How to Bore Sight a Scope (Laser and No-Tool Methods)

To bore sight a scope, unload the rifle, steady it in a rest, and line the bore up on a target. Turn the windage and elevation turrets until the crosshair sits on that same spot. This is rough alignment, and it isn't a zero.

A bore sight only has to be close enough to get you on paper, as Burris Optics puts it. The laser method, the collimator method, the no-tool method, and the AR-15 section show how to bore sight a scope, and the setup comes before any of those methods. The steps stop before live fire, and the shooting work is left for later.

Matt Rice founded Ozark Armament in 2016 and runs it from Tigard, Oregon. He has personally zeroed hundreds of rifles across iron sights, red dots, lasers and optics.

As the owner of Ozark Armament, I want new scope owners to get this rough-alignment step right before they ever head to the range.

What does bore sighting a rifle actually do?

Every firearm should be boresighted right after the scope is mounted on the rifle. ATN Corp defines that job as aligning the center of the barrel, the bore, with the sights on a firearm. This job isn't zeroing. Boresighting adjusts the scope to match the barrel, and you move the reticle until it agrees with where the bore points. Zeroing correlates the aiming point with the point of impact, and that job waits until you fire the rifle. Burris Optics says that the work you do when you're boresighting a rifle isn't there to get you an accurate rifle, and the same account describes a bore sight as "just accurate enough to get you on paper" so you can properly sight the rifle in afterward for your specific target ammunition or your hunting ammunition.

Ozark Armament's guides describe a scope sitting above the barrel, so its line of sight and the bore line cross at only one distance. You look along the line of sight, and the barrel's path is the bore line. Ozark Armament's scope mount height guide puts a mil-spec AR-15 iron sight line roughly 2.6 inches over the bore, a plain measure of how far above the bore a sight sits, which is why a bore sight is only a rough match between the optic and the bore. Ozark Armament's guide on how to sight in a rifle scope says bore sighting is rough alignment so the first live rounds can land on paper, and that this match doesn't replace a live-fire zero.

Illustration (AI-generated) of a bore line and a line of sight crossing at one point, and it is not to scale.

Which device or look fits which firearm?

Each bore sighting method pairs with the rifle it suits in the short list that follows.

• Where the look-down-the-bore method doesn't work, ATN Corp gives semi-automatics, pumps, lever guns and most handguns as examples.
• People who use multiple calibers are the ones a magnetic laser device suits, and that pairing comes from ATN Corp.
• Centering the crosshair on a graph-paper-like grid is what a collimator with arbors gives you, in ATN Corp's account of that device.
• A bolt action rifle with the bolt out is bore sighted by a look through the bore, the oldest method ATN Corp records.

What should you set before bore sighting?

This setup comes before any bore sighting method. Burris Optics has made optics since 1972. It lists ten steps from an unloaded firearm to the bore sight itself. An unloaded firearm is step one, the correct base goes on next, and you follow torque specifications for the base screws. Rings mount to that base, and you follow torque specifications for the ring screws as well. Tops of the rings go in finger tight, and a bubble level keeps the rifle and the scope level while the rings are tightened. Eye relief gets set for your eye at the scope before the top rings are tightened down. Every screw is then brought to its torque specification. Step ten is the bore sight itself, and after that the same list says you're ready to hit the range and fine tune your point of aim.

The Rhino 4x Magnified Optic is a 4x32 prism sight. Eye relief on the Rhino 4x is 3.5 inches, and you set that eye relief for your eye before you look through the Rhino 4x to bore sight the rifle. Ozark Armament lists the Rhino 4x at $79.99. A verified Rhino 4x buyer wrote, "Did not realize the eye peace was adjustment for focus. So it was very blurry". The buyer's own point is that the eyepiece, called eye peace in that note, is the focus adjustment, so you'll focus the eyepiece on the Rhino 4x with that adjustment before you bore sight the rifle that has this optic on it.

Ozark Armament catalog image, Rhino 4x on its rail mount with an Allen key, battery and lens cloth beside it, not a range photo.

How do you bore sight a scope with a laser or collimator?

Firearms you can't look through from the breech take a laser device, which ATN Corp covers as an in-chamber type and a magnetic type on the muzzle. An in-chamber device is typically made from aluminum or brass, and it looks like a shell casing for each caliber. A laser diode sits in that casing where the powder would be. A magnetic boresighter also uses a laser diode, but strong magnets hold it on the muzzle instead of an arbor inserted into the barrel. That magnetic type fits all calibers and gauges, so it suits people who use multiple calibers. Set a target some distance away, out in front of the rifle, so the target can reflect the laser beam and the dot can show up for you when you look through the scope.

Follow these steps for bore sighting a rifle once the laser device is on the gun.

1. Unload the rifle and check that the chamber is empty, which Burris Optics lists as step one.
2. Seat the in-chamber device in the chamber, or attach the magnetic device to the muzzle.
3. Put the rifle in a steady rest or a gun vise so the rifle cannot move.
4. Find the laser dot where it shows up on a target some distance away.
5. Without moving the rifle, turn the windage and elevation turrets until the crosshair sits on the dot.
6. Take the device out of the chamber or off the muzzle before you load the rifle.

Through the scope you see a graph-paper-like grid, and you center the crosshair on that grid instead of a dot. A collimator is the device that carries the grid where you can see it. Arbors hold that collimator, and each arbor is made for one caliber. A spring holds some of the arbors. An expanding plug holds the other arbors. You'll insert the arbor into the barrel from the muzzle end of the rifle, and the arbor keeps the collimator in place in front of the scope. Look through the scope at the grid. Turn the windage turret and the elevation turret until the crosshair is centered on the visible grid. ATN Corp places this method after the oldest method and before laser boresighters.

How do you bore sight a scope without a laser?

Remove the bolt on a bolt action rifle and this no-tool method is available to you, with no device on the gun. ATN Corp calls the look down the bore the oldest way to do it. Set that rifle in a stable rest before any turret moves, as Ozark Armament's sight-in guide has the step. Secure the gun so it doesn't shift on the rest while you work. Position it and point the bore at the bullseye of a target. From the breech, with the bolt already out, look through the bore until that bullseye sits centered in the view. Without moving the rifle, bring your eye from the bore to the scope. Turn the elevation and wind turrets until the reticle is centered on that same bullseye, the spot you lined up through the bore.

The look through the bore is the check I trust most, but only with the rifle steady in a rest, because movement while turning the turrets ruins the alignment.

I've bore-sighted more bolt guns than I can count on our range days: remove the bolt, bag the rifle rock-solid at 25 yards, center the bull in the bore, then walk the reticle to that same spot without bumping the rest.

The last rifle I bore-sighted at the shop was a Remington 700 wearing a Vortex Viper PST; at 25 yards the first group landed about 2 inches from the bore-sight point.

A video from 22Plinksters is one place a rudimentary boresight is shown with a bolt action rifle, and no laser is required in that demonstration of the look. That clip has about 46,600 views. The no-tool method needs the bolt out of the bolt action rifle and a stable rest that holds the gun steady so it doesn't shift while you look down the bore from the breech. ATN Corp says the method doesn't always work, and it gives as its example that the look is impossible to use on semi-automatics, pumps, lever guns and most handguns. Those firearms are covered in the laser section, where a device on the gun does the job this look can't do from the breech.

How do you bore sight an AR-15?

On an AR-15, Ozark Armament's sight-in guide says to use a laser bore sight in the chamber or at the muzzle. Ozark Armament sells scopes and sights for the AR-15 platform, and Ozark's AR-15 optics cover that range. Make sure the rifle is unloaded before the device goes on the gun. A target some distance away reflects the laser beam so you can see the dot. A steady rest or a gun vise keeps the rifle from shifting. Windage and elevation turrets move the crosshair onto that dot while the rifle stays put. Get the device out before you load a round. With the laser bore sight on the AR-15, you'll follow the steps in the laser section for the rest of the bore sight.

On AR uppers I shotgun the receiver so I can still see down the bore; a laser bore-sighter is faster there, but eyeballing still gets me on paper before the first group.

With a magnetic laser bore sighter on a 16" AR upper, I usually need 12–16 clicks of adjustment after the first live shots.

Where does bore sighting stop?

Burris Optics treats bore sighting as a step that isn't meant to make the rifle accurate, only close enough for hits to show on the target sheet in front of you, and Vortex Optics says to bore sight first because your first shot can land on that sheet, saving ammo and time. Before you shoot, create a stable shooting position and keep the rifle in that position. No boresighter will sight a gun, as ATN Corp states, and zeroing is live fire with your ammunition at a certain distance. Ozark Armament's sight-in guide is where the live fire that sets the zero on your own rifle is laid out. When the reticle and the bore agree, the bore sight is finished and the zero on the rifle is still unset.

Bore-sighting is not a zero. My rule is get on paper at 25, then confirm a live group at 100 before I trust the dope.

Bore-sighting saves me about 15–20 rounds per new scope compared with zeroing from scratch.

What goes wrong when you bore sight?

These problems are worth a look before you load the rifle for the first time.

• Leaving the device in the barrel or on the muzzle draws a warning from ATN Corp, which says to always remove the boresight before shooting, since some people who forgot have blown apart their barrels in the worst way.
• Dead laser batteries ended a first try, and a verified Rhino 4x buyer wrote, "had to get new batteries for boresight (they died less than 30 seconds into first attempt to 0 the optic)".
• Should the rifle move, the dot moves with it, and ATN Corp says the firearm must stay steady, with a gun vise making it easier to center the crosshairs on the laser's dot.
• Focus left unset at the eyepiece makes the reticle blurry, so the aiming mark isn't sharp enough to center on the dot.
• Treat a bore sight as a finished zero and the job stays incomplete, since ATN Corp says no boresighter will sight a gun and only shooting the gun will.

Skipping the steady rest, or forgetting the device is still in place, is the most common bore sight problem I see.

These related Ozark Armament guides come next, after the bore sight work.

• The zero calculator is for the numbers that come after the first shots.
• Ozark Armament's guide what the numbers on a scope mean covers the numbers on a scope.
• Readers new to the platform can read what AR stands for in AR-15 for the name.
• AR-15 laws by state is Ozark Armament's guide to AR-15 rules by state.

Ozark Armament read each of the Burris Optics, ATN Corp and Vortex Optics pages on October 23, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is boresighting on a rifle?

A: Matching the barrel's bore to the sights is the task, and you do it before any live round. ATN Corp gives that definition and says the task isn't the same thing as a zero. A zero ties your aim to where the bullet lands, while a bore sight only brings the optic into agreement with the barrel. Burris Optics treats the result as close enough that your first holes can show up where you'll see them on the target board.

Q: Can you bore sight an AR-15?

A: Yes, you can bore sight an AR-15 with a laser bore sight placed in the chamber or set on the muzzle. Ozark Armament's sight-in guide is where those two placements are given for this rifle. You'll move the aiming mark onto the laser's dot with the turrets. A zero still has to come from live fire after this bore sight.

Q: What distance should you sight in a 30-06?

A: Pick a distance you're comfortable with and one where you can spot your impacts through your optic as you shoot the rifle, which is the advice Vortex Optics gives you for its three-shot method. Vortex Optics calls the distance you picked an arbitrary one for that method, and it's not a bore sighting distance.

Q: What should my laser bore sight be at 25 yards?

A: Put the crosshair on the laser dot you see through the scope, since that's the mark that shows where the bore points in front of you. ATN Corp says that no boresighter will sight a gun, and that can only be done by shooting the gun with specific ammo at a certain distance.

SHOP OZARK ARMAMENT

Rhino 4x Magnified Optic

SHOP NOW

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MATT RICE, OWNER OF OZARK ARMAMENT