Hi, as the title says I need info for a GOOD Inexpensive boresighter. I dont care if it is laser or not just the least expensive one that does a good job. Thanks Craig
Hi John,well I have read a few reviews of several and people were talking about this one or that one being off terribly (indicating that rifle was bore sighted but actually shooting rifle and being off a foot or more at 100 YDS,wouldn,t stay in place,Batteries wouldn,t stay charged for more than 1 or 2 uses etc. I have never used one so really dont know what to expect. Thanks Craig
Boresighters are used to get a scope on paper at short ranges - usually 10 to 25 yd. They will save you some work when you first put on a scope.
The aim (if you'll pardon the pun) is to be on the paper at short range and then walk your ammunition into the bull before you shoot at 100 yd or farther.
I use a Bushnell boresighter that is held on to the barrel with a magnet. No need to spend large amounts of cash. I can make the rough adjustments at home, usually in my workshop. I have a target attached to the wall about 10 yd away and perform a rough scope adjustment there.
When I get to the range, I take one shot at 25 yd and move the cross hairs. The next shot is just about perfect.
I fire again at 100 yd or more, depending on the rifle.
It's sad to see and hear guys with new scopes getting frustrated because they are not on paper - especially if they are trying to make adjustments at 100 yd! These are short range devices.
Provided it's a gun where you can see through the bore, the best inexpensive bore sighter is your eye. Put the rifle in a solid rest, align the bore with your target, dial the scope until it's centered. It'll get you on paper at 100yds.
If it's a bolt gun, it's a simple proposition to remove the bolt, look down the barrel at a distant, yet distinct object and then proceed to match the scope to what what you're seeing down the barrel.
I've used my neighbor's small sattelite dish for about five years now, and have yet to miss my sight-in target with my first shot at 100 yards. It's never EXACTLY right, but I did this routine on Sunday for a friend's new rifle and had a grand total of 6 clicks to make to get it dialed in.
Simple and free. Just a thought.
Dave
If you're not burning through batteries in your headlamp,...you're doing it wrong.
I have the Bushnell magnetic boresighter. Bushnell's product code is 740001C.
WRT sighting down the barrel, this is another method, providing you can remove the bolt and look down the bore. Not all firearms can be sighted this way. This too should be performed at short range, for best results. 25 yards works well.
Hi Guys ,yea I have been taking the bolt out of rifles and bore sighting that way for years . I mainly want a boresighter for scope mounting and seeing if a scope is tracking properly. Craig
The reason I asked is because some people are under the impression that ANY bore-sighter (as Steve pointed out) will get the rifle on paper at 100 yards, or allow them to check their sighted-in rifle to see if it's off after a fall or a plane flight. (Hopefully the fall and plane flight aren't one and the same.)
I've used a bunch of bore-sighters, and so far the vast majority have only been able to guarantee being within 3-4" at 25 yards. The one I use most often (a Bushnell with adjustable spuds that fit into the bore at the muzzle). It's somewhat adjustable, so you can match the screen reticle to the scope from a rifle that's already been sighted-in, but even after adjusting it as much as possible I found that it works most consistently when a scope's reticle is set 4" above the center of the bore-sighter's reticle.
This was done by inserting the bore-sighter into the muzzles of a bunch of different rifles that had been sighted-in. Even then there will be some variation in point of impact, because of variations in barrel stiffness, loads, recoil, etc. (There's also some variation in the bore-sighter itself when it's remounted on the same rifle, one reason I've never trusted any bore-sighter to tell me whether my rifle's still sighted-in.
The cheapest bore-sighters aren't adjustable, and if they're off at the factory they'll be off forever. A few years a really affordable bore-sighter was offered by a major scope company, aaompanied by much fanfare. They sent me one and it worked pretty well, and I wrote it up that way. One of the former members of the Campfire insisted it was a POS and told me so quite emphatically. He got one of the bad ones.
The most repeatable bore-sighted I've used is a laser/magnet model offered by Midway under their Wheeler Engineering brand name. It mounts on the muzzle with a magnet, and projects a red or green laser beam. The magnet allows it to be used on any firearm, and so far it's proven quite repeatable, and it usually will get a rifle on a 2x2 foot target at 100 yards. But it costs around $100, and requires some range itself for the laser beam to help much. The instructions suggest 25 yards, though through experimentation I've found good results can be had at closer ranges.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
If a bolt or the type where you can look down barrel with the bolt removed, Your eye is hard to beat! I put the gun in a rest and center the bore over the target and then adjust the scope to the target. Usually within a couple-few inches. If your needing one for use on levers and S-A's sorry I can't help I've never seen one work better than my eye so never owned one..
It isn't energy that kills. It's holes! Dogzapper
A fine is a tax for doing wrong, a tax is a fine for doing well
WRT sighting down the barrel, this is another method, providing you can remove the bolt and look down the bore. Not all firearms can be sighted this way. This too should be performed at short range, for best results. 25 yards works well.
Why are best results obtained at short range? I've boresighted a bunch of rifles starting on the 100 yard line with very good results.
There's a lot of misunderstanding WRT boresighters and how they do their job. Small errors in adjustment, or with the device itself, are exaggerated at longer ranges.
A lot of people think that they can use use them at 50, 100 yd or more. They get frustrated because the product description does not match what happens at the range.
Men are bad for this because it involves reading the instructions.
A properly made boresighter, used according to the instructions, will save shots and frustration when you mount a new scope.
Regardless of which one you buy, please read the instructions!
Have I mentioned "reading the instructions" enough?
One last thing: Regardless of whether you use a boresighter or not, you always have to confirm your adjustments by shooting ammunition. This will be the expected range of encounter, or, for target shooters, where the targets are hung.
Nothing beats pulling the trigger, but you want to be as close to the bull as possible with the least amount of adjustments.
Provided it's a gun where you can see through the bore, the best inexpensive bore sighter is your eye. Put the rifle in a solid rest, align the bore with your target, dial the scope until it's centered. It'll get you on paper at 100yds.
Yep ! You're eye will automatically center a small object THRU the bore.
I've never bought any bore sighter. The few I've seen some people use EITHER were not used properly or weren't worth the money they spent.
I like to just take the bolt out and look down the barrel and make scope adjustments that way, then shoot at 25 yards and get the bullets hitting dead center of the target- then go to 100 yards and shoot and make further adjustments, 2 inches high at 100 yards then I put a target out at 200 yards, and make final adjustments my bullets should be hitting spot on dead center- then I shoot at 300 to see were my bullets are hitting, I make a note of it and then I am done. It just takes time, some ammo, paper targets and above all patience. Most of the time 10 to 15 rounds of ammo will get it done to my satisfaction. In CT as a general rule were I hunt, most every body I know me included will zero spot on for 100 yards. Most of the shots you get in my part of the state will be less than 65 yards. Last year my longest shot was 45 yards. 25 to 40 yards seems to be the norm, it is at least in the couple of sections were my land is.
"Any idiot can face a crisis,it's the day-to-day living that wears you out."
I use a Site-Lite. It's not cheap, but it's not too bad.
I find that mostly if I can see the projected laser dot at 100 yards (requires low light)and set the scope to be on the dot, most of the time the rifle will shoot close. Doing it at close range inhibits accuracy.
I always pull the bolt on a bolt gun rather than use the bore sighter even though the bore sighter is always in the range box. Usually I don't have the light conditions to see the laser dot at my range.
I have the old Bushnell spud type (and have also written about it.) Used properly, it - or any bore-sighter - can be a great help. But it's not a sight-in device, as so many shooters think. All it does is roughly align the bore with the scope. Some more roughly than others. It does not allow for or compensate for stock bedding, barrel harmonics, ammo variability, wind - or the jerk on the trigger.
I have. An old Bushnell with four spuds for various bore sizes. I have had it put the first shot right where I wanted it to be, and I have failed to even get on the paper at 100. I suppose that would be operator error!
Looking through the bore with the bolt removed is by far the most reliable for me. Pumps, semi-automatics, and some lever guns are not conducive to that method.
I recently changed the scopes out on six or seven rifles. Some of the scopes were better suited to guns other than what they were on. I used the screen to put the replacement scope reticle as near as I could to where the previous one had been. That exercise placed most of the replacement scopes within a few inches of where I wanted them to be sighted. Jack
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people...who have...rejoiced in their loss of freedom....Blame the people who hail him when he speaks of the 'new, wonderful, good, society'...to mean ,..living fatly at the expense of the industrious." Cicero
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