The rifle to body connection cannot be overlooked here. Likewise, the stability of the support structure, the position of the support hand, the pressure on the system, etc.
Practice more, with small targets. Like 1” diamonds at 100 yards for live fire. Make the target you dry fire at very small...no more than .2 mil. If your reticle jumps out of that diamond on dry fire, it’s very unlikely you will have an impact inside the diamond. If the reticle jumps, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE SOMETHING TO KEEP IT STILL. Body position, grip, cheek pressure, pull, push, support hand position, how well the rifle is settled into the bag, or all of the above. The more you practice, the sooner you will figure out which…shoot slow and think about each shot.
@lowlight is not wrong about NPA but you do have to interact with the rifle to press the trigger and you probably have some trigger weight to overcome…so it’s not exactly as simple as making sure the undisturbed rifle is pointing at the target. The “fine tune” that he talks about is critical and as it improves, you’ll realize the “gross adjustment” happens easier too.
A vertical jump would have me looking at pressure against the butt…probably too much. Additionally, if the support/barricade is wobbly, you will see vertical, particularly if you are pushing into it too much. I find a little less pressure helps my standing shots and a little more works better for kneeling, for me, assuming a very stable barricade. There’s a fine line between pushing too much, and “free recoil” and it’s often different for each rifle and for each position. Try a slightly stronger pull with your grasper fingers to help with recoil instead of pushing into the back of the rifle. Overcoming all the propaganda about “driving the rifle” and the usefulness of “barricade stops” is a challenge you will have to sort for yourself but the sooner you do it, the better.
Pay close attention to where your weight/center of gravity is. If you are leaning in to the rifle, I think you are pushing too hard. Keep your weight over your feet/knees. Try a position with the buttstock closer to your midline. This alone makes a noticeable difference in my positional shooting. Meaning, closer to midline, it is noticeably easier to keep the reticle still through dry fire and my groups are measurably smaller in live fire.
Its a process that, more than anything, takes deliberate effort. Go check out riflekraft.com for a helpful drill/analysis tool. No, I’m not affiliated.
