Ok so another question for the reloaders. When doing load development do yall shoot as you would in the field ie, off of bipods or off more of a target shooting deal like a lead sled,front and rear bags ect ? I see some saying it doesn't matter ,others saying it messes with harmonics and you'll have different groups if you do development one way then use it in a different manner

I bench off a lead sled to be as solid as possible. As long as I know it’s exactly where I want it, I can screw it up later off the bench. My experience it doesn’t seem to matter and the bench eliminates a lot of variable. Unless the gun and barrel is tied down solid somehow I don’t see how harmonics would be different, they could be but I don’t see it.

What do you do?

lead sled here as well. Help eliminate all the variables makes more sense to me.

I've been trying to do it off of my bipod because if I'm in the field I shoot off my pod sooooo but honestly I can't really shoot too well off of a bench my my pod. I noticed my zeros are different if I zero on bags then shoot on a pod though. Not by much . But I'm a lil ocd so it's enough lol. Reckon it would just make sense to do my load development on bags then rezero for the pod lol

What is, not by much? Any possibility off your bipod that you’re fidgeting, flinching, breathe weird, even the slightest bit? Even subconsciously? I would lean more towards solid rest being the better zero of the two.



Owl

I shoot off of sandbags.

I've heard those Lead Sleds are rough on optics. True?

Jim

wolfy, preload the pod, lean into the rifle a bit and take the slack out of the pod legs.

I actually don't have much slack in most of my bipods. I try to pre load but man they just don't have any. I did modify one by streaching the springs out so there was a good bit of slack . Had some really good shooting with that

I have a lead sled. I dont really like them. Rolled up coat on a pickup hood makes marketers cringe but works just fine. Granted if your trying to wring another 1/4 inch tighter group it wont fly but if you are fine with minute of coyote at 300 yards, works great. If I am confident I can hit a bullseye the size of a tea cup saucer at 300 yards on a windless day, I am good. Lots of people like trying to get the tightest group but I am a hunter of meat and fur. I entertain myself with shooting at times but my real goal is one accurate shot when my freezer is getting low or I spot that bobcat hiding with snow on the ground.

My 22-250 has a bipod but its usefulness quite honestly is not worth the extra weight. I leave it on but seldom shoot at a coyote using it.

the only thing I’ve found a leadsled to be any good for is cleaning a rifle. Front and rear bags or a good bipod and rear bag is the only way to shoot serious groups as far as I’m concerned.

Don’t know about optics but I do know several people who have cracked wood stocks when using them

Only use sand bags of the bench.

For load development I always shoot 5 shot groups using a front rest and rear bag on a concrete shooting bench. Every shot is fired through a chronograph. I want as many variables eliminated as possible and I want to see the group statistics. First I establish the seating depth the particular bullet/rifle combo likes using a moderate load, usually loading .005", .010, .015, .020 off the lands. Then I work up in 0.5 grain powder increments looking for groups to tighten. The smallest groups don't always have the best statistics (spread & standard deviation) but are always close to the best. I think barrel harmonics are the reason. Bad stats don't yield small groups.

Some folks work up a powder charge first and then work on seating depth. I don't use that approach because as the lands are approached pressures increase, sometimes dramatically, with an associated increase in velocity. This may be OK with moderate loads developed only for accuracy, but can be dangerous if working with hunting loads at or near maximum. Also, the pressure and velocity increase can invalidate previous test results due to changes in barrel harmonics.

Prone with bags

Never used a sled, I use leather bags filled with birdshot. Been using them for forty years.

bag or a bipod for me. i like to shoot off bipods to sight in and then i practice off the bipods as well. i dont reload so factory ammo is what i use. no point in me zeroing with a sled when i dont have one in the field to use. like danny said and ive seen many rifles zero in off a rolled up jacket and rifle across the hood. i too am a meat hunter and rarely need to shoot further than 300 yards to kill something.

Bags here. It just removes all doubt when perfecting a load.

Bags

Your cheek weld may well change when shooting of a pod, compared to bags. I shoot on the bench of bags, then zero again for the bipod if the rifle gets used with one in the field or sticks if I use them. But during load development its bags every time.

shoot how you intend to shoot when you need to make the shot

if you always have the bipod on and when you shoot at a coyote far of you will drop the bipod then bipod

if you are more likely to carry a bag in your truck and toss it on the hood to stabilize the shot , bag

if you have a bipod and may shoot both over a pack or from the bipod shoot both and see if it changes your impact at all

if you preload the bipod you always pre-load the bipod

if you know there is a shift in your group between pod and bag you can calculate for it

this Sunday we learned how much ammo can make a difference also

first stage with AR was 218 , 329 and 405 yards

my son apparently found a box of my old 223 rounds from before I got them over a chronograph they were 2680 from a 16 inch barrel I then sped them up to about 3K

well we verified Saturday he was 2 inches high at 100 yards that should have gotten us what we needed but we verified with "new" ammo

he had a first round hit at 2 and 300 then dumped way to many rounds in the sand neatly centered under the plate at 405 low power optic he could not see the sand hits and compensate

for the match you also could not use anything but a top surface of the barricade and tank trap above the bracket that holds the timbers together so the answer is you need to get used to shooting from all sorts of items

2680 fps is about 3-4 feet lower with the same bullet and barrel at 405 than 3000fps while still hitting the plate at 300 yards it would have been about 10-11 inches low there but he couldn't see the hits only that he did hit and no spotter info could be given

2680 was crazy accurate that is why I had originally stopped there till later I realized how slow it was and that I couldn't reach 500 with it

I still need to buy a chronograph I was able to borrow one a few times