I just bought a Harris bipod that is on a looser swivel than I had hoped for. My scope is perfectly level, so that's not the issue today, but what I'm wondering is: does uneven terrain effect your shot in a similar fashion to a canted scope/reticle? I've read recently that two degrees of cant on your mounted scope can translate to well over a foot of drift on POI at 500 yards. My question is this, as long as your scope is mounted level, then uneven terrain shouldn't really matter too much right? I can't imagine that Harris would leave their swivels so loose if a swivel's cant could affect your shot in a similar way that a canted scope mounting could. The gun is a Sig 716i 308. The max distance I will probably ever attempt is 1000 yards, but I will likely shoot much shorter most days. Let me know what you got.
-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
Reticle cant vs uneven terrain
- Thread starter TheSapperGoesBoom
- Start date
I’m not quite sure what you’re asking but simply put, your reticle needs to be level for every shot as much as possible regardless of terrain. Upgrade that Harris if you can, in the meantime get the pod loc for it
What I'm asking is this: Is [we'll say] 2 degrees of uneven terrain while shooting equal to 2 degrees of unlevel scope/reticle? If while I'm shooting my reticle is canted 2 degrees due to uneven terrain, is that the same as my scope being unlevel by 2 degrees?
I been looking at the pod locs, but no one can seem to verify if they will stop (lock) the swivel completely or just tighten it up.
I been looking at the pod locs, but no one can seem to verify if they will stop (lock) the swivel completely or just tighten it up.
It helps dramatically with the loose tolerance of the Harris.
As far as the can’t issue, yes it can be implied that a 2 degree can’t of the rifle would equate to a 2 degree can’t on the reticle as long as the reticle was actually mounted perpendicular to the bore and fall of gravity as it should be.
Damn, ok. I'll get the loc and see what I can do with it. Will keep your advice in mind about bipod upgrade.
The vertical hair on your scope must be aligned with gravity. The bullet falls with gravity (discounting wind, but that's the horizontal hair). Whatever happens that causes the vertical hair to not be aligned with gravity is bad, whether it is the mounting, the slope of the ground, holding the rifle canted, doesn't matter. The further you dial the further a non vertical hair will lead you astray.
Stay vertical my friends,
MrSmith
Stay vertical my friends,
MrSmith
Much bigger errors from canting the gun with a scope leveled accurately to the gun than from a scope being canted a bit in the rings with a level gun.
Somewhere on here is posted the math that somebody did on this.
Oops, see attached and below
Somewhere on here is posted the math that somebody did on this.
Oops, see attached and below
Thanks for the share. This is actually quite helpful and takes a load off my mind because of some error figures I read about earlier (17.6 inches of error at 500 yards on a 2° scope cant) are way worse than what you're showing me, buuuuut now I doubt I even want this swiveled Harris bipod anymore regardless, after seeing this haha.
But ultimately getting your rifle canted perfectly with each shot is all up to the shooter every time anyway isn't it? Don't you just eyeball your reticle's relationship to the target and/or ground (earth), right?
Or how does a shooter make sure they have the perfect cant on their rifle with every shot?
But ultimately getting your rifle canted perfectly with each shot is all up to the shooter every time anyway isn't it? Don't you just eyeball your reticle's relationship to the target and/or ground (earth), right?
Or how does a shooter make sure they have the perfect cant on their rifle with every shot?
Practice. You can also use a level mounted on your scope that’s leveled to the reticle until you feel comfortable
@TheSapperGoesBoom -This ^^ couple with the fact your inner ear knows which way is down.
Many will put a spirit level on their gun (or maybe their chassis has one built in). IMO, most of them are inaccurate shit and if you have a handful of them you’d be lucky if two of them matched exactly.
I have a send-it electronic level but they’re a good bit of change.
One thing to do is get an iGaging AngleCube ( $40) and pretty cool) and decide that’s your standard then find what a scope tube or pic rail mounted spirit level shows when the Cube says level (when on top of elevation turret…which isn’t guaranteed to be perfectly flat either lol). So, for example, if the Cube says your scope is level and your gun mounted spirit level show the bubble just touching the right hand line, ten touching the right hand line is your mark for level. Right?
Cheers
I get what you're saying, but to fully understand I'll have to google all that gear lol. I'm probably not going to get TOO crazy with this rifle. It's a semi-auto AR10 platform. My actual long distance precision rifle will be a bolt gun and have all the bells and whistles though, yes. But this gun itself is already very cumbersome for an AR platform. Meaning, I will be simplifying some things in the name of agility.
Whip a wrench on that Harris. You can tighten it up enough to move-but not flop-with a pair of pliers. No need to buy a lever. I shoot a very heavy rifle off a Harris a lot and I’ve never had a pod lock. Just turn that knurled knob with a pair of pliers until it takes a conscious effort to tilt the rifle.
Hey, as a friend of mine told his psychologist, when asked what he thought an obsession was, he replied “er....something to do?” lol
Last edited:
I thought about trying that, but the thought quickly escaped my mind when I figured it would probably just come loose again. Does it stay put? I might still go get that pod-loc anyway so I can do it on demand without the need to carry a wrench on me.
Lol yeah the accuracy nazi in me knows exactly what you are talkin bout willis
Also, even a practiced inner ear is no match for how your eyeballs will deceive you if a target is sitting at an angle. A HUGE majority of your sense of the world comes from your eyeballs. If you look through a scope and see something like a target hangar that “should” be straight, your eyes will make it nearly impossible to level the rifle with anything else. Yes, inner ear for balance etc, but a little slope in the terrain or a crooked zeroing board and without some kind of level to cross check, you WILL have cant in your rifle.
I do it in initial setup with a Harris and never adjust it again.
Hah! As luck would have it, a giant bottle of that stuff just arrived a few days ago. Totally forgot about it. I was going to mount some muzzle devices with it because I was disappointed with the non-permanent high-heat stuff I was using. Turns out if you apply it twice, it does the job you wanted it to, though. I can't remember what specific name of permatex it is, but it's almost like gooey teflon tape in a white tube with red letters. If the muzzle devices hold this time around, I'll call it a win.
KMW Pod-Loc
Pod-Loc. Original Harris swivel lock kit. Only locking kit made 100% in US and issued N.S.N.
www.kmwlrs.com
Similar threads
