POI

[Okanogan]

I've done most of my hunting in recent years off RRS tripod. Most of my rifles shoot the same POI off the tripod but not all of them. My .224 Valkyrie shoots a little over 1 MOA low off the tripod vs. the bench and bi-pod. I make it a point to practice with the tripod at the range before hunting to confirm I don't have a POI shift. Why the Valkyrie has the shift and others don't, I have never been able to figure out. It is just something I deal with.

 

[OldElkHunter1961]

I have found bi-pods to be an inflexible shooting aid. A sling on your arm is far more useful. So is your day pack.

 

[OldElkHunter1961]

Practice over the pack, then apply what you learned afield.

 

[Teri Anne]

How do you guys manage your POI when shooting off a bipod on hard ground, soft ground, off your truck, i use a small cal .222 so it wouldnt effect me much out to 200yds on grass and the occasional dirt or farm road, but what about you guys with the larger cals

At first I wasn't going to respond to this post then thought better of it. How do I manage my point of impact? First of all I don't use a bipod, most are not well made and cause aiming errors unless you have sighted in your rifle when shooting from a bipod from the position you will be shooting out in the field. One simple thing that most people neglect is the fact that scope eye relief changes when you go through the different shooting positions. The eye relief you set when shooting from a bench will not be anywhere close to what it is when shooting in other positions especially the prone position. Don't believe it, take your rifle and first put it to your shoulder and look through the scope. If the eye relief is properly set then you should not have to jokey around to get a full sight picture and there should be no need to move your head to adjust for parallax. If you have to move your head around, especially fore or aft then the eye relief needs to be reset. Once that eye relief is set get into another shooting position and do the same thing. Get your cheek weld and look through the scope. In about 99% of all cases you will have to move your head either back or forward to get the proper eye relief. That is because the eye relief changed with the different position. You will probably find that your POI shifted too. The solution to this issue is to select the position that you will be shooting from most of the time, set your eye relief and zero the rifle for that position. Then keep in mind that if you shoot from another position that you are going to have to slightly modify the way you hold your rifle to ensure you correct for the difference. Personally I use a military sling and the bones in my body for support. If you use muscle to support the rifle, there is wobble and the wobble causes misses, bone does not move so once in PROPER shooting position no matter what it is, you will have the best support for any shot. It takes practice and it's not perfect, but much more effective and a lot steadier than using a bipod, which can pretty much only be used when shooting prone,

 

[jimbires]

I posted up those links , but didn't respond to your question .

I shoot prone at longer distance . I get straight behind the rifle , and load the bipod by pushing into the rifle with my toes . my trigger hand has a semi firm grip . I think I'm the only guy that wraps my trigger hand thumb up over the stock, my other hand works the rear bag . I use a light cheek weld . the other guys I shoot with use almost no hold with the trigger hand . I think we all get straight behind the rifle , and load with our toes . it's just something you have to play with and see what works best for you . I have a couple pics that show what I'm talking about .

this guy is straight behind , and very light or, no trigger hand control




this guy loading with his toes .

 

[Allen Kitts]

@shooter53 If you find yourself shooting prone on the ground regularly, you can cheat a bit with spiked feet. They dig in and give you that "wall" to push into. Rubber feet have a tendency to slide, and rotating rubber feet on a Harris bipod will slide you across the county!
View attachment 324568

**** those are nice, do you mind me asking where you got them?

 

[DoneNOut]

**** those are nice, do you mind me asking where you got them?

Straight from Hawk Hill Customs website. Just the spiked feet.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

I had a hard footed bipod I tried using off a hard bench top it would throw shots horribly putting a 1/2" piece of rubber mat under it helped quite a bit. Really I quit using bipods off the bench completely after that in favor of sand bags for bench shooting but a good quality rubber footed bipod is fine if properly loaded.

 

[Greyfox]

BrentM hit the nail in the head.

Achieving the same POI from various positions has much to do with position and hold. Regardless of your position, be sure to keep both shoulders perpendicular to the line of the barrel, very mild to no downward cheek pressure on the comb, and apply firm and consistent rearward pressure of the stock to your shoulder. Practice this until your POI is the same from all positions. The key is to replicate the movement of the barrel upon firing from each position. Lots of practice!