Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Have you ever seen this cool tool. Scope level

Why do they need to bisect the bore? In my opinion that is not needed unless one is using a beaver tail forend.
David Tubbs cants his rifle and levels the reticle to his cant

I remember reading where Tubbs said it didn't have to bisect the bored center

Yes, and not just Tubb.

Some shooting schools and instructors emphasize having the rifle canted such that the buttpad best sits in the shooter's "shoulder pocket" in the prone position. Actually the shoulder/pectoral area, not the "pocket" that many people think of. This is done by canting the rifle, to whatever degree is needed by that shooter's physique. Some need more cant than others, and having a reticle square with the rifle won't work for everyone, as you would force the buttpad to be in an unnatural position for them.

Another way to think about it, is that some people are trying to have the rifle with no cant (vertical with the world) but their bodies are not built that way, so why do it?

The reasoning behind all of this is the belief that having the rifle canted, in the ideal position for that shooter, is better for mitigating recoil. Once the rifle cant is determined, the reticle is then leveled with the world. Simple.

Hodnett and crew is one school, but I've heard it mentioned by others, and those who have gotten training from them. Forcing the rifle to be vertical for everyone is a myth that they are trying to get shooters away from. They are shooting LR and ELR with their rifles setup this way. However, they are generally using bipods, so the canted fore end is less of a concern, compared to a beavertail rested on a flat surface.

edit to add - I am not a writer or shooting instructor

This is why adjustable butt plates exist. Having the rifle vertical and adjusting the butt pad to fit the shooter is best.

It never made sense to me to hang the scope level with the rifle. Rarely the most natural hold has the rifle sitting perfectly level. Don’t believe me? With a scope perfectly level to the action, close you eyes, grip the rifle as comfortably as you can, open your eyes and move the cross hairs to something plumb without disturbing what is the most natural hold. You may find the results startling!

I may be in the vast minority when it comes to this method, but it works for me.

Hang a plumb down range, get into your most natural position, move the cross hairs on and off the plumb, clock the scope so that the vertical post is parallel to the plumb. Tighten the scope down. If you have level on the scope, you can adjust the level to level when the vertical post is parallel with the plumb. This takes a bit more screwing around but it’s worth the trouble imo. Keeps the rifle in its most natural hold rather than “ fighting the rifle “ Ymmv

Drink a tall glass of Crown Royal.

Allow time to cure your vision.

Eyeball the scope and tighten rings.

The whiskey eye never lies.

Imagine what real whiskey would do.

Have told this story before, but will again: The late, great fishing/hunting/shooting writer Charles F. Waterman (known, of course, as Charlie, since he was not a formal sort of guy) competed nationally in handgun target shooting, back when the major deal was shooting one-handed with a revolver.

He developed such bad nerves before a major match that he eventually consulted his physician--who advised imbibing a little alcohol before a match. (This was a LONG time ago.) Charlie did not drink much, and then very occasionally, but tolerated brandy. With some experimentation he and his wife Debie found that drinking X ounces of Christian Brothers brandy exactly half an hour before a match did the trick. But not long after the shooting Charlie was pretty drunk.

At one big match, an hour after he shot the loudspeaker announced: "Would Charles Waterman please come to the scorer's tent?" It took both Debie (not very big) and a couple of male friends to support Charlie enough to get there, and all were pretty nervous.

Once there, the head scorer told Charlie that he'd just set a national record. Whereupon Charlie kind of grunted.

Then the scorer asked what team he shot for.

Debie firmly announced "Christian Brothers!"

And they then led Charlie away....

This ^^^^^

The Reticle-Tru is far more effective than any of the devices using a bubble, or that assume any flat part of a scope is actually square to the reticle, or requires the rifle to be level. Instead, it aligns the reticle with the center of the rifle's action.

That said, a LOT of shooters see any reticle as being "crooked" because they don't hold rifles level. I have known quite a few shooters who consistently mount scopes at a certain angle, because the scopes then appear level to them when aiming. One of these was a very experienced hunter and competitive shooter, who knew exactly what he was doing. Another, however, did not--until he actually looked through a perfectly squared scope on another person's rifle, and declared it was "crooked."

Saw this again in a local gun shop just yesterday. A guy had brought a new rifle and scope to the shop's gunsmithing department to have the scope mounted, and came in to pick it up. When he shouldered the rifle and looked through the scope, he declared it was crooked. However, his son (who looked to be in his late teens) also shouldered the rifle and said it looked level to him. The difference was the father was pretty "stout,"and the son was not. Consequently the father's stout shoulder tended to tilt the rifle when he aimed through the scope. I could even see this plainly from across the room.

The gunsmith had seen this many times, but instead of trying to tell the father he was FOS, said: "It's your rifle, and you're going to be shooting it. I'm happy to make it feel right for you." Which of course involved mounting the scope "crooked."