Scope Height

[walkabout]

Is there any real disadvantage for having a scope mounted a bit high over a barrel.

I have seen lots of pictures of serious Target/Benchrest shooters with really high mounts with scopes.

How would a high mounted scope effect the accuracy?

Or is all do do with drop or cant?

I assume that they mount them high for comfort of not having so much neck strain?

I realise on a Tactical/Field rifle we try to keep everything compact and neat, but is it so necessary with Target/Benchrest?

[Chris-NZ]

The main reason BR shooters have them high is they don't want cheek contact with the stock.

 

As a general rule, the lower the better if you're shooting in a conventional manner. There is no inherent accuracy issue with height above bore.

[Eagernoskill]

Chris-NZ is correct - for conventional distances lower is better due to body / contact consistency.

 

For general distances and shooters a higher scope height creates a "perception" of a flatter trajectory but it is only the changes in the relationship and angles between bore / initial line of sight. This often throws people when they play with ballistic programs....

it is only a perception the bullets trajectory does not change only the Line of Site starting point that then changes the drop number

 

For extreme distance shooting some advantages exist to increasing the height

1. you have more range (ie set up gun for 2000 yards plus ranges) - ie for pre-setting drops then keep ing elevation for distances past that

2. You can use bigger objective lenses / magnification