Bore sighting

[Hard H2O]

Theoretically, a 1 shot zero is virtually impossible unless your rifle shoots 5 shots in .010"s or under. That shot needs validation.
I hear, my rifle shoots under 1 moa, I ask how do you figure a zero? I understand shifting center of group to aimpoint, but subsequent shots are still high left and low right.

In 1984, I bought a Win 70 Featherweight 25-06, owner of BND sports here in town boresighted it for me, most likely the old Bushnell system. I grabbed a couple of the old Redfield targets, still in use today under all kinds of names, and a couple boxes of Federal Premium 117gr Sierra soft points and headed to the range.
Setup at 100, knowing I want to shoot this barrel cold. I fire one, felt good, could not find the bullet hole on paper, 2.5-8x? Leupold Vari X III. I walked down to the target, low and behold I literally centerpunched the big center diamond, my aimpoint, of course I was in disbelief. I contemplated just packing it in, then realized the goal was 1.5" high at 100 and according to wives tales, now dead-on at 200.
This is when the rodeo started.

It is a name for it. Not reality. I understand you need to validate your zero with subsequent shots.

 

[Hard H2O]

No worries, my reply was just in humor. I'm sure you've heard before

Yep, I have been asked numerous times. Everyone thinks I have the answer to the shortages but I will never understand why we have so many small rifle and small pistol but not large rifle. Is it hoarders or something else. Is it related to the fires at the plants I have heard about. Is it the government using them all or the ATF messing things up.

I understand the humor. I am not tired of humor. I am tired of the conspiracy theories.

Good luck finding them.

 

[Hard H2O]

Theoretically, a 1 shot zero is virtually impossible unless your rifle shoots 5 shots in .010"s or under. That shot needs validation.
I hear, my rifle shoots under 1 moa, I ask how do you figure a zero? I understand shifting center of group to aimpoint, but subsequent shots are still high left and low right.

In 1984, I bought a Win 70 Featherweight 25-06, owner of BND sports here in town boresighted it for me, most likely the old Bushnell system. I grabbed a couple of the old Redfield targets, still in use today under all kinds of names, and a couple boxes of Federal Premium 117gr Sierra soft points and headed to the range.
Setup at 100, knowing I want to shoot this barrel cold. I fire one, felt good, could not find the bullet hole on paper, 2.5-8x? Leupold Vari X III. I walked down to the target, low and behold I literally centerpunched the big center diamond, my aimpoint, of course I was in disbelief. I contemplated just packing it in, then realized the goal was 1.5" high at 100 and according to wives tales, now dead-on at 200.
This is when the rodeo started.

I see guys saying if they are so high at 50 or 100 they will be dead on at another distance. Similar to your comment about the 1 shot zero not being one shot in reality do these guys then take that rifle and shoot it at that distance to verify?

 

[TxHeartShot]

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've used the old "look down the bore" method and a LaserLyte with about equal results. The laser works well with larger bores and gets me on paper at 100 yds. With the .22s and .223s just peering down the hole at the 2" orange dot at the end of my 25 yard driveway works just fine, too, on paper at 50 or 100 yds. Of course my wife wants to know why I spray painted an orange dot on the white garage door and an orange line across the driveway next to the house...

 

[memtb]

I see guys saying if they are so high at 50 or 100 they will be dead on at another distance. Similar to your comment about the 1 shot zero not being one shot in reality do these guys then take that rifle and shoot it at that distance to verify?

Sort of, I zero at 300, then shoot @ 100 ….."let the shots fall where they may be". But, that's just me. memtb

 

[Citified]

Was at the public range some time ago just testing loads. Guy next to me had a Vanguard short action new in a stock he had assembled himself. He was in his second box of ammo and couldn't get the thing to zero. Offered to spot for him and then looked the the rifle. I could move the scope with my fingers. He didn't torque the screws enough! Luckily I had tools and he zeroed the thing within a couple of shots after that. Turned out he was a very good shot and his new rifle really grouped well with factory ammo. We all make mistakes.

 

[milo-2]

It is a name for it. Not reality.

I made reference to the term, was not calling you out in any form.

I apologize if there was some confusion.

 

[VinceMule]

I made a bore sighting board. I took a 1/4" piece of plywood, 24"x24", and painted it flat black. Then I painted a 14" WHITE circle in the middle. Just lean this piece of plywood up against the target frame at 100 yards, makes life easy for sighting in a new scope looking through the flash hole of a fire-formed case that has been inserted into the chamber. If you are at a public range, inform the range master that you are not going to shoot the "bore sighing" board so he will not think that you are going to shoot one of the legs of the target stand.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

I level the scope and use the old Bushnell Bore sighter at home on the bench, BUT I still need to begin my sight in process at 50 Yards. Shoot TWO shots. They are both usually High and Right but touching or almost touching. Then I dial in and shoot so I'm just under 1-inch Bulls eye at 50 yds , then move out to 100 yards. Shoot and fine tune . Easy and fun. For me with the 270 Win , or the 30-06 its always 100 yard zero.

 

[milo-2]

I see guys saying if they are so high at 50 or 100 they will be dead on at another distance. Similar to your comment about the 1 shot zero not being one shot in reality do these guys then take that rifle and shoot it at that distance to verify?

I made reference to it being a wives tale. Lots of advancement from 70's, 80's, 90's shooting.

I did verify mine at 200, with 8 power Leupold. Needed a spotting scope to pick up hits. Mine looked like garbage, buttoned it up anyway, 200 was too long of a shot back then for me.

I have advanced as a LR shooter at a pace equal to or greater than the gear race.

 

[Hard H2O]

Was at the public range some time ago just testing loads. Guy next to me had a Vanguard short action new in a stock he had assembled himself. He was in his second box of ammo and couldn't get the thing to zero. Offered to spot for him and then looked the the rifle. I could move the scope with my fingers. He didn't torque the screws enough! Luckily I had tools and he zeroed the thing within a couple of shots after that. Turned out he was a very good shot and his new rifle really grouped well with factory ammo. We all make mistakes.

Sometimes the mistake is not knowing our limitations.

I was out with a buddy and he was trying to set the iron sights on a .357 lever action. It came to the point when I told him something was wrong with the sight on his brand new carbine. He told me that I was wrong, packed up, and went home. Later he took the gun back and they in fact found something wrong with it. He told me I was indeed right. In shooting it we would move the sight and the point of impact would not agree with what we did with the sight.

I was out with another buddy with a slug gun. He did not have enough elevation on the sight attached to the barrel to zero. He told me we were doing something wrong. I talked him through what we were doing and said I could not see how we can get any more elevation out of it. I suggested he get an optic for it. There is not a barrel available with a cantilever or other integral scope mount for that gun so he would have to mount the scope to the receiver for deer, remove it for birds, then remount and zero as needed. He took the gun in and they affirmed what I told him and what we saw at the range. I believe he bit the bullet and bought a dedicated shotgun for one of the intended pursuits.

I had a different buddy out with his first rifle. He went against my suggestion and bought a Ruger American in .450 Bushmaster for his first gun. He does not hunt. He just wanted to get started shooting. My suggestions to him were very different from what he bought. He had the store he bought it at mount a Vortex optic of some sort on top. We started out OK. First shots on paper. Got it zeroed. Shooting and gun is beating him up a bit. Groups start opening up. Not sure what to attribute that to. Easy answer is new shooter with a hard recoiling firearm. Correct answer ended up being the scope mount loosening up. Their boresighting was good but the rest of the job was crappy. Vortex ended up warrantying the scope. Buddy asked if the scope being loose could damage it. I did not have an answer for that. I assume not but he ended up with a new scope.

People do make mistakes. People do not listen to others. I am not an expert but I know things. I know when to ask for help. I know what I do not know. I know how to get a gun on paper and zeroed. I know when scopes and sights do not act as they should and you are doing things right then maybe it is the firearm itself. If you are not on paper I know tricks to determine how much and how to get you on paper.

It is funny the number of times you see people disregarding or second guessing how to dial an optic to zero it. It is not rocket science. People have trouble withe the angular relationship of a firearm to the target. You sometimes need to exaggerate the movement of the sight to get the point across.

 

[nealm66]

The pie plate with a dot in the middle at 30ish yards creating a small halo sounds really good to me. I know I've gotten really good at using whatever's on the target board at 100 but for a first timer, the pie plate sure sounds like a worthwhile try for the inexperienced vs a laser that may or may not work

 

[Mike Matteson]

What is the best way to bore sight an AR ?

Are you pulling somebody chain or what? An AR-15 and bore sight them. You can us a laser beam, butts that about it.

 

[lyle2231]

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'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 have used mine in the garage, lights out to adjust windage. As far as elevation goes I start @ midpoint on the elevation dial. Adjust from there. I tried it on the target at 100 yards, indistinguishable. Bore sight method is the best in daylight.