Would bench zero and off-hand zero be different just because of the 2-3 foot elevation difference between the gun on the bench and the gun on my shoulder?
Justin - Vancouver Island, Canada

They will be different if you don't support your rifle on the bench about the same place you support it when you shoot off-hand. Good bench tenique (sp) is very important when you sight in your rifle.

I did this same thing for a while and still do it occasionally when I'm not careful about my shot sequence. My shots being dropped low were due to a combination of anticipation of the shot and tension in my forward arm (non-trigger) bicep. Try to concentrate and make sure that there is no tension at all in your forward bicep. The only thing holding the rifle to your shoulder should be the trigger arm pulling it into your shoulder. The forward arm should just be a pivoting lever anchored on top of your hip, or against your ribcage if you can't reach your hip with that elbow. Dry firing will help immensely with this if you do it regularly. So will good follow-through, which includes bringing the dot back to the spot you were concentrating on hitting for at least one full second after every shot. It can be tested using dummy rounds as mentioned above, but what improves it is dry firing and follow-through.

Well, I did a fair bit of practice and assessing of this whole situation and had my second HP match this past Sunday and shot a 22 followed by a 25. Through some practice, I was able to reduce the amount of drop I am finding from bench to off-hand shooting, but was not able to totally eliminate the drop. I'm going to keep working at it, but for now I'm just adding a bit of elevation and happy with the results. My best series of the day was 8/10 on pigs with my first 5-pin on the second half of the set. I'll take that and run with it. A master shooter at this club told me that he also has to make a small 1 minute adjustment from bench to off-hand and so knowing it's not just me is reassuring.

Thanks again for all the input on the flinching.