Is a Laser Bore Sighter worth it?

I have one of the $30 Cabela's brand, it was a gift. Thirty bucks isn't much and it has certainly been worth that.
I'll generally pull the bolt to bore sight but for semi auto 22's or when mounting a scope at my bench, a laser is pretty handy.

WrongHanded said:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/6...laser-bore-sight-22-to-50-caliber-20-12-gauge
I have one of these. It has always got me on paper at 25 yards.....

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Me too, all you need is one frustrating time at the range not finding paper & this pays for itself.
Also use it to do before/after on scope swap zeroes, which have been surprisingly accurate,
key is to leave the laser on and not move it while swapping the scopes.

I have a $30 magnetic that you stick on the end of the barrel and it works just fine for me. Maybe I just got lucky. I use it on my hand guns in my garage from time to time just to check where the gun is pointing vs. where the sights tell me. Probably dumb but that is what I do. I used it to sight two pistols with a rail laser and was very close when I went to the range. It isn't magic but then it doesn't hurt anything either. I only have one scoped rifle, older carry handle AR, and it got me close which is what I wanted. I admit I like gadgets.

I use it to get close on pistols with red dots. Works for me. Never perfect, but always a good starting point.

Good prices and decent quality on the Sightmark brand from Amazon.

entropy said:

A guy I shoot Trap with just lent me one to check choke alignment. I graciously accepted, but had actually just patterned the three chokes I will be using. (the gun came with Skeet, IC Lt. Mod., Mod. and Full. I bought a Turkey choke. I'll never use the Skeet, IC or Lt.Mod.) I'll bring it back to him, unused, in a week or two.

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On the contrary, since you have it worked out already, why not use what you know to test the bore sight. You could learn whether the bore sight result does actually match the patterning result. I would be interested in knowing what you find out. It could come in handy in the future. I am in the reverse situation having just used the bore sight to rough check my 12 ga O/U. I will need to pattern it soon to check the methods against each other.

Yep, i've used a laser bore sighter for over 15 years: It works very well for me. At home the rifle is bore sighted at a distance of 25 feet. The first round at the range is seldom off more than 4 inches at the 50 yard line.

Not for me and I even have a bore sight set. I am a look down the bore guy myself, even have a really thin mirror that will fit in the ejection port of semiauto .22’s just for that purpose.

I am not a fan of cramming stuff in the bore and even saved some photos posted a decade or so ago of someone that has likely abandoned the practice as well.



Alternate methods:

If you already have an aiming device on the rifle, I made an aluminum clamp that won’t hurt the finish and welded two 1/4-20 screws together at 90deg (windage and elevation), that allows to aim a cheap laser pointer to coincide then just mount the scope and move it to the dot. It’s great for swapping stuff around because you are very close right off the bat.



I have a few AR’s that I hunt with and swap the same optic between them. I keep cheap pistol lasers mounted on otherwise useless rails. Allows quick and reliable zero without a shot but I always confirm.



If it’s a “clean sheet” so to speak and I don’t have my little mirror handy, I just use a good rest and a piece of paper close enough to the barrel I can hit it somewhere.

At that point it goes like this.

rpenmanparker said:

On the contrary, since you have it worked out already, why not use what you know to test the bore sight. You could learn whether the bore sight result does actually match the patterning result. I would be interested in knowing what you find out. It could come in handy in the future. I am in the reverse situation having just used the bore sight to rough check my 12 ga O/U. I will need to pattern it soon to check the methods against each other.

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I know a gentleman who does this for others at the club he shoots Trap at, and it does bear out that supposition. He uses it when a shooter buys a new gun first, notes where the laser points, then patterns it. They almost always coincide. Since I already patterned mine, it will be superfluous but, I'll do it and report back here.

For $8.45 from eBay you can get a laser to fit specific chambers. Looks like unloaded brass. Shoot the laser at night to 100 yards and align the reticles. The next day you’ll be on paper at 50.

These are cheap and may not last more than a couple uses, but for less than nine bucks it’s worth it for me.

Not a big fan of the type inserted in the end of the barrel since its entirely dependent on the centering of the stem in the barrel with an o-ring. Plus every so often people shoot them. If you are careful and diligent probably good for getting on paper at 25 yards, but usually can do just as well looking down a barrel.

I have and use the chamber insert cartridge specific lasers - have about a half dozen or so different ones including 223 and 30-06. Same model used by most of the local gun stores to bore sight newly installed scopes. Tend to be within 3 or 4 inches at 100 yards so fairly good, but not worth buying unless you have multiple of guns in the same chambering in need of bore sighting.

I do have have a universal laser kit with a bunch of different inserts. Was never really happy with it for anything beyond pistol distances.

Not IMHO

donandmax said:

I have bought several different kinds of these and none of them even got me on paper. Waste of money..

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Same here and I don't understand why ... It's easy to tell when the laser isn't centered as it projects a crescent next to the dot ... If you even get a dot.

Like donandmax said, not even on paper at 25yds, and I've tried 3 different types.

BUT, I can bag it up or clamp it down it in a rest, look down the barrel centering my target while adjusting the scope or sights and be on an 8" target at 100yds on my first shot ... this is for 223, 7.62x39 and 308.

But the cat & dog both like them so it wasn't a total loss ... But pocket lasers are MUCH cheaper!

Well. You do have to take into account that the laser beam doesn’t drop with distance. IIRC Einstein would disagree, but I think you know what I mean. So for short pistol distances it is much easier to get close to the bulls eye. You can use a ballistic calculator along with the bore sight to overcome the bullet drop issue.

I keep an inexpensive one specific to every cartridge I shoot. As I said above Sightmark works well for me.

I tried a real cheapie for 12 ga, and the laser is fine. But the back end of the shell is too thick to allow the O/U to close on it. It sticks out a little. No matter. The gun doesn’t have to be closed to sight down the rib as if the gun were mounted and check each barrel for regulation. In fact it can be done with just the barrels taken off the gun. But I do plan to grind some aluminum off the back of the laser to get the gun to go into battery with the laser loaded.

I bought a .243 chamber specific one a few years back and used it for .243, .308, 30-06, and .270 rifles because it is the same at the base of the boresighter.

Bolt guns you can just center bull in barrel and adjust optic to proper sight picture. Becomes a bit more of a problem on OTBG (other than bolt guns) which do not allow sighting through the bore.

In the '50s & 60s we were issued a small prism bore scope which could be inserted in chamber of the M1s, etc. to inspect the bore from breech end which could have been used nicely to bore sight a rifle which does not offer direct line of sight through the barrel.

When I installed a scope on my M1 Garand, I solved the boresighting chore by gluing a 1" round mirror on a dowel cut at (an eyeballed) 45* angle. Laying this gadget on the follower and using a piece of paper for a cheater got the job done. More than one way to skin a cat.


Hard to get a centered picture and bullseye would not focus through the bore, but you get the idea.


Regards,
hps

I vote yes.

I have a lot of milsurp and a bore sighter allows you to get the sights close, (or at least see where it is shooting), so you are on paper before finishing the zero.

According to the documentary series NCIS on CBS, using a laser boresighter that sticks in the muzzle makes you a sniper and your bullet will hit exactly where the laser dot is. I still haven't figured out how the "sniper" shoots around the bore sight without blowing up the gun, but I'm not a sniper so it's probably some secret sniper ninja magic.

On my bolt guns, I use tennis ball or something similar on the back fence at about 20 yards and sight through the barrel. Gets me close enough.

Matt

Aim1 said:

One of the rifles is a bolt action the other is an AR15 so can’t bore sight that one I’m guessing?

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Just do the upper, remove bolt and charging handle?

Russellc

They work very well when you clamp a rifle in a vise and use the boresighter on the test "target", about 50 feet away. I still shoot the rifle at 50 yards or less to assure that I'm on target and adjust as needed before shooting at longer ranges.

The best thing about using a boresighter is that you can assure that there's enough adjustment remaining in the scope as it sits on the rifle. I've had instances where the factory receiver holes weren't correctly lined-up, so I had to modify the scope mount to make things work. That saved me considerable time, mileage, and frustration. With bolt-action rifles, I still like to bore-sight, since it's more accurate than a spud stuck in the muzzle.

Slight Twist of Question:

Is an optical bore sighting tool better than a laser bore sighting tool?

I have owned an optical bore sighting tool for many years. I have used it on many rifles and a couple of hunting revolvers over the years with both scopes and red dots. It really works, and works well provided you use it the way you are suppose to. I am very well aware that with bolt actions I could easily do without it if I am willing to expend a few more rounds. This has always gone with me on long distance hunting trips to check if the travel has affected the zero of the scopes in part to have a method of quickly checking the scope's zero without firing rounds. Big bonus - I only need the one because the arbors take care of caliber differences.

I have never owned a laser bore sighter because I already have something that works. However I have watched many people struggle with them and never gotten the results they were looking for. I once watched a guy struggle for over an hour to get his new scope sighted in, expending considerable ammo in the process. I offered, and he accepted, the use of my optical bore sighter. Within less than five minutes, he was on zero and had expended two rounds in the process.

So. Assuming the firearm is not a bolt action, or one that could be sighted by tearing down the gun partially, is part of the problem with poor quality laser bore sighters and would the optical bore sighting tool provide a much better option?

I have a 25-06 laser bore sighter that my father in law gave me for a Christmas present years ago. Works well for 270 and 30-06 as well and is close enough to get it on paper at 50 yards. For everything else I just take the bolt out and look down the barrel with the rifle sitting on a rest which also gets close enough to get on paper at 50 yards. So basically if you have good enough eyes to bore sight visually, don't waste your money on the laser dealies.

Well they are good for getting my cats to chase the light around......