Re: Integrated Cheek Piece or Add Saddle Later?
Heres what I recommend to my customers who ask for an opinion.
The pro's of a saddle type cheekpiece is that they can be added to the stock later on if desired. The con's are that they only go up and down.
The pro's of the intergral type cheekpiece are that they not only adjust up and down, but they also adjust right and left about 1/4" off center each way, and you use this to compensate for a wide face/big cheekbones vs a narrow face/flatter cheekbones. And, you can set them with a bit of a slant (front out to the right a bit so the stock moves away from your cheek under recoil movement). The con's are the stock must be ordered as such from the start as they are actually made in two pieces, the cheekpiece is not just cut out of a one piece butt.
The way I set my rifle up is to close my eyes and just get comfortable behind the rifle. Then open my eye and see if my eye is centered right with the scope. If I have to shift my head up or down or right or left to get the proper dead center sight picture then I keep adjusting my cheekpiece until it is. But the secret is to close your eyes and get naturally behind the rifle, then open them to see the sight picture. Keep at it until you don't have to move your head at all, then lock things down in place. When I get it set just right for me, then I glue a little wood spacer on the bottom of the cheekpiece to set a constant height. On my A3-5 stock this is three little pieces of popcicle sticks glued on the bottom. I lift the cheekpiece all the way off the stock for cleaning, then just set it back on until it bottoms out on the sticks and lock it down. I personally don't use the thumbwheel unit, too damn much work screwing it up and down for cleaning.
