What is "proper cheek weld" I'm getting different advice

[DagOtto]

Hi All,

I'm a mountain hunter and I am focused on improving my skills as a field shooter on game. I am not interested in optimizing competition or bench shooting. My guns are all between 8 and 10.5 pounds fully built-out and loaded. My personal shooting distance limit for big game is 500 yards absolute max. and in real life I've never shot an animal past 380. I prefer prone off of my hunting pack with a light weight rear bag, but also end up shooting off of my pack with no rear support, off of a cheap tripod while sitting, off of hay bales, fence posts, tree limbs and very occasionally in surprise situations off-hand.

With that profile out of the way I'm hoping to get some shooting skill advice.

For years, thanks to you-tube, I've been working hard to have my rifles fit to my face so that I can shoulder the rifle with my eyes closed, then open my eyes and be looking right down the center of the scope. This has meant going with a more tactical style stock with the higher comb or adding neoprene or nylon cheek pads and also using low scope rings and generally avoiding pic rails.

I thought this was the generally accepted best way to set up a rifle for optimal shooting.

Yesterday I was at a friends house who is into competitive benchrest shooting. He was showing me his reloading set-up as I'm finally getting into that world, but during our conversation he started showing me his crazy awesome competition guns and we started talking shooting technique.

He said that one of the biggest improvements he has had in his own shooting was when another competitor told him to get his cheek off the stock completely because any pressure from chin or cheek alters the stock's recoil direction and therefore affects bullet travel. He now floats his cheek and chin off of the stock completely. He strongly suggested I do the same and he says he has done that with his hunting guns as well.

I was dumbfounded and need advice. Is this a thing? What is the current accepted "best practice" for shooters like me as I described above?

DO

 

[taskswap]

Never heard of that, and I would counter that unless you're shooting off a rest (in which case who cares?) SOMETHING needs to anchor the butt of the rifle. A cheek weld makes sort of a triangle to hold it in place sideways. Without that, it's just floating around on your shoulder which can move more easily. That seems less accurate to me...

 

[eyeguy]

tag

 

[zpearo]

Maybe @Formidilosus has some wisdom

 

[Koda_]

He said that one of the biggest improvements he has had in his own shooting was when another competitor told him to get his cheek off the stock completely because any pressure from chin or cheek alters the stock's recoil direction and therefore affects bullet travel.

I cant help but wonder about the motivation of such advice from another competitor....

For me proper cheek weld assures proper parallax which can affect POI. I cant imagine cheek weld affecting recoil, my guess is the bullet has left the barrel long before your cheek would exert side pressure from the recoil movement.

 

[rifletuner]

I shot benchrest for 20 years and will say what your friend is describing is very common in BR. This style of shooting is called "free recoil" and you pretty much just contact the trigger of the rifle so as to minimally influence the rifle when letting off the shot. Because BR rifles are supported by a front and rear rest, and because the stock of the rifle is set up very square, the rifle tracks very precisely on the bench. And benchrest triggers are very light - these days 2oz is on the heavy side. So the rifle requires very minimal contact during the process of executing the shot.

But very little of this technique applies to field shooting with hunting rifles. Its a bit like asking a formula one driver to give you advise on driving your truck to your favourite hunting spot - what works for them is largely irrelevant to your situation.

 

[BBob]

competitive benchrest shooting

another competitor told him to get his cheek off the stock completely because any pressure from chin or cheek alters the stock's recoil direction and therefore affects bullet travel

COMPETETIVE BENCHREST SHOOTING says it all. Absolutely this is how benchrest is shot. Most of the time it is completely free recoil with only the trigger touched. Some guns like a little shoulder, some like a little thumb on the comb. I doubt you will ever see any BR shooter put a cheek to the stock.

This is not how you shoot a field rifle though. End of story.

Check out the bottom right video. 10 shots LRBR

Videos | wheeleraccuracy

www.wheeleraccuracy.com

 

[Castle Rock]

The stock isn’t a rudder, don’t steer the gun with your face.
Somewhere between 2/5s and 3/5s of fuckall is about the right pressure.

 

[DagOtto]

Thanks All for the comments,

Seeing nobody says that this is good advice for hunting conditions and shooting I will keep on with current technique but pay attention to not "pushing" the stock or steering with my face bones!

Appreciate the input.

 

[wind gypsy]

I've come to believe that "proper cheek weld" is greatly overrated and have been mounting my scopes a little higher. Feels much more neutral and relaxed with a more upright head position than bending my neck down to jam my cheek on the stock. I don't have any credibility in the matter proving this is the way but that's the direction i've shifted towards.

 

[Lawnboi]

I like it low enough that I don’t have to put pressure on it in field positions, but high enough that I have a place to index.

Big difference between shooting on a bench and shooting up hill off the ground.

Pressure on the cheek piece can cause issues. I don’t like a lot, to barely any. Lots of guys will drive the rifle with a bag and their head at the range, that dosnt work so well when you start shootings alternate positions.

I’m okay with a cheek piece significantly lower than what used to be standard.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

You need to be controlling the rear of the gun with your off hand. Your face is not a replacement for this. “Cheek weld” is one of the most over discussed and biggest waste of times in all of shooting. Filling the void with a bag or other item is great but you should be still controlling the gun with your off hand. See below.





Your cheek and face should not be used to manipulate the rear of the gun or be thought about as part of the “built position”. If you have to “think” about cheek weld or face position you are shoving your face too hard into the stock.

This usually comes from guys and gals not being square behind the rifle and having their head too far back and leaning to the side. If you are square to the gun, think in line with your spine, you won’t have such a drastic head lean leading to an exaggerated “cheek weld”. If you feel yourself having to tip or lean your head to get a sight picture, the body position behind the gun is poor.

“Floating” your face is popular with some newer PRS and long range comp guys. In general for hunting shooting positions it sucks. Wouldn’t recommend it. The idea behind it, with having minimal face contact is good in theory.

 

[Lawnboi]

Shoot some rounds prone without a bag. Will teach you a lot about controlling your rifle without depending on a bag or your face.

Your shooting hand, body connection and body position is what drives the rifle, not your bag or support hand.

Atleast that’s what I do.

 

[DagOtto]

You need to be controlling the rear of the gun with your off hand. Your face is not a replacement for this. “Cheek weld” is one of the most over discussed and biggest waste of times in all of shooting. Filling the void with a bag or other item is great but you should be still controlling the gun with your off hand. See below.

View attachment 789412

View attachment 789413

Your cheek and face should not be used to manipulate the rear of the gun or be thought about as part of the “built position”. If you have to “think” about cheek weld or face position you are shoving your face too hard into the stock.

This usually comes from guys and gals not being square behind the rifle and having their head too far back and leaning to the side. If you are square to the gun, think in line with your spine, you won’t have such a drastic head lean leading to an exaggerated “cheek weld”. If you feel yourself having to tip or lean your head to get a sight picture, the body position behind the gun is poor.

“Floating” your face is popular with some newer PRS and long range comp guys. In general for hunting shooting positions it sucks. Wouldn’t recommend it. The idea behind it, with having minimal face contact is good in theory.

Thanks for photos.

That is what I think I look like in my head. But have never taken a picture or video of my form.

Your post makes me realize I should take a video of my shooting form to see how my head alignment looks. I feel like my hand is doing a good job per your description but can look for that as well.

I need to also think about "resting lightly" or even "just touching" as I'm honestly not sure how much pressure I'm used to applying with my face.

As an archery hunter I really do like the concept of a consistent anchor point... Seems like it would help build more consistency from position to position and set-up to set-up.

I'll experiment a little shooting 10 round groups and see if I notice a difference.

Thanks Again

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I recently changed how I cheek weld, and its helped my shooting quite a bit.

I always seemed to have an awkward head position when shooting prone, caused by shouldering the rifle too far out. I brought the rifle to my clavicle which caused my head position to change. I've always shot with a good amount of cheek pressure and now I have just a little cheek pressure. This has made me steadier shooting prone, but best of all it makes it a lot better in awkward positions like modified prone, tripod rear, and tripod shooting.

On my chassis guns I dropped my cheek piece way down. But shooting this way I can get comfortable on a lot of different height combs than I could in the past.

Ken

 

[JohnJohnson]

I recently changed how I cheek weld, and its helped my shooting quite a bit.

I always seemed to have an awkward head position when shooting prone, caused by shouldering the rifle too far out. I brought the rifle to my clavicle which caused my head position to change. I've always shot with a good amount of cheek pressure and now I have just a little cheek pressure. This has made me steadier shooting prone, but best of all it makes it a lot better in awkward positions like modified prone, tripod rear, and tripod shooting.

On my chassis guns I dropped my cheek piece way down. But shooting this way I can get comfortable on a lot of different height combs than I could in the past.

Ken

I'm attempting to set up my rifles the same way. In a current overhaul of my LOP, cheek height, eye relief, etc on my rifles.

 

[rclouse79]

I put adjustable cheek risers on my rifles. I don't know if this is the correct method, but I close my eyes and put my cheek on the riser. When I open my eyes, I want to have a perfect picture with my scope on the max magnification.

 

[repins05]

I can shoot and have with no cheek weld off of my tripod. Very accurate. However, I have a hard time seeing the impact when doing this and have to find the animal or target after the shot. I can typically get back onto target acquisition quickly though.

With that being said.....I try to get proper cheek weld when possible.

 

[TaperPin]

Hi All,

I'm a mountain hunter and I am focused on improving my skills as a field shooter on game. I am not interested in optimizing competition or bench shooting. My guns are all between 8 and 10.5 pounds fully built-out and loaded. My personal shooting distance limit for big game is 500 yards absolute max. and in real life I've never shot an animal past 380. I prefer prone off of my hunting pack with a light weight rear bag, but also end up shooting off of my pack with no rear support, off of a cheap tripod while sitting, off of hay bales, fence posts, tree limbs and very occasionally in surprise situations off-hand.

With that profile out of the way I'm hoping to get some shooting skill advice.

For years, thanks to you-tube, I've been working hard to have my rifles fit to my face so that I can shoulder the rifle with my eyes closed, then open my eyes and be looking right down the center of the scope. This has meant going with a more tactical style stock with the higher comb or adding neoprene or nylon cheek pads and also using low scope rings and generally avoiding pic rails.

I thought this was the generally accepted best way to set up a rifle for optimal shooting.

Yesterday I was at a friends house who is into competitive benchrest shooting. He was showing me his reloading set-up as I'm finally getting into that world, but during our conversation he started showing me his crazy awesome competition guns and we started talking shooting technique.

He said that one of the biggest improvements he has had in his own shooting was when another competitor told him to get his cheek off the stock completely because any pressure from chin or cheek alters the stock's recoil direction and therefore affects bullet travel. He now floats his cheek and chin off of the stock completely. He strongly suggested I do the same and he says he has done that with his hunting guns as well.

I was dumbfounded and need advice. Is this a thing? What is the current accepted "best practice" for shooters like me as I described above?

DO

I think both methods are correct for their purposes, but not resting your cheek on a hunting rifle ruins the natural point of aim - anything you gain is erased by it taking longer to get shots off. If you look at competitive shooting that requires a person actually hold the rifle, non of them have eliminated a good cheek weld.

Having said all that, one of the great things about shooting sports is we can measure groups to determine if a change in technique or equipment helps or hurts. I would get rid of get rid of a good cheek weld tomorrow if it worked better, but that’s not what I’ve seen, or experienced. It’s easy to say figuring it out is easy, but it’s work - I don’t like trying something new that doesn’t feel natural and sticking with it long enough to give it a proper chance.

Those that I’ve known that poo poo cheek weld are shooting almost everything off the bench. Others have a fundamental misunderstanding of an appropriate amount of pressure, and are off base and suggest either too much or not enough. If they fire a huge number of rounds off the bench, I can see how it might make sense to keep the keep the same feel and not try to switch just for a few shots at game each fall, even if it’s not ideal.

Going a step further than just how hard to press a face into the stock, the Army Marksmanship Unit, and many world class positional shooters, slide their face down and sort of roll up their skin at the top of the cheek piece. They talk about the shape to match the face, not just the height built into the stock - no two faces are identical.

 

[Wrench]

With an 8# rifle what's important is that you allow the rifle to recoil the same every time, you control the muzzle jump the same every time and that you repeat this every time.

Use your cheekweld to mount the stock and control your scope view to reduce parallax effects and keep your form consistent.