Budget chamber bore sight

[CajunMan89]

I recently purchased a Sight-Rite chamber Laser Bore Sighter for my .243 WIN at my local Academy. It worked great at first, but now is giving me problems. It either won't turn on, or is not bright. it seems as though the spring will not allow the batteries to make good contact...cheap design I guess. I payed $29.99 plus tax. My question is, are there any decent chamber bore sights that are under $50? I'm not trying to sound cheap, but I'm on a tight budget due to unforeseen circumstances this year.

 

[LoonWulf]

The cheapest is your eyeball, if you can look down the bore that is. Ive actually gotten pretty good at eyeball bore sighting. If im not within 8" at 100yds its usually a surprise.

You can probably shim up or stretch the spring in your current bore sighter if you're inclined to mess with it.

As to a replacement, ive got a sightron unit for my .44 thats pretty good. I think that one was right around 50.

 

[pert near]

If you use the eyeball method you can get a little more precision by drilling out the flash-hole on a case to use as a bore peep-sight.

FWIW

 

[LoonWulf]

If you use the eyeball method you can get a little more precision by drilling out the flash-hole on a case to use as a bore peep-sight.

FWIW

Nice, ive never thought of that

 

[22250Rem]

Never occurred to me, either. But that sounds like a great concept and a very smart idea. Thanks for the tip. Gonna try it next time I'm in that situation. You can always learn something new and interesting at THR.

 

[jmr40]

I've never found that any of those "tools" ever saved me a single round of ammo, nor one minute of my time. Even the expensive ones.

 

[illinoisburt]

I've never found that any of those "tools" ever saved me a single round of ammo, nor one minute of my time. Even the expensive ones.

I own and have used a bunch of different ones. For many years the nearest rifle range was a couple hours drive (plenty of short indoor pistol and outdoor skeet in the area, just not high power rifle ranges around Chicago) so I thought they would be helpful for when I finally got out. They weren't.

In my opinion the collimator and laser tools just aren't that much better or worse than bore sighting that its worth spending any money on them. You are much better served using that money for more ammo.

The 1 caveat is that the bright catridge specific lasers which turn on when chambered and project a strong beam can be useful when swapping a known sighted in optic. Put rifle in a padded rest and aim precisely at a dot on grid paper at 100 yards, turn on the laser and mark the paper exactly where it hits. Without moving the laser, change out the sights. Aim the gun again so the laser is on the original mark and adjust the crosshairs to dot. I have done this with really good results bit caution that the laser beam is usually a foot or more away from the aim point and varies every time you install/remove/tweak it.

For what its worth, I've done the same with a cheap $10 barrel mounted laser that i adjust to the point of aim of existing known good iron sights to install and align a scope. So wouldn't put much money in any of these things.

 

[RainDodger]

I use only my Mark 1 / Mod 0 eyeball. Rifle held in vise. Set a small flashlight out there at 50 yards or so, pointed at the rifle. Look down bore and center it on the flashlight. Adjust scope or optic to flashlight. Done. You will be on paper at 50 yards and you can go from there. Free.

I also taped a piece of cardboard with a very small hole in it, over the flashlight head so that all you see at distance is a pinpoint of bright light.

 

[WelshShooter]

I zero'd a rifle on the weekend using the Mk II eyeball (I wear corrective contact lenses!). The scope was a bit high, maybe 1" higher than the bore so I was expecting my shots to be a wee bit higher than normal. The elevation and windage were set to the middle of the range, this ensure that the glass is centred in the scope body.

I bore-sighted my target at 100m and fired a three round group. The bullets were around 10" high and ~1.5" to the left. The high shot met my prediction. If the windage was out by 10" and my windage was set to the middle, I would re-check the scope mount and rings to ensure they are centre. My scope has a milrad reticle, so I measured the difference and made the necessary adjustments and fired another 3 round group. This is repeated until the scope is zero'd. I wouldn't bother with any fancy laser sighting tools, I would only recommend that you use some sort of tool to ensure the receiver and scope are level during mounting. This could be as simple as placing your rifle on a rest/vice and levelling with a spirit level on the receiver, then mounting your scope with the spirit level on the elevation cap. Rotate the scope until the spirit level is level. This is much more essential than a laser bore sighter so I would spend your money there.

 

[RainDodger]

Wouldn't that be a Mark 1 / Mod 1 eyeball? (since all you did was modify your present eyeball - you didn't replace it)

 

[WelshShooter]

Wouldn't that be a Mark 1 / Mod 1 eyeball? (since all you did was modify your present eyeball - you didn't replace it)

That depends, do you class these suckas as Mark 1 eyeballs?

 

[boom boom]

The decent cartridge specific ones work ok for setting iron sights. Scopes are another matter.