What could be wrong with my technique?

[lisagrantb]

While dry firing prone off bipod the cross hairs move .5" to the left. It happens mostly when I load the bipods and have a firm cheek weld. I've tried adjusting position, hold and trigger pull but it pretty consistently moves the half-inch to the left at 100 yards. The only thing that seems to work is no cheek weld and light pressure in the shoulder. Is this normal for the POA to shift like this or is there something wrong with my shooting technique. My groups with this gun are usually around .4 to .6 MOA @ 100 yards.

 

[backwoods83]

Would need more details on exact setup, but it seems as if the problem is you. If your hold is rock solid on a dry fire the crosshair should be exactly where it was before you fired, unless you have an extremely light rifle and a super hard hitting firing pin.

 

[lisagrantb]

Yea I figured it was me. The gun is 13# with a Defiance action,a tactical setup. When I shoot matches I useally load the bipods pretty good so I can see my hits

 

[shortpants]

How heavy is your trigger set?

 

[barnesuser28]

it could also be that you are not pulling the trigger straight back

 

[angus-5024]

If its when you pull the trigger and you already have established good natural point of aim, it has got to be something to do with body positioning. Especially since you do it without recoil.

My guess is that your hand hold is rather to tight, remeber to hold on just enough that you can control the rifle through recoil.
You hand could have an unnatural postion or stock fit is poor, causeing you to fight the gun for a good squeeze.
elbow positioning can be a problem. If your anchor points arent rock solid, your shot wont be either.
If you load up your bi-pod legs hard and have a straight on approach (body lines up with the gun, not canted with one leg up) make sure you load up both legs equally.

Some people might not feel that that much thought goes into your body position, but I do... maybe it aint worth much, but its how I shoot.

 

[grit]

Darrel Holland has a video on here about shooting off a bipod, in the vid section. He addresses the issue you're having. Loading, pulling hard, or gripping hard will all impart movement. Any time you put energy into a stock the stock goes somewhere when given the opportunity to move. Watch the vid.

 

[lisagrantb]

Trigger pull is 1.5# and very crisp. It's a fully custom gun with a Jewell trigger, Eliseo tube gun stock and Krieger barrel. It can deffinetally shoot better than I can. I'm going to try the things mentioned and watch the video. The stock is fully adjustable so the possibalities are endless but I'm going to try one thing at a time. Do you agree that if everything is correct the poa should not change when dry firing

 

[Bravo 4]

Do you agree that if everything is correct the poa should not change when dry firing

Agreed.
I am having the same problem with my .308 AR. No matter the hold or rest it ends up .2 mils right. The advice I was given was to try snap caps and see if that helps. It didn't for me. Think my aftermarket hammer spring causes too hard a strike.

 

[shortpants]

Try using a different rifle (preferably one set up as close to the same as your current rifle). See if the problem consistent when you are using any rifle or just this one. Then perhaps it the firing pin hitting to hard. The snap cap idea is a good one to try. I always lean on the problem lying with the shooter first so I would start there. Don't over think it because you'll do more harm than good. Concentrate instead on a good squeeze that surprises you and a great follow through (don't even blink). I would try it again with the same rifle first and if it happens again move over to a different rifle using the same technique and see what happens. If you are going to change anything about your technique or positioning do it one thing at a time so you can isolate how that change affects your results. In other words don't change your grip with your trigger hand, your support hand, and your body position all in one shot. Good luck, let us know what you find!

 

[lisagrantb]

If its when you pull the trigger and you already have established good natural point of aim, it has got to be something to do with body positioning. Especially since you do it without recoil.

My guess is that your hand hold is rather to tight, remeber to hold on just enough that you can control the rifle through recoil./QUOTE]

You may have something here. I was playing around with it this evening. I settled into my usual position and had the same results, the first thing I did was settle in position but before firing I completely relaxed my firing hand and it didn't move the POA I then alternated between my normal hold and the relaxed hold and it was obvious. I loaded the bipods and had a good cheek weld but it didn't matter, when I held the pistol grip with what I thought normal pressure the POA would change. I will continue to experiment with this but at least I'm off to a good start.

 

[KingBama]

I shoot hand cannons and used to experience the left pull with my S&W .460, until I was coached to use the "fat" of the end of the finger instead of the bend/last joint of finger for trigger pulls. Solved the problem.