Help

[BackCountry]

I have a problem shooting handguns, when I shoot off a bench, I can shoot pretty decent, but when I shoot freehand I hit about 8-10 in. high.
I still have alright groups but everything is high and I have no more adjustment. My pistols are the blackhawk, redhawk, and superredhawk, in 44mag and 454. what am I doing wrong.

Thank you all for any help

[leverfan]

Shooting off of a rest does three things.  It changes your point of impact, versus shooting free hand, it obviously makes it easier to hold the pistol steady, and it tames down flinches.  There's apt to be a radical difference between rested group size and free hand group size, especially for shooters that are early in the learning curve.

The best advice that I can give, is to put those heavy shooters in the safe for a while, and shoot a 22 lr until you have mastered it.  When you go back to the 44 and the 454, shoot 44 special and 45 Colt cowboy action loads, or light reloads, until you master them.  This should be a process that takes months, if you want to get really good.  Gradually step up the power of the loads that you shoot, and when you're back up to full power loads, you'll be one heck of a pistol shot.  Anytime your groups start to open up, put the heavies back in the safe again, and go back to the 22 for a while.

I hate to use the "f-word", but I suspect you're "flinching" from the blast and recoil, and throwing your shots high.

For rested groups, sit down with your back to a wall, and rest your arms on the insides of your knees.  Your point of impact will be much closer to your free hand point of impact, compared to bench mounted rests and sandbags.

[Savage]

Sounds like sage advise from leverfan. From time to time I need to go back to the rimfires to pratice my trigger control and follow thru. I do a bit of action shooting and find myself slapping the trigger. It really shows when I start shooting 25yd centerfire bullseye.
Savage

[DWARREN123]

If your groups are okay but you are just hitting high it is your grip and/or sight picture. Practice, practice, practice and watch what you are doing or have someone else watch you.
Just my opinion.

[Catfish]

I think that everyone has missed it so far. What is happening is that when shooting from the bench you are leaning into the gun more and holding down the recoil more, thus your point of impact is lower. When shooting from sand bag I would suggest that you get them up higher and not lean into them so much. You might have noticed that the gun seem to have alot more recoil from the bench and the reason is your holding down all of the recoil that was going into barrel jump. Play around with your technique from the bench and you should be able to get your groups close to the same point of aim.