Offhand rifle accuracy?

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runawaygun762

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Ft Leonard Wood, MO
Considering the need to budget time and ammo into the most diverse training I can while still making gains in each area, what level of accuracy should I be trying to reach while shooting offhand, in MOA and cadence terms? I know the obvious answer is "always faster and more accurate". If I spend all my time going for that, though, I may end up shortchanging my training in other areas. I am right now about 80% on a single 10" target at 100 yards, with about a 2 second cadence.

Based on your previous match experience with stages that present targets with no option for support, what level should I strive for before I can consider emphasis on maintaining the skill while I improve others?
 
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Offhand rifle isn't a very important skill set unless your on the 3GN Pro Series. The most important skill is patience. You can't stop the wobble you just need to get used to it and wait on it.
 
Based on my limited experience in 3 gun, I agree there are more important things than offhand rifle, but a couple things prompted me to ask this question; because of the publicity of the 3GN Pro Series, I anticipate (maybe incorrectly) more local match designers mimicking the 3GN stages, because they always look like a hoot to shoot. Secondly, after looking back at the second to last match I shot, there were three static steel silhouette shaped targets probably 60 yards away at the end of one of the stages. The match designer (Josh Loganbill, a man I have come to hate for his use of contorted positions, yet love for his variety of targets) had a pallet set on edge with a low target on the other side. Everybody in my squad, and probably most people in the match, leaned over to shoot the low target then had to step back and set up on the pallet for support. I did pretty well on that stage, but looking back, I could have saved a couple more seconds had I simply engaged the low target and immediately transitioned to the steel offhand instead of setting up and having to shift position to engage the three steel.

Perhaps the lesson there was more of knowing my capabilities and limitations rather than improving something that may be good enough already. But then, that's why I'm soliciting opinions here, where there is vastly more experience than I have. I understand fully the need to let the sights settle, but there is also the issue of knowing what an acceptable sight picture looks like and being able to settle in quickly.
 
David Marlow said:
Secondly, after looking back at the second to last match I shot, there were three static steel silhouette shaped targets probably 60 yards away at the end of one of the stages. The match designer (Josh Loganbill, a man I have come to hate for his use of contorted positions, yet love for his variety of targets) had a pallet set on edge with a low target on the other side.
Click to expand...
I laughed , now. . . . . . and after the stage.
Here's my abysmal run on that stage
http://youtu.be/vsBqJkK-hFA?list=UUi1aKZq2EwVQuGsgz4Y-eqQ
 
You must have missed out on a few of our earlier matches with a plate rack at 75yds. I do try and incorporate offhand rifle in every match we host. I think it is a good skill to possess and makes you a well rounded shooter. Which is another reason I like the odd positions. You never know what you will encounter at major matches. Last weekend at our range day I had those 3 statics again at 60-80 yds as well as a 12" flasher at 200!
 
I was pretty butt hurt that I couldn't be at that range day. I had to run the 9mm range and night fire that Saturday. The only plate rack I've ever had the chance to shoot was at Lead Farm and if I remember right, it was at 200 yards. The range here has an old plate rack that's rusting and has a sapling growing up through it. When I go shoot on Sunday, I'm going to see if I can have it. I'll have to buy new AR 500 plates, of course, but that would be awesome to get one, even if I have to pay something for it.
 
We have a 100 yd silhouette match at our range on Wednesday evenings, using the rams, chickens, pigs, etc in sizes to simulate 600 meters.
Our consistent winner will put 4 out of 5 into a 3" chicken, 5 out of 5 into the rest in a 1 minute round for each target, offhand. .204 Ruger.

How he gets that steady, I don't know. Everybody else fights for 2nd or third.
 
I had a 29-round battle with a Texas Star the first time I ever saw one, and it was in a match. After that I was scared to death of them, until I finally got a chance to practice on one for a few hours. They aren't so daunting anymore, but I still get a little panicky when I see one.
 
I shoot quite a bit of offhand rifle. For one thing, that's one of the only ways that I can shoot rifle at the indoor range - the ROs get a little weird when I start using the furniture for improvised barricade positions. For another thing, I firmly believe that good offhand rifle translates to good supported rifle. The reverse is not necessarily so.

I like to shoot those 2" dots at 25 yards offhand, with my AR-22. 2.0sec. par for one shot from port arms, 6.0sec. par for one shot on each of six dots. With my real AR, I shoot 8" static plates at 100 yards, same par times. I spend around 100 rds./week on this.
 
MarkCh said:
I had a 29-round battle with a Texas Star the first time I ever saw one, and it was in a match. After that I was scared to death of them, until I finally got a chance to practice on one for a few hours. They aren't so daunting anymore, but I still get a little panicky when I see one.
Click to expand...
My first run at a Texas Star, I went 5 for 5 on it in a match, and actually stopped to admire what I did. Come to think of it, the first time I encountered popper activated clay flippers, I hit both of the clays and stopped to admire what I had done. Maybe I should quit stopping in the middle of a stage to be proud of myself. I think seeing a new target like that made me focus more consciously on the front sight than I did with other steel. I did have a bit of a battle on one star once when I tried to point shoot thinking I could go faster than my skill level allowed.
 
MarkCh said:
Any stage designer who puts two Texas Stars on a single stage is a miserymonger, if such a word even exists.
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Anyone remember the stage at Double Tap Championship a few years ago where Robert put one Texas Star in front of another. When you open the door one Star began to spin clockwise and the other counter clockwise.

It was the first time I ever shot the Texas Star. I was right after a production shooter that threw over 40 rds downrange and still failed to clean either star.

We appropriately named it the "Spider Monkey" stage.

That was for pistols. I would really like to find range with a rifle rated star.
 
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