SiteLite Ultra Mag Green Laser Professional Boresighter

SiteLite SL-500This review is about the SL-500 used to sight in two semi-auto pistols with laser sights - a Sig Saur P239 semi-auto pistol with a 3.6 inch barrel and a Sig Saur P320 semi-auto pistol with a 3.9 inch barrel.These weapons are for personal defense, and therefore the range for sighting in is much shorter than for rifles which are used at much longer ranges.The SiteLite boresights are of excellent quality and will produce professional results for rifles if the instructions included with them are followed. SiteLite has three available models at different prices. All three produce the same result if you can see the laser dot on the target. The difference in the three units is the power of the laser and the batteries. The lowest priced unit is very satisfactory for sighting in work at personal defense distances if done indoors. I chose the SL-500 because it uses the same battery as my laser sight and tactical flashlight. I wanted to keep my battery supply simple.As described in the unit instructions, an O-ring installed on a screw-in adapter is used for different calibers. I find that installing the proper O-ring isn’t easy, and I suspect that it can be easily damaged. For those reasons, I suggest that once the proper O-ring is installed correctly for a particular caliber, it never be taken off again. SiteLite does that for .22 and .30 caliber. If you have multiple caliber requirements, I suggest you obtain a separate adapter for each different caliber and keep its O-Ring installed permanently.SiteLite claims the units to be the most accurate ones available. I don’t doubt that, but don’t know how to prove or disprove that claim. But I don’t think that projecting the bore sight line more accurately than others is the most important issue. The most important issue is REPEATABILITY. That is, the boresight should project the bore line of sight at exactly the same angle every time it is installed on the firearm.That is hard to determine with rifle scopes and pistol iron sights, but very simple with a pistol laser:1. Align the laser dot with the SiteLite dot at the sight in range.2. Remove the SiteLite from the firearm.3. Reinstall the SiteLite to the firearm and check the two dot alignments at the sight in range4. If they align properly, the SiteLite has repeated its projection. If not, there is a problem.I have done this exercise several times over a period of several days and some shooting sessions. The SiteLite has always repeated perfectly. There will be more about this a little later.Before getting the SiteLite SL-500, I was using the Bushnell Boresighter. After a lot of research and experimenting, I was able to get accurate results from the Bushnell, but to get those accurate results I had to make adjustments to the Bushnell each time it was reinserted into the barrel. The problem with the adjustment procedure is that it is a “by your visual sight” adjustment, and a very small error has a large effect. If you can get through that stuff, the Bushnell will work fine – just much slower.SiteLite has excellent tools and instructions for work with rifles and scopes mounted on top of the rifle, but almost nothing about pistols and lasers mounted under the barrel. Their great software app for scopes is useless for short ranges and laser sights under the barrel. Here’s how to do it with a laser sight.1. Make sure the firearm is unloaded.2. Put the pistol in a firm support such as a vice, aimed at a target at the sight in distance – 20 feet in my case. Align the laser sight dot with the SiteLite dot using the laser sight adjustment screws.3. Go to the range with a target. Install the target, making it completely level – this is important. Use a level.4. Steady the pistol as much as possible. Use a pistol vice suitable for firing if available – it’s not available to me. If a vice isn’t available, use sandbags and make such to make the pistol secure and as removed as far as possible from any movement introduced by your human hold and trigger control.5. Align the laser dot on the bull’s eye on the target, and fire a three shot group. If you don’t have a small group, you have done something wrong.6. In rare cases, your group will be within the 10 ring, but most times likely not. Don’t be alarmed, there are many variable in this exercise, and we’ll try to correct for them. The main thing is to get a small group with the laser dot on the bull’s eye. Label this target “Firearm Id, Sight In.” You will use many times again.7. Take the target home and attach it to a wall, making sure it is level – most important – use a level.8. Make sure that the pistol is unloaded.9. Secure the pistol firmly in place at the sight in distance. Attach the SiteLite to the barrel and align it with the target bull’s eye. The laser sight dot should also be aligned on the SiteLite dot. If not, there’s a problem.10. Move the LASER SIGHT DOT to the center of the target group with the laser sight adjustment screws. You’re done. Your next shot at the range at the sight in distance with the pistol firmly secured should be in the ten-ring and maybe even cut the bull’s eye – mine has.I hope you can see why repeatability is so critical. It is much more important than accuracy. Repeatability is required if you are able to make any judgements about the results.Final Thoughts:1. You must do this for every pistol. The first target group from the P320 was low 1.5 inches. The P239 first group was 1.5 inches high.2. You must do it for each different cartridge you shoot. I shot five different cartridges from three manufacturers. Each of the five loads required different sight in adjustments. The moral is to try to zero in on what you want to shoot.3. Save your “Firearm Id, Sight In.” target. Check it often with SiteLite and laser sight dot at the sight in range. The laser sight dot should still be centered on that group. That will tell you if the laser sight or anything else has changed. I don’t know any other way to keep check on your laser sighting system without firing a shot.Good Luck!Wil

OK, let's start with the "con"... It's a lot more complicated than most of the other boresight systems on the market. This stems from its versatility. You can boresight anything from .22LR to 12GA with this system. It fits nice and snug in the barrel, provided you have the correct O ring installed. The laser is powerful, I could see it through my optic at 100yds, mid-day, while slightly overcast..Have not owned long enough to comment on battery life. In short, it's highly functional, extremely versatile, and professional grade.

Top laser bore sight unit on the market.Top customer service for a company.I've used this for years now on many weapons and it always gets everything dead on-target.After 5 years of use, I had some o-rings wear out, contacted customer service and they immediately responded to send replacements.

I was tired of my plastic version of this laser ( you know, the other cheapie versions being sold). While they were in the ballpark ( on paper, but waaaayyyy far off), I decided to try this all metal/green laser version. I have to say that I am impressed (and sad that we have to pay this price to get an all metal version of a laser pointing device. My biggest hang up on the cheapie versions is that the laser isn’t really centered( so it’s a waste of money and our time…because we still have to do more than minimal work to find center), this metal version does not have any of those problems. The barrel lengths that will not work with this device are short (3.1” lengths) since the rod on this device is longer than that. I “re-zeroed” all of my pistols and took some to the range. In the end, it is the user who determines how well a tool is going to work. Of the 9 barrels I tested, 4 were dead center, the rest were off by a inch or so ( shooting on a rest @ 10 yards). I should note that one of the barrels initially tested at home was spot on with this device…so I didn’t take it, since I already know that this pistol shoots perfectly. At 25 yards they were still in the 10 ring (again shooting on the rest). For the investment, I hope the laser lasts a long time, because I already threw out the old cheapie plastic version. The fact that the rod that is inserted into the barrel (gently) and the rubber grommets are firm and won’t scratch the barrel walls, plus the rest of the metal base is magnetized gives me even more confidence that shifting will be so minimal. I’m going to enjoy this for years to come. One final investment (when it comes to an in field laser assisting device)that I can take to the range. Now, I won’t need to worry or fuss about hitting paper every time I have to center a new barrel or after putting a red dot or scope on a device because I have confidence that this laser tool is going to work…every time…with a laser that is truly centered from the factory.

This is by far 10x better than the cheap boresighter I had before. Customer service with Site Lite is fantastic. Comes with everything you'd need. My only gripe is that even the green laser is impossible to see at 100yrds in daylight. Still a really great and accurate product.