Shooting 1" high

[Travelor]

I am looking for ideas to help with a "glich" I am having - shooting about 1" high on all the animals. I have checked the rifle's zero using a bench rest and the gun is fine.

I have tried adressing the animals from the top down and from the bottom up. Also tried breathing changes. Even tried changing sight settings to compensate for this gremlin. So far nothing has helped other than changing sight settings which is a really jack-leg thing to do.

Could it be that my natural point of aim is higher than I think it is when I address the animals?

This is causing a real slump in results.

Ideas would be warmly accepted.

[GeoNLR]

I am looking for ideas to help with a "glich" I am having - shooting about 1" high on all the animals. I have checked the rifle's zero using a bench rest and the gun is fine.

I have tried adressing the animals from the top down and from the bottom up. Also tried breathing changes. Even tried changing sight settings to compensate for this gremlin. So far nothing has helped other than changing sight settings which is a really jack-leg thing to do.

Could it be that my natural point of aim is higher than I think it is when I address the animals?

This is causing a real slump in results.

Ideas would be warmly accepted.

Get your standing zeros.... Shoot paper off hand and get your standing zero?????

[BlauBear]

Isn't a difference between bench zero and off hand zero normal? If this is consistent, adjust the sights?

If it's inconsistent, check parallax and make sure you're using the same position relative to the scope. Can you tell us something about your setup?

[slowstdy]

Chicken is right. But i think you need to do a little more. Use paper, and shoot at least 10 shots at a cross, spot, circle, and get a general idea of were the shots are going. Are the shots going were you break the trigger? Is your grip on the gun and your hold the same every time? To make this a little easier start at 25 yds, or the chicken line. When you sight in your gun on the bench, make sure the front rest is at about the same point as your hand would be and that the butt is into your shoulder. Test with out the butt in your shoulder and see if the POA is different, some guns are odd like that. If I push on my trigger hard and fast i shoot high. My Off hand zero on rams is about 3/4" high. Hope that works out, if not i have some other ideas.

[ajj]

There are two schools of thought on whether it's normal for the offhand point of impact to vary from the benchrest POI. Some will tell you that if it varies, you're doing something wrong and I'm coming around to that point of view. As you shoot more, especially at paper, your ability to call the shot improves and you start to see any glitches, such as failures to follow-through (which ordinarily sends the bullet low, not high, but you get the idea.) Shoot plenty of paper.
If the POI is really consistent, then by all means adjust the sight to compensate. If you are having a technique "challenge" and start to iron it out, you can always change back. I've had stretches with the airgun where the dot jumps straight up whenever the trigger breaks. It comes and goes. I cannot figure out why it happens! I fight and fight to "fix" it and then finally just start breaking the shots low. The smart thing to do would be to quit shooting that session, I suppose. The next day it's gone. In fact I haven't had the problem in a month, but when it's there I can certainly see it happen so that's probably not your situation. But as you well know, getting the trigger moving to the break TENDS to move the rifle, frequently in a consistent pattern. An old tip from the great Jack Writer is to think follow-through BEFORE the trigger breaks in order to break it more smoothly.
Just a few things to try.

[Jason]

I shoot a little higher offhand than I do off the bench, also. I set my zeros for where I shoot offhand, not off the bench. You can try to simulate your offhand hold off the bench and might get closer to the same, your body position and support points will be different offhand than they are off the bench, so your point of impact is bound to be at least a little different.

[Bob259]

Like others have said never use your bench settings as your off hand settings, unless you hold as solid as the bench . However that said I do know some people that stubornly don't belive this and blame the gun.

I learned early on that you need to shoot paper, dots or animals on a sheet of paper to see what your body does off hand. You can do like I do and get your bench setting for your base number and then adjust your setting for your off hand zero. I do this so I can always go back to the bench zero to adjust for conditions easier or just need to check your settings from the bench.

[ajj]

We naturally have to take shots with the rifle moving but now and then the shot breaks cleanly just as the dot settles for an instant and we follow through properly without moving the rifle. These moments are a lot easier to see and evaluate on paper. If you get a few of those and the bullet hole simply ends up higher than the dot was when the trigger broke, crank away on the elevation knob.

[genphideaux]

I will chime in with how I and let me make that clear this is HOW I check my zero is to put a small dot on a piece of paper and offhand consentrate on hitting it. Then I adjust the scope till I can consistantly hit or almost hit the dot, once my hold got better I started picking parts of the animals using swingers ie..head of chicken, nose of pig, head of turkey and nose of ram, when you get to this point you can tell a good shot from a bad one. My offhand chicken setting has been 1/2 moa higher and 1/2 moa to the right of my bench setting for awhile, the rest of the animals are the same standing or bench. I tried to apply logic to it then just decided it is what it is.

As stated just my way of doing it.

[dwl]

Travelor;

I find I have a similar problem and the cause is tensing the right arm (I am right handed) when I pull the trigger. I have to make a conscious effort to relax the right arm but, being an oaf, it continues to plague me.

It is, as mentioned above, a follow through issue. The trigger must be pressed with as little additional input to the gun as possible. For me that means relaxing the right arm and not anticipating the shot.

To try to help this situation I dedicate some practice sessions strictly to preparing and follwoing through on the shot with no regard for how many targets or how much time per shot. In fact the tactic is to take a lot of time for each shot to get it right and interrupting any bad shots before the release.

Hope some of this helps.

dwl

[papabear]

I might be over simplifying it but if you are consistently shooting on inch HIGH,
then the easiest solution is to aim one inch LOW......
Aim for the chicken legs, turkey legs, and between the legs of the pigs and the little thing hanging between the legs of the ram.

That should bring you to the center of the animals....

[Koldkut]

I had the same problem, corrected it with some training and sighting in my rifle offhand.

[Jason]

I think your time would be better spent practicing offhand than trying to change your offhand hold to duplicate your bench hold or vice versa. If you always shoot an inch higher at a certain distance than you do offhand, it doesn't mean that there's something wrong with your offhand hold. You can either just sight in offhand or you can establish the difference between your offhand and bench settings and then make your point of impact adjusted for that difference when shooting off the bench. I came to silhouette after benchrest shooting, and I can tell you for certain that your point of impact off the bench will differ when you change anything about your bench setup. I truly believe that you'd be better off just sighting in offhand if you can do it.

[Travelor]

Guys, thanks for all the help.

I will go to the range and work on offhand zero's on paper, hand and arm tension, trigger control, and on follow through. Sounds like there are a number of things I need to work on.

[BlauBear]

It may be more a simple reality than a problem, Travelor, but don't let me talk you out of range time!