What is the best method to sight in your rifle

[wally]

Laser bore sighter generally gets me on the paper at 50 yards. That's were I zero the center of a ten shot group and then POA generally yields POI +2" -4" from 0 to 250-300 yards. Works great for me in the pasture where I generally shoot at steel plates, 2-liter plastic bottles and 1-gal milk jugs -- never know the "exact" target range anyways.

I'm not much for futzing with adjustments -- scopes or irons.

OR, if your rifle is scoped and you have a mechanical rest:

1) Lock your gun is a lead-sled, fire one shot.

2) Adjust your cross-hairs till over the bullet hole

3) done

Ignoring the differences between theory and practice But with $1-$2 a round ammo everybody would sure like it to work this way!

 

[Robert Wilson]

Ignoring the differences between theory and practice But with $1-$2 a round ammo everybody would sure like it to work this way!

It's always worked for me, with just a bit of extra work.

I bore sight at a big 25 yard bull. Then I use the above technique - one shot, realign sights to bullet hole. Then I move back to 100 yards and do the same thing, but this time I align the sights to two inches above the hole. For practical purposes I am now sighted in and can begin group shooting or whatever else. Granted, I would not be comfortable going hunting with that "two shot sight-in", but I have never had to make any significant adjustments after the first two shots, either.

The best part about it is that it does not require any knowledge of the scope - "Is it 1/4" or 1/8" per turn?" - and doesn't require any arithmetic. Technically, you don't even have to have the scope installed the right way up. As long as you've gotten the crosshairs aligned with the hole, it'll work.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

If you can bore-sight a AR15, I think you can bore-sight a Mini.

I must be confused. How do you look down the bore of a Mini? I have 2 (a 14 & a 30) and have no idea how you would look down the bore of these guns and through the scope at the same time.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

I shoot a group from a rest at 25 yards on a target with a grid. (i prefer quarter inch grid squares). i figure out where the POI is in relation to POA, and adjust the sights accordingly.

then, if i can't get the target out to the range i want to zero for (which is 250 yards for .308 class calibers and .223) i look at a ballistics program and figure out how high the POI needs to be at 100 and zero it at 100 for 250. this usually ends up being between 2 and 3 inches high.

for the AK, set the rear sight elevation on 100. zero at 100.

for the mini and the 10-22 follow directions as above.

 

[ThePunisher'sArmory]

scythefwd told you to do exactly what I do. just remember if you ever sight in an M4 the POI should be 2" lower than your POA at 25yrds

 

[jsimmons]

You don't look down the bore, you buy a laser bore sighter that conforms to the chambering of your rifle (.223 for you and me). They're inexpensive (I think mine was $25).

It puts up a 2-inch red dot at 100 yards. Lock your weapon in a sled, turn on and insert the laser, and align your sights to where the dot is. Wind won't affect it, and you can do it anywhere that gives you the desired distance, indoors or out.

 

[stinger 327]

You don't look down the bore, you buy a laser bore sighter that conforms to the chambering of your rifle (.223 for you and me). They're inexpensive (I think mine was $25).

It puts up a 2-inch red dot at 100 yards. Lock your weapon in a sled, turn on and insert the laser, and align your sights to where the dot is. Wind won't affect it, and you can do it anywhere that gives you the desired distance, indoors or out.

You mean iron sights can be bore sighted? I thought it was only optics that could be bore sighted.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Any sights can be adjusted to meet the laser dot on the target. The only problem is that the dot is extremely unlikely to be located at the same spot your bullets will go. The laser is good for getting on paper, but it is not, barring great good fortune, a substitute for actually sighting in your gun with your ammo.

 

[stinger 327]

Any sights can be adjusted to meet the laser dot on the target. The only problem is that the dot is extremely unlikely to be located at the same spot your bullets will go. The laser is good for getting on paper, but it is not, barring great good fortune, a substitute for actually sighting in your gun with your ammo.

Well then I have a Ruger 10/22 also to be bore sighted then this means pistols can also be bore sighted?

 

[happygeek]

All the rifles the OP mentioned are "assault weapons". Everyone knows those are only good for spray firing from the hip to kill large numbers of people in as short a time as possible. But they're also semi-autos and all the experts agree that semi-auto fire is more accurate than automatic fire, and thus more deadly. So what the OP has is a true WMD, it accurately sprays fire from the hip.

Joking aside, I've always just used Google to find the offset of POI from POA at 25 meters. So for my M1A for example, the Google Gods say that my POI should be 1.25 inches above POA at 25m for the iron sights for a 300m battle sight zero. Once I finally get a scope, I'll have to recalculate that offset based on how high above the barrel the scope is.

ARs in 5.56 are easy. You just use the Army zero target

put it up at 25 meters, aim at the center, and adjust your sights like it says on the target till you're hitting in the center.

I've used this same target for zeroing other rifles like my Sig 556 and M1A just because I'm used to it. It makes for good offsetting too; for the M1A put the top of your front sight on the bottom of the silhouette and adjust till your rounds are hitting the center.

 

[stinger 327]

All the rifles the OP mentioned are "assault weapons". Everyone knows those are only good for spray firing from the hip to kill large numbers of people in as short a time as possible. But they're also semi-autos and all the experts agree that semi-auto fire is more accurate than automatic fire, and thus more deadly. So what the OP has is a true WMD, it accurately sprays fire from the hip.

Joking aside, I've always just used Google to find the offset of POI from POA at 25 meters. So for my M1A for example, the Google Gods say that my POI should be 1.25 inches above POA at 25m for the iron sights for a 300m battle sight zero. Once I finally get a scope, I'll have to recalculate that offset based on how high above the barrel the scope is.

ARs in 5.56 are easy. You just use the Army zero target
View attachment 498092
put it up at 25 meters, aim at the center, and adjust your sights like it says on the target till you're hitting in the center.

I've used this same target for zeroing other rifles like my Sig 556 and M1A just because I'm used to it. It makes for good offsetting too; for the M1A put the top of your front sight on the bottom of the silhouette and adjust till your rounds are hitting the center.

this looks to be the trend of today.

 

[WNTFW]

I use a "Dinty Moore" beef stew can across a valley or canyon at a range of a mile or more. Trick is to have a dog as a spotter.

One thing a friend does is cover the entire target backer with white paper. All the holes are new and his. If you are off the target and onto the backer you still can spot your hit.
Next thing I do is use a target with grid lines and have the same type target next to you. It makes it easy to figure the amount of correction in inches as opposed to counting through a scope. Then convert to MOA. If your target has no grid, use a ruler on the same target next to you. I you are spotting for someone you can point out where the hit was. I have learned that not any body can spot.
Thirdly with equipment & ammo that has been proven, but needs to be rezeroed. If I make a shot and I am on call with POA then I correct from the POI. As long as I am sure my shot was executed properly I make the correction to the sights. Once the rifle is close then I start shooting groups & refine the zero. This is at 100yds or less when wind is not a factor.

*Bring proper allen wrench or screwdriver.
Once you get a scope zeroed move the turrets to zero out the dial. Then shoot a few to verify that zero corresponds to zero.

 

[RhinoDefense]

Don't know if there is a "best" but I sight all my rifles in for maximum point blank range.

 

[Zak Smith]

The arch passes through the line twice.

Not always

Choices are zero, once, or twice. Zero means there is no distance where the POI=POA. Most rifles with external ballistics roughly similar to .223/.308/.30-06/.270, etc, will intersect the line of aim only once if the zero is around 100 yards; twice if the second zero is further.

 

[crazyjennyblack]

Laser has always worked for me. $40 bushnell laser boresighter, and I'm good to go. If you're only doing it once, perhaps a more traditional "ammo" method might be good, but remember that a laser can save on the ammo it takes you to get "on the paper"

I've used this with 2 Marlin 60's, a Savage MkII, and a Remington 700, as well as a friend's Remington 700 and Ar-15. With my Remington I got super lucky with a Leupold scope and it only took be about 10 rounds before I had things adjusted at 100 yards and I was shooting decent groups. I started at 25 and zeroed it. Moved it to 50 and zeroed it. Then moved it to 100 and finalized my settings.

Only problem with using laser is that you MUST do it in low light. Dawn or dusk is the only time a cheaper laser (like I got) will be visible out to 100 yards. YMMV, but for me laser has worked on 6 rifles and has worked every time. Also, laser is good for those cold wet early mornings at the range when you shiver, your groups are wacky, and you want to know "did I bump a turret on my scope, or is it just me?" Pop in the laser and find out, as long as the day isn't too bright.

 

[Palehorseman]

Ditto on the bore sighting, I set up the rifle in a soft padded vise out in the garage. If I was using live ammo, there is some writing on a certain electrical transformer I would have destroyed long ago.

 

[ClayinAR]

bore sight

I bore sight at 25 yd. Then shoot at 100 yd. I will always be on the paper, usually within 2 to 5 inches. The only time that doesn't work is with a rifle you don't expect much accuracy from. MAK90, etc.
I bore sight by eye. I have a snow white box with a 3" black bull on it. 25 yd down the driveway, gun in a rifle vise. On other than bolt actions I have a surplus bore mirror. I hesitate to call it a bore sight to keep from confusing it with the common devices sold. Cost a buck at a gunshow. No point in wasting ammo at 25 or 50.
Obviously you would do shorter distances for a 22.
Others have given good advice on sighting in at 100. If you have a way to immobilize the gun at the range then walking the scope to the center of your group is good. When you have extreme high pressure cartridges there is no point in wearing out your barrel faster after it is broken in.

 

[stinger 327]

Laser bore sighter generally gets me on the paper at 50 yards. That's were I zero the center of a ten shot group and then POA generally yields POI +2" -4" from 0 to 250-300 yards. Works great for me in the pasture where I generally shoot at steel plates, 2-liter plastic bottles and 1-gal milk jugs -- never know the "exact" target range anyways.

I'm not much for futzing with adjustments -- scopes or irons.





Ignoring the differences between theory and practice But with $1-$2 a round ammo everybody would sure like it to work this way!

Alot easier said than done after a few boxes of ammo gone.

 

[Famine]

I bought a scope and had a coupon for a free bore sighting, so I did it. I took my rifle (30-30) to the range and shot "at" the 100 yard target...not even on the paper, no idea where it went! I shot 50 yards next and I was 2 feet off (hit the other guys target next to me)! I wasn't happy. I asked the owner of the range, who is a phenom at shooting anything, to take a shot from my rifle. He was 2 feet off at 50 yards. This guy takes off the caps and just starts cranking willy-nilly. I was scared. He takes a shot at 50 yards. He cranks the crap out of the windage and elevation again! He shoots at 100. He does a few clicks. He shoots 100 again. Just a few more clicks, and he hands me the rifle. "Spot on," he says. Four shots and this gun went from being 2 feet off at 50 yards to being spot on at 100 yards. It was the craziest thing I'd seen in a while.

The moral to this story is that bore sighting, IMO, is worthless...at least at Gander Mountain.

 

[RainDodger]

First, bore sight it. I do this at night. I set a flashlight about 50 yards away in my yard. I put the rifle in a rifle vise and sight down the bore at the flashlight, then adjust the scope reticle to the flashlight. That gets me on the paper, withing a few inches, at 50 yards.

Next, go to the range. Sight it in at 50 yards, taking into account the trajectory at that range, based on the final range you want to sight it in at.

Last, sight it in for the final range.

Done.

 

[Zak Smith]

If the scope is completely off, I can usually get "on" an IPSC target at 100 yards just by sandbagging the gun, looking through the bore with the bolt out and aligning it on my target. Then I turn the scope knobs (without moving the rifle) until they are aligned to the center of where the bore is pointing.

Then, if you have a scope with some calibrated hash marks (like mil dots, or moa hashes or whatever), it should take a very small number of rounds to make the POI coincide with the POA: shoot 1-5 shots (depending on how accurate your rifle is), then measure the windage and elevation offsets using the reticle. Dial those exact corrections on the knobs. The next group should be spot on.

I rezeroed the scope on my .308 (after using it on a different rifle for a while) in three rounds using this method last Sunday. The rifle is accurate (approx 0.2-0.3 MOA) so shooting a bunch of extra rounds for groups is not necessary.

 

[stinger 327]

So what's the average time to sight in a gun scope and iron sights for the average Joe?

 

[stinger 327]

I bought a scope and had a coupon for a free bore sighting, so I did it. I took my rifle (30-30) to the range and shot "at" the 100 yard target...not even on the paper, no idea where it went! I shot 50 yards next and I was 2 feet off (hit the other guys target next to me)! I wasn't happy. I asked the owner of the range, who is a phenom at shooting anything, to take a shot from my rifle. He was 2 feet off at 50 yards. This guy takes off the caps and just starts cranking willy-nilly. I was scared. He takes a shot at 50 yards. He cranks the crap out of the windage and elevation again! He shoots at 100. He does a few clicks. He shoots 100 again. Just a few more clicks, and he hands me the rifle. "Spot on," he says. Four shots and this gun went from being 2 feet off at 50 yards to being spot on at 100 yards. It was the craziest thing I'd seen in a while.

The moral to this story is that bore sighting, IMO, is worthless...at least at Gander Mountain.

When I bought a scope the place will bore sight and install for free. Well guess what when I went down to the range it wasn't even on paper.