When ordering my CPA offhand Schuetzen I had the benefit of using my Anschutz 54 Super Match to set up the basic dimensions.  Fully adjustable buttplate comb palm rest and ability to weight the muzzle. What I came up with was the Schuetzen CPA uses on their web site photo. High Pope comb, hook plate, palm rest two 28 inch  barrels .22 & 32/40.  Rifle weighs 14 lbs with scope. Long is better when the Iron sights are used. It’s light as a feather compared to NRA rule (flat plate no palm rest 10lb 2 oz) Silhouette Rifle. 

I wanted strictly traditional and Way I see it long and heavy helps you hold close, depend on getting the bullet out before you move, you are lost from the start. 

As a side note I plan on selling that rifle, owned it 22 years, no offhand Schuetzen competition near me. Lots of single shot offhand matches that don’t allow Schuetzen configuration. Hate to let it go but sitting idle is wasted. I envy you guys that have offhand Schuetzen matches within reasonable driving distance. 

Post it later when I can inventory the outfit. 

Boats

40_Rod
Whether they made them stronger back then is debatable but during Schuetzen's Golden Age (c.1890-1917), rifles of the top tier shooters commonly weighed in the 12-16 pound range. For many of us, this might seem heavy. Bear in mind that the match formats back then were quite different than today's matches.

boats wrote on Sep 14^th, 2018 at 8:29am:


That is for sure    Say you chop 6 inches off the barrel from 28 or 30 inches and your bullet is traveling 1400 fps.  How much difference can the point of aim move in .00036 of a second?    

     Useful bbl length for OH is not related to ballistically-optimum length.  It's all about balance, balance, balance.

CHRIS
RGChristensen

Can someone say why muzzle heavy is better.

The inertia theory held until the 1990’s when it was replaced with having the center of gravity between the feet, toward the front foot. In standing the gun is moving most of the time so instead of inertia you are dealing with momentum. It is easier to achieve a smaller wobble area and a more consistent hold with a shorter barrel. Compare the Winchester 52 with the Anschutz 54.

Some of Harry Pope's comments;

Weight of Rifle. For the finest offhand shooting, the rifle must be muzzle heavy. This is not, as most shooters suppose, wholly in the weight of the rifle, but in the disposition of the weight; as much weight as possible should be in the barrel. Weight in the stock and butt plate is useless except in absorbing the recoil. The use of a heavy butt plate is to be condemned. While it tends to balance the rifle when the same is carried free, its weight is entirely on the right shoulder in shooting and does not in any way change the weight supported on the left hand, in fact the rifle at the shoulder is a second–class lever in which the power is the weight of the rifle concentrated at the center of gravity, which should be well beyond the left hand. The fulcrum is the shoulder, and the work is the weight held by the left hand. If the center of gravity is in front of the left hand, then the weight held in the left hand is greater than the rifle. If the center of gravity is behind the left hand, the weight will be less than the weight of the rifle. It is necessary to hold a reasonable amount of weight on the left hand in order that the swing of the rifle may be slow and give one time to pull. It is possible to build a rifle to weigh 12 or 20 pounds and have it hold exactly the same. In other words except to absorb recoil, the shooting weight of a rifle is not what the rifle actually is, but how the weight is distributed. Anyone can prove these facts for themselves, as I have done for many years for my customers, by simply holding the rifle by the butt plate so that it will not overturn on a small platform scale, first weighing the rifle itself, then by supporting it at various places to see what the left hand actually holds, and not forgetting before you finish to tie a couple of points or so onto the butt plate in order to convince yourself that it has absolutely no effect on the weight held by the left hand, and there has no effect on the shooting balance of the rifle and no influence in slowing the movement of the muzzle in aiming.
Stock. The stock should be as straight as possible to conform with comfort. The cheek piece should be high enough so the when the eye is in line with the sights as it presses firmly against the cheek, as this materially helps steady the rifle. The cheek piece if hollowed should have no projection in front, but a straight run for the rifle recoils an appreciable amount before the bullet leaves.

I shot offhand, not very well, 200 yards, 20 shots + sighters, 3 or 4 relays per day, for ~ 30 years.

Some of us, including some of the better shooters, agreed that offhand rifles should be shorter and lighter than the old time rifles.

Shooting 1 shot every 10-15 minutes is a different game, the olden days with a ticket.