring back the trigger -BOOM! - finish the exhale nd then let the barrel down.
Here's a few tips on offhand shooting (sorry the image links are dead).
Stumpkiller's School of Offhandedness
Daniel Webster was a fly-fisherman, not a rifle shooter, as his definitions for "offhand" are contradictory. His dictionary lists "without pre-meditation or preparation" as one choice, and "without rest or support" as the other. I maintain that if you don't prepare for an offhand shot, you won't be any good at them when you need it. Shooting from a benchrest only trains your mind and body to be able to shoot well from a benchrest. Only the eyes and trigger hand have any common tasks between a shot from offhand vs. from a bench. Certainly the eyes and trigger hand have critical jobs, but the rest of your body does as well. I hope to make you aware of what needs to come together to be consistent and accurate in your offhand shooting.
As I'm writing this specifically to help you keep three shots on a 3" X 5" card at 50 yards, I'll tell you the first thing you need to do is get that card so you can see it. After drawing the lines through the diagonals with a ball point pen to locate the center, forget about them. If you can see them at 50 yards I hate you. From now on they're just to help in the final scoring. I zero my rifles so that the balls strike 2" high at 50 yards. This gives me a point blank range of about 100 yards on whitetail, but that's not important now. It does mean I have to establish an aiming point 2" below the where the pen lines cross in the center of the card. I use a 3-3/4" diagonal black diamond with a white center (a free download from www.USPALMA.com - the one called "2 Medium Diamonds") for load development and zeroing in because I find it an easy target to aim at. Unfortunately, when I put this over the card it became very difficult to score, as the aiming face took the hit and the "skid marks" of the ball, leaving the card behind torn and without well defined edges to the holes. What you need is a way to produce contrast behind the card so you can focus on it as a target. Claude presented a solution of affixing the card in the center of a 6" (or larger) circular bull's-eye target (also downloadable free at USPALMA - See Figure 1). This helps increase the contrast and make the card stand out. But this means you can not use the bottom of the card as an aiming point unless you adjust your sights. You can either do your best to estimate how far your sights must intrude into the white of the card for a center shot, or stick a 1" target plaster (or piece of black masking or vinyl tape) at the proper spot on the target based on your sighting targets. Be warned that if you are zeroed at 50 yards, you'll be beck to the problem of having the tape mess up the holes, or even tear the card when being removed. If you hit it, I recommend you leave it as long as the center of the "X" is still visible. If the other two shots tore the "X" out, send it in tape & all, Tiger! You could also use an orange plaster and draw the lines over it.
Figure 1
You ran a lube dampened patch down the barrel to prep it and then assembled a load, and are all primed or capped. You step up to the line, or your 50 yard stake. Now what? First you must establish a solid platform to support the gun. The shot begins at your hips. "He's knutz" you're telling yourself. Think on this: when you're standing for an offhand shot, you have to be able to control your body's tendency to sway (it's there, even when you're sober). Being the amazing, bipedal creature that you are, your brain has developed a stream of commands to keep you from falling over. It is sending constant input to your feet, ankles, knees, and back muscles based on visual and inner-ear cues. Without getting into the metaphysical aspects of it, I can tell you that your body, like any car, boat or airplane, has a center-of-gravity. Right in there behind your belly-button somewhere. What you need to do is get your feet and legs well set under that point. The closest flexible joints to that central spot are your hips (in Karate, that famous board breaking punch is actually thrown by starting with a hip swing). The biggest muscles in your body are from the hips up, and down, and in most situations it is best to use the biggest muscles first. We'll assume you are right handed for all examples. Stand with your left side facing the target. Set your feet angled about 45º from each other and the heels about as far apart as your outside shoulder span. Your right foot should be about perpendicular to the target and the toes of your left foot pointing somewhere to the right of the target. The legs, back and neck should be straight, but not rigidly locked. Your head upright and centered right over your navel. I'm assuming you're shooting a moderately loaded medium or small bore rifle, so you won't be needing to bend your left knee and lean forward into the recoil to keep from toppling backwards. Your stance has to be open enough that you can root the butt plate solidly in the pocket between your arm and collar-bone. (A closed stance is when the toes of both feet are in line with the target: º \=O=/ ). A good way to set yourself into position is to stand in the closed stance, and then move your left foot back half a foot. Swivel at the hips a bit to re-center your hips and shoulders over your feet and you're ready to mount the rifle.
Look at the target and bring the rifle up and then pull the butt plate back into the shoulder pocket with your right hand. The left hand supports the fore end and adjusts for aim. The position of your left hand is determined by barrel length, stock geometry and your arm shape. Your elbow should be as close to directly below the rifle as you can get it without tensing your back and upper arm muscles. Right elbow should be held out horizontal to the ground; again without fighting clothing or muscles.
Both eyes open, one eye closed? That is up to you. I use both eyes open for all hunting shots and most target shooting. I found with the taped card described above I did better with one eye closed. I think it is easier for your brain to determine the center of the card, or a circular target, with both eyes open. Focus on the front sight. With your master eye (we'll assume it's your right). If you are left handed with a right master eye, or right handed with a left master eye: sucks to be you. You'll probably have to end up closing the eye on the opposite side of your nose from the gun. There are too many sight variations to describe here, but let's take a common blade front, rectangular notched rear as our example. The target should be aligned so that it appears to rest on the front sight (6:00 hold) or in the center of the target, front sight aligned in the notch so that the top of the front is level with the upper surface of the rear, an equal amount of light showing on either side of the front blade in the groove of the rear notch. I focus on the front sight, and at the final instant I shift my focus to the target. I think this is a "fault" caused by conditioning from hunting and traditional archery/bowhunting. I'm just blazing my full concentration on THE SPOT that I have chosen as my target. But we're not quite ready in this seminar to shoot, yet.
Breath control is perhaps the most mentioned and least understood of the shooting techniques. We've all been told: Take three deep breaths, let out half of the last one and then shoot." What happens then is that your body is agonizing for breath, your sights are oscillating in ever increasing arcs across the target, and you finally yank the trigger before gasping for sweet air. "7:00 in the four ring" says your spotter, loud enough so the whole line hears him.
So what's a better system? Properly done, breath control not only allows you the motionless moment for final sight alignment, but also calms your muscles and can even slow your pulse. All the little internal maintenance activities your body performs even when you'd like a little quiet. Tense muscles not only oscillate as they pull against each other to remain in equilibrium, but the blood coursing through them causes a bounce, which is more easily absorbed in a loose muscle.
Your breathing drill should begin as soon as you uncase your rifle. As you breathe in, imagine a coil spring in your belly, like the mainspring in an old pocket watch, winding tight. As you exhale, imagine that spring relaxing. In a short article like this, I can't begin to explain meditation and breathing techniques in any detail. Ask a vocalist or Karate instructor. The diaphragm is second only to the heart in keeping you alive, and you have a lot more voluntary control over it. Practice taking slow, deep breaths while trying to be conscious of that muscle raising and falling below your lungs. For those that don't know, when that muscle drops it is the vacuum created that draws air into your lungs. Your lungs have no muscles of their own. That's why a diaphragm puncture on a deer will drop it quickly even though the lungs may not be heavily damaged. It can't breathe. You know the feeling if you've ever taken a punch to the solar plexus that caused your diaphragm to spasm. Ideally, your mind and muscles should be as relaxed as possible, so that if you do flinch a bit, it will take an instant for the muscles to contract that much further, hopefully giving the ball a chance to be past the muzzle before it can be effected.
The Okinawans have a phrase for mental preparation, which I'll now misspell for you: "miso no kokora". Literally, this means "consciousness of bee paste", which is nonsense. But if you were an Okinawa school child centuries ago it would bring to mind the smoothing of the wax writing tablet in preparation of the next lesson. What we would describe as "clearing your mind." In Karate the mental illusion of imagining yourself smoothing out a sheet of wax is meant to help you clear your mind and focus on the present. At any moment we are thinking about work, problems at home, did the dog get his before being shut in with the new carpet, a million things. Imagining a tossing sea that gradually subsides to a calm one also works, as does imagining the face of a loved one or pet. But don't try recalling your version of Ol' Yeller's face or you may find the target will get misty and blurred.
In a hunting situation adrenaline will be pumping into your system, giving the body it's fight-or-flight boost to get you up that tree a bit faster when that bad ol' sabertooth tiger is on your heels, or to throw your rock farther and harder than the enemy throws his. With the rifle now doing all the hard work, you need to mentally counteract the hormonal rush and regain composure by clearing out all the clutter that this increase in mental clock-speed brings with it. The famous "pick a spot and focus on it" drilled into bowhunters applies in and to this situation. Another tip: if you are within 75 yards of a deer NEVER make eye contact with it. If you look at their face, chances are the deer will perceive you as a predator. They have some responses hardwired into their systems too. Once you've determined this is a target animal, look away and continue to observe them with peripheral vision, until the moment you put that front sight over it's heart. Keep you mind busy on choosing a shooting lane (if you're in cover) and the path the deer is taking. Whenever possible, make vertical slope and lateral movement corrections for moving game, or game above or below you, by leaning or twisting at the hips and not by twisting your arms or upper torso.
Now see how much easier it's going to be just shooting at a blind and motionless 3" X 5" card?
The final facets are trigger control and follow through. You've got your breathing down, you're calm and focused. The gun is loaded and at your shoulder. Muzzle pointed downrange and the hammer eased back into full-****. You have you feet placed and your weight is balanced between them. You take a breath and your left arm and shoulder move slightly to position the front sight. While letting out a bit of breath and then halting, you begin to gently squeeze the trigger. Some will tell you "The gun should surprise you when it goes off." Me, I assume every gun will go off if I were to pull the trigger. I think it is better to say that you should squeeze with slow, evenly applied pressure until the gun goes off. And then, and this is important, you should hold your position a full second before lowering the gun or finishing the release of your breath. Follow-through will prevent some fliers caused by jerking your head at the last moment. In a hunting situation, the movement may also give the animal a visual on a predator to run from, instead of just the bafflement of the sudden cloud of smoke and unpleasant sensation of being shot. Often they'll take a couple bounds and then slow to a trot, and even pause to look back, if you have remained motionless. You're doing these steps properly if you have a dud ignition and the gun doesn't "hop" off target when the hammer drops. If you have an assistant, let him prime and then hand you the gun; with the instructions to use a dead cap or leave the pan unprimed randomly at his whim. Back to breathing and trigger control work if the gun recoils without going "boom."
When sighting in, shoot at least three shots before adjusting your sights. You have to establish a group before you can move the center of the group with sight adjustment.
Good shooting
-- Charlie Pearsall
Here's a few tips on offhand shooting (sorry the image links are dead).
Stumpkiller's School of Offhandedness
Daniel Webster was a fly-fisherman, not a rifle shooter, as his definitions for "offhand" are contradictory. His dictionary lists "without pre-meditation or preparation" as one choice, and "without rest or support" as the other. I maintain that if you don't prepare for an offhand shot, you won't be any good at them when you need it. Shooting from a benchrest only trains your mind and body to be able to shoot well from a benchrest. Only the eyes and trigger hand have any common tasks between a shot from offhand vs. from a bench. Certainly the eyes and trigger hand have critical jobs, but the rest of your body does as well. I hope to make you aware of what needs to come together to be consistent and accurate in your offhand shooting.
As I'm writing this specifically to help you keep three shots on a 3" X 5" card at 50 yards, I'll tell you the first thing you need to do is get that card so you can see it. After drawing the lines through the diagonals with a ball point pen to locate the center, forget about them. If you can see them at 50 yards I hate you. From now on they're just to help in the final scoring. I zero my rifles so that the balls strike 2" high at 50 yards. This gives me a point blank range of about 100 yards on whitetail, but that's not important now. It does mean I have to establish an aiming point 2" below the where the pen lines cross in the center of the card. I use a 3-3/4" diagonal black diamond with a white center (a free download from www.USPALMA.com - the one called "2 Medium Diamonds") for load development and zeroing in because I find it an easy target to aim at. Unfortunately, when I put this over the card it became very difficult to score, as the aiming face took the hit and the "skid marks" of the ball, leaving the card behind torn and without well defined edges to the holes. What you need is a way to produce contrast behind the card so you can focus on it as a target. Claude presented a solution of affixing the card in the center of a 6" (or larger) circular bull's-eye target (also downloadable free at USPALMA - See Figure 1). This helps increase the contrast and make the card stand out. But this means you can not use the bottom of the card as an aiming point unless you adjust your sights. You can either do your best to estimate how far your sights must intrude into the white of the card for a center shot, or stick a 1" target plaster (or piece of black masking or vinyl tape) at the proper spot on the target based on your sighting targets. Be warned that if you are zeroed at 50 yards, you'll be beck to the problem of having the tape mess up the holes, or even tear the card when being removed. If you hit it, I recommend you leave it as long as the center of the "X" is still visible. If the other two shots tore the "X" out, send it in tape & all, Tiger! You could also use an orange plaster and draw the lines over it.
Figure 1
You ran a lube dampened patch down the barrel to prep it and then assembled a load, and are all primed or capped. You step up to the line, or your 50 yard stake. Now what? First you must establish a solid platform to support the gun. The shot begins at your hips. "He's knutz" you're telling yourself. Think on this: when you're standing for an offhand shot, you have to be able to control your body's tendency to sway (it's there, even when you're sober). Being the amazing, bipedal creature that you are, your brain has developed a stream of commands to keep you from falling over. It is sending constant input to your feet, ankles, knees, and back muscles based on visual and inner-ear cues. Without getting into the metaphysical aspects of it, I can tell you that your body, like any car, boat or airplane, has a center-of-gravity. Right in there behind your belly-button somewhere. What you need to do is get your feet and legs well set under that point. The closest flexible joints to that central spot are your hips (in Karate, that famous board breaking punch is actually thrown by starting with a hip swing). The biggest muscles in your body are from the hips up, and down, and in most situations it is best to use the biggest muscles first. We'll assume you are right handed for all examples. Stand with your left side facing the target. Set your feet angled about 45º from each other and the heels about as far apart as your outside shoulder span. Your right foot should be about perpendicular to the target and the toes of your left foot pointing somewhere to the right of the target. The legs, back and neck should be straight, but not rigidly locked. Your head upright and centered right over your navel. I'm assuming you're shooting a moderately loaded medium or small bore rifle, so you won't be needing to bend your left knee and lean forward into the recoil to keep from toppling backwards. Your stance has to be open enough that you can root the butt plate solidly in the pocket between your arm and collar-bone. (A closed stance is when the toes of both feet are in line with the target: º \=O=/ ). A good way to set yourself into position is to stand in the closed stance, and then move your left foot back half a foot. Swivel at the hips a bit to re-center your hips and shoulders over your feet and you're ready to mount the rifle.
Look at the target and bring the rifle up and then pull the butt plate back into the shoulder pocket with your right hand. The left hand supports the fore end and adjusts for aim. The position of your left hand is determined by barrel length, stock geometry and your arm shape. Your elbow should be as close to directly below the rifle as you can get it without tensing your back and upper arm muscles. Right elbow should be held out horizontal to the ground; again without fighting clothing or muscles.
Both eyes open, one eye closed? That is up to you. I use both eyes open for all hunting shots and most target shooting. I found with the taped card described above I did better with one eye closed. I think it is easier for your brain to determine the center of the card, or a circular target, with both eyes open. Focus on the front sight. With your master eye (we'll assume it's your right). If you are left handed with a right master eye, or right handed with a left master eye: sucks to be you. You'll probably have to end up closing the eye on the opposite side of your nose from the gun. There are too many sight variations to describe here, but let's take a common blade front, rectangular notched rear as our example. The target should be aligned so that it appears to rest on the front sight (6:00 hold) or in the center of the target, front sight aligned in the notch so that the top of the front is level with the upper surface of the rear, an equal amount of light showing on either side of the front blade in the groove of the rear notch. I focus on the front sight, and at the final instant I shift my focus to the target. I think this is a "fault" caused by conditioning from hunting and traditional archery/bowhunting. I'm just blazing my full concentration on THE SPOT that I have chosen as my target. But we're not quite ready in this seminar to shoot, yet.
Breath control is perhaps the most mentioned and least understood of the shooting techniques. We've all been told: Take three deep breaths, let out half of the last one and then shoot." What happens then is that your body is agonizing for breath, your sights are oscillating in ever increasing arcs across the target, and you finally yank the trigger before gasping for sweet air. "7:00 in the four ring" says your spotter, loud enough so the whole line hears him.
So what's a better system? Properly done, breath control not only allows you the motionless moment for final sight alignment, but also calms your muscles and can even slow your pulse. All the little internal maintenance activities your body performs even when you'd like a little quiet. Tense muscles not only oscillate as they pull against each other to remain in equilibrium, but the blood coursing through them causes a bounce, which is more easily absorbed in a loose muscle.
Your breathing drill should begin as soon as you uncase your rifle. As you breathe in, imagine a coil spring in your belly, like the mainspring in an old pocket watch, winding tight. As you exhale, imagine that spring relaxing. In a short article like this, I can't begin to explain meditation and breathing techniques in any detail. Ask a vocalist or Karate instructor. The diaphragm is second only to the heart in keeping you alive, and you have a lot more voluntary control over it. Practice taking slow, deep breaths while trying to be conscious of that muscle raising and falling below your lungs. For those that don't know, when that muscle drops it is the vacuum created that draws air into your lungs. Your lungs have no muscles of their own. That's why a diaphragm puncture on a deer will drop it quickly even though the lungs may not be heavily damaged. It can't breathe. You know the feeling if you've ever taken a punch to the solar plexus that caused your diaphragm to spasm. Ideally, your mind and muscles should be as relaxed as possible, so that if you do flinch a bit, it will take an instant for the muscles to contract that much further, hopefully giving the ball a chance to be past the muzzle before it can be effected.
The Okinawans have a phrase for mental preparation, which I'll now misspell for you: "miso no kokora". Literally, this means "consciousness of bee paste", which is nonsense. But if you were an Okinawa school child centuries ago it would bring to mind the smoothing of the wax writing tablet in preparation of the next lesson. What we would describe as "clearing your mind." In Karate the mental illusion of imagining yourself smoothing out a sheet of wax is meant to help you clear your mind and focus on the present. At any moment we are thinking about work, problems at home, did the dog get his before being shut in with the new carpet, a million things. Imagining a tossing sea that gradually subsides to a calm one also works, as does imagining the face of a loved one or pet. But don't try recalling your version of Ol' Yeller's face or you may find the target will get misty and blurred.
In a hunting situation adrenaline will be pumping into your system, giving the body it's fight-or-flight boost to get you up that tree a bit faster when that bad ol' sabertooth tiger is on your heels, or to throw your rock farther and harder than the enemy throws his. With the rifle now doing all the hard work, you need to mentally counteract the hormonal rush and regain composure by clearing out all the clutter that this increase in mental clock-speed brings with it. The famous "pick a spot and focus on it" drilled into bowhunters applies in and to this situation. Another tip: if you are within 75 yards of a deer NEVER make eye contact with it. If you look at their face, chances are the deer will perceive you as a predator. They have some responses hardwired into their systems too. Once you've determined this is a target animal, look away and continue to observe them with peripheral vision, until the moment you put that front sight over it's heart. Keep you mind busy on choosing a shooting lane (if you're in cover) and the path the deer is taking. Whenever possible, make vertical slope and lateral movement corrections for moving game, or game above or below you, by leaning or twisting at the hips and not by twisting your arms or upper torso.
Now see how much easier it's going to be just shooting at a blind and motionless 3" X 5" card?
The final facets are trigger control and follow through. You've got your breathing down, you're calm and focused. The gun is loaded and at your shoulder. Muzzle pointed downrange and the hammer eased back into full-****. You have you feet placed and your weight is balanced between them. You take a breath and your left arm and shoulder move slightly to position the front sight. While letting out a bit of breath and then halting, you begin to gently squeeze the trigger. Some will tell you "The gun should surprise you when it goes off." Me, I assume every gun will go off if I were to pull the trigger. I think it is better to say that you should squeeze with slow, evenly applied pressure until the gun goes off. And then, and this is important, you should hold your position a full second before lowering the gun or finishing the release of your breath. Follow-through will prevent some fliers caused by jerking your head at the last moment. In a hunting situation, the movement may also give the animal a visual on a predator to run from, instead of just the bafflement of the sudden cloud of smoke and unpleasant sensation of being shot. Often they'll take a couple bounds and then slow to a trot, and even pause to look back, if you have remained motionless. You're doing these steps properly if you have a dud ignition and the gun doesn't "hop" off target when the hammer drops. If you have an assistant, let him prime and then hand you the gun; with the instructions to use a dead cap or leave the pan unprimed randomly at his whim. Back to breathing and trigger control work if the gun recoils without going "boom."
When sighting in, shoot at least three shots before adjusting your sights. You have to establish a group before you can move the center of the group with sight adjustment.
Good shooting
-- Charlie Pearsall
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm no expert and others might be able to give some concrete advice. But I've been offhand shooting for about 3 years now and one thing I can say with certainty is practice, practice and practice. Working 40 hrs M-TH, I shoot about 500 rounds over my 3 day weekend with my .22LR, CZ Ultra Lux with the 29" barrel. 2" target at 25 yds, offhand with iron sights is good practice. Four 2" bulls on an 8 1/2 x 11, 5 shots at each bull for 20 shots at each target. Competition shooters will shoot about 1" groups. I'm not that good. On my good days I average 2" groups. But only practice will make you a good shooter and the .22LR is great for this.
After you've done practice, bring out the flintlock.
After you've done practice, bring out the flintlock.
paulvallandigham
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Good offhand shooting begins with foot placement. If you don't get this right, you won't be consistent in how you point and hold the gun while it fires.
Shooting a rifle( not a shotgun) off-hand begs you to balance the weight of the gun between your two arms. You don't want to lean forward, as you might shooting a shotgun, or handgun, and you certainly don't want to lean backward. Sand straight, with your back straight, and lift the gun to your shoulder and face. With the correct shoulder position, the stock should touch both your shoulder and your cheek at the same time.
1.Take a stance that has your feet spaced a bit wider than your shoulders, with the feet pitched out at an angle- 30-40 degrees from being parallel. The wider angle allows for better control of balance of your upper body. Find the angle that feels the most comfortable for YOU, and you do this through practice.
Now, with your lower body locked into position, raise the gun up to your natural position, holding it on your arm, or shoulder(Pocket), as is comfortable and aim the sights at the target. When the rifle sights steady, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT OFF 5 SECONDS. Then open your eyes and look to see whether the sights are on the target or not. If not, where are they now pointing? Now, move your back foot in the direction that will bring the front sight back on to the target.
Repeat the exercise, until you can open your eyes after the 5 second count, 3 times in a row, and still find your sights on that target.
The purpose of this exercise is to help you find a position to hold that stock on target without straining neck, arm, chest, abdominal or back muscles. If you strain muscles to get the front sight on target, the strain will work against consistent holding and shooting. It defeats all attempts at doing a correct "follow-thru" after the gun fires, keeping your face on the stock and your eyes focused on that front sight.
2. To learn follow through, do clear your mind. Since the human mind can't think of "nothing" but is instead always thinking of something, pick out something for your mind to focus on that you really like, so that you busy your mind with that effort, and therefore can't allow the brain to drift off and focus on other sounds, sights, or smells.
I use music to clear my mind, remembering and "humming"( mentally, not audibly) a particular difficult piece of music I both played, and conducted years ago, that has a very difficult beat to follow.
Since shooting is all about timing, I found, for my purpose, that concentrating on a hard rhythm in my mind cleared my mind of surrounding distractions, and gave me a rhythm to use in determining when I release the set trigger on my gun. Other people use other artifices to distract their minds from their surroundings, and focus on their shot, only. Do what works for you, but do SOMETHING.
3. Because the human body cannot remain ROCK still, its impossible for me to stand off-hand and hold that front sight rock steady on my aim point. Instead, rather than let my chest wall muscles make the sights jump around, I intentionally swing my front sight back and forth my aim point, like the movement of a clock's pendulum, and time my trigger squeeze so that the gun fires when my front sight is on my aim point. That means I must begin my squeeze before the sight is on the aim point, to keep the sight moving. Moving the sight overcomes the disturbance caused by my heartbeat.
If you think about it, hold your hand out in front of you so you can watch your extended fingers. Its next to impossible to hold those fingers absolutely still for more than a few seconds. That is because while the heavy muscles on the inside of your fingers are trying to make those fingers into a fist, the thin, long muscles along the backside of the fingers are being used to hold the fingers straight out. There is this tension between the two sets of muscles, and impulses from the nerves to those muscles are constantly telling those muscles to contract. This attempt to contract by opposing muscles is what sets up the tremors you observe.
This same problem exists in the muscles of your hands and arms when you hold a gun to your shoulder and try to shoot it at a fixed target.
4. One of the tricks that target shooters use is to attempt to fire their gun between 4 and 7 seconds after they let some of the air out of their lungs, when they take a breath before shooting. This "window" of 4-7 seconds is when the chest wall muscles are least affected by pulses of your heart, driving blood through the arteries in your chest. If you are going to dry fire practice, learn to find this window at home, with that empty gun. It will serve you well when you get out to the range with a loaded gun you intend to fire.
I learned, the hard way, that if I tried to continue to get that "perfect sight picture" after 7 seconds, that my front sight and gun barrel moved more erratically, and my chance of hitting the target where I aimed the sights dropped with each additional second.
If I don't get my shot off within that 7 second window, I put the gun down, let out the rest of my breath, and breathe in and out several times, to dump the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles and causes them to ache, and eventually to cramp. Once my respiration returns to near calm, I am ready to mount the gun to my shoulder, take that big breath of air, let 1/3 of it out, as I align the sights on my target.
5. Follow through is all about calling our shots. If you focus on that front sight long enough that you see the ball leave the muzzle in front of and on the sides of that front sight blade, you should be able to call where your shot will hit the target without looking at the target. The better you are at following through, the more accurate your call will be on where that shot goes. I like to force myself to keep my face on the comb of the stock through recoil and have the sights return to the aim point I used when the gun fired, before raising my head off the stock. That uses a count of 4 or 5 seconds after the gun fires.
Only practice will train your brain to keep your eye open long enough, when shooting a flintlock, to see the shot fire in front of the blade front sight, before recoil moves the barrel up and away from the line of fire.
For this reason, Shooting a flintlock rifle will improve your follow through, and shooting skills with all guns, including modern cartridge rifles. This happens because ignition of the powder and firing of the gun shooting a flintlock is much slower than any modern cartridge rifle, with its firing pin traveling a lot smaller distance( shorter lock time) and the ammo traveling so much fast out the barrel than when shooting BP loads.
When I began shooting a flintlock, I fired no other gun for 2 years. When I finally had a chance to do some off-hand shooting with one of my .22 rimfire rifles, I was shocked at how much more accurate( smaller groups) I was with that gun since the last time I fired it. I then took some of my large bore cartridge rifles to the range, and noted the same improvement shooting off-hand with those guns. I could only attribute the improvement to all the work I had done for 2 years to learn to shoot my flintlock off-hand, accurately. :hmm: :hatsoff:
A good shooting coach, who knows what you are trying to do, who can watch you go through your "routine" in loading and then taking your stance, mounting the gun, counting off the seconds so you can "hear" the window as it comes and goes, etc. is an invaluable addition to any training you may do. Once you learn to shoot well in this formal target shooting setting, you will find that you take the same stance when an off-hand shot presents itself to you in the woods or fields, and you will find that same natural position to hold the sights on target. The rest simply lets you hit where you are aiming your gun accurately, and you should make a lot of good meat. However, knowing how to do this off-hand shooting should never substitute for using the sound judgment we all need to use when hunting living game, by choosing to use some kind of available rest to steady our gun in the field when we shoot. I have killed only 2 deer with off-hand shots; the rest involved using available rests to steady the gun. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
Shooting a rifle( not a shotgun) off-hand begs you to balance the weight of the gun between your two arms. You don't want to lean forward, as you might shooting a shotgun, or handgun, and you certainly don't want to lean backward. Sand straight, with your back straight, and lift the gun to your shoulder and face. With the correct shoulder position, the stock should touch both your shoulder and your cheek at the same time.
1.Take a stance that has your feet spaced a bit wider than your shoulders, with the feet pitched out at an angle- 30-40 degrees from being parallel. The wider angle allows for better control of balance of your upper body. Find the angle that feels the most comfortable for YOU, and you do this through practice.
Now, with your lower body locked into position, raise the gun up to your natural position, holding it on your arm, or shoulder(Pocket), as is comfortable and aim the sights at the target. When the rifle sights steady, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT OFF 5 SECONDS. Then open your eyes and look to see whether the sights are on the target or not. If not, where are they now pointing? Now, move your back foot in the direction that will bring the front sight back on to the target.
Repeat the exercise, until you can open your eyes after the 5 second count, 3 times in a row, and still find your sights on that target.
The purpose of this exercise is to help you find a position to hold that stock on target without straining neck, arm, chest, abdominal or back muscles. If you strain muscles to get the front sight on target, the strain will work against consistent holding and shooting. It defeats all attempts at doing a correct "follow-thru" after the gun fires, keeping your face on the stock and your eyes focused on that front sight.
2. To learn follow through, do clear your mind. Since the human mind can't think of "nothing" but is instead always thinking of something, pick out something for your mind to focus on that you really like, so that you busy your mind with that effort, and therefore can't allow the brain to drift off and focus on other sounds, sights, or smells.
I use music to clear my mind, remembering and "humming"( mentally, not audibly) a particular difficult piece of music I both played, and conducted years ago, that has a very difficult beat to follow.
Since shooting is all about timing, I found, for my purpose, that concentrating on a hard rhythm in my mind cleared my mind of surrounding distractions, and gave me a rhythm to use in determining when I release the set trigger on my gun. Other people use other artifices to distract their minds from their surroundings, and focus on their shot, only. Do what works for you, but do SOMETHING.
3. Because the human body cannot remain ROCK still, its impossible for me to stand off-hand and hold that front sight rock steady on my aim point. Instead, rather than let my chest wall muscles make the sights jump around, I intentionally swing my front sight back and forth my aim point, like the movement of a clock's pendulum, and time my trigger squeeze so that the gun fires when my front sight is on my aim point. That means I must begin my squeeze before the sight is on the aim point, to keep the sight moving. Moving the sight overcomes the disturbance caused by my heartbeat.
If you think about it, hold your hand out in front of you so you can watch your extended fingers. Its next to impossible to hold those fingers absolutely still for more than a few seconds. That is because while the heavy muscles on the inside of your fingers are trying to make those fingers into a fist, the thin, long muscles along the backside of the fingers are being used to hold the fingers straight out. There is this tension between the two sets of muscles, and impulses from the nerves to those muscles are constantly telling those muscles to contract. This attempt to contract by opposing muscles is what sets up the tremors you observe.
This same problem exists in the muscles of your hands and arms when you hold a gun to your shoulder and try to shoot it at a fixed target.
4. One of the tricks that target shooters use is to attempt to fire their gun between 4 and 7 seconds after they let some of the air out of their lungs, when they take a breath before shooting. This "window" of 4-7 seconds is when the chest wall muscles are least affected by pulses of your heart, driving blood through the arteries in your chest. If you are going to dry fire practice, learn to find this window at home, with that empty gun. It will serve you well when you get out to the range with a loaded gun you intend to fire.
I learned, the hard way, that if I tried to continue to get that "perfect sight picture" after 7 seconds, that my front sight and gun barrel moved more erratically, and my chance of hitting the target where I aimed the sights dropped with each additional second.
If I don't get my shot off within that 7 second window, I put the gun down, let out the rest of my breath, and breathe in and out several times, to dump the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles and causes them to ache, and eventually to cramp. Once my respiration returns to near calm, I am ready to mount the gun to my shoulder, take that big breath of air, let 1/3 of it out, as I align the sights on my target.
5. Follow through is all about calling our shots. If you focus on that front sight long enough that you see the ball leave the muzzle in front of and on the sides of that front sight blade, you should be able to call where your shot will hit the target without looking at the target. The better you are at following through, the more accurate your call will be on where that shot goes. I like to force myself to keep my face on the comb of the stock through recoil and have the sights return to the aim point I used when the gun fired, before raising my head off the stock. That uses a count of 4 or 5 seconds after the gun fires.
Only practice will train your brain to keep your eye open long enough, when shooting a flintlock, to see the shot fire in front of the blade front sight, before recoil moves the barrel up and away from the line of fire.
For this reason, Shooting a flintlock rifle will improve your follow through, and shooting skills with all guns, including modern cartridge rifles. This happens because ignition of the powder and firing of the gun shooting a flintlock is much slower than any modern cartridge rifle, with its firing pin traveling a lot smaller distance( shorter lock time) and the ammo traveling so much fast out the barrel than when shooting BP loads.
When I began shooting a flintlock, I fired no other gun for 2 years. When I finally had a chance to do some off-hand shooting with one of my .22 rimfire rifles, I was shocked at how much more accurate( smaller groups) I was with that gun since the last time I fired it. I then took some of my large bore cartridge rifles to the range, and noted the same improvement shooting off-hand with those guns. I could only attribute the improvement to all the work I had done for 2 years to learn to shoot my flintlock off-hand, accurately. :hmm: :hatsoff:
A good shooting coach, who knows what you are trying to do, who can watch you go through your "routine" in loading and then taking your stance, mounting the gun, counting off the seconds so you can "hear" the window as it comes and goes, etc. is an invaluable addition to any training you may do. Once you learn to shoot well in this formal target shooting setting, you will find that you take the same stance when an off-hand shot presents itself to you in the woods or fields, and you will find that same natural position to hold the sights on target. The rest simply lets you hit where you are aiming your gun accurately, and you should make a lot of good meat. However, knowing how to do this off-hand shooting should never substitute for using the sound judgment we all need to use when hunting living game, by choosing to use some kind of available rest to steady our gun in the field when we shoot. I have killed only 2 deer with off-hand shots; the rest involved using available rests to steady the gun. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
paulvallandigham
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The best shooting exercise I know to learn off-hand shooting is to put a 12" square pistol or rifle target out at 50 yards, then aim your gun to put a ball/bullet into the middle of that paper. For dry fire practice at home, save such a target, to tape on a wall, so you have a similar aiming point.
Use that bullet or ball hole in the paper to be your aiming point for subsequent shots. You will clearly see your front sight moving against this small hole, if your stance is not correct. I use this at the end of a training session, to see how well I am improving from the practice I am doing. Sometimes, it seems there is no improvement at all. But, over time, you can get a lot better, and see those group shrink.
I hate punching paper, so you won't find me shooting many paper target matches. I think I would rather watch paint dry, to be honest.
I do like to do "trick" shooting, and that requires the same degree of accuracy that putting all your balls in the same hole requires. Without the bigger diameter "bullseye" of the standard targets, you really have to concentrate on that sight picture- whether shooting open, peep or scope sights( or the newer electronic sights). And you have to learn how to create that stable platform so you can hold that gun steady for every shot.
There are dozens, if not more other things that go into making a great off-hand shooter, so read all you can find, and take any opportunity to shoot any gun just to practice your fundamentals. Even a BB gun or air rifle at home is better than not practicing daily. :hmm: :thumbsup:
Use that bullet or ball hole in the paper to be your aiming point for subsequent shots. You will clearly see your front sight moving against this small hole, if your stance is not correct. I use this at the end of a training session, to see how well I am improving from the practice I am doing. Sometimes, it seems there is no improvement at all. But, over time, you can get a lot better, and see those group shrink.
I hate punching paper, so you won't find me shooting many paper target matches. I think I would rather watch paint dry, to be honest.
I do like to do "trick" shooting, and that requires the same degree of accuracy that putting all your balls in the same hole requires. Without the bigger diameter "bullseye" of the standard targets, you really have to concentrate on that sight picture- whether shooting open, peep or scope sights( or the newer electronic sights). And you have to learn how to create that stable platform so you can hold that gun steady for every shot.
There are dozens, if not more other things that go into making a great off-hand shooter, so read all you can find, and take any opportunity to shoot any gun just to practice your fundamentals. Even a BB gun or air rifle at home is better than not practicing daily. :hmm: :thumbsup:
Luie b, Stumpkiller and Mr. V. have provided you with sound advice. I would suggest you also consider reading a good book on Position Rifle Shooting. I saw several very good books listed on Amazon. They will also have photos for you to see what makes up a sound offhand position. The authors for many of these books were world class rifle shooters. Even though the information is directed towards international or olympic style of rifle shooting, the principles and instruction can be used for building a great ML offhand position.
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I recommend Bill Pullum and Frank Hanenkrat's
"The New Position Rifle Shooting".
Very helpful.
Pete
"The New Position Rifle Shooting".
Very helpful.
Pete
rafterob
62 Cal.
I certainly cannot add any advice to that already given, but I do have a personal anecdote. I shoot mainly percussion but occaisionally shoot my Son's flintlock. I have become a pretty good offhand shooter with my percussion rifles. I get that flintlock in my hand and I consistantly pull it about 6" low and slightly to the right. And it is so consistant that I will get a nice group. It usually takes me about 10-12 shots to get a grip on everything to raise my groups up in the center black. Off a rest that rifle shoots dead center. So I guess what I am trying to say is ...practice,practice,practice.
Ranger1759
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watch your cheek placement on the stock...I had a similar problem, but the opposite...on the bench, I was hitting an inch high and about 2 inches left at 25 yards, but off hand, I could consistently blow out the 10 ring or hit golf balls and suckers with a dead on hold...
I was told that my cheek placement and in turn my sight picture could have been different while on the bench....
Ranger
I was told that my cheek placement and in turn my sight picture could have been different while on the bench....
Ranger
The Bench shows what the Gun can do.
Offhand shows what You can do.
In addition, and in concurrence with the above:
(1) Follow through - Sighting, of course, but tell yourself "I want to see the Pan Flash; I want to see the Muzzle Blast". You'll really be able to tell how you're doing when/if you have a misfire. If you're doing good, you won't move. If you're not, you will be chagrined to see yourself flinch.
(2) Get to know your trigger. I personally have always disagreed with the Old Saying that "When the Gun goes off it should be a complete Suprise". I want the Gun to go off when I want it to; not when it wants to.
(3) As hard and paradoxical as this sounds, don't overdo the whole Zen Concentration thing. Just stay relaxed as you gradually sharpen your Focus - it will come....
(4) Above all, remember: You are doing this for Fun. No need whatsoever to get your Knickers in a Twist...
Like I do.
E
Offhand shows what You can do.
In addition, and in concurrence with the above:
(1) Follow through - Sighting, of course, but tell yourself "I want to see the Pan Flash; I want to see the Muzzle Blast". You'll really be able to tell how you're doing when/if you have a misfire. If you're doing good, you won't move. If you're not, you will be chagrined to see yourself flinch.
(2) Get to know your trigger. I personally have always disagreed with the Old Saying that "When the Gun goes off it should be a complete Suprise". I want the Gun to go off when I want it to; not when it wants to.
(3) As hard and paradoxical as this sounds, don't overdo the whole Zen Concentration thing. Just stay relaxed as you gradually sharpen your Focus - it will come....
(4) Above all, remember: You are doing this for Fun. No need whatsoever to get your Knickers in a Twist...
Like I do.
E
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"Get to know your trigger. I personally have always disagreed with the Old Saying that "When the Gun goes off it should be a complete Suprise". I want the Gun to go off when I want it to; not when it wants to"
+1 about that.
Pete
+1 about that.
Pete
getting "to know" when the trigger will release IS important...using this "knowledge" will help you get the sight picture you need/want before you shoot...further it lets you take the shot you want when you want it follow through as with bow shooting is VERY important all very good tips here
hanshi
Cannon
Paul, I agree with what you said and doubt there is much more to be added. Your mention of the 7 second firing window is almost a sacred rule; I prefer 5 seconds, however. The second most important rule is the moving muzzle you spoke of. My best targets have been shot when I concentrated on timing the front sight. Great post.
Skychief
69 Cal.
My 2 cents....Let the gun kick you. It's recoil will be the same whether you anticipate it or not, so, just let it kick as it will and try not to "brace" against it.
Also, follow through might be summed up as..."don't drop your muzzle upon the shot".
Practice. practice, practice....
Good luck, Skychief. :thumbsup:
Also, follow through might be summed up as..."don't drop your muzzle upon the shot".
Practice. practice, practice....
Good luck, Skychief. :thumbsup:
paulvallandigham
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Hansi: I first learned of the 4-7 second Window technique from reading about target shooting with handguns. Its been well researched on behalf of our olympic pistol team, and the technique has spread to rifle shooters. I like to get that shot off as close to 4 seconds after exhaling as I can, as the "jiggling" of my sights increases each second thereafter. I really can't tell you that I fire in 4 seconds or 5 seconds, or 7 seconds. I do keep a mental clock going inside my head, and I do religiously stop and drop my gun down after 7 seconds. How close I get to that 7 seconds when I shoot depends on wind conditions mostly. I use the technique when firing any Aimed shots off-hand, whether with handguns or long guns.
I gave up trying to hold that front sight Dead Still long ago- as a kid, now more than 50 years ago. My father taught us what a waste of time and effort that is. Ed McGivern, the famous Fast and Fancy Pistol and Revolver shooter of the 1920s and /30s, developed a tremor in his hands. He was examined by the Best Neurologists living. Ed was a professional Sign Painter by trade, and a revolver exhibition shooter by avocation. His hands shook whenever he was not holding a gun or a paint brush in his hands. The Doctors concluded that Ed had so developed the nervous system in his hands to fire double action rapid shots, that the tremor was due to his brain being unable to find something to do with his fingers when he wasn't painting or shooting! The information he wrote in his book, " Fast and Fancy Pistol Shooting" is what I have used now for many years to explain why the human hands and arms simply can't hold a front sight perfectly still for more than a second or so. Most of Ed's speed shooting records still stand, and his guns and equipment are on display at the National Firearms Museum in the NRA building at Fairfax, VA.
If you can't hold that sight dead still( like you can using a good bench rest), then the alternatives leave you not much to do EXCEPT to work against your own autonomous nervous system by consciously moving that sight in some direction. My "Back and Forth" pendulum movement allows me to move the sight wide at first, and as I align the sight with the target, the swing narrows just before I release the trigger. The front sight is, however, still moving when the gun fires. Because I am left handed I have found that starting my trigger pull final take up when the sight is at 7 o'clock in relation to the bullseye or other target, using a 6 o'clock sighting hold, that the sear breaks at about 6:30 o'clock, and the gun fires at 6 o'clock.
When I get all my act together, I have surprised myself with some impressive shooting. That is a big "When", BTW. :shocked2: :idunno: :surrender: :hmm: :grin: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I don't know many shooters who shoot consistently top scores, unless they are able to practice daily, and then they too have their bad days at the range. Shooting keeps me humble, with only an occasional "reward" for my efforts. :rotf: :hatsoff:
I gave up trying to hold that front sight Dead Still long ago- as a kid, now more than 50 years ago. My father taught us what a waste of time and effort that is. Ed McGivern, the famous Fast and Fancy Pistol and Revolver shooter of the 1920s and /30s, developed a tremor in his hands. He was examined by the Best Neurologists living. Ed was a professional Sign Painter by trade, and a revolver exhibition shooter by avocation. His hands shook whenever he was not holding a gun or a paint brush in his hands. The Doctors concluded that Ed had so developed the nervous system in his hands to fire double action rapid shots, that the tremor was due to his brain being unable to find something to do with his fingers when he wasn't painting or shooting! The information he wrote in his book, " Fast and Fancy Pistol Shooting" is what I have used now for many years to explain why the human hands and arms simply can't hold a front sight perfectly still for more than a second or so. Most of Ed's speed shooting records still stand, and his guns and equipment are on display at the National Firearms Museum in the NRA building at Fairfax, VA.
If you can't hold that sight dead still( like you can using a good bench rest), then the alternatives leave you not much to do EXCEPT to work against your own autonomous nervous system by consciously moving that sight in some direction. My "Back and Forth" pendulum movement allows me to move the sight wide at first, and as I align the sight with the target, the swing narrows just before I release the trigger. The front sight is, however, still moving when the gun fires. Because I am left handed I have found that starting my trigger pull final take up when the sight is at 7 o'clock in relation to the bullseye or other target, using a 6 o'clock sighting hold, that the sear breaks at about 6:30 o'clock, and the gun fires at 6 o'clock.
When I get all my act together, I have surprised myself with some impressive shooting. That is a big "When", BTW. :shocked2: :idunno: :surrender: :hmm: :grin: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I don't know many shooters who shoot consistently top scores, unless they are able to practice daily, and then they too have their bad days at the range. Shooting keeps me humble, with only an occasional "reward" for my efforts. :rotf: :hatsoff:
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+1 to what Paul has written.
Next is probably more than you want to know but....If you are interested in knowing more about optimal hold times, eye and muscle fatigue, etc., the classic work is "Competitive Shooting" by A.A. Yur'yev (available from the NRA).
In addition, there is good info in Ragnar Skanaker's "Pistol Shooting" and Ralf Hornberger's "Olympic Target Rifle Shooting".
Again...maybe more than you want to know.
Pete
Next is probably more than you want to know but....If you are interested in knowing more about optimal hold times, eye and muscle fatigue, etc., the classic work is "Competitive Shooting" by A.A. Yur'yev (available from the NRA).
In addition, there is good info in Ragnar Skanaker's "Pistol Shooting" and Ralf Hornberger's "Olympic Target Rifle Shooting".
Again...maybe more than you want to know.
Pete
matt denison
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Learning when to lower the gun to relax your muscles is up to the individual. The trick is knowing when. For me it is as often to relax my eye. If I start to lose focus I lower the gun and look at the ground 6 feet in front of me to get my eye to focus on a different plane for a few seconds, resting the gun on my thiegh (pointed down range) to relax my left forearm. Then start all over again.
The Good Lord blessed me with steady hands and good muscle control (besides extreme good looks, talent, a charming personality and modesty and humillity) so I can use a dead on hold. This is where knowing when the trigger is going to break is important. When the sights are held dead on the target I know I have one or two seconds, saying to myself rriigghhtt thereboom. I visualise the ball going all the way to the target which creates the follow through. Always let the gun do the work, your job is to squeese the trigger.
How a gun "holds" is very important for off hand shooting. My favorite off hand gun weighs 9.5 lbs, has a swamped 42" barrel. It holds like a dream and the sights just hang on the target. I give a lot of credit for my success as an offhand shooter to this gun. Any other credit goes to practice, practice, practice.
The Good Lord blessed me with steady hands and good muscle control (besides extreme good looks, talent, a charming personality and modesty and humillity) so I can use a dead on hold. This is where knowing when the trigger is going to break is important. When the sights are held dead on the target I know I have one or two seconds, saying to myself rriigghhtt thereboom. I visualise the ball going all the way to the target which creates the follow through. Always let the gun do the work, your job is to squeese the trigger.
How a gun "holds" is very important for off hand shooting. My favorite off hand gun weighs 9.5 lbs, has a swamped 42" barrel. It holds like a dream and the sights just hang on the target. I give a lot of credit for my success as an offhand shooter to this gun. Any other credit goes to practice, practice, practice.
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luie b said:
Probably reflects more about my bench shooting than any rule of thumb, but here goes anyway:
Any time I bench a muzzleloader with it sitting directly on the front rest, it really shifts my point of impact compared to offhand shooting. I've found that I have to hold the forend in my hand as I would for offhand shooting, then rest that hand on the front rest of the bench. I can't figure why that should be or what causes it, but it's as consistent as the sunrise in Hawaii.
Can't say that's what's going on with you, but before cranking your body and especially your mind around all the info you're getting, I'd sure try re-benching it with the forend resting on your hand, then comparing that POI with what you're getting offhand. Small step, but easy to test.
When I used to have more time to shoot I felt like my old '03 Springfield always shoot better from prone when I rested my forearm on a sandbag but held the forearm of the rifle with my hand . I quess some rifles just shoot better this way....................watch yer top knot..............
