Will tracking affect bullet impact

[russell m]

When I set my rest up today I got my gun level & in the middle/bottom of the target. When I got the gun level I had it at the bottom of the target left of the sighter target. So when I used the sigher target I move the windage slightly right & I was on. When I moved up to the top left record target & used my rear rest screw to raise the gun up,which put the gun at an angle. When time started I would shoot 1 shot in my sigher & it would be a dead center smash. Then move up to the top left target. 3 out of 5 relays my sigher was a smash & 1 a X. But the first record target I shot. The first 2 record targets the shots were always high. up to 2 bullets high. when I realized this I started holding on my first 2 record targets. Will the gun not being level,not tracking perfectly cause the bullet impact to change? Should I use the mariner wheel to raise the entire rest?
russell m

 

[BJS6]

In Mike Ratigans book he mentions the first shot high syndrome, seems it is pretty common. Logically it is related to the change in the gun position on the bags but he says that nobody has really pinned down just what has happened to cause it and what to correct.

I have observed it, using a co-ax rest, and have briefly experimented with actually going right over the top of the target and firing a shot above the record target (right over the frame, not on paper) and then coming back down to the record. That way you are going from above and dropping down and not vice versa. I have also tried setting the gun up high and working the rifle in the bark and forth to settle it into the bags without actually firing the shot. I didn't do this enough to be conclusive but I do believe it helped.

Logically if firing your first two shots settled the rifle working the rifle hard into the bags after raising the rest up and/or firing right over the frame to help settle the rifle would have to help the first record shot.

Bryce