With the advent of laser bore sighters mounting a scope and getting close on paper has become a pretty easy thing to do but it usually takes a few shots to get it exactly where you want it.

I got a new Rock River PEPR type one piece mount and put a new to me Mueller 3-10x44 Illuminated sport dot in it and mounted it on my WOA .223 varmint upper. I set the scope up by marking two dots two inches apart vertically on a window frame about 30 feet away. The upper dot and the edge of the frame were centered on the crosshairs of the scope and the lower dot was in the center of the bore view.

For a .223 55gr Hornady V-max at 3200 fps with the scope 2.7" over the bore I wanted to be +1.5" at 100 yards to give a good MPBZ.

I did not have a lot of time to spare so I put three rounds in and used a sling in prone position to see if I was even close at 100 yards.

I will only say sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.. two clicks right and we are good. I have never been this close with the first shots out of a newly mounted scope.

Good show. I also use a laser boresighter. I boresight at the first LOS crossing and then finish at 100 meters. I use a heavy bench rest and dial my scope to the POI of my first shotafter resetting my origimal POA. It helps to have a partner do the adjustment while holding cheek lock and that intial POA. Only 2-3 shots are necessary to fine tune.

I agree with MacD and DawDag, these are great for preliminary sighting of a rifle before heading out to the range.

When it's time for me to get a .223 AR anything I'm callin' Dawgdad.

Period.

Did you take the picture 90-out Dawgdad? I don't usually see folks looking to hit right of target center.

Heh I'm lazy... I pull the bolt, align the rifle sitting on sand bags so I can see the target right through the bore. Next, without moving the rifle, move the crosshairs over to the target. Test shot's are usually right close to where they should be.

This is a great in-field test for scopes as well if you have a solid rest.


-DallanC

+1 Dallan! This is what I do. I've done this for others and they have been surprised with the results. I'm finding lately, however, I must wear my far vision glasses to see the target through the barrel.

And another "low-tech" way...

Recently a friend and I were solving world issues over cups of coffee and this subject came up. In the course of the discussion he asked “What did we ever do before bore-sighters were invented?” At that point, a long forgotten technique was brought to mind. This technique should actually be called 3-shot "rough" scope sighting, but you will get the idea.

NEVER PERFORM ANY WORK OR ADJUSTMENTS ON A LOADED FIREARM. MAKE TRIPLE SURE THAT THERE IS NO ROUND IN THE CHAMBER OR MAGAZINE BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERING WORKING ON IT.

Using black tape, make a + on a target dividing the target both vertically and horizontally into 4 equal areas (Figure A). Place the target at 25 yards making sure that you have a safe backstop. At 25 yards, even a scope/rifle combo in severe need of adjustment should still be able to hit a moderately large sheet of paper.

Make sure that your scope is securely mounted, cross hairs adjusted to mid-range of both vertical and horizontal adjustment and in proper eye-relief alignment. Leave the adjustment caps off and, using either sandbags or a cardboard box with "V" notches cut to securely accept the forearm and butt-stock of the firearm, carefully align the cross-hairs with the taped + on the target. Carefully fire your first shot, concentrating on making sure that the cross hairs remain perfectly aligned with the tape. Take note of the resulting bullet hole (Figure B).



Now securely brace the firearm, either with the sandbags or the cardboard box, so that the cross hairs are again perfectly aligned with the tape and the firearm cannot move. Without touching or moving the firearm, carefully adjust the cross hairs to center the bullet hole left by your previous shot (Figure C). Once this is accomplished fire another shot, again with cross hairs perfectly aligned with the tape, to verify the adjustment. This bullet should hit the center (or very close) of the +. Fire a third shot to verify the settings. If the third shot strikes close to the second shot, you should be able to move to the 100-yard range and at least be on paper close enough for final fine-tuning of the scope.

Since all firearms' bullet paths pass through the "line-of-sight" twice (once on the way up and again on the way down) enroute to the target, the bullet path comes very close to a 25 yard "zero" with most cartridges when set for 100 yards, so don't be too surprised if only minor adjustments are needed to get your 100 yard adjustments perfect. Since a large number of 22 LR rifles are commonly zeroed at 25 yards, this technique is just about perfect for them even if the ultimate "zero" range is further out. Just move the target to your preferred distance for final adjustments.

If your firearm/scope combo fails to put a shot on paper at 25 yards it is time to check alignment of the rings and/or mounts or even the scope itself. A scope with the cross hairs set "mid-range" (adjustments midway of the adjustment range) should at least hit an 8 1/2"X11" target at 25 yards.

Crude? Yep.... but not everyone has their own (or access to a) bore-sighter even though they have become relatively inexpensive. And it sure beats the "shoot and try, shoot and try" method!

Yup- I bore sight off the pole accross the street from me...gets it pretty close on paper. Not near as close as Dawgdad's tough..wow!

Couple of things to clarify - I did not use a laser sighter I just looked down the bore at the bottom dot and moved the crosshairs to the the top dot.

Slim - I should have pulled back to show it was one of the four 1" square sight in targets I put the horizontal across the bottom squares and the verticles between them. so 1.5" up from the top of the bottom black squares is in the middle of the top two squares. I did it to be able to see the holes in the white paper. When I shot the target was shaded and I could not see the holes in the black at all until I got down range. Nice surprise there.

I shoot an AR better with a sling in prone than off of a bench most days. you get good at what you do most I guess.

When I mounted the scope on my .30-06 I used the neighbor's garage door across the street. (I was in Stockton, CA then). I put a 3" orange dot on his garage door and bore sighted it and adjusted the scope to the dot.

Went to the range and was 1" off at 100 yards.

The laser ones are wicked nice for optics on pistols and others ya cant look down the tube on. Stuff it in the muzzle and start twisting. Pretty cool thing actually.

Bushmaster wrote:

When I mounted the scope on my .30-06 I used the neighbor's garage door across the street.

I'm sure he just loved that!?!? In CA? Bushy, I bet you can sell sand to an Arab oops, snow to an Eskimo is more PC.

Well I was inside my garage, but he noticed the orange dot on his garage door so he came over and we discussed it over beers as he checked to see how it worked. Some calif's aren't all bad.

It would have been hard to sell sand or snow to him as he was from south of the border.

thats better than I manage with a colimeter!!!!!