doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com The "Mark 1" Boresighter

I thought you all might enjoy reading about my “Mark 1” Boresight System. I now have three scoped rifles and figured I could save ammunition and cash by boresighting each one before heading out to the range. A visit to my local shooting supply store left me in a bit of shock over the cost of any commercial boresighter.
Fortunately, I can set up my front rest and rear bag on my dining room table such that the rifle aims out my living room window at a tree, across the yard. So, I thumb tacked a white tin can lid on the tree trunk, as high as I could reach, standing on a foot stool. Returning to the house, I removed the bolts of my Savage 93R17 and my Ruger No. 1. By aiming through the bore and looking for the white, I centered the bore on the can lid. Then by moving the cross hairs to center on the lid, I boresighted the rifles.
At the range, the Savage just cut paper at 100 yds. , while the Ruger was only about two inches left and about an inch high. So, as planned, I saved time, money and ammunition, while feeling pretty clever.
Unfortunately, the Martini cannot be boresighted because you cannot look through the bore, due to the design of the frame. But then at 5 cents a round, who cares.

To refine that trick, try chambering a de-capped cartridge case with the flash hole reamed out a bit to provide a tighter "aperture."

Thanks for these tips, guys. I used a "system" like Slowshot's (when my neighbors were at work and my wife was out)for my #1 and my C.Sharps Hiwall. From now on I'll try the decapped ctg. trick; small rifle primer flashhole should be sufficiently small.....

Great trick Gary, thanks.

The next part of the trick is a one shot sight in. This trick was attributed to Harry Pope, but I have to think others have thought of it.The trick is to take aim at the bullseye and fire. If the bullet hits the paper, you carefully line your rifle up with the bullseye, sandbag it in nice and solid, then adjust your scope to look at the bullet hole. Now you are sighted in. Sometimes further refinement is needed but this gets you very close.

George,
I assumed your suggestion was standard practice. When I was taught how to sight in a rifle, the one shot sighting in with a bag, or a rest as you describe is exactly what I was taught. If the backyard boresighting gets you on paper with a crosshair target, and you have a decent scope, it should not take more than two or three scope adjustment shots to be shooting off the bag within the accuracy of the rifle.
Because I am obsessive about accuracy and physically disabled, I must shoot with a bag or a bipod. I recently mounted a Harris Bipod to the Ruger No. 1 220 Swift. I find it is more stable than shooting off a bag so I plan to get one for each of my rifles.

Ditto on the Harris bipods...my groups off the bipod rival anything I can do off sandbags with sporter or light varmint weight rifles...I'm sold on them.

Greg