Benchrest shooting with a bi pod 308 cal.

Not specific to .308 but I shoot all rifles the same way.

Either a bag (which is best) or balled up fist under the butt-stock. Squeeze the bag or tighten your fist to make fine tune adjustments.
 
A rear shooting bag works best for accuracy but I also use a homemade squeeze bag. It's just a sock half full of walnut media but it allows greater horizontal movement.
 
How do you hold the rifle, free recoil or strong hold with and cheek weld. I use a rear bunny eared bag with a Harris 6-9 bi pod.
 
No hold works for me shooing a rifle resting atop something on a bench top. Best I could do with my first .308 Win. match rifle was about 1.25" at 100 yards. I watched a dozen or more folks try their hand shooting that 12-pound .308 Win. match rifle with a 2.5-pound trigger and its ammo from the benched position of their choice and their 10-shot groups ranged from 3/4" to near 2" at 100 yards. The rifle and its ammo easily shot sub 1/2" groups at 100 yards when I shot it slung up in prone with a soft bag under its forend and another under the stock's toe.

The more one holds onto a benched rifle to test its accuracy, and the more recoil it has, the worse it shoots; in my opinion. Benchresters shoot their micro-groups with their rifles touched only by a finger on their 1- to 2-ounce triggers and they free-recoil back to the shooter's shoulder then stop. Us humans are not very repeatable holding onto rifles testing them for precision performance. But most of us think we are; I sure did, once upon a time. . . . . .

It's a tough pill to swallow. Everyone I've convinced to test their stuff shooting prone with soft bags under the rifle has agreed; they shoot more accurate that way with high powered rifles designed to be fired off ones shoulder.

That positon I was taught decades ago is now often used in F-class disciplines. And I really don't like a hard legged bipod under the stock's fore end.
 
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Bipod and rear bag.

Correctly "loading" the bipod is important, Lowlight has an excellent video on using a bipod correctly (he uses it prone in the video, but the same principles apply off a concrete bench) to eliminate "hop".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjG1JZxiui0

This is the key to maintaining the sight picture, and a brake helps even more to be able to spot your own hits- eliminating the need for a spotter.
 
How many people who have a 1/4 MOA rifle they can sight in precisely with two shots from standing and know the difference between that zero and a zero obtained shooting it rested atop something on a bench as it's held against their shoulder?
 
Bart I'm missing your question. I have a 1/4" moa rifle from a bench for 3 shots at least. With hand loads its an honest1" at 400 yards hunting rifle. 1/2moa with one lot number of ammo I bought years back. Places a cold barrel shot inside zero group too. Got lucky there . Its a rifle that's used for shooting over clear cuts or farm fields from a tree stand of some kind. Many times a climber or ladder stand. But you never know what you'll see on the walk in or out with in a couple hundred yards. Take a knee then. or a mono pod . I also never met a shooter that could shot to a rifles best while standing but its nice to have a solid rifle given the chance.
 
And, I didn't catch what type of stock or rifle you have. If you have any appreciable bend or flex in your stock- that bipod is likely not doing you any favors. If you can pick up a rest to place beneath the chamber area, and you see your groups tighten up or your POI change quite a bit- that should indicate you need to ditch the bipod or get a stiffer stock. I know bipods are very popular right now, but they aren't always everything they're made out to be.
 
nc-, you don't have to precisely aim at and hit dead center on a target to sight in a rifle. As long as the bullet strikes where the sight was at when the rifle fired. Even if that's way out up and to the right on a bullseye target.

Do you know what "calling your shot" means?
 
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I've had my best results from a bench with a Sinclair F-Class bipod and a Protektor rear bag.

I generally test all my new loads with that set up for all 7 of my centerfire rifles that have front swivel posts. I also use that set up to shoot groups with all of my .22 LR rifles that have posts, especially when shooting the .22s at 100 yards.

For those rifles without front swivel posts, I use an adjustable front rest but I don't find it as repeatable, at least for me.
 
bart I call my shot on ever animal I take. What else is there. A firearm version of poke and hope? I'm just a simple hunter.
 
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