Bore sighting

I think bore sighting takes a little practice and figuring out what centers in the bore good, sighting down it, might be why. But I just haven't seen any of them ( lasers) work very well.

The absolute best thing I've ever found is a yellow diamond shape street sign at 50 yards or so, I actually bought one after seeing how well it worked but now I don't have a place to set one up in my yard far enough away. It's extremely easy to center one up inside the bore with the 4 points oriented top, bottom, left and right. If you've got a good reticle with has marks it does the same thing for centering it up nearly perfectly. It's so consistent that in a pinch I would trust a rifle bore sighted this way for making a hit on game to 300 yards or so. It will get you within .3mil or so on paper.
 
Well that might take some explaining if we all start using street signs but whatever it takes to save primers

I bought mine at a construction supply store for like $40. If you go down to your county or state DOT yard and ask they might even give you a damaged one that was replaced.

If you've got one in your neighborhood that you can setup to look out your window discreetly I don't see an issue with using that either. It's not like you're dry firing on traffic or anything or intentionally point a gun at a person and the bolt is out of the thing too so it's an empty tube.
 
I think it depends on where you live. I've found I can center on a lot of different things but maybe for starting out, a paper plate works pretty good. I normally do it at 100 but I've heard a lot of guys say 50 is best. Whatever works
 
I've had to help quite a few guys that show up at the range with a brand new rifle/scope get on paper at 100 yards before they blow through a box of expensive ammunition. Most of the time it's after they've used one of those laser things that never seem to work. The easiest is to be a couple inches low at 25 but one range I shoot at doesn't have anything out to 100 so have to go old school and pull the bolt. This last time a friend of a friend with a very nice rifle was about to throw the towel and upon sighing through the bore it was easily apparent he was way high. Well his scope wouldn't allow because of the zero and again he was ready to purchase a different rail. Upon inspection I could see he just needed to pull the cap and a screw mechanism , then replace the turret after finding the hero. I'm not sure why but I've never seen one of those laser things work as good as just sighting down the bore and adjusting the reticle to match. Hope this helps someone
I worked as a RSO at PNTC for a few years, I've found the easiest way to zero is a clay pigeon on the back stop. Do a old school bore sighting with the rifle. Spot the impact, put crosshairs back on bullseye and then move the crosshairs to the impact while rifle is held steady. This in 1 or 2 shots will break clay pigeon and put you on paper.
The zero stop gives some issues when zeroing.
 
I have bore sighted rifles using the bolt out method for decades. Even on levers etc you can come pretty close by sighting down the barrel from behind the scope. However, I do have a "Laser Thingy" that I use when mounting scopes at home to get a quick reference for left right and up down alignment, especially when mounting scopes on rails. Works really well for telling you if you need adjustable bases, or Burris Signature Zee rings to get the windage centred and to tell you if you have enough vertical to zero at 100 with an MOA rail under the scope. Before lasers we had the Bushnell type bore sighter to perform that function, but they were large and clunky.

If the laser isn't working well for some of you then you either have a poorly made laser, as in the beam is off center in the tool, or you don't have it centered in the bore properly. Mine has Calibre specific tips to align it. If the laser is in the centre of the bore, and the center of the laser holder, then it has to be at least as accurate as looking down the bore. A laser projects a perfectly straight beam, it can do nothing else but hit on the target right at where the bore is pointing. I never take the laser to the range because I don't need it there, but to say they don't work well I find hard to understand.
 
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A lot of times it's newer shooters trying to shoot light magnums so spotting their own impacts is pretty iffy. I think once they get on paper, dialing the difference isn't a bad thing although I like to get them used to doing the math if I'm teaching them
 
I have bore sighted rifles using the bolt out method for decades. Even on levers etc you can come pretty close by sighting down the barrel from behind the scope. However, I do have a "Laser Thingy" that I use when mounting scopes at home to get a quick reference for left right and up down alignment, especially when mounting scopes on rails. Works really well for telling you if you need adjustable bases, of Burris Signature Zee rings to get the windage cantered and to tell you if you have enough vertical to zero at 100 with an MOA rail under the scope. Before lasers we had the Bushnell type bore sighter to perform that function, but they were large and clunky.

If the laser isn't working well for some of you then you either have a poorly made laser, as in the beam is off center in the tool, or you don't have it centered in the bore properly. Mine has Calibre specific tips to align it. If the laser is in the centre of the bore, and the center of the laser holder, then it has to be at least as accurate as looking down the bore. A laser projects a perfectly straight beam, it can do nothing else but hit on the target right at where the bore is pointing. I never take the laser to the range because I don't need it there, but to say they don't work well I find hard to understand.
I suspect you're right about user error. The one my brother has is a leupold that magnetically sticks to the end of the barrel and you align the reticles. I've never been able to figure it out or get it to work correctly
 
Howdy I just put a new scope on one of my rifles. I like to use Freezer wrap paper
18" wide, it also holds up to weather.
4 shots is all I needed, the first shot was about 4" to the right and about 2" low.
I hold my gun as steady as I can where I held my first aim point, then adjusted to the point of impact, then I used the first hole for the second shot aim point, still needed to adjust for second shot, last 2 were close enough for now. Finish fine tuning later with the ammo I will use.
Hope this helps. 👍
 

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A neighbor's small basement window 100 yards away works really well for me to see through the bore. I've been doing it this way for over 15 years for everything from .223s to .30s.

The ironing board that lives in the spare bedroom (with a window that faces this house) makes for an effective height adjustable platform. I'm easily within a few inches at 100 yards in less than 10 minutes with no shots fired.
 
A neighbor's small basement window 100 yards away works really well for me to see through the bore. I've been doing it this way for over 15 years for everything from .223s to .30s.

The ironing board that lives in the spare bedroom (with a window that faces this house) makes for an effective height adjustable platform. I'm easily within a few inches at 100 yards in less than 10 minutes with no shots fired.

Just don't get caught look'n through the neighbors windows! 😂 memtb
 

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