Bore sight

johnny3

Does anyone use a bore sight for zeroing a rifle
And they any good

ChrisBan

I have one and used it on a new scope a couple of years back. I used a mark on an electricity pole to sight in the scope (had to do it at dusk as the laser mark was difficult to see). It got the scope on paper straight away and after approx 6 shots was zeroed at 150 yards.

Cass

Laser Boresighters are NOT a tool designed to get you on the bull from the off, but a tool to get you onto paper.

The laser is a "line of sight" device. Meaning it shines a light in a straight line. No bullet travels like that so it can never zero the rifle for you. What it can do is help you see where the bore of the barrel is pointing, to a certain degree of accuracy, and then you can asdjust the scope to match the laser's dot. Once on paper you can fine tune the POI by adjusting after each shot.

For the price it's not worth it unless you are zeroing on a regular basis. A look down the bore will do the same job for free. The most any zeroing of a rifle should take is 3 shots, perhaps up to 5.

Here is what i do. This brings you from mounting the scope to zeroing.

Start at 50 yds. Check Rail/bases are securely fixed to receiver. Place scope onto receiver/rail/bases. Check for eye relief. Place the top piece of the rings back on and loosely screw down. Do not tighten yet. Once again check your eye relief. Use either spirit levels or the piece of string method to line up the crosshairs on your scope (or whatever works for you). Without moving the scope tighten down all screws. Tighten two screws at a time in opposite sides so as to bring the top of the ring down squarely. Now your scope is back on and ready to be sighted in.

Turn the clicks on the scope (elevation) down to the lowest setting. Now turn the clicks on your windage adjustment all the way left (or right). Now turn it in the other direction while keeping count of the minutes/clicks. If its (for talks sake) 50 moa turn it back 25. Now your windage is centralised. Place the rifle in a clamp and check its level. When you look down the barrel make sure the circle made by the muzzle is central in the circle made by the breach.



Move the rifle (not your head) until the target (at least 2ft x 1.5ft with concentric circles) can be seen sitting perfectly central in the "ring" made by the muzzle.




Now keep the target in view through the barrel while trying to keep both "circles" central. Once you think you have the target in the barrel and all aspects centralised and secured, reclamp the rifle again making sure nothing moves. Now look through the scope and see where your crosshairs are in relation to the target. Turn up your elevation turret until you are approx. level with where you have sighted the barrel. Go between the barrel sight and scope and try to narrow down the difference in "point of impact". Adjust elevation and windage as appropriate.

Bolt in and load a round. Steady yourself and fire. Check your point of impact. Adjust your scope the necessary clicks to compesate for wind drift and high or low impact. Your scope is probably .25" click value at 100yds so don't forget you'll have half that movement at 50yds. So if you are 2" out it will take 16 clicks to move the 2" rather than the 8 clicks at 100yds. Don't forget that this is scope movement, as in straight line of sight. The trajectory of the bullet being used will determine whether the full amount of clicks is needed or if more are. Anyway load a second round after adjusting the scope and fire. You should be very close if not in the bull. Adjust scope again if necessary. Load and fire a third round. this one should be in the bull (weather and shooter permitting).

Make note of the turret markings and record them as your 50 yd zero. Now move to 100yds. Fresh target. Without adjusting the scope fire at the 100yd target. Take note of the bullet drop and adjust your scope accordingly to compensate. Fire another 2 or 3 rounds to establish a group. When you are happy with your group, record the turret markings and if possible zero the turrets and keep as your 100 yd zero. You can then move to 200 and 300 if you want. Fire and adjust the scope. Record the bullet drop and click value to compensate ans voila you have your drop chart started.

Of course you could always go for a bore sighter/ laser guide and cut out half the crap i just wrote. Whatever works for you. If you find when firing at the 50 or 100yd targets that the rifle cannot keep a group or still will not hit paper then i'm afraid it may be a bit more serious than just needing to be rezeroed. At all stages keep checking screws and making sure all items are tight.

Hope this is of some help.

FISMA.

johnny3 wrote: »

Does anyone use a bore sight for zeroing a rifle
And they any good

Ever notice after you have been in to a sport for a while you have a pile of "stuff" you once thought necessary, but now never use? That's where my bore sighter is.

It's a nice tool, however, unecessary.

I easily get on target using a method like Cass' at 300ya. Even used it at 1000ya.

clivej

I use much the same as Cass says to.
I'd shoot at 10y to get on paper and see how off/out I would be.
You'd really have to have a bad scope not to hit paper at 10y.

But the best is to look down the barrel to 'Bore sight' first then click over the scope to what the 'Bore sight' is looking at