Offhand/Indoor Shooting
Maybe a longshot but does anyone else shoot paper targets off hand with a talon?
I’ve been practicing 10m and 20yd (I can just squeeze out 19.5 yds in the basement).
I’m wondering it I just need a LOT more practice holding the gun steady or if I’d really get better results with a dedicated 10m target rifle. Most of my shooting is at paper targets even when the weather is better so I’m tempted to pick one up but I’d have the bragging rights of saying that I’m good at 10m offhand with my TSS.
On a good day the best I’m seeing is 8-9 out of 10 shots within the outline of the whole 10m air rifle target. Maybe 2-4 of those inside the 8 ring.
Do I suck? I’m going to keep practicing anyway.
As a sidenote/question.
I certainly don’t need the power of these guns (even with the PW set on 1) for this shooting style. If I picked up a UK tank, limited to <12fpe, would I save enough air to make it worthwhile. I’m draining my scuba tank weekly at the pace I’m going.
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Once you get your Wokbutt on there you will find shooting off hand is improved greatly. If you adjust it to fit you your head postion will be much more natural and you will be able to adjust the gun to come closer to the body by tilting the shoulder piece.
When are you starting another batch? I want a Wokbutt! I love my Talon but wish she had a better looking ass. Think of a Wokbutt as an ass transplant for your Talon/condor. Not only will your baby look good, her ass will feel much better against you and you’ll have a much easier time shooting your loads… I mean pellets. 😆
No worries though. The practice is the fun and yeah I probably fire to often but I figure that if I cant get my legs/arms to be more steady, I at least need to learn how/when to fire as the target floats throgh the scope.
I see many posts about sub 1 inch groups at 30, 40, 50+ yds and really get to thinking about how many of you can do that off hand.
On the upside – I just took 21 shots (I shoot till I hit the bull) to nail 20 half inch bulls at 20yds off the bipod on a shaky table.
Don – how far out are you shooting those bottle caps. I just started saving them myself. The army men need a break… 🙂
Offhand they are a challenge at 25yards, highly reactive and fun to shoot. Off the bipod they are boring at 25, fun at 30-40, and challenging at 50-60yds. I’d bet they could be hit regularly (but not every time) at 70-80yds but don’t have that much distance in the back yard to find out.
Once you get your Wokbutt on there you will find shooting off hand is improved greatly. If you adjust it to fit you your head postion will be much more natural and you will be able to adjust the gun to come closer to the body by tilting the shoulder piece.
I have one and love it. (next one is for tank #2) It did help tremendously, as did the trigger guard. Much more comfortable offhand hold. I was probably a tad hard on myself in the first post. I’ve been under the weather for a while and feeling extra shaky.
Thanks. You’ve both reinforced what I was thinking – I stink 😳 .
No worries though. The practice is the fun and yeah I probably fire to often but I figure that if I cant get my legs/arms to be more steady, I at least need to learn how/when to fire as the target floats throgh the scope.
I see many posts about sub 1 inch groups at 30, 40, 50+ yds and really get to thinking about how many of you can do that off hand.
On the upside – I just took 21 shots (I shoot till I hit the bull) to nail 20 half inch bulls at 20yds off the bipod on a shaky table.
Don – how far out are you shooting those bottle caps. I just started saving them myself. The army men need a break… 🙂
Bean,
Once you get your Wokbutt on there you will find shooting off hand is improved greatly. If you adjust it to fit you your head postion will be much more natural and you will be able to adjust the gun to come closer to the body by tilting the shoulder piece.
I shoot offhand almost daily at 10yards into my shed.
Over the last year I went from a baseball-ball size circle down to a dime-size circle so yes practice makes you shoot better.
Do not be afraid to use your crappy not-accurate pellets while doing this, your shooting will still improve dramatically. Off a bench, my worst shooting pellets still hit within .5″ at 10 yards (Crow-mags). With these, I can hit a quarter-size circle at 10yards pretty easy.
With Kodiaks I can headshot squirrels very easily out to 30 yards offhand now. I still prefer to rest if I can, but its nice to be able to shoot without a rest.
There are definitely easier guns to shoot offhand, but with good technique and practice you should be able to get pretty close to what the gun shoots rested. If your gun will shoot 1/2″ groups rested at a given distance then there is no reason not to be able to shoot 3/4 – 1″ offhand at the same distance. Just shooting a bunch of shots is not necessarily good practice though. Starting out, shoot no more than 5 shots then take a short break and relax yourself a few minutes then another group. If you feel yourself getting shaky dismount the gun without taking the shot; breathe relax and start over. don’t try to force a shot when you are unsteady.
In the summer when I can shoot almost daily I can offhand bottlecaps 4 of 5 shots after a couple weeks regular practice. If I don’t shoot for just a week, that number will drop to 1 or 2 out of 5 for a couple shooting sessions until I “brush up”.
Being a really good shot offhand is a lot of work.
haven’t found the talon/Condor to be real off-hand friendly as issued. Really need a high sight/low tank to get the more heads-up stance prefered, but you can learn to do good work with one.
Not really looking (at first) to make 20-50 good shots…at first, are looking to make just 10 near-perfect holds, ,sight pictures, and trigger releases in a row. Should be able to tell if the shot is good or not without looking at the paper…you just know when it all went right.
So I think the objet of off hand practice is really not to shoot a whole lot in the beginning…but to shoot enough to know when you let a good shot off and when it’s going to be wide. given time, the number of good shots starts to out weigh the bad ones…and given patience, consentration, and more practice, will get to where the only shots you will release are your best.
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Ahhh we think alike….
I have a large supply of the 2.99 (before getting the 4th free) Beeman wads and hp’s purchased exactly for this purpose :lol:. If I can get down to silver dollar sized groups I may step up to my 5.49 Gamo wads (which have done quite well for me in the pistols, at 5m, often better than the $14 H&N Match wads).
My stash of half penny pellets
