How do you guys shoot lighter weight rifles good? I have a 7 mag Remington 700 action criterion magnum Sporter contour 26" long, have it in a Mesa precision stock bedded. Have a Trijicon 4-16x50 acculite scope on it. Weights about 9lbs. Shooting off a Harris and a rear bag at the range it seem like it's hard to shoot good. Seems like the reticle really is moving left to right. Have been struggling finding a good load for it am just wondering if it's the fact I just can't hold it as steady as my other rifles that are 2-5 more pounds. How do I get it to settle down?
What are your group sizes at 100?
Do you have a muzzle break? This calms a rifle down significantly. Some will say it's louder but who cares,, it's a gun and hopefully wearing ear pro.
So not knowing anything else about then, I would get rid of the Harris BiPod. Honestly, and I'm sure I'll get a few scoffs, there are much better bipods for magnum rifles. The rubber stops really only increase the bounce that results from the shot and torque of the barrel. Either shoot from a solid front stand or bag, something with little to no downward give, or bipod with ski type feet.
You want the rifle to ride straight back not up or bouncing off of rubber feet.
If you study how Benchrest andF-Class competitions guns run they are not using flimsy lightweight bipods.
Ejecting the bipod all together is a good idea as well - learning to shoot from a solid cradle that's mounted in a stand or from 4 legged sticks will give you an extremely solid hold.
Find a place to put they chicken wing (firing arm) and make it stable.
record yourself shooting
Where do your hands go? What does your grip look like, being exact and consistent from shot to shot will make a difference- same everything.
lmk how it works out