Bipod and zero
- Thread starter mccraggen
- Start date
NoSecondBest
New member
It can be normal depending on what type of rest you used on the bench. Shooting off a bench/bags can vary all over the place. Were they hard bags, soft bags, where was the forend of the gun on the bags compared to where your bipod is mounted? I've seen guys sight in their guns by shooting off the bipod on a bench to duplicate the same type of rest. My point is this: changing the pressure on your gun from one time to another time by changing from bags to bipods will almost always change your POI. The forend of a gun is really tempermental as to changing POI.
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
From what I've read, this is fairly common. Particularly so if the barrel is not free-floated. If it's not free-floated, the pressure on the barrel is different between the two forms of rest.
50 shooter
New member
Did you load the bipod?
Either push it forward or pull it back and try to put it in the same place or same amount of force on it everytime you shoot.
Either push it forward or pull it back and try to put it in the same place or same amount of force on it everytime you shoot.
The moment the primer ignites the powder, recoil has started, but the bullet is still traveling down the barrel. Recoil causes a reaction to whatever surface the rifle is resting on, so different types of contact will cause different reactions. Remember, the bullet is still traveling down the barrel as the rifle jumps this way or that, and all takes place in the blink of an eye, or less.
My best answer is; be consistent in how you rest the rifle.
My best answer is; be consistent in how you rest the rifle.
At issue is the fact that barrel harmonics play such a major role in the "shot"
Something as simple as how hard you prsess the stock inot your shoulder will have some affect on the recoil, barrel rise.
Then add in any changes fo the tenion on the stock and how that affects the barrel and you7 can have a large variation on the situation.
Its one reason that bench rest shooting is not the same as a hunting position shot. Hunting you are standing, kneeling, laying, maybe brace3d by a tree or over a vehicle hood but not on sandbags.
Some of those variations canceled out, I never missed a fair shot (I did miss a really long one) when I used those position above (never did a lay down shot)
If you are going to shoot varmints with the bipod and lay down is your norm, then you want to zero from that setup and position. Varmints are the next thing to target shooting in that you have a very small zone you are trying to hit and sometimes at very extended ranges.
Wind will affect the long shots, but if you are zeroed you only have to adjust for that variable, not multiples.
Something as simple as how hard you prsess the stock inot your shoulder will have some affect on the recoil, barrel rise.
Then add in any changes fo the tenion on the stock and how that affects the barrel and you7 can have a large variation on the situation.
Its one reason that bench rest shooting is not the same as a hunting position shot. Hunting you are standing, kneeling, laying, maybe brace3d by a tree or over a vehicle hood but not on sandbags.
Some of those variations canceled out, I never missed a fair shot (I did miss a really long one) when I used those position above (never did a lay down shot)
If you are going to shoot varmints with the bipod and lay down is your norm, then you want to zero from that setup and position. Varmints are the next thing to target shooting in that you have a very small zone you are trying to hit and sometimes at very extended ranges.
Wind will affect the long shots, but if you are zeroed you only have to adjust for that variable, not multiples.
Floated or not makes no difference to zero. It's possible the stock is being onto the barrel, but how the bipod is mounted(sling studs can be screwed in a bit crooked or in too far and be touching the barrel.) and maybe how you're holding the rifle matters more.
"...if your barrel isn't floated..." Shouldn't be any pressure change on the stock if it isn't. There will be a change if it is floated. Floating the barrel guarantees absolutely nothing for accuracy anyway. Some rifles like it. Some just do not.
"...if your barrel isn't floated..." Shouldn't be any pressure change on the stock if it isn't. There will be a change if it is floated. Floating the barrel guarantees absolutely nothing for accuracy anyway. Some rifles like it. Some just do not.
I once bought a rem 700sps with plastic stock. Zero the gun on the bench and when checking zero on hunt with bipod it was way out. Eventually figured out stock was touching barrel when loading bipod. Less load improved things but grouping was still horrible. Put on a laminate and there is still a difference but much less. Shooting tiny groups with a bipod is a skill on its own.
I use sand bags, bipods, and shooting sticks. I have some rifles in high end McMillan stocks and some in cheap tupperware stocks. I've never noted any difference in POI when going between the 3.
The key with the cheap stocks is a generous free float. It doesn't matter how flexible it is, or if it is even there as long as it doesn't touch the barrel. Making the forend stiffer forward of the recoil lug has no effect on accuracy.
The key with the cheap stocks is a generous free float. It doesn't matter how flexible it is, or if it is even there as long as it doesn't touch the barrel. Making the forend stiffer forward of the recoil lug has no effect on accuracy.
I'm shooting a Rem.700 308 caliber off a Harris fixed bi pod . I only shoot benchrest . As others posted it's all in consistency . Shoulder pressure , cheekweld pressure , grip , breathing , trigger position , focus and concentrating on the target . Most of all getting comfortable shooting the same rifle . I only shoot my one an only , there's no surprises , just love shooting it with no itch to buy another.
If the stock flexes into the barrel from the simple act of laying it on rest, even pre recoil, it does in fact help accuracy a great deal. Base model savage rifles have notoriously flimsy stocks. Such that using a bipod, or even any rest far forward of the recoil lug, will cause the stock to flex enough to contact the barrel. Stiffening the forearm fixed the issue. I've done it on several rifles.
Double Naught Spy
New member
This would seem counter to floating the barrel.
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
"If the stock flexes into the barrel from the simple act of laying it on rest, even pre recoil, it does in fact help accuracy a great deal."
If the contact is of low pressure against the barrel, it's possible--but not necessarily common. A low-pressure contact could act as a damper and cause consistent harmonics, shot to shot. The operative word is "could". Not all rifles responds to this sort of light contact.
If the contact is of low pressure against the barrel, it's possible--but not necessarily common. A low-pressure contact could act as a damper and cause consistent harmonics, shot to shot. The operative word is "could". Not all rifles responds to this sort of light contact.
DNS, typically in most cases a floated barrel will likely be more accurate. My response that you quoted was actually where I was explaining that using bipods on a flimsy stock is usually detrimental to accuracy unless the forearm is stiffened so that the stock doesn't flex into the barrel. Whole quote for context.