Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Laser Bore Sighters

So, what do you all think about laser bore sighters? Are they useful/helpful, or what? I have heard two very different reviews of these things. Some say their great, makes checking your zero after a trip/hike/bump very easy and very accurate. Then I've heard that their not very useful at all, their not accurate enough to really tell you where your zero is, and you still have to shoot to really tell. I dont understand how they're can be such difference of opinions. I would think that these things either work or they dont. I'm refering to the cartridge type laser bore sighters, there are a number of different types, but not one that I've heard of has conclusive reviews. According to manufacturers' description's of their product, they say that you are supposed to be able to check your zero accurately with their product. None of them say anything about having to actual fire your rifle to check your zero, that would defeat the purpose of these things. They are supposed to save you ammo, and improve your tactics, by not actually having to fire your rifle and therefore possible scare off game. In theory these things sound great, I've always wanted to try one but I havent because of all the inconclusive reviews. Plus, some of these things are quite expensive, anywhere from $50 to $150 and up. I dont have that kind of money to "waste" on something that doesnt work. So, I'm curious if I cant get a better idea of these things here. Anyone try these things? Anyone like these things? I would greatly appreciate your reviews. Thanks.

I've used several bore sighters but never the cartridge type. I found if you use one numerous times you will be happy with the results most of the time. My opinion is they are better than most boresighting techniques but I would never risk a hunt on the use of one. Maybe nice for a quick check after banging the rifle hard and on your way to a animal.

I find checking my rifle at a night, bore sighting a light at a great distance, works well for checking point of aim. There is no substitution (that I'm aware of) for actually shooting the rifle.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't count on any kind of bore sighting device for sighting in or checking accuracy after a bump on the scope. If I'm hunting and bump the scope, there's always a way to fire some rounds to check the zero.

no personal experience with them, we always just did a range session to sight everyone in on changeover day.

also gave us a feel for what kind of shooter you'd be escorting into the field.

still it's almost inconceivable to me how they couldn't be of some practical use.

I've heard guys swear by them and I've given some thought to getting the cartridge type built for .223 that have larger sleeves for higher calibers.

am thinking if a guy bought one and used it at the range enough, he'd either learn to be confident in it's use, or send it down the road at a discount, you wouldn't end up eating the whole purchase price unless you just let it sit and collect dust.

I wouldn't expect it to replace actual shooting to check zero, more of a safety check to make sure your scope hadn't got knocked off zero.

I just used one a few days ago. A pard had just received a "Laserlyte" boresighter. It has adapters to fit bores from .22 to .50. The plastic adapter (1 of 4) expands in the bore and holds the laser pointer. Sighted indoors at 10 yds (optional method). I wouldn't trust it for more than an approximation to "get on paper", but it was easy to do and took about 10 minutes, including opening the package and reading the instructions.
It comes with a reflective target for daytime range use.

Still need to kill some paper.

We use the beamhit system to train Soldiers in weapons qualification. We have time to play around with it and that experience has some application here. The boresighter by itself will do nothing more than get you on paper.
However, you can use it to check zero pretty closely as follows:
1.Set up a zero target at 25m from the muzzle. You can substitute yards, etc. but you must be able to repeat the distance in the field.(Use the same rangfinder you use in field or get lightweight plastic tapemeasure- it doesn't have to be full length- just measure 5 meters five times etc.) The zero target should be the type with a grid for sight corrections;
2. Place the already zeroed weapon on a rest- you can improvise one- so the weapon is steady and the scope reticle is center mass on the bullseye and the reticle is level;
3. Turn on laser boresight and mark on target where boresight beam hits target. Circle the beam. Repeat 3 times, each time removing rifle from rest, remove and replace boresight and reset. Your marks should be very repeatable. You now know where boresight hits target at 25 yards or meters or feet or whatever distance you used with your weapons zero;
4. Laminate target and pack it with boresight;
5. In field to make a check, use measure (rangefinder, light measuring tape, premeasured length of cord, to set your marked target the exact same distance as you used in creating your collimation target- pin up target- put rifle in improvised rest- put reticle on center target and turn on boresight.
The more precise your are in setting system up, the better your results will be.

Oklahunter- I understand what your saying. That sounds like a good way to see if your zero has moved, but it doesnt allow you to correct it if it has, correct? Still, I guess it would save you some cartridges that it would normally take just to see if your zero has moved. Thanks for the advice.

So, the consensus is that there's nothing like actually shooting the rifle to check your zero, And the only way to actually correct your zero if it has shifted is by shooting it, and that these bore sighters do little more than get you on paper, or as Oklahunter stated, check if the zero has moved. Pretty much what I've already read, although every once in a while I hear of someone who absolutely swears by these things and how great they are. I've laways been curious about these things. Of course I can get by without one, but I thought if these things actually did what the manufacturers' say they did, it be a pretty handy device. Anyways, thanks for the responses everyone. I dont think I'll be getting one anytime soon. I would like to see exactly what they can do eventually, but I aint got the cash to spend on something like that right now....

I always pack a boresighter( the Leupold magnetic job) with me on extended back country hunts.

In theory, I could, in case of suspected scope damage, boresight the weapon and find a place to confirm my zero.

Whether or not it will work in practice, I do not know for certain.

Yes, you can correct to zero if you've been precise but nothing is as good as checking zero by firing.

To reset to zero, carefully place your target at the correct distance. Place the weapon in the improvised rest and turn on the bore sighter. Then either move the target or the weapon to place the beam in or on your boresight mark. Without moving the weapon, adjust the scope reticle to center the target. Remember that down is up and left is right when holding the weapon stationary and moving the reticle. When the reticle centers the target and your boresight laser hits your pre-mark, you are collimated. This can be done without help, but it goes much quicker with a buddy.

OklaHunter- Okay, I didnt think that would accurately re-set the zero, it makes sense, I just didnt think it would work. thats' interesting. And, I take it you've done this? You say your using "beamhit", I'll have to look into it. Now, if you can correctly re-set the zero, that would be something I would be interested in getting. For the times when I either dont want to/cant actually fire my rifle.

Why I have I heard so many times that these things arent actually accurate enough to re-set a zero?

I just went over to the Cabelas site and read some reviews of these cartridge type laser bore sighters. All of them pretty much complain about these things not being accurate enough to bore sight the rifle at 100 yards. But, if one were to use these things only to re-check an already accurately zeroed rifle/scope, mark the POI on a graph target, and then only use the bore sighter to check that the zero has not shifted and if it has, move the POI back to the pre-determined spot on the target, and not to initially sight the rifle in, I wonder if they couldnt be useful.
And because your not using the bore sighter to initially sight in the rifle, maybe there's no reason to spend top dollar on these things, essentially you just want a laser that hits the same place all the time, doesnt matter how accurately they sight the rifle at a 100 yards. From the reviews I read, it didnt matter if the bore sighter cost $50 or $200, they werent accuarte enough at 100 yards. But since I will only be using them to check a pre-determined POI at 25 yards, maybe I can get away with the cheapest one I can find?
I think I may try this with a fairly cheap laser bore sighter and see how accurate it is.

Oklahunter- I tried to figure out what Beamhit is, and from what I could tell, it wasnt a laser bore sighter, but a way to fire blank rounds with a laser. Anyways, I can see how you could re-check a zero with any laser that comes out of the barrel with the technique you described.

oklahunter, thanks for the best explanation I've ever read on how to make a boresighter useful for more than getting on paper. I've never used one but it might be worthwhile after all. Even with your system I'd not expect a precise sight-in but if you knew it was accurate within 3 inches at 100 yards you could hunt deer or elk out to 100 easily. But rather than my speculation, how close to the precise point of aim can you get with your boresight system?

Whatever you do, always remove the boresight before the rifle is actually fired.

intellectual posterior!


signed, Richard Cranium

Sometimes it takes the shot to find out if the scope is truly screwed.

might want to keep that a secret from Stick! (grin)

'course if the barrel had been broken in ahead of time, a guy'd know if the scope was likely to remained zeroed after a bounce in the rocks......(grin)

We were able to return sights to zero well within one cm at 25 meters. That's within 2 inches at one hundred yards. With iron sights, we ended up at the same zero sight setting we started with,give or take one click, that's pretty close with no magnification to help. The beamhit laser is a pretty good quality laser. It has a good,concentric (round) narrow beam at 25 meters which is important.

Yep. In my pilgrimage I have run across an occasional scope whose windage and elevation adjustments were random. With them, adjusting back to zero means nothing.

The worst ones adjust correctly sometimes, which keeps me adjusting and shooting for awhile till I finally figure out it is a messed up scope.

oklahunter, thanks for the info. That is pretty impressive consistency and accuracy with a bore sighter. Good to know what can be done.

I see SiteLite started giving away their Ballistic Targeting System software for free. I've used a SiteLite laser boresighter for years, but without the software you can't make use of the inherent accuracy of such boresighters. The BTS software works with all laser boresighters, but only runs on Windows PCs.