Bore Sighting a Rifle

Simply stated, this is looking down the bore of your bolt action rifle, with the bolt removed, at the target. Make sure that the rifle is empty, there is no cartridge in the chamber, and the breech is open. Then following instructions that come with your bore sight, install the bore sight in the muzzle of your rifle. With the bore sight installed, looking through your scope you will find two sets of cross hairs. One set will be plain and will be your scope’s cross hairs. The other set would be of the bore sight and will be placed along a grid. Make sure that the bore sight cross hairs are exactly parallel to the grid lines on it, both vertically and horizontally by adjusting the bore sight. Looking through your scope align the cross hairs of the scope with those of the bore sight that they meet at precisely the same location. To ensure this there are two adjustments on any scope. One is for elevation (vertical adjustment) and the other is for wind-age (side adjustment). Depending on the make/design of your scope, you may need tools like a small screwdriver/Allen key etc. to effect this adjustment. Once you have the scope cross hairs precisely meeting the bore sight’s cross hairs, the first part of the operation is complete. Be aware of the fact that bore sighting will not ‘sight in’ your rifle. This can only be done only by shooting different ammunition at the target and is necessary because different ammunition will affect the accuracy of your rifle in different ways. Bore sighting just aligns the bore of your rifle with your scope. Sighting in is to align your scope (and your rifle) with the target.