Initial sighting in.

tokguy

tokguy

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Another thread going has a big debate on about sighting in. Being that folks in this sub forum are likely to be more concerned with accuracy, I'm gonna ask...how do you sight in a rifle?
I'm going to assume a bore sight to start, but what is your next move. Benchrest, sledge, bipod, bags...or otherwise?
 
Bore sight IF possible. Move to solid front rest, and sandbag under buttstock to shoot @ 50m. On the odd occasion that I can not bore sight it first, I aim at something on the 50m berm & have someone watch for the splash, adjusting from there.
 
For 100m zero I shoot from a benchrest or bag and shoot a 3 shot group at 50m and adjust windage only accordingly to get on target. Then move to 100m and fire 3 shot groupings and dial in windage and elevation until I am happy with the results.
 
First do a proper bore sight, as in getting the rifle super steady and looking down the barrel and lining it up with the scope PoA. Not using one of those gimmicky lasers. I then shoot at 100m on a large 15"x20" paper target, have always been on paper with the first round.
 
I will do all of it prone, with bipod and rear bag. I avoid shooting benches like the plague. They are designed so a$$ backwards, that I don't even think a shooter designed them. It's pretty much impossible to employ the fundamentals to full effect when shooting from one, unless you do modified prone. Whoever designed them should get shot.

Once I'm in position, I'll pull the bolt (I'm assuming this is the first time the scope has been mounted on the rifle), look down the barrel and make sure the scope and bore are more or less lined up.

Take a shot. See where it ends up on paper, reference it to the reticle. So I will see in the reticle how far off on the horizontal and vertical plane it is in mils in relation to my POA. Say ~2 mils left, 0.5 mils down. I will make the corresponding adjustments on my scope turrets.

Take another shot, see where the POI was in regards to POA (same as above, but should be a lot closer, if not already on the "bulls"). Make any adjustments if needed.

Shouldn't take more then ~3-4 shots to get sighted in, unless you have something funky going on. All done at 100 yards.

I wouldn't ever recommend to sight in with a lead sled or such device. How you interface with the rifle will impact the POI. How you line up behind the rifle, your cheek pressure, your shooting hand pressure, your bag technique and hand pressure, how you load into your bipod, etc. are all going to influence the POI. Putting your rifle in a mechanical device will NOT account for your bodies influence on the rifle and the POI, which you need to account for (unless you ONLY shoot from a rest).
 
For a hunting rifle, regardless of how I sighted it in... sand bags, sled or however... my final test to make sure point of aim is correct is to sit at a bench with the rifle shouldered and my forearm resting solidly against a bag to eliminate excessive movement shoot a couple of shots...

and I have found that to be very close to simply sighting it in off a sand bag and a front rest.
 
guntech said:
For a hunting rifle, regardless of how I sighted it in... sand bags, sled or however... my final test to make sure point of aim is correct is to sit at a bench with the rifle shouldered and my forearm resting solidly against a bag to eliminate excessive movement shoot a couple of shots...

and I have found that to be very close to simply sighting it in off a sand bag and a front rest.
Click to expand...

This would be my method too.
Stuff happens when you are offhand, but a good starting point is off bags or a sledgehammer...either or.
But then again, I'm not nearly as particular as folks who frequent here.
 
I do pretty much similar to above. Scope usually get mounted in my shop - have enough windows, etc. to hold rifle in a rifle "rest" and find something 25 or 30 yards away to get centered in the bore. Usually start with scope crosshairs in "middle" - use a mirror to get cross hair and it's reflection overlapping. First look gives me an idea if installation was close or badly out of whack, somewhere. Adjust the cross hairs to same point that I am centered on through the bore. Take my portable table, sandbag, etc. to shooting spot - first targets at about 25 yards - shoot pairs off sandbags front and back - holes should be very close or touching - if not, no point continuing "sighting in" - something is wrong. Walk the pairs to be dead centre left and right and usually 1/2" or 1" low. Then set up 100 yard target. Hunting rifle almost always set 2" or so high at 100 yards. Final, "for sure", shots at various ranges are done with rifle on right shoulder and back of left forearm or back of wrist against a sandbag. Has worked for me for 40 plus years. I only use bolt action rifles for hunting. For semi-auto .22 or lever action, just big - 18" x 18" - cardboard box at 25 yards with jiffy marker mark on it - shoot and walk the groups same as above. If not getting pairs of holes very close to each other at 25 yards, something is wrong with rifle, loads, scope or scope installation. Have had installations with .22 that missed the 18 x 18 cardboard - sometimes have to aim at corners or edge of cardboard to get a bullet hole - usually beyond adjustment limits of the scope, but shows what the issue might be in the installation.
 
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Remove bolt, sight through the bore align sights. All shooting is done prone, off my elbows with a jacket and sling.

Ok...so here is a story for you.
The shooting season was just about finished, only one more match but I didn't plan to attend because I needed a new barrel on my #1 target rifle. Buddy's call and want me to go up to the match. I told them about my barrel problems so they say, "why don't you bring out your #2 rifle?". So thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea, I agreed to go to the match. When I pulled the old 40X out of the safe I remembered that I had stripped both the front and rear sight off the rifle a year or two before.
I found a rear sight that would work off another rifle that I had around. I also have a CNC mill and block of aluminum so I made a front sight, screwed a 22mm iris into it and mounted on the barrel. Plumbed the front and rear sights and did a rough bore sight in the shop, and off to the match we go.

The match was our Fall Palma Match which is shot at 800, 900, and 1000 yards. First range was 800 yards but we had unlimited sighters. So my buddy that I am shooting with knows the whole story about this cobbled together rifle. I ask him to watch my shot to see if he can see a splash. First shot from 800 yards hit the 500 yard berm. So I crank several handfuls of elevation onto the rear sight. Second shot hit the 300 yard berm. Several more handfuls of elevation and buddy calls my third shot just below the target and even with the left edge of the target for wind. This time I counted up 6 minutes and came right 4 minutes. 4th shot was an 8 o'clock inner 4. 5th shot was in the bull. Ok, let's start the match.

I can't remember my score at 800 yards but it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. 900 and 1000 yards went a little better and I ended up winning the match.
 
For my hunting rifles to bore sight and work up loads I use a Hart bench rest with a Sinclair top and a bald Eagle bag, bore sight through the bore at 200 meters zero and work up loads.
I then check my rifle at 100 , 200 , and 300 meters from kneeling and offhand.
For my match rifles, pretty much the same only after initial bore sighting and load work up with a scope, everything is done with the sling and irons from 200 to 1,000 meters.
Even if I change a load there is normally not that much difference that I cannot adjust the irons at any range.
I don't shoot much with scopes but do have a few Fclass rifles, I find it very easy to bore sight and zero them at 200 then dial up too whatever range I am shooting at.
Cat
 
I do everything at 100 yards..

- bipod and rear bag to support the rifle.
-remove the bolt and support the rifle to centre your target in the bore.
-without moving it, adjust the scope to centre on the target as well.
-aim and shoot for centre of target....make adjustments as required.
-if your first shot doesn’t hit paper, aim at each corner of your target (essentially makes it 4X larger) and make adjustments.
-if you still don’t hit paper...your initial ‘boresight was incorrect’
 
Similar to all above
I set a target at 30yds, boresight with my eyes, then fire a shot - adjust xhairs to bullet hole
Then 200yds, fire a 3 shot, adjust, repeat until happy.
Most rifles are close to same POI at 30/200yds
 
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