Head weight causing rifle cant

[kransky93]

when I put my full head weight onto the stock the rifle cants. I usually correct this by having a firm hold/grip with my firing hand. But is that the right thing to do? Or should the rifle and the reticle stay on target when my head rest completely on it without a grip or firm hold. Thanks

[deye243]

Don't know whether this will make sense to you or not but the Technique Is not to rest your cheek on the rifle but Rest your rifle on your cheek .

[bladeracer]

when I put my full head weight onto the stock the rifle cants. I usually correct this by having a firm hold/grip with my firing hand. But is that the right thing to do? Or should the rifle and the reticle stay on target when my head rest completely on it without a grip or firm hold. Thanks

I don't think you should have that much weight on the comb. If that is your normal position though then rotate the scope in the rings until the reticle is plumb in your normal position.

[bigrich]

when I put my full head weight onto the stock the rifle cants. I usually correct this by having a firm hold/grip with my firing hand. But is that the right thing to do? Or should the rifle and the reticle stay on target when my head rest completely on it without a grip or firm hold. Thanks

don't shoot lying down mate

you shouldn't be resting your full head weight . enough preasure for firm, but not heavy "cheek weld". check your shooting position , maybe the stock is not suited to you, or scope mounts aren't right . do you know someone who can check your head alignment/form with your rifle ?

[in2anity]

kransky is this bipod shooting? I don't do much bipod. I'm going against the grain, but it was important to me to find a bipod that did not pivot at the front. I had one that pivoted, and found that it allowed for some cant.

[geoff]

You havent mentioned what kind of shooting you are doing here - what is your rear rest set up, are you just using your off hand to cradle the butt or are you resting on a rear bag or something?

Try not to manhandle the gun so much. You need to keep it steady for recoil control, particularly in a bigger calibre, but you shouldnt be applying undue pressure to the gun if precision is your game. Research the topic "natural point of aim" and consider how side-loading the stock with enough weight to cant the gun might influence that.

Your trigger hand shouldn't be deathgripping the stock either, i apply very little pressure through that hand. Usually just enough to keep my trigger finger from flapping in the breeze.

[animalpest]

You should not be having your head weight bearing down on the comb. It's not a head rest.

Your cheek needs to be in firm contact with the comb on the stock, but that contact is not there to support your 5kg head. It is to allow correct alignment of the sights and must be consistent shot to shot. That is what is called cheek weld. Cheek weld, not 5kg head support.

If your head weight is causing cant, you are resting too much on the stock and your head weight is making cant. That is, you are pushing your cheek too far into the stock.

If you are trying to shoot when the sights are canted, correct the cant with your hands on the stock.

I am assuming you are not trying to shoot left eye with a right pawed shoulder, or vice versa! Seen this so many times.

Head weight cannot cause cant unless you are doing some fundamental errors in shouldering the rifle and sights alignment.

[SCJ429]

As others have said, have a nice repeatable cheek weld but keep it nice and light. You can cause can't by holding your thumb over the stock, try shooting with your thumb on the right hand side of the stock or use the pinch method where the thumb is at the back of the trigger guard and you pull your trigger finger towards it. The other issue could be too much pressure from your shoulder pushing the stock to the left, try less pressure and see if that helps.

[in2anity]

good to see some solid engagment from OP

[deye243]

good to see some solid engagment from OP

Get a lot of that on this forum

[Shootermick]

How heavy is your head?

[bigrich]

good to see some solid engagment from OP

shy maybe

[bladeracer]

good to see some solid engagment from OP

Get a lot of that on this forum

Could be a side effect of turning off notifications so he never even knew anybody responded to his thread...

[kransky93]

My bad, I have no notifications to say I had comments
I guess I have been trying to rest my complete weight of my head on the stock because I’m trying to be relaxed as possible for consistency but obviously that’s not quite right

[in2anity]

The truth is, your technique can be flawed, but as long as you are consistent with your (flawed) technique, you can more or less make it work. And this all comes down to practise. Practise, practise and more practise, repeating the same routine hundreds, if not thousands of times, until no concious thoughts go into say the 20 steps required to shoot a good shot. Ideally you want to be in a sort of trance or flow, where your conscious is just watching those flags for the right moment. Dry fire is a common way of filling in the void from a lack of range time...

My cheek weld is very tight, but that's because all my shooting is done off the elbows, with a tight stabilising sling pulling the rifle hard into my shoulder. These F class prone style shooters indeed take a "less is more" approach, where they aren't making a lot of contact with the rifle. They are basically just watching the flags for their condition, and then carefully actuating the trigger. But that demands having a boat anchor of a rifle - if your free recoil a light sporter, it will likely jump like a mofoer and probably sting your shoulder. That's how a flinch develops.

We all have our own technique, but my approach to shooting a sporter from the bipod is to drive the rifle pretty well - have it in the shoulder properly, and be concious of at the very least your breathing cycle, shooting after the exhale (actually that is automatic for me, because it's a core requirement of sling shooting). If you practise enough, you can even train to shoot between heartbeats. This is facilitated with a scope because you will clearly see your pulse, whereby the reticle will "jump". Again, this will take a lot of work and dedication, and probably a digital trainer like a SCATT.

At the end of the day, nothing will substitute time on the range. You can speed up the learning, but you can bypass it. Shoot weekly target for a year, and then your fundementals should be sharp. Build from there.

[animalpest]

My bad, I have no notifications to say I had comments
I guess I have been trying to rest my complete weight of my head on the stock because I’m trying to be relaxed as possible for consistency but obviously that’s not quite right

You should be resting your cheek AGAINST the stock, not resting your head ON the stock

[SCJ429]

My bad, I have no notifications to say I had comments
I guess I have been trying to rest my complete weight of my head on the stock because I’m trying to be relaxed as possible for consistency but obviously that’s not quite right

You should be resting your cheek AGAINST the stock, not resting your head ON the stock

It really depends on what type of shooting you are doing, my cheek weld is very light when bench shooting but much heavier when shooting offhand. The main thing you are trying to achieve is a consistent position for your eye to be aligned with your sights. Since you are seeing a cant I assume you are shooting off a bench.

[SCJ429]

When shooting offhand I bring my face on top of the cheek riser, or stock if there is no riser and draw it down bunching up the skin a little until my head is in the right position. Watch some Olympic 3P shooters on YouTube to see how they do it. For bench shooting you would place your face against the stock lightly so you don't upset the rifle when it comes back under recoil. For prone shooting your head is in a very different spot and pressure depends on if you are shooting off a bipod or using a sling. Best to go to a comp using the type of shooting you are doing and watch what they do.