I am thinking about picking up one, maybe the Bushnell Banner series. After my last moose hunt and my scope was knocked off severely, I was thinking if I take a nasty spill in the woods, I could just throw the boresighter on to check zero. My question is how repeatable are they?

So if I zero in my gun at the range with ammo, and then remember the position on the collimator, if I take that thing on and off a few times, should I get the same position on the boresighter?

Does anyone recommend one?

[ 10-15-2002, 00:37: Message edited by: bigcountry ]

I have one of the Leupold that uses the magnet and it is great I used it on a hunt 3 weeks ago and it saved my A$$ as I had the airport baboons throw my gun case around and it looked like it they played rugby with it. I used the boresite and found it off and put it back and then shoot it at the range it as right on just like I had sited it in . I think it will work great if I am out in the woods and can't shoot it. This is the first time I used it like this and I will try it on my next hunt in a week or two and let ya'll know how it worked.

Doc in Texas and on his way to Mexico to hunt Big ol'Muleys

I've got the bushnell with a complete set of bore guides, I thnk they are around $79 at Bass Pro. I thought everyone had a boresighter??? Just kidding, I keep one in my shooting bag at all times and sometimes I think I must be the only person inthe world with one.

I have one also, a Tasco model (I got it from the store when we closed) with a full set of spuds plus a shotgun/muzzleloader spud.

Once I get a rifle sighted in I reinsert the boresighter and note where the crosshairs are. I have pulled a scope and mounted another then put the crosshairs on the correct spot and been within an inch at 100yds.

Nice item to have in my opinion,
Bob

I've had the Bushnell for years now, and it has saved me and my hunting companions from a lot of lost time. I had a horse roll out from under me on a sheep hunt in the Yukon, and of course, by rifle was in the scabbard at the time. The scope wasn't even on paper at 25 yards, but 2 minutes with the bore sighter got me back in business. It's like American Express Cards, I don't leave home without it.

I have a Bushnell boresighter also. It's one of the cheapie models with a whole slew of arbors in many calibers. I wish I had bought it years earlier because it does save a lot of head scratching and shooting if you need to swap scopes between rifles. You can also watch the scope crosshairs on the boresight grid when you move the scope turrets to see if the crosshairs move smoothly as you smoothly move the turrets. That tells you if your scope internals are sticking or if they are moving the way they should be. Before I got my boresighter, I sometimes wondered if my scope was working right. Now I can look for myself and verify that the crosshairs are moving properly. It's a satisfying feeling when you can see for yourself that the scope is working properly. I'll give my scope a bump with a soft object to see if the crosshairs move. The boresighter tells me if they moved.

When I shoot different brands of ammo, I will record the boresight "reading" for each ammo for the range I zero on. If my rifle isn't shooting to the POI I think it should be, I'll stick the boresighter on to see if the scope has been knocked, or if it is due to some other factor, such as a big change in weather, or whether I assembled the action in the stock weird, or some other reason.

I'll insert the boresighter at the range after each of several shots to see if recoil changes the position of the scope crosshairs. When I am mounting a scope, I'll watch the scope crosshairs as I tighten the scope rings. If the scope is laying square and flat in the rings, the crosshairs will not move much on the boresight grid from full loose in the rings to fully tightened in the rings. The gun shop I bought my last rifle from mounted a new scope on a new rifle for me. I got home and did a test. I watched the scope crosshairs on the boresight grid as I loosened the scope ring screws. The crosshairs move a lot more than what I thought they should. I removed the scope and realigned the scope rings a bit, and remounted the scope and did a better job mounting the scope than they did. I mount my own scopes now.

There is some slop in the arbors that fit in the rifle bore, so you won't get perfect repeatability when you insert, remove, and reinsert the boresighter. But you can get real close. roy p.

I have a Bushnell and the new Leupold. Both work good, but I really like the Leupold because of its compact size and the fact that it will work on any size bore. It is so small and light that you can carry it even on a backpack hunt. It is so handy, and you can check your scope after any hard bumps, and every day after a ride in a 4x4 or a saddle scabbard. Horses can be hard on rifles.

Hey you guys with the leupold--I have one and it barely gets me on paper. None of my 15 scopes when zero'd at 100 yds is in the exact middle of the grid--usually one square to the right of center. Do I have a lemon?? Are you guys right in the middle of the grid when sighted?? I made a bunch of copy's of their "paper grid" and am charting all my rifles in case of scope exchange.
Please let me know what yours is like in case I should send mine back.

Gents,
I was given a Bushnell about 10-11 years ago by a fellow that said he never used it and figured I would. Boy was he right. I have used it thousands of times since. I have three expandable spuds,,the only time I run into trouble is with tight 22's and past 45. My .500 A-Square when done will be a real effort to sight in I am sure. But If not given mine or if lost I would have one sooner than later. Money saved and all by fewer shots ,,,,well maybe just better shots sooner

45nut

kraky It is not unusual for the crosshair of the scope not to be centered in the bore scope after your rifle is sighted in in fact they almost never are. Just make a notation of where on the grid the crosshairs are for each of your scoped rifles. If you check after rough handling, dropped rifle etc, and the crosshairs have moved to a new location on the grid something is wrong, reset the crosshairs to their proper location and test fire to confirm point of impact.

I have a bushnell and it works like a charm, very glad a bought it

The bushnell is also adjustable. The cap on the back comes off, and there are four small allen head capscrews that allow you to center the grid, if it needs adjusting. I compared mine to a half dozen of my rifles that I knew were sighted in at a hundred meters, adjusted for the average center of grid, and it works very well, now. It's an excellant tool. - Dan

Never owned such a gizzmo. I mount the scope and head to the range with an extra box of ammo. Most guns I'm close enough with in 5 rounds.

If your muzzle is crowned with a "rounded" or radiused crown, the Leupold may not give consistent readings. The Leupold also depends on the face of the muzzle being square with the bore, which is not always the case. But if the Leupold works on a particular gun, then it should be fine for rechecking that gun in the field. I believe that Leupold has discontinued this item ... is this true?

According to Leupold's website they are still making the Scopesmith bore site. I hope they keep making them as I need another for my other guncase.I have found them to work great.

Doc

[ 10-22-2002, 01:19: Message edited by: Doc in Texas ]

Kraky, I looked at my rifle log book and checked my notes regarding where my scope crosshairs fall on my boresighter. These four rifles have a POI that is 2 inches to 2 1/2 inches higher than the POA at 100 yards. This gives me a zero of about 200 yards.

Remington Model 7, .223
Up 2.7 Right 2.5

Remington Model 7, 7mm-08
Up 1.7 Right 0.7

Remington 700 VSSF, .223
Up 2.2 Right 0.8

Sako 75, 30-06
Up 1.7 Right 0.3

Note: the position changes a bit for different ammunition.

Now, the Up and Right numbers are how many squares away from the center of the boresight grid do my scope crosshairs fall. And each square of the boresight grid is 4 MOA, according to my Bushnell instruction sheet.

Whenever I remove a scope, I will remount it with the scope crosshairs at about 2 squares high and 1 1/2 squares right from the boresight center. I learned over time that this is where my particular rifles like to be boresighted. I'm anywhere between 1 to 5 inches off at 100 yards when I fire the first shot when sighting in.

Don't worry where your crosshairs are on the boresighter. What matters is that you know WHERE the crosshairs are for a particular rifle, scope, load and zero. Keep a log for all your rifles.
roy p.

I have to agree with RangerDave, I have never owned one and personally I think they are a waste of money. I usually go to the range and start at 25 yards get it on paper then shoot at 100. this usually only takes approx. 5 to 10 rounds max and you have it sighted in fairly close. I then start shooting 3 shot groups and adjust it to approx 2" high at 100 I then shoot several 200 yard groups and tweek it if needed.

[ 10-24-2002, 01:21: Message edited by: Handloader ]

Handloader/RangerDave. I would agree that I have no problem getting sighted in at the range...BUT, last year I was elk hunting in Idaho. It was a dream hunt for me that I spent two years planning. The night before the last day I took a nasty fall on the way back to camp (Idaho is all straight up and straight down). I put a big ding in the eyepiece of my scope but had no way of knowing if I affected the zero. The next morning I missed a big 6x6 on the only shot I had for the hunt. Turned out I was a foot off at 100 yards. Tough lesson. I will have a boresighter with me next time, you can bet on that.

Jeff