Making The Offhand Shot

Shooting offhand is like stripping your clothes to rid yourself of fire ants. It's a last resort, hardly something you'd do for an audience. In either case, bystanders will remember your performance.

Offhand, or standing, is a difficult position because it allows you only two points of contact with the ground and puts your center of gravity far above it. Furthermore, your sling is useless because there's no brace to secure your left elbow. Offhand is a fast, flexible position. You can shoot over tall bushes and at moving game. But most of the time you'd trade all that speed and flexibility for a little control. When your reticle gyrates like a barn fly hammering a hot windshield, triggering the rifle seems absurd.

And sometimes it is. But sometimes, on the range or in the field, you'll want to shoot. Your only hope: Apply trigger pressure when the reticle is on or nearly on target, hold pressure when it is off, add pressure when it comes on again. Eventually the rifle will fire, and you've increased the odds that the sight will be somewhere near center. Making the shot before you run out of air or the sight picture blurs or your muscles get so rubbery that the sight spends too much time off target--well, that chore is why you don't see hunters shooting offhand in public.

Of course, you're better off if you shoot offhand more, audience or no. Because the only chance you have to tag a buck next fall might be one shot standing.

Good offhand positions start with footwork. My feet are shoulder-width apart. An imaginary line across my toes meets a line to the target at a thirty-degree angle. This stance puts my rifle's natural point of aim on target. Minding natural point of aim is more than important. It's imperative. Your rifle will want to point at something. Your job is to position your body so that the rifle points at the target when you're at rest. If you must muscle the rifle to center the bullseye, muscle tension will vibrate the rifle--and ever more noticeably as the muscles tire. At the shot, your body relaxes, and as it does the rifle will drift to its natural point of aim (in this case, off the target). Find the foot position that keeps the muzzle on target for you. Practice only when your feet are thus positioned.

Stand flat footed. I prefer slight forward pressure on the balls of my feet. My knees are straight but not locked. Some "lean" is acceptable. Keep the center of gravity over your feet, bones supporting your torso.

Keep your torso straight, your head erect. Bring the comb to your cheek, not vice versa, even if that means the butt makes only partial contact with your shoulder. Lones Wigger, who has won two gold medals as an Olympic marksman, stands as straight as a new corner-post. "Hunching over the rifle puts you off balance and adds tension to back muscles," he says. Truly. My right elbow is high, roughly parallel to the ground, to form a pocket in my shoulder for the butt-pad.