Sighting in from bench for off-hand shooting

[Gsyme]

When you are sighting in from the bench rest, do you hold the front of the rifle down?

I am still new but getting better (thanks to help from here and some time investment) and have tried different things but seem to get the tightest groups holding the front of my rifle down onto the rest.

So that is what I did to sight in. But now, when I shoot off hand my balls land quite a bit higher than when shooting from the rest. Thinking I need to start over.

How do you sight-in if your intent is to zero for off hand? Do you just do the whole process off-hand?

Oh - I have CVA Kentucky .45.

 

[andy52]

As long as the rifle is well supported there is no reason to strap the muzzle down, and no I don't start off hand there are too many varibles to do it that way.

 

[Grimord]

From the bench I just rest the forearm on the front sand bag. Once the gun is shooting where i want it, I do all the rest of my shooting off hand. If I miss, I know it is my fault and not the guns.

 

[dave951]

Here's the skinny on how to do this. When shooting from a bench, rest the front of the rifle where your hand would be. Hold the rifle with your hand and put the back of your hand on the bags. Grip the rifle as you would for offhand shooting. This is as close as you'll get to actual offhand but still be on a bench.

The recoil impulse is different off the bench but this method minimizes it. All my competition shooting is offhand. I test ammunition this way and see very little change in point of impact.

 

[SulphurForkVagrant]

I second @Grimord

 

[Gsyme]

The recoil impulse is different off the bench but this method minimizes it.

Thank you, Dave et al. This is what I was after.

 

[Billy Boy]

When you are sighting in from the bench rest, do you hold the front of the rifle down?

I am still new but getting better (thanks to help from here and some time investment) and have tried different things but seem to get the tightest groups holding the front of my rifle down onto the rest.

So that is what I did to sight in. But now, when I shoot off hand my balls land quite a bit higher than when shooting from the rest. Thinking I need to start over.

How do you sight-in if your intent is to zero for off hand? Do you just do the whole process off-hand?

Oh - I have CVA Kentucky .45.

If you shoot from a hard surface - a sandbag, the rifle will shoot away from it. Zeroed this way, it will shoot low off hand. I use a foam cartop carrier type foam block, its flat on the bottom, has ample support for shooting and because of the ‘give’ in the rest, will produce a zero that doesn’t change for offhand shooting.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have found that I always shoot higher offhand than from a bench.I believe the reason is off of a bench I can hold the rifle for a longer period and see the top of the front sight better. Offhand I tend to pull more of the front sight into the rear sight notch and threrefore shoot higher.

 

[hanshi]

I've noticed that groups fired from a bench will sometimes print slightly higher than from offhand.

 

[tenngun]

My bench is a set of cross sticks. Not as steady as bench and sandbag for sure, but servers purpose for my shooting. I rarely shoot off hand

 

[dkasprzak]

Also when shooting from a bench be certain you are resting your gun on the forestock and not the barrel.

 

[Glenn A. Smith]

From the bench I just rest the forearm on the front sand bag. Once the gun is shooting where i want it, I do all the rest of my shooting off hand. If I miss, I know it is my fault and not the guns.

My philosophy also. If the hardware is tuned well, then any problems fall on the shooter.