Possible sight problem on Marlin 1894

[JTHunter]

I recently acquired a 20 yr. old Marlin 1894 levergun in .357.

I have not yet had a chance to fire it, only disassembled and cleaned it.

At the FFL that handled the transfer, I asked them to bore-sight the gun with their laser unit. Unfortunately, the shop is rather small and the dealer only had about 25-30' of clear space. Vertical is OK but at that distance, the laser dot appeared to be 2-3" to the left of the "point of aim".

My question is do I fire it first (and at what distance) and possibly have it not on the paper or do I try and "drift" one of the sights?

If "drift" first, which sight and in which direction?

[Woogiebear]

I had a buddy of mine try to zero a Armalite 30 (pretty sure that's what it was) with a scope that was never bore sited. He put the target out to 100 yards and was getting pissed that he wasn't hitting paper. I told him what he needed to do was move the target to 25 yards and get it sited there, then move it out in 25 yard increments. Sure, you are going to go through a lot of ammo, but its fun and you bring your reticle back to center, for the most part. My advice is put a target out at about 50 yards and see if you are hitting the center. If you are, move it out to 100 yards and zero it there. If not, but you are on paper, zero it there, then move it to 100 yards. If you are not even on paper (lets hope its not that bad) bring it to about 25 yards and see what happens. There is probably an easier way to zero it, but I like shooting a lot of rounds in one sitting so this process never bothered me. Let me know if that works for you.

[rci2950]

I wouldn't trust a bore sighter. Seen 3 different scenarios where the bore sighter was wacko and caused the person using it more grief then necessary.

[Hatedbysheeple]

I would sight it in at 25 yards, with three shots, if the group is tight, adjust the sights until you are good. You can adjust from there for the range you want the gun normally zeroed at. Depending on what ammo you use the round should impact around 1.5 - 2 inches low at 100 yards with the initial 25 yard sighting.

Personally I would keep the 25 yard as my zero, if I am shooting over 100 yards I'm not bringing a .357 mag lever gun, also the round drops fast after the initial 100.

Don't mess with the sights until you know, from firing rounds, that they are off, you could open a bad can of worms. As far as what adjustments to make I would need to see the type of sights and how they are mounted first.

[Schuetzenman]

I would go with what's already been said on this.

1. Laser bore site devices are frequently wrong. I don't trust them.
2. Start at 25 yards, so yes shoot it and see vs. guess.
3. Move target further out after verification of 25 yard shooting test.

[alismith]

I recently acquired a 20 yr. old Marlin 1894 levergun in .357.

I have not yet had a chance to fire it, only disassembled and cleaned it.

At the FFL that handled the transfer, I asked them to bore-sight the gun with their laser unit. Unfortunately, the shop is rather small and the dealer only had about 25-30' of clear space. Vertical is OK but at that distance, the laser dot appeared to be 2-3" to the left of the "point of aim".

My question is do I fire it first (and at what distance) and possibly have it not on the paper or do I try and "drift" one of the sights?

If "drift" first, which sight and in which direction?

If you have to adjust the sights, I believe the only one you can really adjust is the rear sight on that rifle. If it's printing to the right, move the rear sight to the left. I believe you move the rear sight in the opposite direction as the bullet is printing until they both hit where you're sighting.

[JTHunter]

Thanks for all the tips!

A different manual I found confirmed that the rear sight is the one to be moved when and if! Others have suggest the same as Sheeple (25 yd. test) but I haven't had a chance to do so yet. My reason for asking was to learn what I might have to do so that I could do it on-site when I am shooting it.

Sheeple - it has been suggested that I put the rifle in a rack with the lever and bolt removed as if I were cleaning it. Then I should look down the barrel to see if the spot that the iron sights are centered on can be seen through the length of the barrel. If not, center the barrel on the spot then compare it to the iron sights.

Have you ever heard of this method before?

[NAPOTS]

Thanks for all the tips!

A different manual I found confirmed that the rear sight is the one to be moved when and if! Others have suggest the same as Sheeple (25 yd. test) but I haven't had a chance to do so yet. My reason for asking was to learn what I might have to do so that I could do it on-site when I am shooting it.

Sheeple - it has been suggested that I put the rifle in a rack with the lever and bolt removed as if I were cleaning it. Then I should look down the barrel to see if the spot that the iron sights are centered on can be seen through the length of the barrel. If not, center the barrel on the spot then compare it to the iron sights.

Have you ever heard of this method before?

I've done it with a buddy's ar that was way off when he showed up to the range. It was less accurate that you'd expect but should get you on paper at 25 yards

[Hatedbysheeple]

I have done that a couple times years ago, but any more I just bring the paper closer, say 10 yards, and focus mainly on the rounds being centered left and right of the target if it's within a couple inches up and down I leave it and fix that once I am shooting back out at 25 yards.

Sometimes when working with foreign miitary partners they have jacked up guns that have never been properly sighted, usually because they maybe fire 20 rounds a year. The above method has worked every time since with some weapons you can not do the look down the barrel methods with out a small dental mirror.

If you do end up having to adjust the rear sight right or left, once you get it where you want it, I would lock it in place, dimpling it with a center punch so it doesn't drift again.

[JTHunter]

Good news!
It would appear that the boresighter WAS a little off and here are the results of just 10 rounds of Federal 158 gr. JHPs at 25 yards.
Five of the first six rounds (under the brown stickers) were fired by me with the one low at the 5 o'clock position fired by the neighbor. Those were standing and unsupported. The final 4 were fired with me kneeling and leaning against the side of my car to further brace me. The one in the center surprises the HECK out of me!

Now to find someplace for 50 - 100 yds.

[l921428x]

Looks good.