Sighting in your scoped rifle without getting ripped off by overpriced products.

[Sean Martin]

Sighting in your scoped rifle without getting ripped off by overpriced products.

I wrote this from personal experience and didn’t cut and paste it from some gun forum. Don’t paste it anywhere else.

We see a lot of talk about having guns, buying ammo and taking classes but hitting the target is important and unless your round finds it’s mark your gun is worthless. A note that the leveler I will discuss will work in the field as well as on the range sighting you gun in. My dollar version is much better because if you lose it you won’t break the bank if you lose it accidentally. If you have your gun set (Iron sights or scope) level and you can do this with a level it will shoot with much greater accuracy sometimes with amazing improvement in accuracy.


As with most gun products you can buy the exact same thing for pennies on the dollar. Don’t get me wrong, scope leveling works and is something any shooter should do. However I am not going to pay $19.95 +tax & shipping handling for something I can buy for a couple dollars.

I was watching a commercial on television about the scope leveler and I thought to myself that thing looks familiar. So I trekked to the local dollar mart and found at least 3 mini levels that were identical. All a level is, is liquid with a bubble in it. So I bought 3 mini levels and I must say they made improvements that amazed me. I put them on guns with scopes I personally set only to find that through eye judgment the scope was a fraction of a degree off but at 2-5 hundred yards that can result in some serious misses.

After leveling the scopes accuracy improved. So the Wheeler idea is an excellent one but an overpriced one.

Another overpriced product I have been unable to make is a laser bore sighter. These run anywhere from $39.99 - $299.99. I compared them to my dollar mart laser pointers and they are identical in brightness, durability and sharpness. There are only 2 differences one is $39.99 and the other is $1.00. So you are paying $39.00 for an aluminum case.

The thing is that they work and do an excellent job, however they are overpriced when I know lasers can be produced for $39.00 less. Using the laser bore sighter and scope leveler I was able to set a Marlin 22 LR to cut out the same hole on the middle heart in a 3 of hearts playing card. The good thing is I did this without firing a shot. I just lined everything up and then fired the weapon only to discover that no further adjustments were needed. So even at a very overpriced $39.99 they can pay for themselves the first time using them.

On a 300-win mag using Hornady Tap ammo this could save a lot of money. I once saw an idiot run out 3 boxes ($90 cost) of ammo and still not set his gun properly. I have seen this many times. If you use a laser bore sighter and a scope leveler then shoot 3 shots, measure the target and adjust your gun with 3 more shots you should be able to set your gun perfectly with a maximum of 9 rounds fired.

Never try to compensate for a missed target, find out where the rounds are going then adjust the sight. If you shoot a 1-inch group 5 inches off the mark you can adjust the sights. If you shot a 9 inch group 3 inches from the target you have wasted time and ammo.

If you use your equipment properly you may fire some rounds only to discover that the equipment worked the first time. I have also learned that the best time to use a laser bore sighter is about dusk or the edge of daylight. When you can still see but it is dark enough that the sighter is brighter at greater distances. I tried using one about noon a couple weeks ago and couldn’t see it on a white target at 100 yards, went back at dusk and had no problem.

Hopefully this will save lots of money in setting your weapons. I learned a perfectly level scope can easily cut an inch off your group at 100 yards.

Wheeler level level level




AX7A-91241 Wheeler® Level-Level-Level Scope Leveler


$19.97


http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=317519