Consistent Cheek Placement

[frostop]

Looking for tips on getting a consistent cheek placement?

I don't seem to have trouble with it at the bench but since taking up prone I've been having a lot of trouble getting a consistent position and I'm sure it's been affecting my grouping. Are there any little things that can be done?

Gary

 

[J E Custom]

Cheek well height is very important and a consistent cheek well is a must for accuracy.

If you are using a scoped rifle, the best way I have found to get it right is to get into the position you most commonly use with your eyes closed and get the most comfortable position. Once you think this is it, open your eyes and without moving your head look at the scope in reference to your eye center. if you are not looking dead center, you should be able to see if you are low or high and adjust accordingly.

Do this several times to see is it repeats the position, and then raise or lower the cheek piece. The cheek well is as important as parallax and has the same basic effect on accuracy. A proper check well is very important to accuracy.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Barrelnut]

Put something on the stock that protrudes a bit and you can feel with your cheek, near where your cheek bone should touch the stock. Just a button secured with a couple wraps of electrical tape will work. Then make sure the button touches your cheek in the same place each time.

 

[frostop]

Now forgive me, I am new to prone position.

I posted this while I was sitting at work and was thinking about it all the way home. Went straight out to the shop and tried a couple of things. Yesterday while I was shooting I think that I was trying to be to low, I was shooting only over my pack, Tonight I tried a combination of my pack and the bipod, which ended up being higher and this felt much better, better positioning on my shoulder, better eye positioning and I think more stable.

Barrelnut, I like your idea! Gonna give that a shot!

Gary

 

[Alex Wheeler]

My advice is get off the stock. The scope takes care of parallax, we do not need anchor points on a scoped rifle. A light touch on your skin is nice to get a quick sight picture, but its tough to master hard cheek contact. A subliminal contraction of a cheek muscle will cause a shot out the left of the group. Theres no reason to have hard cheek weld with a rifle equipped with a parallax adjustment and supported by a bipod and or bags.

 

[dfanonymous]

Now forgive me, I am new to prone position.

I posted this while I was sitting at work and was thinking about it all the way home. Went straight out to the shop and tried a couple of things. Yesterday while I was shooting I think that I was trying to be to low, I was shooting only over my pack, Tonight I tried a combination of my pack and the bipod, which ended up being higher and this felt much better, better positioning on my shoulder, better eye positioning and I think more stable.

Barrelnut, I like your idea! Gonna give that a shot!

Gary

JE already said said what I would recommend.
Other than that, the scope needs to be set up where it's not so far forward or backward. After than that, set you're length of pull and getting a cheek pad that you can cut foam to height or an adjustable cheek piece on the stock is the next setting change. Then J Es advice. You should be able to be in just about any position and open your eyes to a sight picture.

 

[J E Custom]

The main reason for a good cheek well is consistency. As we all know, the more consistent we are at making everything the same, the more consistent our accuracy will be. I test every rifle i build for friends and many times their choice of stocks and rings are not suited for me and I have to adjust the cheek well for the test. I normally use a elastic elbow or knee bandage and slip layers of dense foam under it until i get it to the right height for me with there set up.

I have tried to adjust my head position to the scope and found that If I went ahead and adjusted the cheek well properly It would reduce the group size by 100 %. If I can adjust everything to my shooting (Adjustable cheek piece, ring height, Parallax, Ocular focus and eye relief I shoot much better and can normally find the potential of the rifle and when satisfied, return it to the friends settings before he/she starts shooting it.

Everyone's eyes, build and shooting styles are different, and the total set up should be for them if the best accuracy is to be achieved. comfort and repeat ability are all part of it and the proper cheek well is just one of the things that need to be right for best consistency and accuracy.

J E CUSTOM

 

[memtb]

Cheek well height is very important and a consistent cheek well is a must for accuracy.

If you are using a scoped rifle, the best way I have found to get it right is to get into the position you most commonly use with your eyes closed and get the most comfortable position. Once you think this is it, open your eyes and without moving your head look at the scope in reference to your eye center. if you are not looking dead center, you should be able to see if you are low or high and adjust accordingly.

Do this several times to see is it repeats the position, and then raise or lower the cheek piece. The cheek well is as important as parallax and has the same basic effect on accuracy. A proper check well is very important to accuracy.

J E CUSTOM

That is exactly what I've done for many years, when trying to set-up a scope for myself or anyone else. I'll go one step farther in my method. If the scope is a "variable", I set the scope on the highest power setting. This is where the scope has the least amount of eye relief, and therefore proper scope placement is less forgiving! If properly set-up for the short eye relief, it's good throughout the entire power range! memtb

 

[bigngreen]

Get your pumpkin of the stock, the tendency in prone is to basically just set your head on the stock, when you change to any other position you simply can not duplicate that. Just a light touch to reference your position is all that is needed and your not changing how your rifle moves every time you reset your position.

 

[frostop]

Thank you for all the reply's.

Again I am new to shooting prone so I think it is something that I am doing that is making it difficult. Every once in a while I have trouble getting the proper sight picture for some reason, and like I said above I think I was trying to be to low or rather didn't have the rifle up high enough to make it comfortable for me!
Unfortunately I don't have any buddies that shoot long range or put that much time into shooting to watch what I am doing, so I have to try and figure it out for myself.

I have the same scope on two rifles, so I initially set the eye relief like the other rifle and of coarse shouldered the rifle from a standing position to confirm the placement. It is fine from standing and from the bench and standing, just from prone that I seem to have trouble.

That being said all the comments above have been very helpful and that would be why I come here!

 

[frostop]

Well as it turns out, I decided yesterday to move the scope back a bit and I think that that was just what was needed! Much better site picture and I can have less contact with the rifle. Just weird that I had not problem while standing or at the bench.

 

[Quicksilver338]

Well as it turns out, I decided yesterday to move the scope back a bit and I think that that was just what was needed! Much better site picture and I can have less contact with the rifle. Just weird that I had not problem while standing or at the bench.

always set and adjust your scope prone. When you're laying there you kind of only have one comfortable position. When sitting you have much more range of motion to get comfortable behind the gun and can adapt easily.

 

[frostop]

Yeah I have gathered that, I wasn't really into shooting prone until recently so never thought about it-Now I Know! Thank you for all the great reply's, really appreciate this site and it's members!


Gary