How can I improve the steadiness of my hold?

[westernrover]

I just started shooting with a rifle. The last time I shot one was 25 years ago and I didn't shoot much then. I got a bolt-action rifle, put a 5x scope I had on it, and went to sight it in. I held it on tripod, not clamped, just resting, bore-sighted it at 50 yards, adjusted the reticle and took a shot. I adjusted it again and took a shot at 100 yards. I shot a little group of three that was a little more than an inch. So I moved the target out to 200 yards. I hadn't calculated the drop, but I just held about 5 inches high. My group was about 5 inches lower still. I figure it was because my 100 yard zero wasn't quite on yet.

I had a real hard time keeping the reticle steady on the target using the tripod. I get a steady rocking like a pendulum that's a little over 1 MOA across. I think it's my pulse. I know to let half my breath out and hold it, but I can't stop that ticker. I think it's mostly coming through the shoulder. I can shoot left or right-handed, but it's about the same. The only way I found to get it to stop was to shoot prone with the rifle on a soft bag. That seemed to dampen the movement where the tripod wouldn't.

On the bag, I was able to make a 5 shot group at 200 yards that was about 5 inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. That was the last of my 20 shots.

At home, I was experimenting with the tripod. It has a plastic V rest on top. When I was shooting I was placing the forestock on the V just in front of my support hand. Is it better to support the barrel near the muzzle? Either way, it seems like the V rest won't dampen the movement my body is imparting to the rifle. Advice?

This is not a bench-rest rifle. It's just a regular hunting rifle. My goal is hunting. Deer, predators, that kind of thing. Shooting off-hand, I can only hold within about 4 MOA. Kneeling or with the tripod is about the same, maybe 3 kneeling and 2.5 on the tripod. It was only on the bag, prone that I could hold less than 1 MOA. To be clear, I'm talking about just holding here, not counting how far off I go once I start to pull the trigger.

 

[jmr40]

Dry fire practice is your friend.

 

[MutinousDoug]

A shooting jacket or shooting shoulder pad can help isolate your heartbeat from the gun and a properly worn and adjusted sling can limit the radius of movement.

You'd do well to take jmr40's advise above as well.

 

[HamSlamma]

,,,,make sure you have a bowel movement before you go to the range.

 

[taliv]

Do not allow the barrel to contact anything. Definitely don’t support it near the muzzle.

Don’t let breath half out. Let it all the way out.


If your forearm is freefloated and your stock isn’t jacked up you can detach the rear of your sling and wrap it around the tripod once and then put your foot through the loop to keep tension on it so that you don’t need hands to hold the rifle up. Then you can put some pressure on the stock with your shoulder and your wobble should tighten up. You can prob YouTube shooting with sling and tripod techniques. (Edit: kinda like this but ...)

You can also try not putting any pressure at all and no cheek weld. Aka free recoil

 

[kenboyles72]

Old age has started to set in, so I have a lot of movement off hand. I practice firing on the swing, as in, when I sway a bit, I fire when cross hairs are almost to bullseye. This is kinda like leading a bird when using a shotgun, but opposite. This is the same way with pistols. If I have to take time to get that perfect shot, I start swaying. So I practice quick aiming. Raise the pistol up till front sight is on target, pull trigger. I can say, with practicing this way, I can hit just as accurate as I would really focusing on the target. Another thing, is get an easily adjustable sling, like a tactical sling. I loop my AR sling just around my neck and cinch it up where the sling is holding all the weight. Still got some movement, but not nearly as much as without it.

 

[MrBorland]

Shooting off-hand, I can only hold within about 4 MOA.

“Only” ?

 

[cdb1]

,,,,make sure you have a bowel movement before you go to the range.

Great advice. I’m going to put that into practice.

 

[Bill Raby]

Practice more. Then realize that for a couple hundred years it was possible to hunt with smooth bore flintlocks that were lucky to do 6 inch groups at 50 yards. 4 MOA is just fine for hunting.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Practice with a sling around the elbow of your offhand arm. It works wonders.

 

[ponchh]

As a general rule, stringing rounds top to bottom is a breathing problem, stringing left to right is trigger pull.
Holding a deep breath is automatic shake, same for completely empty. I position myself so that the cross hairs are low left on inhale and will cross poa just before full exhale

 

[brasscollector]

I cut back on the coffee beforehand, and I always shoot better on an empty stomach.

 

[jono]

Sight the weapon in with a Lead sled, then consider how much you imbibe prior to going hunting if your results aren’t up to snuff

 

[AK103K]

It sounds like youre referring to shooting offhand from a rest, not true, unsupported offhand.

For the later, daily dryfire is youre best bet, and with the heaviest rifle you have. You need to get the tone up in the muscles you need to shoot with. The better physical shape youre in, the easier its going to be too.

I always found open sights made things a lot easier too, as opposed to a scope with any magnification. The scope just magnifies any movement and tends to be distracting and annoying.

 

[JWF III]

Offhand shooting, strength is your friend. Now I don’t mean body building/power lifting type strength. Take a small weight, 2 1/2 pounds or so. Hang it by a rope from the muzzle of your rifle, and dry fire. Repeatedly. Work up in weight as you can.

I’ve also noticed that, offhand, I shoot a heavier rifle better. Muzzle heavy mainly.

Wyman

 

[MTNSTRYDER]

Guns move around just try to pull the trigger when it crosses the target.
The more you shoot the better this works.
No breathing or any other technique works when a critter jumps up with in 10 feet of you .If you miss the shot and it was the buck of a lifetime you will remember missing that shot for the rest of your life.If you make the kill you won’t remember taking the shot.

 

[caribou]

I advise, when tired and breathing heavy, after maybe a chase, I go to my knee, rest an elbow apon the other, and leave yer palm open as a platform to rest the rifles fore end apon....thats what I think of.

Funny, thinking about it, my M-39 is sort of front heavy, and dang steady.

 

[carbine85]

Relaxed breathing exercise. It's almost like meditation. No caffeine before shooting. If your shooting a typical hunting rifle you can expect the accuracy to drift off after the first couple of shots.
As mentioned above, dry fire exercise.

 

[doubleh]

You got a lot of good advise but I didn't see anyone mention exercising to increase muscle tone. Not only will it help your shooting it's going to make you more healthy. Flabby muscles are shaky muscles.