Last month, July 2003, Gary wrote a great article regarding handgun accuracy. That article discussed how accurate a handgun should be in regards to the game being pursued. Well I've taken that same idea and put a little spin on it. Assuming your handgun is "woods worthy accurate" from a benchrest, how well can you really shoot that gun in a typical hunting situation. When was the last time you saw a deer with a bullseye on its chest? I've been after deer for close to fifteen years and have yet to see one. And when was the last time you squeezed off at game while sitting at a cement bench with sandbags? I also have yet to have a chance at game with this sort of set up. If most hunters encounter game the same way I do then why is most of our range time spent shooting at bullseye targets from a bench rest. This type of practice is necessary to plant the basics of shooting a firearm and even more important when preparing to hunt with a handgun. But after the fundamentals are rooted and good loads are developed it is time to take off the training wheels and learn real world shooting skills.

Though my handguns were plenty accurate for deer hunting, my first few years carrying one after game were very frustrating. I seemed to get lucky each year and get one to stroll through then give me that "calendar like" pose for just long enough to get a steady rest and loose a lethal shot. But more times than not deer were on the move or only presented split second opening; it was taking me much longer than I was being allowed to acquire game in the sights and squeeze off a round. After missing too many opportunities like this is when I stepped away from the bullseyes and shooting bench. Since then my confidence greatly increased.

When I go to the range for load development I'll always tote along my bench rest shooting gear. This includes a cast iron pedestal rest, rear sandbag, chronograph, lots of targets, cleaning equipment, and of course the guns I'll be shooting. But when going just to practice the only things in my bag are a few handguns, targets, and several cans of cheap spray paint. The paint cans are not to shoot at but for painting the steel plates on my range. Plates are fun to shoot because hits and misses are easy to spot as well as hear even with ear protection in place. When I'm shooting paper targets I put them up with the unprinted side facing the shooting bench. (More on that in a minute.)

Though an off hand shot on game is the toughest to attempt I believe that if you can become proficient at it then any other shot will become much easier. When starting to shoot from any position other than a benchrest I believe it's best to start close to build confidence then move the target to greater distances as proficiency increases. Most of my off hand shooting with Contenders or revolvers is done at 50 and 100 yards. But long before shooting at 100 yards offhand, it took me quite a while to advance from 25 yards to 50 yards! This shooting is generally done with .22LR's, .357's, or .44's. With longer range deer calibers like the 7-30 Waters and .338JDJ#2 I'll spend a good deal of time shooting from homemade crossed sticks in the sitting position at steel plates from 150 yards to 300 yards. The best distances and positions to practice at are the ones you'll face with your particular handgun.

Since we have established that deer are not walking around with targets on their chest then why should we practice real world shooting with bullseyes? When shooting bullseyes off hand I tend to want to yank at the trigger as the sights pass over the center; trigger tugging is a bad habit to get into. I like to use the blank side of a target as my backer; shooting off hand at blank paper allows me to concentrate more on the mechanics of shooting than trying to pinwheel a little circle. When you get more comfortable and the shots increasingly land on target lightly pencil a 6" circle on the paper to see how many rounds land in the circle.

The first few times I tried shooting is hunting type situations there was a lot of frustration, I was missing the target and groups looked more like bad shotgun patterns. But the more I kept at it, the better my shooting was getting. I learned to acquire the target much quicker and decrease the overall time needed to fire an accurate shot. Give it an honest try and your one shot harvests in the woods will improve.

Good shooting,
Dan B.