Changed Scopes

[James_1979]

Hi Guys,

I have just swapped my scopes over, I was lucky as I did not need to change the rings.

Now here is the problem, I do not possess a bore sight laser. Is there anyone semi close to Cranbourne that has one I could use to bore sight two rifles?

Thanks,

[Mortblanc]

Many shooting clubs will have a sighting device you can use at the range to sight your rifles. It saves time and money, as well as making for happier shooters on the line.

Here is a trick I use in place of the bore sighter or laser sighter. Those devices have not always existed and I began shooting before they were popular/available. "Back in the day" we did a simple bore sighting operation. I do this so often that I have a bottle lid nailed to a tree which is exactly 25M from my back porch.

Pull the bolt from the rifle and secure it on a table or firm support such as a vise or cleaning crib. Make sure it can not easily move.

Looking through the open bore, center the bore on a mark 25 yards away and immobilize the rifle in that position.

Move the cross hairs on the scope to center on the mark. Check the bore to the cross hairs and insure nothing has slipped as you did the scope adjustments.

You can do this adjustment even in the middle of the city with the rifle indoors and looking out a window with the curtains only pulled back a slight bit with the aiming point across the street, ally, or garden. No one knows you are sighting your rifle but you.

Just like with the mechanical devices, this system will usually get one on the paper at 25 yards, then comes the move out to 100/200.

Usually I am within a few inches of the center when I move to 100m. With most high velocity cartridges setting the cross hairs 5cm high at 100 will put one to centered at 200, 20cm low at 300m.

I have both the laser trinkets and a collator with a grid but I find the old fashioned trick of "bore sighting" still works best in many situations.

Many times I have used the sighting devices and found the rifle so far off when I got to the range that I was required to "bore sight" at the shooting bench to get on paper.

I also use the bore sighting trick to check the "sights" on my shotguns. Especially if they have been equipped with slug sights or the bead has been replaced with a fiber optic. Either of those things can mess with the point of aim/point of impact.

[Mortblanc]

If you click this link and scroll down to the third picture you will see German soldiers using this system to adjust the ZF41 scope on a Mauser rifle. They are using a machine gun tripod as a cradle for the rifle.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/article...out-rifle/

In this instance they are using the iron sights of the rifle to collate with the scope cross hairs at a known distance. The ZF scope mount was made so the iron sights could be used with the scope in place.

[CharlesHarris]

In my experience, the old fashioned bore-sighting method is more reliable than the laser gimmicks.

To conserve ammunition once you have bore sighted your rifle and gotten the first shot on paper, firmly immobilize your rifle on sandbags, so that the scope is centered on your aiming point, THEN, without moving the rifle, carefully adjust the crosshairs so that they move from your aiming point to your bullet hole!

Fire one shot to confirm sight setting. You can then make a fine adjustment, if necessary from there, but you should have a useable zero in firing only two shots. This is most useful in places where ammunition is scarce, expensive or highly regulated.

[Mortblanc]

It is also advisable to fire at least one three shot group to insure that everything is buttoned down and holding in place, contend with the barrel heating a bit and such.

I have had scope mount screws shear and send things off the deep end, and that usually happens during the first group for some odd reason.

I am building a new scope mount for one of my rifles right now. What I want is not offered, and if it was the trend now is that this type mount would cost more than the rifle itself!

No need for that so I am spending an afternoon in the shop.

[Mortblanc]

We had a very pleasant day yesterday, sunshine, 10-12c and no wind.

I decided it was time to get to the range and check the zero on the newly modified rifle/scope set up.

It is a forward mounted, long eye relief scope on the Ruger Ranch Rifle I am presently dealing with.

I settled in at the shooting bench and set the targets up at 25 meters. The first shot from the rifle bore sighted by eye on the nice quilting square my neighbors have placed on their storage shed was 1cm to the left of the mark. I made my adjustments without firing a second shot and moved to 100m.

The three shot group was 6cm to the right, so I apparently over corrected or should have really taken a second shot to verify my adjustments.

The final three shots were exactly where they were supposed to be, 5cm high at 100m, and I called the deed done.

That setting will put that particular rifle, a 7.62x39, dead on at 200m and a little over 30cm low at 300m. I seldom get shots at long range anyway so the drop is not a negative factor for me. I am not required to hole over on any medium sized game target until it is out there at 225m-250m.

More importantly to this thread, My first shot was only 1 cm off the target using the old school bore sighting method that requires no equipment other than a stable base to hold the rifle. A card table and sand filled bread sacks will serve that function.

If I had fired the bore sighted rifle at 100m for the first shot it would have been on the target paper and probably still within the soccer ball sized kill zone of deer sized critters, which are my intended targets for this rifle.

If done carefully, bore sighting can be accurate for setting up a scope for its final polish, and will save a ton of money in wasted ammo. In an emergency it is sometimes the only way one can verify a scope setting or check for scope damage after a fall or damage to the rifle while in the field.

[Pete Grey]

RE: Changing scopes
When I first shot outdoors instead of on an indoor range I was told “sun up sights down” the trouble was in the UK we never have enough sun to need to do it . . . . .Ha Ha Ha

[Mortblanc]

Sometimes the sun, glare and shadow will play with the sight picture when using open sights. Using a scope eliminates that problem.

In the old days they used to put a small brass bead on top of the front sight and that really created some optical illusions. You see few of those any more.

I thought that the inclusion of a built in scope on your Enfield service rifle was a very progressive step, you were beaten out only by the Austrians in that move.

Even here in the states we have stopped qualifying our recruits using iron sights. All of our M4 rifles are equipped with optics for training.

The flat top of the receiver and the P-rail included in the design makes the use of several different optics practical.

When my youngest was in Iraq, back in 2005, one of the requests for inclusion in his care package was a 4x scope. He was in the Marine Corps and they did not yet issue optics to all riflemen.

I sent him both the 4x scope and a red dot reflex sight. He wound up using the red dot more than the scope. It was better for twilight and night firing.

[Mortblanc]

I just changed photo storage host. Let's see if this works.

[Mortblanc]

Wheew! way too big on my screen! I will have to play around and find a way to shrink that view. it was fine on another site where I posted it.