Bobbed06 - if you are new to this hobby as you stated: don´t waste your money on a tripod stick. This is good for PCPs but with springers and nitro pistons it is very difficult to shoot well with it. You might want to read about the "artillery hold". You noticed correctly that your shooting position affects your accuracy, this is mainly because of your holding of the gun. You need to be extremely consistent if you want to shoot groups under an inch at 30 yards and more and the only way to do this with a springer or nitro piston is the artillery hold but mostly, the guns will not be consistent enough for long range shooting. I will not write too much about it as the internet is full of explanations but you need to hold the gun very lightly and must not press it into your shoulder, it is totally different to a firearm or PCP that will shoot straight no matter how you hold on to it because they have different recoil harmonics.
If you are serious about shooting and want to get tighter groups at long range and maybe start hunting small game where you have a killzone smaller than one inch, you will eventually have to change to a PCP but its an investment that is worth its money. The Benjamin Marauder is a good and affordable starter. If you want to hunt and not only target shoot, go at least for a .22 or larger.