When mounting a red dot sight for the first time, most shooters ask: how accurate is bore sighting a red dot? Bore sighting is a quick method to align your optic with the barrel of your firearm before live firing. While it won’t give you a perfect zero, it does get you close enough to save time and ammunition at the range.

What Is Bore Sighting?

Bore sighting involves aligning the bore (barrel) of your firearm with the red dot sight. This can be done visually (removing the bolt and looking through the barrel) or with a laser bore sighter that projects a beam onto the target.

How Accurate Is It?

• Close Range: Bore sighting is usually accurate enough to get your shots on paper at 25 yards.

• Further Distances: At 50–100 yards, your shots may still be off by a few inches, requiring fine-tuning with live ammo.

• Practical Use: It drastically reduces the number of rounds needed to achieve a true zero, making it an efficient starting point.

Bore Sighting vs Live Fire Zero

While bore sighting provides an initial alignment, only live fire zeroing can confirm and fine-tune the true point of impact. Environmental factors, ammunition type, and shooter stability all affect final accuracy.

Conclusion

Bore sighting a red dot is reasonably accurate for initial setup, ensuring you’re on target before live fire. However, to achieve true precision, you must always confirm with live rounds. Think of bore sighting as a time-saving step—not a substitute for proper zeroing.