Shooting from an offhand, standing position is can be a very difficult proposition for most hunters. While I don’t have any facts to back this up, I would guess that the average hunter would have a difficult time consistently putting all of his shots inside of a ten inch circle at 100 yards. That being the case, shooting sticks, which have been very common in Africa for years, are becoming more and more popular in the United States.

In preparation for my first trip to Africa, I had purchased a set of Stoney Point Safari Sticks to get used to shooting off sticks. These collapsible shooting sticks had two legs are made out of flexible aluminum. When I practiced with them prior to the trip, I found that the amount of flex in them made them pretty much worthless. Not knowing if all shooting sticks were the same, I brought my much-used Harris Bipod with me to assist my shooting.

On my arrival, my professional hunter told me to take the bipod off of my rifle, as I would be shooting off of sticks. When I explained that I had tried in back home and didn’t like them, he asked me what kind of sticks I was using. After I explained it, he pulled out his sticks for me to take a look at. He had three sturdy fiberglass fence posts drilled and bolted together to form a sturdy tripod. After firing a few practice shots, I found that I could quickly get on target and shoot accurately out to about 200 yards. It was a very different experience than the one I had with the flimsy sticks I had back home.

A friend recently asked me whether two or three legged shooting sticks were better. That conversation led me to do some testing, as I really didn’t know what the answer was. I decided to perform the following test: Firing three shot groups, I shot from the bench (control group), then using three-legged sticks, two-legged sticks, and off of a monopod at distances of 110 yards, 220 yards, and 360 yards. The two and three-legged sticks were made out of plastic-coated metal tree stakes with the ends wrapped with athletic tape and fastened together with a piece of surgical tubing. I used a Stoney Point Polecat for the monopod. The rifle was a Remington Model 700 .243 Winchester and I used handloads consisting of new Remington Brass, 46.5 grains of RL15, Federal 210 primers and 70 grain Sierra Matchkings. Groups were measured from center to center of the bullet holes.

Here are the results. Group sizes are in inches.

The weather conditions were less than optimal for accuracy testing as the wind was gusting from 15-25 mph from behind me between four and six o’clock. It was blowing the hardest when I fired the groups at 110 yards, which I think explains the size of the groupings at that distance. I should also note that for the most part, shot dispersion was latteral versus horizontal. I believe this is a combination both bullet drift, and the effect of the wind on my body.

What surprised me the most about this test is that I was able to shoot better with the two-legged sticks than the three-legged sticks at all distances. I was also surprised at the level of accuracy I was able to maintain using just the monopod. I was able to hold for “minute of animal” out to 360 yards with any of the rests.

One thing I did not track but that I definitely noticed when shooting was that I was able to get on target much faster using the three-legged sticks, followed by the two-legged sticks and then the monopod. In a situation where having to get off a fast, aimed shot at distance is necessary, the three-legged sticks would be far superior to the others.

While I didn’t fire nearly enough groups to consider this test to be scientific in nature, it did give me a much better idea of the increased accuracy potential of the three different types of sticks.

Tags: Shooting Sticks