Best weight and shape to use offhand?

FX wildcat .25 compact, either one regular or bottle. Best shoulderring pcps offhand.

Huntsman is nice , maybe look at the AA S 510. nice gun easy to hold . I have the AA S 510 and it is great to shoot , Looking for the old Huntsman bolt action not side lever .

There is/was an Edgun Leyla 2.0 in the classifieds.....very compact bullpup, stout too.

I would think alot of this would depend on the shooter's stature and reach.

Ranchibi said:

There is/was an Edgun Leyla 2.0 in the classifieds.....very compact bullpup, stout too.

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Too short

Avator said:

I would think alot of this would depend on the shooter's stature and reach.

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Absolutely, any long gun can be shot offhand well, bullpups hust balance the weight a bit easier while not beimg a tank.

I do a lot of off-hand shooting and really like my .22/500mm FX Crown MK2 for that. The weight, balance and ergonomics are perfect for me.

See if you can check one out.

Cheers!

Taipan Vet Short is my go-to for shooting unsupported

The LOP is a bit short for me, but the gun is very balanced and tuckable.

The shooters strength and fitness come into play too. I used to be strong but now am week. Injuries and age take a toll on a man.

I want balance first,then ease of cocking .Not too short,I want an adjustable Butt pad and a nice two stage trigger,the scope mount needs to give my scope choice the best eye relief I can get. For off hand shooting I do not want compromise .

I go for light weight for offhand, because typically if I'm shooting off hand I'm packing the the rifle around the woods 99% of the time and shooting the other 1%. So light and short are my go to. Compact BP would be my preference.

MJMDP said:

Hello all!

So I've got a question for you guys. My current "stable" of PCPs are (like you can see on the picture):
-Uragan2 600 .22 (3.5kgs unscoped)
-GK1 .22 (1.2kgs without add-ons)
-FX Dreamline Tactical with bottle (around 2.5kgs unscoped)

The uragan is my powerhouse an the One I use the most, but always with a sandbag or something.
The GK1 is my fun gun, its too light to shoot offhand at 25+ meters (for me...), just cant keep it steady.
The Dreamline is my first PCP that I bought second-hand and its a do-all.

The thing is, I dont really love the Dreamline as it is. Its akward to use offhand for me even though its not too heavy. The uragan offhand its just too heavy and I just dont use.

I was thinking about selling the Dreamline and get a proper PCP to shoot offhand. But which one and which kind?
What kind of gun is optimal for offhand usage?

I thought about the Huntsman revere or the drs classic. I also like the Krait lite.
I also thought into converting my Dreamline to bullpup, that could work in a light and compact gun for easy shooting.
I'm not really sure what way to go. I dont really want an heavy gun.

What format and weight you find the best for offhand shooting?

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That's subjective to the user, my compact dreamtact is my off hand power gun now. My 700mm impact sucks for it but I have made an off hand squirrel shot at 150yd..... Once with a chungus impact. It's what you like....

How often are you shooting off hand, and more importantly how often do you practice?
Weight helps with steady.

Checkout the weight and configuration of the 10 meter rifles; Anschutz, Walther, Pardini, and such. those shooters shoot mostly offhand and do it very very well. Should give you an idea of what you are asking. If you are strictly hunting then simply just the lightest rifle would be good.
Rick B.

You ask a nearly impossible question. A "proper" rifle for offhand shooting is one that fits you. Personal preference and physical stature will yield the answer. I used to do some service rifle shooting, something at which I was spectacularly bad in the standing segment. But, I learned that rifle fit makes a huge difference. If you have to fight an ill-fitting rifle, you will be constantly stressed, and fatigue will be almost immediate. One feature that helps a lot is an adjustable comb. My best rifle for offhand shooting is an HW100 laminate with adjustable comb. Most shooters do best with the heaviest rifle they can hold without becoming prematurely fatigued, it's just steadier. As for bullpups, they are handy, but they are also more difficult to hold steady offhand. If you will look at position shooters in unlimited classes, you will see very few short rifles, and some extremely long ones. You might not need to shoot offhand much in hunting scenarios, which causes many people to kind of skip that part of their training. Really good offhand shooters are rare, and most of them shoot hundreds of practice shots for every one record shot (in your case, hunting). Good luck, it's a challenging skill.

MJMDP said:

I want to shoot more offhand.
I've encountered a lot of hunting scenarious where it would be beneficial to use the gun offhand.
My oractice is not really enough, but I can and Will try it more, but find my uragan2 too heavy.

Maybe I'll try my Dreamline more. I've also asked for an invoice of the bullpup conversion kit l.

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Have you tried a good set of sticks? I have a set of Primus trigger sticks, they are awesome and I recommend them.

maxtrouble said:

Have you tried a good set of sticks? I have a set of Primus trigger sticks, they are awesome and I recommend them.

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Certainly a good way to shoot, but it won't help with offhand training.

One of the things that tends to make traditional rifles better than bullpups for most shooters is the fact that they tend to have a higher polar moment of inertia. That means that they have their weight distribution occurring with with the weight spread out more towards the ends of the gun, such that their inertia will resist torque inputs better - making them more stable relative to the inputs of movement from our body, and that leads to smaller, slower movement of the gun relative to the aim point.

So it is not just about the total weight of the gun, or the balance point, but the total distribution of that weight. I love the ergonomics of my Huben (bullpup) and it fits me well, but I can do better shooting offhand with my Air Ranger (traditional rifle) even though the weight is similar and the ergonomics of both are very good for me. The higher polar moment of inertia is the biggest factor in this - even more than the better trigger (although most would probably say it is the trigger, since they don't think about inertia factors).

If you can, try out some traditional rifles to see what you think. Of course you will have to get comfortable with the gun to shoot it well, but you might do better with that set up. The Crown and AA 510 suggestions are good ones to try. I also have some Marauders with aluminum air tubes that are great in this area too.

Any thoughts of shooting off hand for me is a forgone hope. 2 failed left shoulder surgeries including a total reverse replacement limits me to bench and side lean shooting. I got no rotator cuff muscle at all. If I hear "manos arriba" I'm hitting the ground !