Sighting in rifle scope

[Perro Del Diablo]

I have a friend who used a workmate to sight in. He would clamp into workmate fire 1 round, adjust scope to bullet hole. Next shot be on. How many of you use this technique?

[Muleshoe Bill SASS #67022]

Pretty much the way to do it. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Is there any other way?   Even with just sandbag rests, hold dead center, fire a round.  Put your crosshairs back on center and walk them to the hole.  Fire one more round.  Make final adjustment.  

[Texas Joker]

I Bore sight bolt actions first by securing them pulling the bolt and looking through. Line crosshairs in the neighborhood of what I see through the barrel and then do that

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

1 hour ago, Perro Del Diablo said:

I have a friend who used a workmate to sight in. He would clamp into workmate fire 1 round, adjust scope to bullet hole. Next shot be on. How many of you use this technique?

I don't have a Work Mate but I was taught that by my dad when I was just getting stared with guns...maybe six or seven years old.  He used to lash the rifle to a spare tire on the trunk of his old car.

 

It works with iron sights, too, but it's harder.

 

I learned to do that every year before hunting season and have used in the field if I bump a sight or find it off.  Four to six feet of para-cord is always with me out in the boonies and trees are always near.

[Eyesa Horg]

I've found POI to be different between a firm bench rest and hand held as in hunting. So although I use a solid table for initial sighting, I still hold in hand for final tweaking. Not many Work Mates in the woods.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

That's why I always take a tree with me.  

[Perro Del Diablo]

2 hours ago, Texas Joker said:

I Bore sight bolt actions first by securing them pulling the bolt and looking through. Line crosshairs in the neighborhood of what I see through the barrel and then do that

I've tried that but not much luck

[J.D. Daily]

I use a laser to bore sight optics on rifles and handguns.  For rifles and shotguns the laser fits snugly in the muzzle & for handguns I use a caliber specific laser that fits in the chamber.  I take white card stock and draw a vertical line with a sharpie in the middle than mark a horizontal line to place the laser dot on the intersection of the two lines.  Then I measure the offset distance between the optic sight axis and center line of the bore.  I separate the muzzle & target card approximately 25" apart.  For rifles I use my 150 yard range with shooting bench 100' from the target.  I then follow the one shot method except after zeroing I adjust the scope elevation to provide zero at desired range if other than 100 yards. PS for optics that have adjustable zero turrets I adjust the turrets to read zero.

[sassnetguy50]

On 7/13/2024 at 7:40 AM, Texas Joker said:

I Bore sight bolt actions first by securing them pulling the bolt and looking through. Line crosshairs in the neighborhood of what I see through the barrel and then do that

A street lamp 3 blocks away works well as a focal point.

[Michigan Slim]

After a quick bore sight on my neighbors doorknob, I sight in with the two shot method. Jim Carmichael wrote of it in Outdoor Life many years ago and I have used it since.

[Subdeacon Joe]

12 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

After a quick bore sight on my neighbors doorknob, I sight in with the two shot method. Jim Carmichael wrote of it in Outdoor Life many years ago and I have used it since.

 

Doesn't your neighbor get tired of replacing doorknobs?

[Pat Riot]

I don’t clamp my gun. I rest it just like I normally would. I aim dead center on the bullseye. Check where it hit and adjust accordingly. I don’t trust one or two hits to determine final adjustment as there are too many variables that might throw POI off from POA. I use several shots just to be sure. 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I use a bore sighting tool and then go to the range. I begin the sightin by setting the target at 25 yards. I have found you almost ALWAYS are on the target and can adjust from there. Saves a lot of ammunition.

 

My 2 goto hunting rifles usually need no changes of the scope sights from year to year. I shoot my own handloads I have developed after years of shooting and hunting.

[Michigan Slim]

On 7/14/2024 at 11:16 PM, Pat Riot said:

I don’t clamp my gun. I rest it just like I normally would. I aim dead center on the bullseye. Check where it hit and adjust accordingly. I don’t trust one or two hits to determine final adjustment as there are too many variables that might throw POI off from POA. I use several shots just to be sure. 

Don't get me wrong. I don't stop shooting once I'm sighted. I like to shoot -a lot. I verify my sight in very well and at several distances.

 

I used to help out at a gun shop on their open range day. I had an older gentleman bring his .30-06 up and say he had put boxes of ammo through it to sight it in and still couldn't get it. I asked if I could shoot three rounds through his gun, to which he said yes. After putting his rifle in my Site Vice I carefully fired one round on a 25-yard target. I reset the rifle, so the crosshairs were back on the center bull. Then I adjusted them to the bullet hole and fired one round. It touched the first. I took the rifle out of the clamp and clanged steel at 285 yards with a freehand shot. I thought he was going to faint! His rifle was an older Mossberg. I really liked the way it felt. He had more fun shooting that steel. He had never shot more than a hundred yards in his life.

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

I sight in my Bolt action hunting rifles at 300 yards and check them at that range each fall... Never more than 4 inches high or low clean out to 370 yards...

 

Works for me...

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Basically, I use the same method.

I anchor my rifle, put the cross hair on the target and squeeze the trigger.

 

Then.....with the rifle still anchored, I move the cross hairs to the previously fired bullet hole.

 

Its a good method of sighting in...... although multiple follow up shots should be fired to

ensure all is well, such as the integrity of your scope, rifle bedding, etc......

 

..........Widder

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 7/14/2024 at 8:16 PM, Pat Riot said:

I don’t clamp my gun. I rest it just like I normally would. I aim dead center on the bullseye. Check where it hit and adjust accordingly. I don’t trust one or two hits to determine final adjustment as there are too many variables that might throw POI off from POA. I use several shots just to be sure. 

I do, too, but usually at an out door site (like woods or desert) and from the shoulder.  It's funner that way. 

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I do, too, but usually at an out door site (like woods or desert) and from the shoulder.  It's funner that way. 

Before hunting with a rifle I rest it against a standing tree while I am standing and check / verify accuracy. 
 

Years ago I tested an iron sighted rifle using a “lead sled”, I think that’s what my friend called it. The gun was secured with sand bags and a forend clamp. I dialed the Lyman peep sights in at 100 yards. The round was the .270 Winchester. 
In the field, resting it by leaning over my truck hood and resting against a tree while standing the POI was 3” left of where it was with the same ammo testing on the bench. 
I readjusted the sights and went hiking with the gun in the San Bernadino Nat’l Forest in CA during deer season. They called it “Deer Hunting” there. I called it “hiking with guns”. 

That was the same trip I came face to face (20’ away) with a Cougar. Quite exhilarating. 
We both lived as I deferred to the cougar’s “King or Queen of the Mountain” reputation and backed down the trail. 
Never went hunting with an empty chamber and no sidearm again.