Magnumite
Ultimate Member
I had debated this with Pinecone a ways back. He convinced me and do my understanding, this is how it goes. To paraphrase, he finally indicated that a canted cross hair may cause a hit say, 1/2" to the right at sight in range relative to the bore. As long as one accounted for that the same deviation, it would be true for all subsequent hits at other ranges. At least this is how I understood it. I know line of sight and bullet trajectories are different but there is an analogy. Think of a hobby astronomer's telescope. We can see planet rings, etc.. To get in that ballpark area of the sky, there is a small parallel localizing scope to get us pointed in the right direction...parallel. it is offset from the vertical centerline of the scope...but we end up in a parallel location in the sky light years away...3 inches off center.
Think about it...if you had a scope on a top eject Winchester lever action the scope was set up off vertical center. Common knowledge was it would be correct only at the sight in range. UNLESS, one allowed for the hit that amount off to left of the bull at say 100 yards...pretty standard sight in range. So 1" off center at 100 yards would be 1" off center at 50 yards, etc.. See the buck of a life time in the scope, hold 1" off the right of the intended fine target area. But in reality, that would not make a difference in practical application of a 10" vital area. On a bullseye...it could be the difference between a 9, 10 or X...depending on the target ring dimensions. At 1000 yards...homey here would not consider that deviation. I wish I could say I could but I don't shoot at a thousand yards.
Do I set my rifles up this way? No, simply because I am not a long range rifleman. Heck, at the root of it all I am not a rifleman...but I can shoot a rifle. I set mine up square and if my hold is disciplined I do hold it upright. Makes my hold over/under, mil dot correction, or clicks effect square. And gentle on my mind since I don't shoot well enough to see that deviation out the ranges I shoot at.
Think about it...if you had a scope on a top eject Winchester lever action the scope was set up off vertical center. Common knowledge was it would be correct only at the sight in range. UNLESS, one allowed for the hit that amount off to left of the bull at say 100 yards...pretty standard sight in range. So 1" off center at 100 yards would be 1" off center at 50 yards, etc.. See the buck of a life time in the scope, hold 1" off the right of the intended fine target area. But in reality, that would not make a difference in practical application of a 10" vital area. On a bullseye...it could be the difference between a 9, 10 or X...depending on the target ring dimensions. At 1000 yards...homey here would not consider that deviation. I wish I could say I could but I don't shoot at a thousand yards.
Do I set my rifles up this way? No, simply because I am not a long range rifleman. Heck, at the root of it all I am not a rifleman...but I can shoot a rifle. I set mine up square and if my hold is disciplined I do hold it upright. Makes my hold over/under, mil dot correction, or clicks effect square. And gentle on my mind since I don't shoot well enough to see that deviation out the ranges I shoot at.