I finally got a chance to work up a load for my SBHH 44 using the BTB 325 WLNGC sized at .432. On Mr. Stantons advice I was able to work up to 21.2 gr H110 ahead of a WLP. There are no pressure signs and it shoots well out of my gun. I can break clay pigeons all day out to 100 yds as long as I am resting off of something. I have a 2x6 Bushnell scope and it shoots to the same point on all powers, in fact I shot a 15 shot group (3 rounds for each power) that measured around 1.75" at 50 yds.

When it comes to offhand practice I shoot only on 2x and can keep them in a pie plate out to around 35yds pretty consistantly. I would like to be able to get so I can keep all my shots in a 6" circle at ranges out to 50-60yds. What can I do to acccomplish this goal? I find it hard to hold the gun on target offhand on anything over 2x, is this common or doI need more practice?

Practice...lots of it....I don't know of a "quick fix". Do know that off hand is a skill every hunter needs to learn, but that there is a limit to how far most of us can reasonably expect to hit standing on our hind legs.

Lucky...the skill learned in offhand is mostly before the recoil and its transfer to you. Get good with a .22 (or an air pistol) and if you can block out the recoil from your consentration, no reason you can't be just as good with the big bore.

Hard to believe while looking through the scope, but you don't shake any more at 2X than you do at 10X, it just seems that way.

You are knocking it out eurickr. I wish I could shoot half that good. Keep up the good shooting. Dry firing and the old load em all but one and give a spin come to mind for you. Sounds like you have the mechanics down.

The most obvious answer is as Ribonstone indicated, practice and lots of it. But like all practice, it needs to be good form practice, not just blasting away. Take you time and do it correctly. Another consideration is weight training. Taking a 1" dia. piece of wood, drill a hole and insert a cord/rope and tie it to a 5 lb. plate and holding it straight out in front of you, roll it up. Five times rolling it forward and five times backward will surprise you with the burn only light weights can create. Another consideration is to experiement with your grip. I'm assuming you using a two hand grip. Some folks find it better to have the fore finger of the left hand (off hand) in front of the trigger guard. They pull back with that hand and push forward with the strong hand and find it stablilizes the hold a little better.

Dan

At the start, do not worry about firing 50 or 75 rounds...if you can get 10 or 15 good clean trigger releases with the sights lined up just right, you're on your way. The trick is to do it once or twice, recognize it as "right". For me right is: sights lined up, apply trigger pressure, trigger release clean, sights still lined up as the gun recoils, and the recoil lifting the gun back and up the same way each time.

At first it's a skill....you learn how. To do that, you need to consentrate not only on the few shots that hit home, but also on the ones that don't...identify the "why" of the misses.

At first, the sights waved arround in a random pattern...with more practice, they wobbled arround in a kind of figure-8. Apply trigger pressure only while the sights are on the mark...hold that pressure as they wander out of the black...apply more as they wander back on...evntually, the trigger will trip with the sight's lined up.

Then it becomes a matter of strength and consentration...you get the skills/control to make that figure-8 wandering smaller and smallar, with more and more time allowed for trigger pressure application as more time is spent wandering in the 10ring. NO ONE keeps a handgun dead steady 100% of the time while standing...even the best wobble, but for the best the wobble zone is always inside the 10ring.

(ODD stuff: Adjust your stance...if my feet are close togheter, the wobble is a sideways figure 8 (infinity) or an oval....if my feet are too far apart, it's a stretched vertical figure 8. I got my feet right when it's a smaller, proportional, figure 8.)

As a hunter, you really don't have to be able to stand and deliver 20 or 50 shots (but as a bullseyes shooter, you would).

(More odd stuff: At my best, the groups looked like (at least to me) a pepper shaker top. If the holes were close togheter, more or less evenaly spaced without stringing or wild fliers, figured I was getting all i was holding for.)

I have been shooting handguns for only about a year now and maybe in the last three months I have been getting out about twice a week. I am shocked how quickly a person can gain good control. It is just a matter of putting time in and you are getting better even without noticing it. The thing that helped alot more than I thought it would is dry firering. With out the target distracting you, you can really put alot of thought into the trigger pull, and what happens to the gun right at the moment when the hammer drops. I notic that i seem to point the gun down and to the right right before the gun goes off and then some times in rappid fire i go up and to the left, i think because I am trying to counter act my previous problem. But I have been doing these things alot less now with practice. Think about pulling the trigger straight back don't hook it or push it while you pull the trigger I see that with lot of me buddies that are just getting into it.

I always liked to shoot but now shooting handguns it has become an obsetion there is so much more to consentrate on and always room to get better. Sorry for going so long...lol

I used to shoot a lot of 44 mag at metal targets, offhand without a scope. I'm getting a little long in the tooth now and just shoot for fun. I developed my best shooting by shooting about 1-3000 rounds through my 22 rimfires every month. I also shot a lot of cast loads through my Smith Model 29 at around 1200 fps. Nice controllable loads that let me concentrate on technique rather than recoil.

I have moved on from the old Smith to a Ruger Super Redhawk 7.5 with a really good red dot. I still try to get a brick of 22s shot a month and put a couple hundred rounds through the redhawk.

Like all of the folks above I can not stress more that shooting is a hands on thing and you get good at hands on things by doing them.

There is nothing wrong with shooting your high power hunting loads. I would recommend you practice with the 22 and low power loads in your .44

You learn trigger control, sight picture and the mental control to shoot well by shooting guns and loads that allow you to concentrate on the above. You do not learn those things with full bore loads.

Think about target shooting. Folks that excell at that type of shooting do not do it with full power hunting loads.

Think about teaching someone that is not a shooter to shoot. Their goal is to become a good hunter/shooter. Would you start them shooting full power hunting loads?

Good luck in your qest for accuracy and keep asking questions. That is how you learn.

Almost in complete agreement with faucettb...only difference is that I belive target shooting (with low recoiling rounds) can be great practice for hunting. Everythi9ng is exaclty the same right up to primer ignition...and even AFTER the recoil starts, it's teh same. The gun just goes for a longer ride in recoil...and a longer time to pull it back doen and line it up again, but the sighting, trigger pull, and follow through are pretty much the same...just wrap both hands around it and hold on a bit harder.

Try using fired cases in dry fire. Not becasue i'm worried about breaking the firing pin, but becasue it makes the hammer fall more like the real thing. If you do it side by side (empty chamber vs. fired case) you will SEE the difference.

The primer actis as a firing pin cushion...it's a "dead" fall. Empty, the hammer slams into a steel-to-steel halt, and it vibrates the gun. do it6 side by side ans see if you can't tell the difference.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I have shoot countless 22 rounds and spend a lot of time doing dry firing. I will keep practicing and use some of the advice I have been given. I to have noticed a distinct pattern to my sight as I try to hold on the bull and try to only apply pressure when they are right. I will keep shotting and will let you know how it goes. My goal is to keep them all in a 5" circle offhand at 70yds by deer season.

Thanks,
Erick

I'll second the recommendation for weight training, upper body strength can make a huge difference when shooting offhand. When I was doing range duty for our officers' qualification shoots, there was always a lot of grumbling. One of the loudest complainers was a sergeant who hated shooting, didn't like the noise & blast, the goggles, earmuffs, any of it. Then he'd walk out to the lane, and put fifty rounds into a fist-sized hole at 25 paces, in about a minute. He was a landscaper during his days off, and spent most of his time driving a tractor or playing racquetball. He would lock that gun between his hands like a vise, then squeeze off his rounds. Never shot below a 92%, but still complained about it every chance he got. :rolleyes:

I just wish the rest of my guys could shoot like that! Maybe they should make landscaping and racquetball mandatory! :p

PJ

I have been weight training most my life, and I can attest to what other are saying,Mass over matter. Those muscles you have developed will play in. The stance/hold/trigger pull/ sight picture, most people tent to heal off hand, this means terning your hand as your finger pulls the trigger, this is hard to over come, but with plenty of practice and a good friend to watch you shoot, this way if you can't see what your doing wrong, your friend will. Sometimes its hard to find what your doing wrong and it only takes a minuet for a friend to see it and be able to tell you in oder to correct it. I also believe shooting low recoil guns or just air guns will tune your skills in, but remember you need to practice with the load your hunting with till you are satisfied with your results, shooting big bore handgun takes many days at the range to keep them in the ten ring, once you have developed the skills to do so you are ready for your hunt. I also practice point shooting and have got quite good using my big bore revolvers, did take time, but now I can skip cans, something like instinct shooting archery. Its amazing how your brain can compensate for your shot, comes natural when you start practicing, being able to this this will give you a natural point aim and quick sighting without thinking about it. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

erick,I know a little about this and doc has very good advise form is half of it ok here it goes. I assume you are using a two handed grip. place your strong hand on the grip lay your trigger finger beside the trigger gaurd next place your weak hand on top of the other putting the fingers of the weak hand not inside but matched up to the slots created by the fingers on the strong hand. Now as for trigger pull. When using a rest trigger pull is taken almost out of the picture,but when standing or siting or kneeling on one knee trigger pull can cause you to shoot to the left or right .If too much finger is placed on the trigger(assuming you ae right handed this will be opposite for a lefty) then you will pull your shoots to the right if tooo little is used they willl pull Left. you need to figure out the proper placement of your trigger finger ,mine is right in the spit between the first and second joint of my trigger finger.Now pulling the trigger if using a single action. Do not pull the trigger as though it was a rush because you are expecting the thing to go boom! Smooth , Slow and steady trigger pull is the ticket.When you pull the trigger pull it slowly as if you have no idea as to when it will go off so that the shot comes as a surprise to you this will eliminate flinching if you are expecting it you will shoot low because you flich and are expecting the Kaboom.Now stance, weaver style has always been a favorite of just about anybody I know that places the weak leg forward slightly while the strong hand and gun are slightly back this gives you body more stability so you dont sway ,also you can use the Isosolies(spelling) This is done by placeing both feet apart at shoulders witdh or slightly more then bending at the knee slightly and shooting thus.Now something my dad taught me Breathing is also important if you take three to five deep slow breaths then exhale there is about a 7 to 10 second window where your body will be extremely calm and that is when shooting is optimum! Trust me this really works try it it will make you a beleiver.Back to stance another stance is to kneel on one knee and rest the weak elbow on the weak knee and shoot that way this gives lots of stability also and is much like shooting from a rest as I have ever found.Loads okay Do not start with a big fireball load go to a more tame load and fire this type till you become more proficient and then work your loads up till you can handle the powerful stuff. Point of sight mant people including my self are still in big habits of shutting one eye and then looking though the scope. Try opening both eyes and putting the cross hairs on the target then sqeezing that other eye shut this will help you get on target faster.Second shot sight acquisition can be very important if ,lets say you went handgun hunting for bear,you would want to quickly get the gun back on the animal if it didnt respond wel to the first shoot .I have a buddy that had to shoot one 4 times.(he was shooting in a laurel thicket and was shooting in openings)Last and probably least ,I know this will sound nutts to you but if you chew tobacco or you drink lots of coffe then it will affect you. Drinking several cups prior to a rangfe outing is a no no it will make you shaky and cause you to poke holes all over that target . Now if you chew just put one in just a feww minutes before shooting and your body will calm down and you will do better.To practice the smooth trigger pull place an empty cartridge on the back strap or frnot of the gun and pull the trigger while the chambers are dry through all six rounds trying to keep the casing balanced on top of the gun. practice dry firing the gun it WILL make you a better shot!!Pick a point on you living room wall or tape a quater to the wall and put the cross hairs on it and watch in th scope as you pull the trigger to see if your pulling the gun. Now as for flinching place two in one out one in one out one in Unless shooting a five shot revover then you just rotate one wet one dry . now use what you have been practicing always remind oyurself that you do not know when it will go off and pull smoothly and slowly and flinchin will decrease you will see your self trying to help the gun go off at first just practice ! That is abut all I can think of at this point Good shooting and remember only a handfull of people thouhout the world are natural born shooter and many my self included had to learn tthough the same route.