free recoil equals good groups. bad groups non free

[foreign]

so i have a question. i have been playing with my .22 to try and develop my shooting. want to use the .22 to develop wind reading skills ect.
so was shooting the .22 today trying to develop base accuracy that i have with it. i found that i didnt seem to be getting very good groups ( 1 inch at 50m). decided that i would try free recoil. set the rifle up on 2 sandbags so that it was on target without any interference from me. forefinger and thumb only touching. groups like that had bullets stacking on top of each other.
that is all well and good for a .22 but i cant do that with my .308 hunting rifle.
so what suggestions do peopel have on how to shoot the .22 that is not free recoil. of a bipod would be prefered as that is what i use on .308 .223. 7mmwsm.
will they be transferable?
cheers

[royinidaho]

When shooting bench rest competition with the light rifle the free recoil method was used exclusively with a 2oz trigger in 222 Rem. Never been able to do that with a hunting rifle of larger caliber. With your 22 I'd consider doing some experimenting with cheek weld and consistent position on the sand bags. I always leave the forearm float on the front rest with the non-trigger hand controlling the rear sandbag. You may also have a bedding issue which is sensitive to pressures. Its difficult to do one thing in practice and another in the game. Just some hintz....

[Rimfire]

What kind of .22? As stated it sounds like a bedding issue. If you are holding it firm you might be flexin the rifle

[D.ID]

It is my NOT SO POPULAR OPINION that training with a rimfire will teach you how to be really proficient with that rimfire. Learning how the wind effects a given bullet from said rimfire will teach you how the wind effects said bullet from said rimfire. Once you gain the basics from any rifle (stability and trigger control) you should train with the individual gear you wish to learn. If you want to master the 308 rifle firing a 175 at 2650 out to 800 yards.....training with a 22 rifle firing a 40 grain at 1350 out to 200 yards will have very little relevancy. Different recoil,weight,stock,optics,wind deflection,drops etc. etc. Learning what a 10 mph wind looks like vs a 4mph wind is relevant but can be done equally well with your 308 and will not require a conversion to relevancy for the 308 ballistics. Even the same rifle can feel very different and require a different hold to shoot or balance effectively with something as simple as a different cheek piece or stock. The whole system is relevant to that system. An a5 stock with a vertical grip and straight comb is all together different from a drop comb "hunting" stock and it requires a slightly different hold.

[D.ID]

It all matters to itself but not necessarily to anything else..........THE world does not revolve around me but The part of it that matters most to me .......DOES.

[foreign]

rifle is a older cooey. they have serious issues with badding i guess since they have a tubular magazine and only have one bedding screw part way up the barrel. so as you torque the screw down the barrle lowwers in the stock. think im going to take some drastic measures and make a set of blocks to hold the actionthat should sort out the bedding issue.

D.ID
i understand exactly what you mean as i caqn fire my .22 free recoil but obviosly not the .308 like that. im more trying to develop an understanding of reading the wind. and a .22 is the cheapest option by far. if i can read the wind to place a .22 bullet where i want it out to say 150m then i will be developing a good understanding of it and that should allow me to v=be able to read wind fairly well for other guns, then just have to learn/reculculate the drift value with that round.
cheers
any thoughts on bedding a cooey?