I have no experience with the latest newfangled laser bore sighters. I remember the optical collimator with spud. Do the laser types work fairly well, at least to get close? Any recommended brands, models?

You really don't need one on a gun with a removable bolt. Looking down bore and turn cross hairs to middle of target when target is centered in the bore. I did one yesterday and was 4 inches off at 100 yards. Most of the time I am less than 6 inches. Have been doing it this way for 30 years or more.

I do that too, but we don't know if the OP has a removable bolt situation in mind.

Thanks guys, but I wasn't looking for advice on how to do basic bore sighting. BTDT. I have a problem rifle where conventional bore sighting doesn't work. I'm trying to diagnose the problem, and using a bore sighting device might help.

As far as laser bore sights go, I have an old Bushnell, I trust. Bought a newer one (made different) and another brand that I use in a pinch but they seem to have more wobble in them. Have used the chamber type with replaceable bodies, they work well, more hassle.
Never used the non-laser spud type, but have friends that use them.

Been trying to find a laser for .17 rifles, some say they do but they don't.

The earlier ones I've seen

Jamming the arbor down the muzzle never seemed like a good idea to me

Bolt guns.....even Marlin lever guns...pull the bolt & 'bore sight' down the bore on a target

Simple & it works

Wheeler at one time made a $20 gizmo for leveling scopes

Not a lazer type but I have used one of these for years and it has always got me on paper with the first shot.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1008862791

The nice thing about them is that if you keep the data on the setting for a particular rifle it makes it easy to mount any scope on the rifle then go to the recorded setting, adjust to it and you will be pretty darned close.

drover

Yup, I’ve been doing that exact thing for years, also. The zero on most of my rifles is not in the center of the grid, but it does allow repeatability if the location on the grid is recorded.

What is your problem rifle?

I have a Collimator. It's the Bushnell 15 Arbor Deluxe Kit 744001 but I believe it is discontinued.

The Bushnell Professional Boresighter 743333 is still available. It comes with three adjustable arbors.

Mine has worked very well. I've never had to make much adjustment from the first shot. You can't look though the bore with a Win 88 or BLR.

I have a SiteLite SL-500 that I rarely use because I use the uncle's old method of boresighting.

Position rifle with bolt removed, find a suitable security/street light in the bore, move cross hairs to security/street light. I use the neighbors next door, about 500yds away, gets me on paper and very close to the bullseye.

My uncle used this method and I don't know that he ever verified zero afterwards, but killed a ton of deer with his rifles.

I bought the laser bullet sighters thinking it would be greater than sliced bread and turned out to not work as well as my tried and true Bushnell Bore Sighters. I keep one with every hunting rifle case and have copies of specific rifle/load grids for reference in case I bump or drop the rifle and need to check it. It is accurate to within 3" at 100 yards at the worse case and get me on paper quick and easy without firing one shot. Super easy and fast to use, small enough to not be in the way.

Cheapest insurance and peace of mind you can have when it comes to scope POA certainty in the field in the event of an accident or before a hunt.

Hey Paul39, did you center the scope’s reticle before you mounted it? On rifle/mount setups that are straight it really helps get you there quickly. My 10/22 CSC is usually within an inch at 10 yards when I do that.

Thanks again, guys. Please read both of my posts. I can't do a conventional through the bore sight. Trust me, I'm not a rookie, I've done this dozens of times and things don't line up with this one. And I center my reticle by rotating in a V block. Something is off, barrel installed crooked, base screw holes? I'm trying to get a handle on things without multiple trips to the range.

Thanks to those who mentioned specific devices.

Anything THAT "crooked",could be seen by the nekked eye,miles away. Mechanically center turrets,the V-block is only funny. Hint.

Slooowwwwwww down and relate what you are trying to do and what you are doing it upon. EXACT particulars will make it a breeze and eay to resolve quickly. Hint.............

Grandpa's & Dad's:

Sight bore.

Sight reticle.

"Sight in" corrections on target.

Hit what you aim at.

Eyeball it as best you can. Put up a 4’x 4’ cardboard sheet with a bull on it about 20 yards away and shoot. If you don’t hit paper, move it closer ‘til you do get a bullet hole. Then go from there.

If you don’t have a way to see down the bore, that’s really the only way to do it.

I used one of theses for years and always worked great. I had a Savage 99 recently that I thought was tapped crooked, as the scope ran out adjustment. It as almost to the point of selling rifle, but I has an old Bushell spud collimator and gave it a try. Bingo, centered up on the grid and only a couple of inches off on the target, plenty of adjustment in scope left. My guess is the crown is slightly crooked. I too don't like jamming a rod down the barrel, do it carefully.

I have run into that a couple of times so my protocol is that if the setting is such that I am running out of adjustment on the scope I set a box with a target on it about 10 yards away and fire a shot then adjust from there. In both instances the crown was cut crooked, something to be aware of for sure.

drover

Haven’t tried any of the rifle bore sighters, but my range rat pal has helped a number of others struggling with the laser types, and says they all were less than impressive. I have tried a shotgun model, but the emitters on the pair I bought are off-center. You can rotate them in the chamber and see the dot make a circle on the target (break action gun).

Not sure about your V-block technique, but I center mine by putting the scope against a mirror and adjusting until the double image of the reticle lines up. You can also count clicks, but the mirror is easier and I suspect more accurate.

Screw holes are easy to check, as are mounted bases. I have caught myself a time or two not getting rings quite straight on the bases; it’s easy to do with some types.

If you reveal your setup, maybe someone will have other suggestions. There’s a whole litany of scope problem solutions but you’re experienced, so I assume you’ve gone down the list.

Good luck.

Not sure what your issue is, But I have a 1" rod with a hole center bored in it so I can use two lasers to center two windage adjustable rings to the bore. (Or use same laser both bores with the gun in vice and don't move)
Most lasers have plastic or rubber grommets with an Aluminum taper on the body so don't see how that could harm the bore.
As someone in a mechanical field, I have always considered ratcheting devices to there extreme limit to be playing Russian Roulette, once you get it there it may not come back, so I do not center scopes that way. But know others that do and have so far been successful.

My advice is this; buy one where the batteries go in on the side as it should at least be consistent with a fixed laser. Screw in batteries at light end and screw on tail shafts could add error. Buy the cheapest one that has the highest rating as they are all probably made in the same place. Copies have driven out the quality names. Seem to be in the $25 range. There will always be anomalies with the laser, the gun and mounts that can widen the results, still should get you on paper and save you ammo with a relatively easy use.
Good Luck

That would be a total waste of ammo [\sarc off]

I have one of those sightlite SL-100's. It works well but I don't love cramming it down the bore. I lube it up pretty well each time. It's a hassle to get the right o-rings in place for your caliber but you can just leave them on. It is very accurate, though I still prefer to just look down the bore.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1040332264?pid=370798

As I mentioned in my OP, the problem is the rifle, so conventional bore sighting looking through the bore did not work. I mentioned that in my post. I know how to sight in. Between my son and me, we have a century of experience, including competition. This is a long range target rig, not grandpa's hunting rifle (I am Grandpa). With everything starting from zero, scope centered, bore sighted, it shoots a foot or more low and 6 inches right at 100 yards, the opposite of what you want, runs out of elevation at longer ranges. Nightforce target scope, Burris extra tall 30mm Signature rings. Corrected with a combination of base shims and Burris offset inserts. Had hoped to use a bore sighting device to avoid multiple trips to the range. Anyhow, got it dialed in using the shims and Burris inserts. Thanks again for the responses.

*Edit won't let me get rid of that extra nightfore at the bottom???





















nightfore

The best thing about the laser type is for setting up a chronograph. The rest of the time they are a useless gadget

I have a laser bore sighter. It works good for those rifles you can't sight through a barrel. Mine has a magnet in it so it stays in the barrel IF the barrel is not stainless steel. Mine is a Site-Lite. It's expensive but worth it.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1040332264?pid=370798


kwg

I would check the muzzle for a nick. I had a mini 14 I had to take some of the muzzle off of because some of the rifling simply disappeared just before the end of the barrel. It was a factory flaw and it took me a while to figure out what the issue was.

kwg

Paul,

It is IMPOSSIBLE for a rifle to send bullets,where the barrel ain't looking. Hint.

Start from the start,what EXACTLY is said platform? Hint.

NightFarce as a whole,is VERY troubled in erector travel. The 12-42x56 has 40MOA total,the 8-32x56 50MOA,the 15-55x52 has 55MOA and the 5.5-22x50 has 60MOA...all of which is fhuqking pitiful. Hint.

25yd paper will NEVER not relate all and instantly. MECHANICALLY center windage first,in order to coax erector travel. From there,you know how the dust settles. Hint.

I shoot nearly 100 scopes that wear 150 MOA or more on their erectors alone. Hint...............

I asked a question, got answers. Not interested in participating in a symposium or debate. Stick's point about limited travel of the Nightforce is valid.

A couple/few particulars cited and The Cure,just might could help a few folks out down the road. Hint..............

I have an old Tasco, gets me on paper

I have an old BSA Boresighter that I've had for probably close to 20 years. It goes from .17 caliber up to .50, only it does not have a 20 caliber collet. It works just as advertised, and will get a rifle on paper so you can finish the zero process.

Any recommendations for sighting in an AR platform? I've used the laser but it doesn't seem to get my close. And, no I'm not taking my rifle apart to sight it in. My BSA boresighter thing isn't tall enough to work on an AR.

Thanks,

Jeff

You are right about a BSA boresighter not working on a AR. I zero a scope on my AR's by removing the bolt assembly, and looking through the barrel, pick a spot and move the crosshairs to that spot. It will almost always put you on paper at 25 yards.

Take a shot at a cut bank, and adjust as needed.

All this got me thinking, and I looked on Amazon to see what was out there now. They sell a Wheeler laser that mounts on the muzzle with a strong magnet like some collimaters do. It’s here now, and I’ll give it a try when the rail for my new pumpgun gets here. Meanwhile, I’ll try it out with a couple that are already dialed in to see how close it comes.

The instructions say that the alignment on the muzzle isn't critical, as the error will be the same at 25 yards, assuming a square muzzle. Need to put some tape on the magnet to prevent scratching the surface on shotgun barrels I think.

I use a green Sitelight laser bore sighter. You can see it at 100 yards in broad daylight. Works well with hardly if any actual shooting needed to sight in. Maybe a click or two. Under 100 yards probably not even a click and you could still hit a deer.

There are a bunch of "bore-sighters" that will get you close enough to hit paper at 100 yards, usually pretty closely. However, several other traditional techniques will do the same thing.

But as I have explained in a number of magazines articles and a couple of books over the past 20-some years, the BEST use of a collimator occurs during scope mounting--to get the scope, with its adjustments centered, reasonably lined up with the bore. This ensures there's a LOT of adjustment room--and that the adjustments work as correctly as they can with that particular scope. This usually isn't as simple as just clamping a scope in the rings, but helps considerably.

There's a chapter on how to use a "bore-sighter" for this purpose in both Rifle Trouble-Shooting and Handloading and Modern Hunting Optics, available through www.riflesandrecipes.com.

I’m pretty good at bore-sighting the old-fashioned way, occasionally getting it almost perfect. This gadget is an experiment for the ones I can’t look through the bores. I also want to try it on shotguns for checking fit. As mentioned earlier, the set I tried that fit in the chambers were doomed by crookedy emitters. Wheeler claims this one is carefully aligned, then the adjustments sealed with super-duper stickum. Put it on a .22 pistol with a red dot and aimed down the hallway; looked pretty good.

I’ve been known to pre-sight .22s by firing into a trap placed on a stepstool in my basement. If this contraption works it might prevent me from shooting my stool, ……….again.

Hard to beat those old magnetic leupolds if you can find one.

I have the old Bushnell, bought it off ebay, if I had get a Another I would ebay another old Bushnell.

Find a Tasco or Bushnell on eBay, usually for 50 bucks

I have had a BSA arbor bore siter for a long time, it works. For AR’s and such I have the Wheeler Laser Bore Site with the green beam. It works great too.

I use a Laserlyte Bore Sight and have for years. I was taught growing up to use the "remove the bolt and look down the bore method" and used it for years. Doing so, I can't get nearly as close as I can with the Laserlyte. Heck, sometimes I don't even get it on paper looking down the bore. I guess I'm just not good at it. After mounting a new scope or doing the scope merry go round, the night before I'm heading to the range, I take the rifles that need it out onto the deck and place the bore sight into the bore of each rifle that needs it and then pick anything that will show the dot, from roughly 70 to 100 yards away and move the reticle to the dot. I'm never more than an inch or two off when I get to the range. There's no need for one of their stupid targets taped to a wall at "pick your yardage" and placing the cross hairs "'x' inches above or below the dot.