I can hear the whining already, “I’m not going to waste all that ammunition!” Besides, some say, if the rifle shoots to different places from the bench and from hunting positions, what are you going to do? Change the zero you got at the bench? Well, yes, you are--if you want to hit where you aim in the field.

The Ruger No. 1 that drove its bullets nine inches to seven o’clock at 200 yards from a tight sling got a bedding job. I considered the difference excessive, so I relieved fore-end pressure by installing a rubber gasket around the fore-end screw.

Cinching the screw, I squashed that ring before pressing the wood against the barrel at the fore-end tip. My ministrations moved the low group up, halving the distance between prone and bench groups. Then I adjusted the scope to give me a 200-yard zero from prone.

I often zero from prone now. There’s no sense firing from sandbags a rifle that earns its keep with a taut sling. Besides, zeroing prone is good field practice. I’ve watched many sportsmen check zero at the bench or over a pickup hood at hunting camps; I’ve seen very few take even one shot from a field position.

“It’s an ego thing,” said a hunting partner recently. “Shooters want to see tight groups, especially if they’re checking zero in front of their peers before a hunt. They’re supposed to arrive with a rifle already zeroed, and they’re supposed to be competent marksmen. Shooting with the rifle unsupported, they’ll likely push at least one shot so far out the audience will erupt in hoots and howls. Nobody wants that.”

I think my amigo is right. Sometimes I’ve had to cajole hunters to fire a couple of shots before a hunt, even from a rest. When you don’t shoot, you can’t miss. But you delude yourself believing others will take you at your word when you say: “I’ve been shooting that rifle for 20 years. Punches sub-minute groups all day long to 500 yards. Never had to adjust the scope. It’s a magnum, so wind doesn’t bother the bullet.”

Not long ago, I picked up a new rifle on my way to a hunt in the Far North. The 40X Remington hadn’t arrived soon enough for me to wring it out at home first, so at camp I bore-sighted it and fired a round at a target taped to a big cardboard box at 100 yards. The bullet struck several inches off center.