Exercises for shooting heavy guns off hand

as I immerse my self more and more into the world of large bore DG rifles I find my self with a personal dilemma. shooting a light rifle accurately off is not an easy task and if you've mastered it then you have my respect (I have not by a long shot). but shooting a heavy DG off hand adds a whole new level of challenge. many DG rifles can easily weight 9.5 to 12 pounds which for someone who is not in the greatest physical shape (me) can be a bear to hold steady on target unsupported for any decent length of time.

so to combat this issue ive come up with a very simple exercise which appears to be helping.

1. grab the heaviest gun you own. for best results use a gun heavier then what you hunt with, add weight if needed.
2. set a timer for 1 minute and shoulder the rifle taking aim at a small eye level object about 10 feet away. maintain sight picture on the target without shifting the gun for the duration of the minute.
3. after the timer sounds set the gun down for 15-30 seconds.
4. repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times.

if your left arm does not feel like its on fire half way threw the third round of this exercise then either your gun isn't heavy enough or you need to add another minute. I use a black powder musket that weighs 11.5 pounds and is rather muzzle heavy. the whole exercise takes me about 5 minutes and my left arm is thoroughly exhausted by the end. I do this exercise every day after dinner and while progress has been slow, it has been getting easier to hold the musket up.

so, am I the only out of shape hunter here or do you guys have similar tricks for building up muscle needed for a proper hunt?

-matt

Was out of shape myself Matt. You advice is very good. I just started carrying a sledge hammer head around in my left hand while working in the yard. Raising it up often and holding it straight out. Like you say you will feel a burn! With just the hammer head in tow I could drop it and move to some work and pick it back up awhile later.

Matt

Basically i shoot competition trap with a fairly heavy gun (12lbs). And to be good you need to be consistent on every gun mount with a smooth follow through and trigger pull.

To develop Proper Mounting of your gun and holding it in place for about 5 sec looking through your sights at a fixed point, making a smooth move to a second fixed point and squeezing the trigger on your target with a dummy round in the chamber (snap cap).

If you did not mount the gun correctly, you need to take the set up down and do it over. Now do this 25 times before setting the gun down, now take 5 min break and do the process again for 25 time, do this for a total of 125 mounts. This is one set.

Start out with one set and progress up to 3 full sets (300 to 375 mounts).

What you will do is:
1. you develop proper mounting style.
2. you develop a smooth trigger pull.
3. you develop a smooth unloading and loading technique.
4. you develop arm and back muscles.
5. you develop good breathing technique.
6. you develop good follow through.
7. you will develop a smooth natural gun mount to look through your scope or down you sight with out having to move your head around.
8. you will learn to stay in the gun after you pull the trigger by doing this.

Good stuff...

I've also done the same thing as Matt, more or less, with a 10 lb dumbbell. I'm sure the actual rifle is better, but holding up the weight is a nice exercise for those times when the wife doesn't want you pointing a rifle at the TV.

Sounds Like Tabata, a form of Japanese Excercise

So my practice routine of a beer in my right hand and a plate of food in the left doesn't count unless there is 11 pounds of food on the plate?

ActionBob said:

So my practice routine of a beer in my right hand and a plate of food in the left doesn't count unless there is 11 pounds of food on the plate?

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Or a 12 pack of beer.

i like the idea of carrying a 12 pack of beer around in your left hand. the bonus is that you can tell the wife that you must do this to train for your safari.

-matt

I taught my son to shoot with his tennis shoe laced over the end of the barrel. The older he got the heavier his shoe gets. Also the swing of the shoe makes it more difficult to hold steady especially if you don't bring the gun up smoothly. If you really want to workout use your hunting boot.

One other thing to consider when one has to shoot off-hand is to use the sling to provide extra support.

matt85 said:

i like the idea of carrying a 12 pack of beer around in your left hand. the bonus is that you can tell the wife that you must do this to train for your safari.

-matt

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I'm sorry but I don't get why an empty 12 pack would do you any good!!!!! I don't remember the last time I had a full one!!!! Maybe thats the problem. I would put a smiley face in here if I could find them!!!

the trick is to replace the beers as you drink them. this will solve two problems: 1. the weight will be constant. 2. you wont run out of beer.

-matt

Start off with "light" beer and work your way up. Baby steps........you don't want to pull a muscle....


.

I'm going to offer up a slightly different opinion and suggest that perhaps an overall fitness regimen may be more beneficial than an exercise that only helps one hold their rifle steadier.

Aside from the obvious health benefits whole body fitness will reduce heart and breathing rates, increase the strength you need to hold your rifle steady, increase the ability of the body to absorb recoil, etc....

Just my opinion but to me maintaining a level of fitness is just as important to me as target practice or bushcraft.

Cheers,

John

Johnny7604 said:

I'm going to offer up a slightly different opinion and suggest that perhaps an overall fitness regimen may be more beneficial than an exercise that only helps one hold their rifle steadier.

Aside from the obvious health benefits whole body fitness will reduce heart and breathing rates, increase the strength you need to hold your rifle steady, increase the ability of the body to absorb recoil, etc....

Just my opinion but to me maintaining a level of fitness is just as important to me as target practice or bushcraft.

Cheers,

John

Click to expand...

My son at the time was 16 yrs old, 6ft 2in tall and 200 lbs. Started at center and nose guard as a freshman in high school. Was about as fit a specimen as you could get, but couldn't control the barrel of a gun. While I would never disagree with overall fitness, the muscle memory gained by handling/aiming a firearm cannot be practiced by any other method.

K-man said:

the muscle memory gained by handling/aiming a firearm cannot be practiced by any other method.

Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly.

I am not suggesting at all that one should neglect firearm practice. What I am suggesting is that fitness is just as important. I see this more and more each year as our society seems to fall further out of shape. I once witnessed another hunter who after walking only a short distance up a moderate grade hill was so winded he was unable to make a less than 100 yard shot on a dandy whitetail.

The guy in a resting state is normally an excellent shot and practices plenty, but it illustrates the point I am trying to make.

John

I trained with the elliptical machine at college, by using my arms more than my legs, I really strengthened my upper body. I saw a dramatic improvement in strength.

Get that core strengthened. The arms matter but the core will set the tone.

Or for those wanting a quick fitness fix, join the military
Worked for me, only 15 years left to go on this 'quick' fix

11:40

This video covers a little about PH training, and on thing covered is how the trainees carry a 5KG pipe with them everywhere, and can't make a single error in muzzle discipline. But it also trains their muscles for the long haul. If you want to be DG, ready, you need to have the gun ready for whatever happens, so you have to be able to keep it at the ready. Of course this is PH training, I guess some clients may do OK rolling of an international flight with the ability to hold a martini and not spill it.