Accessories You May Need When Installing New Optics on Your Favorite Firearm

Every gun manufactured comes with a set of sights installed on it that work well for general shooting. Installing a specialty sight system or a set of optics on the gun can enhance the accuracy but may require some specialized accessories to mount to your firearm.  

Preparing Your Firearm

If you are going to install new optics, you need a place to mount them. Some firearms have an integrated sight rail along the top of the gun, while others do not. If you don't have a rail on your firearm, you will need one that can be attached to the top of the gun. 

Gun optic accessories like sight rails are available from most gun shops and large outdoor suppliers and are easy to install if your gun is drilled for the rails already. If it isn't, you will need to have a gunsmith drill and tap the attachment holes for you. 

The gunsmith can also install the site rail if you ask them to, and often this is the best way to ensure a new mount is square to the barrel of the gun and will properly position the new optics for the best accuracy.

Optic Mounts

Once you have a mounting rail on your gun, adding the new optics still requires mounting rings or plates, depending on your system. The same shop that provided the gun optics accessories for installing the rail will typically also carry the mounting parts you need to fit your new options on the rail.

Using a traditional scope, you may just need a basic set of mounting rings that fit the scope barrel, but a laser sight or red dot optics system may require plates the mount to the rail and hold the sights firmly to the firearm. Once the optics are in place on the gun, they must be set for accuracy and then adjusted on the range. 

Bore Sighting

Another gun optics accessory that every serious shooter should own is a bore sighting tool that allows you to align the sights mechanically with the gun's bore so that the optics will be as close to on target as possible before you head to the range. Once you have the firearm bore-sighted, you will need to take it to a firing range and shoot it to make the final adjustments to the optics system. 

Bore sighting is very easy to do and allows you to change the optics system at home anytime you like. This can make your firearms much more flexible, allowing them to be used for target or sport shooting one weekend, and used with a scope for hunting the next.  

Contact a supplier if you have questions about gun optics accessories

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