Supported Position: Bipod & Rear Bag

New shooters use a bipod like a bench rest — they lay the rifle on it and let the bipod bear all the weight passively. This produces inconsistent groups because the rifle can rock slightly left or right in the bipod feet, and the interface between the rifle and bipod changes with each shot.

Correct technique: pre-load the bipod. Drive the rifle forward into the bipod by pushing your body into the rifle (shoulder into the butt, body mass forward). The bipod feet should be pressing into whatever surface they're on — a bench top, dirt, your pack — with meaningful force. This pre-load eliminates the rocking and makes the bipod a rigid platform that fires consistently each shot.

The pre-load also counteracts muzzle rise. A unloaded bipod allows the rifle to roll up over the pivot point on firing. A loaded bipod resists that rise and keeps the muzzle tracking straight back.

The rear bag supports the butt of the stock. Your support hand — which does NOT grip the forend — goes under or around the rear bag, and you use a 'squeeze' or 'pinch' to make fine elevation adjustments.

Squeezing the bag lifts the rear of the stock, lowering the muzzle (point of impact goes down). Releasing the squeeze lowers the rear, raising the muzzle. This is how precision shooters make small elevation corrections without adjusting turrets. It is significantly faster and requires no tool.

The squeeze must be the same on every shot. If you squeeze harder on some shots than others, your vertical point-of-impact shifts. Practice maintaining constant, light pressure on the bag throughout the shot sequence — from NPA check through follow-through.

Bag placement: the bag should contact the stock about a third of the way from the toe of the butt to the pistol grip — roughly where the butt curves into the stock. Too far back and you're working on unstable soft material; too far forward and you lose elevation adjustment range.

Leather rear bags with rigid fills (sand, lead shot) are the precision benchmark — they compress minimally and return to shape consistently. Soft-fill bags (bean bag material) are more forgiving on uneven surfaces but compress differently under different squeeze pressures.

Bipod feet matter. Rubber feet on a smooth bench can slide under recoil. Spike feet dig into dirt. Spiked feet on a bench will scratch it and can damage a firearm cleaning table. Know which feet are on your bipod for the environment you're in.

Improvised supports: a filled pack, a rolled jacket, or a sandbag can substitute for a bag in the field. The principle is identical — stable, consistent, and elevated to your natural head position. The improvised support should be dense enough not to compress significantly during the shot.

Vertical stringing (shots distributed vertically, not a tight group) is the most common bipod/bag symptom. Causes: inconsistent rear bag squeeze, bipod not pre-loaded the same way each shot, or the stock is rocking on a soft bag surface.

Horizontal stringing: the rifle is rocking left-right in the bipod. Check that bipod feet are on a stable surface, pre-load is consistent, and the bipod locking mechanism is fully engaged.

Groups that 'walk' across the target over a string of shots often indicate bipod feet slipping forward or back — especially on smooth surfaces. Address with a non-slip mat or spiked feet.