Scope cant

[Mystic Precision]

I'm gonna go for getting crapped upon by the precision guys for this, I'm sure.

But, how does your rifle know it is canted? It doesn't.

In your natural hold, is your rifle canted?

Does your barrel have an indexing mark for vertical alignment to plumb? I'm betting not.

You can do all the level table and multiple bubble levels you want. When you take up the differences in manufacturing tolerances, a thou here and a thou there, and add them all up, what you think is level and plumb, likely is not (to 100.000% accuracy).

I find if I take all those steps, when I shoulder my rifle naturally and comfortably, the cross hairs are not level and plumb. When I twist myself to adjust that, I shoot like crap.

Changed my approach. I shoot how the rifle feels comfortable and natural. Then I use the plumb bob method to set the scope. And by whatever miracle, I shoot good.

Ever see the 45* co-witness irons? I'm pretty sure the rifle doesn't care that it is canted when the shooter uses them.

Works for me. I'd rather shoot comfortable and natural than twist myself up to try and match what some bubble levels made by the lowest bidder tell me.

Not saying this will work for everyone. I just like to set things to fit my body, not the other way around. YMMV.

Have a look at 3 position olympic rifles... why do you think EVERYTHING moves in the buttstock?

why do many F class stocks have adjustable buttstocks?????

If you are shooting off the bench, I would be more concerned about plumb with a natural hold vs plumb that is not comfy. Follow through is far more important to hitting at distance then many think. During the act of shooting ie, pulling the trigger, we are more often going to move the rifle to a natural/more comfy hold. If there is a cant induced at that point, your SCOPE ZERO is going to be off and this will affect your POI at distance. At best, the shooter isn't going to be consistent

If shooting at a fixed distance, scope cant has zero effect as you can zero to account for the tilt.

In these instances, I want a match between how I hold and what I see. Now granted, the rifle will be tilted very slightly if any and effort should be made to have a proper rifle hold... going Gangsta isn't going to help anything. But if it is a hair off dead plumb, so be it. Our bodies are not plumb and get worst with age.

The key to hitting that target is consistency... as long as the rifle reacts the same way every bang, the shot will track as expected and how it was sighted in.

You will see many youtube vids on shooters showing how a tilted reticle vs target will throw a shot... twist anything far enough and of course, there will be an effect. What they do not test is how the tilted rifle affects the shooters follow through. If a rifle does not recoil properly into the shooter, guess what... you are going off target

So the question is, what matters.... for S&G, I left my scope slightly tilted vs the shooting position. Now I shoot FTR and every effort is made for consistency so this was a no-no but for fun, give it a try.

From 100yds to 1000yds, the effect was not great at all which really surprised me. Sure, the scope travel is not going to be true to the axis on the turrets but the effects wasn't horrendous ie... miss the target. adjustments weren't any more off then what I see based on changing ambient conditions.

How sensitive do you think that scope level is? It will surprise you especially with some of the junk bubbles offered on the market.

I know that when the rifle is not "level" to me, groups go for a dump so I am now more concerned on first... rifle correct to ME.. THEN move the optic to be true to this

YMMV.

Jerry