Equipment Review: Leupold Zero Point Boresighter

The Leupold Zero Point boresighter is an ingenious device. Magnets hold the device to the muzzle of any gun, and an image is projected into the scope. The image is a target surrounded by a grid. The gun can be sighted by lining up the crosshairs to the center of the projected target. Once the crosshairs are aligned to the grid center, theoretically the projectile (bullet, slug, sabot) should “hit-the-paper” at 100 yards.
The appeal of the Leupold boresighter is that it is intended for use on any gun, it can be used indoors or out, and it is portable enough to be brought along to check the center of a gun at any time. The product is also reasonably priced compared to other laser boresighters on the market. The Leupold boresighter can be purchased for under $100. All of these are great features that would make the Leupold Zero Point boresighter a great product. The problem is that is does not work all the time.
I used the Leupold Zero Point on my Savage .30-06 with a 3-9X scope, and it worked well. I tried it again on my father’s .300 Winchester Mag and it said the gun was 16 inches low. We zeroed it out, and then went to the range. Even though the Leupold Zero Point said the gun was now dead center, not only was the gun off the paper at 75 yards, but it was not even hitting the plywood holding the paper. We had to bring the target in to about 25 yards, and sight in the gun the old fashioned way by firing and adjusting, then moving the target out. We then used the Leupold Zero Point on a new muzzleloader that was supposed to be previously boresighted by the gunsmith that mounted the scope. Neither the Leupold Zero Point nor the gunsmith boresighing was hitting on the paper with this gun. Once again, we had to go to the range and get the gun sighted in the old fashioned way. Finally, I tried the Leupold Zero Point on my Mossberg 500 slug gun (rifled barrel). This gun was previously sighted in last year to hit the paper at 50 yards, but was not fine-tuned to be consistently in the black. This gun only has a 2.5X scope. The Leupold Zero Point did not work on this gun. The image projected into the scope was so small in size that it was not clearly visible. I suspect the Leupold Zero Point was not intended for scopes of such low magnification. In summary, I’m going to say that the Leupold Zero Point worked on 1.5 of 4 guns (It half worked on the muzzleloader. It worked well on my .30-06. It did not work on the .300 Winchester Mag or the Mossberg 500 slug gun.). When it worked, it seemed like a pretty good device. However, if you plan on using this one boresighter on all your firearms, it’s unlikely to be able to work on all. If you happen to have one of the guns on which this device works (like my .30-06), this is a great device to check your center easily at any time. If you have one of the guns that are not compatible with the Leupold Zero Point you will likely be disappointed. There does not seem to be a way to predict which guns will work well with this device, and which ones will not. I’m going to give this device one more chance. I have a new muzzleloader on which I am installing a scope. If the Leupold Zero Point does not work on this gun, I will be returning it for a refund. If it works, I’ll keep it with the understanding that it’s useful for some guns, but not all.