I know guys that say that their POI dose not change from off the bench to free hand shooting. I�ve never found this to be true with any rifle I�ve had. Like Bill said 1 moa, not much but it adds up. My 300 shoots 3� lower at 100 yds of the bench compared to freehand or just resting my elbows on the bench. I HATE the slobs that figure if they can hit a half a sheet of plywood at 100 yds their good to go and have no idea a bought bullet drop or wind affect. 30 some years ago my dad set my limits and I�ve stuck to them, as far as I could hit a 6�circle freehand or from a good rest is as far as I will shoot.

Most of my big game rifles are on at 200 yds. I carry a laser RF now if there is a chance of a shot over that range. I also have a runoff of the ballistics in my pocket and I can remember the drop to 300 yds. If the range is over that there has to be a really good reason to shoot. I would rather let them go otherwise than have to explain a wounded animal to myself.



I hold over to adjust for the drop. There is no time for clicking scopes like some advocate on another forum. For varmint hunting it's different and I might wing one at a coyote.

My Zero has always been at 100yds. Just my 2 cents worth.

Allen is mostly right about this although the rule may not hold true for all rifles. Very light rifles seem to be more suceptable to POI changes depending on the hold than others.
Some light rifles simply will not shoot as well from a rest as they do when hand held.
The difference in point of impact with my 308 LR target rifle is about 1/2 moa between shooting from a rest and shooting with a tight sling at all ranges. With a 35 Whelen mauser based hunting rifle it's more like 1moa. The 308 Norma splits the difference between the two. My 6mmRem coyote rifle doesn't seem to care. I suspect the light recoil coupled with high velocity/short barrel time may have something to do with this.
Testing from likely field positions is a good idea and certainly can pay off when shooting at long range. Regards, Bill.

You state shooting and not hunting and that's what I believe you intend so based on that here's how I do it.

Like LawCop "Zero" for me is 100 yards. "Zero" means that at 100 yards with the turret at -0- I hit Point of Aim = Point of Impact.

Then like Tailgunner I adjust the scope's elevation turret to the setting required for the distance of the shot(s). I also adjust the windage turret to what I believe is correct for the conditions presented. After the shot(s) I return the scope to it's 100 yard -0- position.

For hunting, I use the same rifle(s) for target shooting and hunting, the only thing I change is that when I'm just stalking/walking around I have the turret set at -2-MOA up. This -2- setting allows me to shoot to just over 200 yards without adjustment(s) on the scope, this is well within the distance I see and shoot most big game. If the critter is further and I decide to shoot I do just like target shooting, set the scope for the measured distance to the critter and dial on the wind.