Offhand with double rifles

[mitch4570]

Reading @Mark A Ouellette post above. Once again he is being conservative or modest.

You would not want to stand on the 100 yard line hoping he missed you with his double.

His quoted groups are an average not his best group.

No sir you would not Mark is a double distinguished shooter. A benchmark very few shooters achive.

 

[petander]

Timed practise is fun and useful with these close range rifles. The second shot may take longer than we think... or shouldering in the first place. Half a second is a long time for an animal to move.

I do practise standing with open sights up to 75 m where my Merkel furthest blade is. I shoot 10" plates. Or claybirds on the berm.

Scope is mostly for load development but because there is the QD mount option,I do use the scope every now and then. Seems to hold zero just fine. I may use the scope in some moose hunt situations. 1" tubes are hard to find,that's why mine is a cheap Leupold. 30 mm are just too bulky.

75 m plate hits from today. I practise a few times every week.

 

[mitch4570]

That is some truly empressive shooting! What brand are those blue bullets?

 

[petander]

That is some truly empressive shooting! What brand are those blue bullets?

They are "Petander" -brand, I cast my own practise bullets. In this case I cheat, my light practise load is 400 grains @ 1900 fps, it regulates like the real 500 Woodleigh @ 2150 fps load up to 75 m.

This particular bullet mold is by Accurate and the blue is "Carolina blue" , powder coating from Cast Boolits vendor "Smoke". Gold is my Sunday colour, Hi Tek coating from Australia.

 

[pc3]

Goat off hand a tad over 100 yards with the Chapuis 9.3x74r one of a few...longest shot about 120 yards

 

[HUS856]

No one on the club is holding 12 inches offhand.

Google’s offhand circle is for tiny precision rifles yours is a heavy .470 double with massive recoil, no sling, and iron sights that swallow half the front bead at 100 yards. Even a pro PH might luck into a 6–10 inch pair on sticks offhand, most are lucky to ring the bead consistently.

Your CMP 9 ring 6.35" with the 1903 was bolt action steady different beast.

Keep drilling the 25 yd offhand and 50 yd sticks you’re already ahead of 95% of the newbies you’ll coach. At 100 yards you’ll still be first shot accurate on sticks.

 

[Randolph Salisbury]

Ok I just googled what is acceptable accuracy with a double rifle at 100 yards. Google said that holding 12 inches at 100 yards offhand is expected. I know it's google and not always relaiable but it got me thinking.
I used to shoot a lot of CMP reduced matches at 100 yards. The offhand SR1 target 9 ring is 6.35 inches. I could hold the 9 ring or better offhand with my 1903 a3 bolt rifle, that comes from many many rounds of dry and live fire.
Now at my club they have a day when they introduce people to high power compitiion. I would volunteer to help coach the newbies. I have never had anyone I coached that was able to hold even 2 feet. So without lots of practice I feel it is not common to be able to hold 12 inches at 100 yards offhand.
So I have not shot my double 470 nitro express at 100 yet. Still practicing making the first shot count at 50 yards off sticks and offhand at 25 yards. As you all know shooting a bigbore double is a far cry from shooting a 3006.
So how about it, can anyone here hold a 12 inche circle at 100 yards offhand?

I don’t own a double, I to have shoot and practiced CMP service rifle for years . I regularly shoot a Springfield M1 a Socom 16” with a 2.5 power optic on 12” steel at 100 yards . This set up weighs 10.6 pounds

 

[Rare Breed]

Goat off hand a tad over 100 yards with the Chapuis 9.3x74r one of a few...longest shot about 120 yards

Nice!!! for me anything over 25 yards I want sticks. I always practiced at 25 yards with all my DRs shooting off hand without sticks if beyond I have never found you could not use sticks. just my experience

 

[AZDAVE]

Interesting thread. I have shot off sticks at 150 at a 8 in plate with all my doubles. Never tried off hand.

In 2024 my second shot on a wildebeest was at 125ish off hand. The first was at 110 off sticks and was all that was really needed as it was through the boiler room but since it was still on its feet the second was sent.

Will have to expand my training regiment to include more off hand. as most of my off hand with doubles on animal has been in the 5-30 yard range.