I need help RE:boresighting

[Smiley]

I bought an alpec laser boresighter in .223 figuring that later on I could buy the sleeves as I got more calibers. First off I can't find any of the sleeves for different caliber anymore. They are only selling them as the full priced packages now. But that is not my main problem. I sighted in my AR and mini-14 just like the instructions said and then went to the range. I now that this will only get me on paper and that adjustments need to be made but I could not even hit the target placard that the targets were on at 100yrds. this really pisssed me off and I just shot iron sights the rest of the time. I did fine with the iron sights so I am not that bad of a shot. I even tried adjusting the scope to see if I could get on paper but it didn't work at all. Best I could tell was that i was hitting above the target.

I lined up the red dot at 30 feet as prescribed by the directions and again nothing. I have been to the range twice and do you know how embarrassing it is to go get the target with no holes in it. arrrghhhh!!!!!!!!. I have shot pistol, and skeet & trap and do very well. I don't want to get bullseyes everytime but it would be nice to hit the darn board.

Please give me some advice for aligning a scope. I have a spotting scope but it is not particularly fantastic. I can do all the adjusting once I get on paper but I can't even get on paper. Please help.

 

[gaijin]

Forgive me, Smiley, if I'm missing something, but ...

If you align your scope with the laser at 30 feet, assuming you are using a scope mounted on your carry handle, you will be a little over 2 FEET high at 100 yards.

In order to be close at 100 yards, you should align your scope about 2 3/4" high (laser dot about 2 3/4" lower than cross hairs) at 30 feet.

HTH

 

[Art Eatman]

And from a completely different direction: Build a lightweight target-stand which will hold a 2'x2' sheet of cardboard. (Coathangers? Wood lath?) Just ink a dot in the center of the cardboard. Set it at 25 yards. Shoot. Adjust scope accordingly. Dead-on or an inch low at 25 yards is guaranteed on-paper at 100 yards.

To illustrate what gaijin is saying, take a piece of graph paper and hunt up your fine-point crayola. To scale, draw two lines: One is the line of the bore; the other is the line of aim through the scope. Begin with the distance between them on the gun; have them intersect at 30 feet; see where they are at 300 feet. After all, .223 bullet drop is very little in the first 100 yards...(3" apart on the gun = 30" apart at 100 yards, minus bullet drop.)

Have fun,

Art

 

[WalterGAII]

If you're using a scope mounted to your AR carrying handle, why don't you just conform the scope to the iron sights??

What Art said is on the money. When you boresight, you typically don't try shooting at 100 yds; you shoot at about 20 or 25 yds.

 

[Kernel]

You don't need a laser, or even an optical boresighter.

Remove the bolt. With the upper in a supported position looking down the barrel and aim it at a distant object. The further away the better, at night a pole light 1/4 mile away is perfect (this helps to minimize parallax). Adjust the cross hairs so they line up on the distant object. Look down the barrel, make sure your still lined up on the aiming point. Fine tune as required.

This will put you within 6" of point-of-aim at 100 yds, usually within a couple of inches left to right.

Over the years I musta done this a hundred times with bolt action rifles, ARs, shotguns, Contender pistols, inline muzzleloaders, etc. Any firearm that you can look down the barrel from the breach end. -- Kernel

 

[Steve Smith]

Kernel got it. I've seen so many guys at the range with a "wonder boresighter" fighting it and I'll kindly offer to help. If they say yes, I'll take the bolt out or on an AR release the lower from the upper. I'll sandbag the rifle and aim the bore at the 25 yd target, with the center of the target in the center of the bore. Look through the scope. Figure out how much the scope needs to move and in which direction...remember, you're at 25 yds and scopes are usually 1/4" at 100 yds per click. Adjust the scope. Look through the bore again, ensure that the bore is aimed directly at the center of the target, and check the scope again. Small adjustments may be needed. Scope is boresighted. There's a critical thing when using this method, though...you MUST keep the rifle still when moving your head/eye from the bore to the scope. That's why it's sandbagged well. This boresighting takes about 3 minutes, and is free.

Now concerning the Mini-14, there's a legitimate use for the "boresighter." However, if you wanted to, you could do the same as I described with a small dental mirror. All you need is to get it on paper. After it's on paper, you take your first shot (we're still at 25 yds. so I doubt that your "flyer would suck too much" and coarse adjust your scope again, and within about 5 shots you shoud have a group at 2" above center and dead on in elevation. Move to 100 yds.

 

[Legionnaire]

Topic's been pretty well covered with good suggestions. As a hunter safety instructor, this question comes up every season among guys who don't want to spend money on gadgets they will use exactly once. The trick is get on paper at short range before moving out to 100+ yards. We sometimes have people who can't get on paper at 25 yards, and then we move in even closer, say 10-15, just to get some idea of where the shots are going. Then you know the direction your adjustments need.

When following Kernel's advice (true bore sighting by sighting down the bore), remember that you are moving the scope's line of sight to line up with the projected point of impact, rather than moving the point of impact to line up with your "on target" sight picture through the scope. The problem is adjustment markings on the scope assume you are doing the latter ("moving" your bore relative to the line of site) so when bore sighting, adjustments to the scope are reversed.

For example, if you look through the bore at a perfectly centered target, then through the scope and see that the crosshairs are higher than the target, you need to adjust the scope UP (according to the markings on the turrets) rather than DOWN.