The Down Range Forum

Member Section => Shotguns => Topic started by: fatbaldguy on February 09, 2014, 05:49:26 PM

Title: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: fatbaldguy on February 09, 2014, 05:49:26 PM

A Mossberg 500 and 3 barrels came into my possession this weekend.  A 28" with 3 chokes, a 24" smoothbore cyl bore with rifle sights, and a 24" rifled with a cantilever scope mount.

Could/should I consider a red dot?  If so, what should I be looking for?

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: les snyder on February 09, 2014, 09:43:32 PM

what is the intended use of the shotgun?... a couple of friends using Saigas for 3 gun run the Burris Fastfire 3  and they seem to hold up, but are around $200+... for 3 gun I shoot my Benelli like a rifle anyway, and use a set of 10/22 sights on the rib and a HiViz fiber optic on the front... for clay birds, my Browning uses a stack 8 factory sight arrangement...

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: fatbaldguy on February 10, 2014, 01:33:35 AM

Quote from: les snyder on February 09, 2014, 09:43:32 PM

what is the intended use of the shotgun?...

Deer and predators (4 and 2 legged) with the rifled barrel.  It is the only one without an integral sight.

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: TAB on February 10, 2014, 06:11:55 PM

Try it, if you like it keep it, if not, its easy to remove. 

Sent from my SGH-T599N using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: Timothy on February 10, 2014, 06:16:23 PM

Nothing you can't do with ghost ring sights.

I'm guessing they're cheaper and less dependent on batteries. (sarcasm)  We hunted whitetail with open sights on shotguns and rifles, both.  Plenty of dead critters for no out of pocket expense...  For self defense, point and shoot works and shotguns define point and shoot...no need to aim really!

.02 and bit...

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: fatbaldguy on February 12, 2014, 03:28:19 PM

There are NO sights whatsoever on this particular barrel.  Just the cantilever scope mount/rail.  Some sort of optic is needed.

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: Timothy on February 12, 2014, 04:08:36 PM

No sights on my 45 year old Wingmaster but the front gold bead but I assure you I'm going to hit what I'm aiming towards inside of 30-50 yards.

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: fatbaldguy on February 12, 2014, 04:34:28 PM

not even a bead.

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: kmitch200 on February 12, 2014, 05:48:35 PM

What kind of budget are you looking at?
(quick browsing of Brownell's)
Red dots run from about $50 to $800.
Holographic sights like an Eotech run $375 to $700.

Cheek weld could become an issue if the optic needs even more mounting hardware than the just the cantilever making it sit higher.
Getting the optic to line up with your eye while you use a natural gun mount is critical IMHO. 

Title: Re: Red Dot on a shotgun?
Post by: Timothy on February 12, 2014, 06:42:53 PM

I've seen ghost ring sights for less than 100 bucks.