TargetTalk

here's a question.... is the accuracy of my smallbore shooting affected if I have risers on my iron sights and scope. the risers would make the rifle more comfortable when I'm lying down. don't know why this happens, but it does. any caveats to be aware of? thanks for your thoughts.

Adding weight to the barrel can affect the tune, but raisers are pretty light. I've not noticed a difference when addibg and removing raisers. The positive effect on your position should outweigh any theoretical change to the tune.

Raisers make the position more comfortable simply by allowing your head, neck, and shoulders to sit in a more natural position.

Ive just recently removed my 16mm risers in favour for of a palm riser instead (using a precise stock). By bringing the whole rifle up rather than just the sights I've found it also improved my trigger hand position. Might be worth thinking about however does cost a lot more than a set of risers.

And in answer to your question, no it doesn't effect accuracy of your sights.

I am a big fan of using sight risers with iron sights and 3P.

One thing to remember is that if you cant the rifle significantly in either kneeling or offhand, you need to be even more aware to keep the cant at a consistent angle. Reason being that since the sights are elevated higher from the barrel the impact of the difference is amplified.

I am also a big fan of using sight risers with iron sights and 3P.
The height of the risers does NOT have any effect on cant sensitivity.
The bullet does not know how high your sights are.

Bob is correct. The windage error is related only to the drop of the bullet.

Raising the sight line does make the bullet travel farther in windage with a cant. But when you cant the rifle you rotate it around the line of sight, not the bore. Therefore, the muzzle moves in the opposite direction and compensates for the extra drift.

A little mental exercise:

Zeroed at 100 yds, sight line 2" above the bore. Let's just say the actual angle between the line of sight and bore is 10 minutes. If you lay the gun on it's side to the left, the bullet will hit 10" to the left, right? Wrong, it's actually only 8", because it started out 2" to the right.

Elevate the sights by 10". The sight line stayed where it was, pointing at the center of the target, but the barrel moved down 10". The shot now lands 10" low. Add 10 minutes to rezero. Cant it 90° to the left, where does the shot go now?

Through the same hole. It went 20" to the left from where it left the muzzle, but it started out 12" to the right of center.

My guess is that this myth evolved from back when tang sights were raised higher to shoot at a longer distance, increasing windage error from canting. Raising the entire line of sight is not the same thing.