Laser bore

You might as well just remove the bolt and bore sight it (I believe the original meaning of the word). I wouldn't think it's worth it. The point of boresighting is basically to get it on the paper so it's easier to fine-tune your scope after that. I'm not sure about the distance thing, but I imagine you'd be able to see the laser through your scope, which you can do with a spotting scope. I mean, to zero it with the windage/elevation adjustments you must see the bullet holes anyway.

 

This is not so easy with some firearms such as lever actions and many semi-autos...

 

Yea, I thought I had put something in my post about bolt actions, but I guess I forgot

 

laser bore sighting is great for getting in the general point of impact, but at longer ranges it is best to sight in with fire.

You have to take into account the ballistic curve of the ammo you are firing as well.

One nice thing about the M16A2, is you can zero it at 36 yards, with the rear sight set to 300. The impact of the bullet at 36 yards is the same impact at 300 yards.

If you can get some ballistic charts for the weapon and ammo you are using, you can set up your own reduced range zero, then fine tune it from there.

 

here are some sites with ballistics data

just data

loaded with tables to enter info I like this one, works really well for custom loads.

 

Awesome sites! Thanks for the links.

 

I picked up a Laserlight universal bore sighter at Wallmart a few years ago for $20 on clearance and it has made sighing in a new optic a breeze. Typically within an inch or two of dead center. I also usually bore sight at about 50 yards.

 

Yea. For that price, I would have gotten one too. I think they're 40 or 50$ at walmart now, iirc.

 

I went thru about 3 different brands of laser boresighter from Walmart til I got one that worked. I used it to zero my ACOG, Aimpoint, and Eotech equipped ARs with. Yeh, I've got a really bad case of black rifle disease. Recently it's expanded to green and tan rifle diseases too.

The laser I've got now works great. It's a Laserlyte brand. It's a red anodized aluminum shaft with the laser in one end and one of several adjustable split plastic collars that secure the other end centered up in the bore. You find the right sized plastic collar and adjust it till it just will fit down the bore. Then you push the device as far down the barrel as possible till the crown of the muzzle is snug up against the cone shaped back of the laser module housing. All you have to do next is turn the thing on, point your unloaded and safed weapon down range at a target and align the sights dot, doughnut, reticle, etc... on the laser dot.

Note: you can't see the laser outside in the middle of the day. Do this in the evening or real early in the morning. Unless you have four arms you better have a rest or gun vise to lock the weapon down in while you twiddle the adjustment knobs.

Avoid laser boresighters that have a laser that goes in the chamber of the weapon and require you to put a collimnator in the end of the barrel. The cheap ones (less than $150) suck and don't work. The collimnator should have a lense in it to focus the beam. The cheap ones are just steel tubes with a small hole thru them. The two I tried would create 3 or 4 big blurry dots. Without the barrel collimnator you get a huge red circle on the target that is equally useless. Some of the more expensive units may be different, YMMV.