TargetTalk

What degree angle do you set when you are shooting in standing position.? I find myself gradually moving from 4' to 2'. Are we supposed to cant the rifle at the same degree always? I still move between 1.5' to 2.5' occasionally.
I never understand why spirit lever is banned for standing since front sight horizontal (crosshair) line essentially act the same. Why have two tools doing the same job for 3P? In Crossbow we always use spirit level whether it is standing or knee.

Yes, consistent cant angle is very important. Some front sights allow rotation so the aperture insert crossbar can be kept level when you have the cant angle you want.

Spirit levels are allowed for smallbore rifle, it's only 10m air (and 300m Standard?) that do not.

Use leveling bar inserts or an adjustable aperture that does and you shouldn't have much of a problem.

I have massive cant in the air rifle world, close to 5' or more, in all three positions. It's what works for me.

If you are trying to shoot precision, EVERYTHING must be the same from shot to shot. EVERYTHING.

From the top of your head to the soles of your boots (in standing) from the front of the muzzle to the tip of your toes (in prone).

And not just your body and rifle but you also have to make sure your mind is in the same place for every shot. Run your mental program every time you shoot, sighters or record shots.

I challenge you to use some high school trig to calculate the maximum movement at the muzzle allowed and still hit the international 50 meter 10 ring. And now it is not enough to hit the 10 ring you have to have a 10.5 to be competitive. After you make this calculation think about all the things that can go wrong to keep you from hitting the 10 ring.

And to take your example, cant. If you change the cant angle think of all the other things you also change.

Cheek pressure
right hand grip angle
sight alignment
left hand grip pressure
placement of the butt plate in the shoulder

In addition as the cant changes, assuming the sights are aligned properly and centered on the target, you change the bullet strike in an arc from 2 to 10 across the top of the 10 ring because the muzzle is no longer in the same place relative to the sight.

Did I say everything matters? Yeah EVERYTHING

Hi conradin,

Cant angle is something that is a little different for everyone depending on their anatomy. The idea behind canting the gun is to make it so that you are fitting the gun to a solid position, and not changing your body and compromising that position so that you can see through the sights. So, once you have build a solid position, you can figure out what that appropriate cant angle is so that you have just a minimal body adjustment to see through the sights (this is the same principle for why you should add or remove sight risers depending on your body shape, neck length, etc.). And since shooting is a sport of precision and repetition, you of course want to try and keep the cant angle as consistent as possible from shot to shot, just like everything else.

Oh and also, I believe a previous comment was correct and that you are allowed to use spirit levels for 50m, but not for 10m.

Take home message: make that gun fit to you, not the other way around!

Happy shooting,

Ryan

I cant the rifle over to keep my head as upright as possible, rather than bending my head over to the right over an upright rifle. It was just how I was taught to shoot. So I hold the rifle at a significant cant angle.

Unfortunately, my front sight is not adjustable, and my insert is the clear insert with no lines, so I do not have a horizontal bar to reference level. So repeating the cant angle is rather difficult for me. I would be happy at +/- 4 degrees. At some point, if I get serious about my air rifle shooting, will probably get an adjustable front sight, to give me the horizontal line to use as a reference.