Advice on Scopes

[Confederate]

I've got a couple of Ruger 10/22s and a Mini-14. Just recently I purchased a BSA red dot device for twenty bucks. It fits a Weaver mount and that's no problem. Seems like a nice thing to have.

But then I was down in my basement today and found a brand new in-the-box Bushnell 4-7x 20mm. I've had it for years and never used it, and it fits whatever mount comes on the Ruger (which is narrower than my Weaver).

The nice thing about the Weaver mount is that I can use the scope or see through to the iron sights. Anyway, the red dot mount lets me line up very fast on target while the scope requires a bit more time, and at 7x, every movement is noticable.

The BSA can make the dot smaller or larger and is a lot like using a laser. The Bushnell is crisp and offers 4x magnification, which I like a great deal.

Now here's where I need the advice. I'm wondering how good laser bore sighters are in lining up sights. Does a scope have to be resighted every time it's taken off and put back on a rifle? How accurate is the red dot for shooting up to 100 yards? Also, how good is Bushnell? I recall I paid about $36 for it years ago. Today, the price of zoom scopes seems to have gone up a lot.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[esq_stu]

YMMV, but I find I am a much better shooter with much smaller groups when I use a red dot on my .22.

I prefer open sights in general because I don't want to be too dependent on optics and electronics. But my eyes are getting old. I exercise them with open sights but have more fun with optics and electronics, both because I see everything better through them and because my groups are way smaller.

 

[browningguy]

1. Yes you will need to rezero the scope every time you remove it. I have laser and mechancial bore sighters and nonw of them are better than 2-3" in alignment.

2. The scope will be much more accurate than the red dot. Most red dots have between 2 and 5 MOA dots, that's roughly covering 2-5 inches at 100 yards. It's good for shooting reasonable groups fast, not so much for shooting excellent groups.

 

[DnPRK]

Bore sighters will get you close to the target, but don't expect a bullseye. To get the group to the bullseye you still have to do it the old fashioned way - shoot and adjust, shoot and adjust. The nice thing about a bore sighter is you don't waste a box of ammo and the better part of a morning trying to get the group close to the target.