Improved Off Hand Shooting

[LynnC]

Got a chance to get out with my half stock 50 cal this afternoon and put a few balls down range at 25, 50 and 60 yards off hand.  Honestly it has been months since I have been able to do any BP shooting but my group size was much improved.

Working 6 and sometimes 7 days a week (I'm self employed and I work for a slave driver  ) it was hard to stay in practice.  Not being able to find time to BP shoot much less the clean up time I bought myself a good old fashioned Benjamin Sheridan pump .22 air rifle.  Now I know its not a BP Burner but hear me out.   I can cram quite a few aimed shots in a 15 to 30 minute session PLUS I pump it an average of 6 times per shot.  After well over a thousand shots in the last 3 months thats over 6000 reps just charging the thing!

I'm getting some much needed practice AND building some extra arm strength.  Back to the BP rifle shooting today I noticed my hold was Much Steadier.  Much easier to hold on target.  Better Groups.   Partly practice and partly muscle tone.

Lifting weights is boring to me but I enjoy Shooting!.................Lynn

[David G]

Sounds like a plan and obviously it's paying off,cheap too. There is probably not a one of us that would'nt benefit from that type practice.

[LynnC]

In the past I had practiced with .22s but they are Way lighter than any of my Black Powder rifles and though practice is good its not enough

The Benji weighs 5 lbs plus the required effort to shoot - I feel sure it's working for me

Cheap too    But nothing beats shooting the BP rifles any chance I get !

[Daryl]

Good practise is good for your shooting. It matters not what you are practising with, even if it's just dry firing - it's concentration, trigger squeeze and follow through - practise makes for better shooting. Good on you!

[Habu]

The weight difference can be addressed fairly easily.  Pick up a set of ankle or wrist weights and attach them to the gun.  Location can be adjusted to match the weight/balance of your ML.  The weights will usually change your POI, but sights are adjustable. 

From a base weight of about 6.5 pounds, my CZ air rifle--with (removable) weight added to the butt and an ankle weight wrapped around the forend--has been brought up to the same weight and balance as my .54 flinter.  My practice pistol (a Webley Tempest) doesn't lend itself to added weight, so I wrap the weights around my wrist. 

A month's practice ammo is about $25, and practice can be squeezed in any time.  It isn't as much fun as shooting the flinters, but practice is practice.

[LynnC]

I've tried the dryfire practice and .22 practice was getting expensive - Neither seemed to be getting me any real improvement in group size

I must admit it never occured to me to weight my gun to simulate the muzzle loaders - think I'll try that too.

I really think the action of pumping (takes considerable effort) has done more for me than anything else.  Steadieness of hold is SO Much better........Lynn

[ottawa]

your on the right track practice practice practice not only are you building strength but muscle memory .
my air rifle weighs in at 9lb a beast for a pellet shooter but the time with it showed at the qualification range this year for the army . so keep at it its cheap and fun.

[LynnC]

9 lbs
Sounds like the chunk gun of pellet rifles

Got in about 25 shots this evening picking off pine cones - all the easy ones are pretty much gone now.......

[Habu]

I've got a Crossman pellet stop that came with a bunch of little iron silhouettes.  I step back to 10 meters and plink at them.  No pine trees handy, and that dang walnut in the yard is right in front of the neighbors' window.

Still trying to imagine a 9# pellet rifle.  I think I want one!

[LynnC]

Dang, If you can pick off walnuts then the squirels better look out !!!

[Habu]

Where I grew up there just weren't a lot of trees for the squirrels, so I never really got in the habit of hunting them.  Besides, rabbits have more meat on them. 

Walnuts in the husk are about 1.5" or so.  Shooting walnuts at 10 yards is about like shooting a 15" target at 100 yards. 

The real fun with pellet guns is sniping grasshoppers!