Doesn’t matter how strong you are, how much practice you do, you simply cannot hold a firearm that steady without support. Offhand shooting is the antithesis to what we normally strive for in shooting - getting the sights steady on target and a slow press of the trigger as the gun goes off while the sights stay where they are supposed to. The inability to hold a gun steady with only the arms to stabilize it is the problem. It’s second nature to me, and I’ve learned some things along the way that might be useful. I grew up shooting that way and then polished my skills as an offhand shooter with smallbore and highpower rifle silhouette shooting. Time and circumstances dictate that, not preference. Over the years, I have shot more game with a rifle, small and big, from the offhand position than all of the other options combined.

Offhand shooting is one of those things that, in general, folks aren’t particularly good at and thus, avoid. Not wanting to do things we aren’t good at seems a common trait in the human condition. When it comes to offhand shooting, she isn’t alone when she avoids it, doesn’t want to practice it and figures that, if she must shoot offhand, she just won’t shoot.įair enough. In other words, offhand shooting.Ĭhristine is quick to shoot while sitting, her favorite field position, or prone, over a backpack, her second favorite. But for those who are wondering what the hell I’m talking about, it references shooting while standing with no form of support other than your arms (or front legs) and the hind legs. I expect there are fair number of folks who have heard it as well. It worked for me, and the fact it causes Christine to fret forces me to use it every chance I get when in her company. It’s a phrase I imagine I picked up from some old shooter years ago who had told me I needed to learn to shoot from my hind legs. Looking at me as if I had three heads, a look I’ve grown accustomed to, if not fond of, she said, “I don’t have hind legs, I have arms and legs, I’m not a Labrador.” “Now you need to shoot from your hind legs,” I said to Christine.

Christine Cunningham shoots from her “hind legs.” October 2018 (Photo by Steve Meyer)

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