Like many/most of us, you probably learned to shoot an ill-fitting rifle and think it's normal. I did, as did most everyone I ever shot with.
When shouldering the rifle with eyes closed and achieving a firm cheek weld (head solidly down on the rifle comb), one should be able to open the eye and see through the scope perfectly with no further head movement or adjustment. With correct comb height and proper NPOA, this is entirely possible.
If, after the 'eyes closed' test, in order to see through the center of the scope, one has to compress down, raise slightly or tilt the head forward or back, the comb height is WRONG. If one must tilt the head to one side or the other, the NPOA is WRONG. If one must pull back or push forward for a full field of view, the eye relief (scope position) is WRONG.
Simply put, if the fit is WRONG, one compensates (often subconsciously), taking away from a natural, stable position and impairing one's ability to shoot as well as they really could. I have had dozens of students perform the closed eye test, then unconsciously move the head slightly when they open their eye, pronouncing the fit 'good'. So ingrained and automatic, they didn't even know they were doing it until I pointed it out and proved it to them.
I'm sure it's possible a person's physique is such that they can properly mount a standard rifle/scope combo and achieve perfect alignment, but in teaching several hundred students having widely varying physical builds and skill levels, I have never encountered one.
After shooting fairly well for more than 40 years, it wasn't until I was coached by a world record holding match shooter/instructor that I learned the techniques and benefits of proper rifle fit.
There is a distinct difference between a proper "cheek weld" and the "chin weld" method most of us learned to use due to low combs designed for iron sights being used in conjunction with scopes. Most rifle stocks are designed to allow use of iron sights, even if the rifle doesn't come with sights. This mechanical error is exacerbated by large objectives requiring the higher scope mounts we commonly see these days. It's easy to think that's "normal" or "correct" until one is shown the difference.
While shotgun fit is an unquestionable requirement to shoot well, rifle fit is largely overlooked and neglected, it's importance minimized.
To have a proper cheek weld is truly a game changer in several ways:
1) It allows the scope to unfailingly come to the eye when the rifle is shouldered, reducing acquisition time while improving comfort and stability.
2) A firm anchor point reduces the effects of uncorrected parallax, in that the eye is always returned to the correct spot by virtue of solid contact with the comb.
3) With solid comb contact, the rifle/shooter recoil as a unit and the rifle doesn't get yanked out from under the head during recoil, lessening felt/apparent recoil.
4) With solid comb contact, the rifle/shooter recoil as a unit and the sight picture is retained through recoil and there is no "recovery" time, between shots. This means that one can both spot their own shots more reliably and follow-up shots can be made very quickly without fishing for a sight picture each time.
It wasn't until I actually shot well fitted rifles did I realize how detrimental it was to float my head above the stock with only cheek meat touching; a nebulous relationship I used to call a cheek "weld".
It wasn't that I 'couldn't' shoot a poorly fitting rifle, it was just that I wasn't shooting to my potential. My mentor told me I shot very well for doing everything wrong.
Understood, I quoted your post in agreement with your statements. Sorry to not be more precise.
