gpzyellow

gander mountain told me today that they would mount and bore site my bushnell scope onto my cva optima gun for $17.50. Is it worth the expence to have this done? How much time will it save me considering the loading and cleaning time to site it in myself? Thanks for you help this forum has been a wealth of wisdom for me and I truly appreciate having somewhere to get my question answered.

cayugad

If you have no experience mounting and setting up scopes on a rifle, do your self a favor and pay the $17.50. It will probably save you a lot if time on the range and frustration. Also if they mount it and bore sight the rifle and it is not done right, or they mounts come loose, you have some place to come back to and protest.

If you're experienced with scope mounting, and you're not one of those people that bugger up all the screws and then want someone else to fix that mess, go ahead and mount it yourself. I've mounted a lot of scope. Most times I never even bore sight other then look through the barrel and adjust the cross hairsa little. I surprise my self because, once on the range they are not really all that far off.

I like to start my scopes out at close range and get the powder and projectile problems worked out there, and then move back to the further distances to see what kind of groups they will shoot...

Good luck with your rifle.

sabotloader

gpzyellow

Mounting and bore sighting a scope really is not that big of deal. It really depends on your comfort level with the mechanicszl installation. Although in todays world $17.50 really is not that much. Even if they mount and bore sight it for you unless you are there and they adjust the scope to your comfort on the stock you may end up moving it anyway. You may need to move in in or out depending on how you jump on your stock. You really want the scopr mounted so that when you throw the rifle up and your cheek drops on the scope - the sight picture is there - no additional moving your head back and forth to get a full pic.

Bore sighting is not really all that accurate and should not be depended on, it should be adequate to get you on the paper (target) at 25 yards. With really flat shooting centerfire rifles you might even be on the paper at a 100, but with an ML - you will need to complete the job. Sighting a gun in is not always as easy as it should be but it is a labor of love.

Depending on what mounts and/or which rings you purchasedyou might not even need to worry about dinging up screws - a lot of them today are coming with Torq or allen screws.

Good luck with the new gun...

statjunk

I would say not worth it. Unless you are there when they mount it they cannot set up the scope to properly fit you. Also I don't think you would even be on paper at 25 yards with a bore sight from one of those places. This hunting season two of my friends had places bore sight thier center fire rifles and neither was on paper at 25 yards. Luckily they didn't pay for it.

Get some Lock-tight and read up on how to mount a scope. Then bore sight it yourself at 25 yards by looking down the barrel with the breech plug removed and then adjust the cross hairs on the scope to be 2-3" high.

Use the $17.50 to buy ammo.

Tom

mouthcaller

Good advice in this thread.

If you have no previous experience mounting scopes then I think $17.50 is a small price to pay for the confidence that the scope is mounted correctly.

If you decide to do it, use Lock-tite on all the screws. Mount the bottom half of the rings to the bases and make absolutely sure that the rings are in perfect alignment by sliding the scope up and down (there is actually a tool gunsmiths use to ensure alignment).Regardless ofwhich type of set-up you use (one piece, two piece, Redfield or Weaver style, detachable or permanent) they must be aligned perfectly. When you attach the top half of the rings make sure that all the screws are seated to the same depth and the rings are tightened down equally. Boresighting is easy if you have a solid rest or gun vise.

Good luck

MarinePride

For what it's worth, I bought one of those generic laser bore sighting kits and what a disappointment it is. I got it yesterday and put the .45-.55 caliber arbor into my Traditions and then I tightened it down and attached the laser unit to that. I immediately noticed that at 11 yards (inside the house) it was way off. I mean the barrel was pointed right at the target, a paper plate, and the laser was pointing off of target by about 7 inches. I read the instructions and found out that the laser also needs to adjusted by 4 allen screws to sight it in![:@]. So now I have to sight in the laser everytime I switch arbors.... So after much frustration and repositioning the thing a few times I've concluded that I wasted $40 and that looking through the bore at that distance has worked better for me in the past. The first time I did it that way I hit that paper plate at 25 yrds, albeit a bit low. There is just no substitute for plain old sighting in. Boresighting is just to get you in the ballpark.

eldeguello

Hate to say this, but, NO, it is NOT worth $17.50.

After they "bore sight it", it will still need for you to finish sighting it in at the range you choose for this. The best you can expect from a well-done boresighting job is that the first shot will be on paper someplace at 100 yards, if you are lucky!

If you mount your scope, then start off and fire your first shot at the center of a 12"X12" or larger piece of cardboard 25 yards away, I'd be willing to bet that first shot will strike somewhere on that 12"x12"target. Then, you simply make the required scope adjustments to movethe bullet strike to the spot where the crosshairs were pointing when it went "bang". REMEMBER that at 25 yards, it takes four times as many "clicks" to move the bullet strike the required distance. For example, let's say the rifle was aimed dead on the center of the target at 25 yards when it fired, and the bullet struck dead center horizontally, but 4" high. Assuming your scope has 0.25 MOA(1/4" @ 100 yards) adjustment clicks,16 clicks would berequired to move the bullet 1" at 25 yards.Youknowyou have to come down 4" at 25 to be dead on, so you have to turn your vertical adjustment dial 48 clicks in the"DOWN" direction to do this.

Then, you repeat the process at a 50-yard target, but here, 8 clicks = 1" @ 50. Then you shoot at 100 yards, (4 clicks -1" here.) or wherever you chose for the final zero range.

IF you are a halfway decent shot, you can zero your rifle with three shots, two of which you'd have to fire anyway (50 yd & 100 yd). One bullet, one cap, and one charge of powder cossts a lot less than &17.50. So does 10 shots, if it turns out that you need that many to do the job. Remember, NO-ONE CAN ZERO YOUR RIFLE FOR YOU-YOU MUST DO THIS YOURSELF if you plan on hitting anything!

short_start

I had very little confidence in bore sighters and bore sighting in general until just recently. Like the other posters have noted, it still took some work at the range to get a rifle hitting where it should; at least that was true of my centerfires.

But a couple of months ago I received a 32" Green Mountain .54 roundball barrel for my T/C Hawken. I also have a Lyman GPR with a 32" .54 roundball barrel that was well sighted in for 70 yards. Both rifles have tang mounted aperture sights.

With time running short until deer season, I saw I could, at most,sneak in one range session before the opener....not good. I have an old Simmons optical boresighter with a set of spuds that I picked up years ago for around $40. I also picked up a muzzleloader/shotgun spud seperately that cost around $15.

Just for the heck of it, I put the boresighter in the sighted-in Lyman GPR, lined up the sights and noted where the front sight fell on the boresighter's grid. I then put the boresighter in the T/C and adjusted the aperture sight (keeping front and rear sights lined up)until the front sight fell on the same place on the grid as it did forthe Lyman. I should add that this point was NOT at the center of the bore sighter grid. I then waited for a chance to get to the range.

When I finally got there I was amazed to find that the T/C was hitting in exactly the same spot as the Lyman. I never had to touch the sights after the boresighter adjustments. And this from a piece of gear that I thought was junk.

If you can do a decent job mounting the scope mechanically, save your money and use it toward a proper optical boresighter and a spud. They appear to have some value in periodically checking whether your zero has shifted.
FWIW
Bob

Birdrider

Something else to think about. Just because they work at some of these retailers dosn't mean they know what they are doing. As they say, nobody will take as good a care of your stuff as you will. I have overheard some of the advice offered by these firearms "experts" and it would make you cringe. Just Saturday I was at Gander Mountain with my brother looking for a wireless predetor call. The clerk insisted it was wireless inspite of the box's description clearly stating a wired speaker. Not the only instance of dumb firearm retail clerks. I would not let them touch my gun unless I knew them personally.

Same clerk tried to tell me the Barska 69.00 scope where every bit as good as a Leopuld.....

kevin1

It's worth the price if you don't happen to own a boresighter , nearly all of which run more than $17.50 .

I have both optical and laser boresighters , I prefer the optical model since it also allows me to plumb the vertical crosshair somewhat and seems to get me closer to center faster. Both will work adequately enough to get you on the paper on your first or second shot .