Red dot

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jrothWA

New member
Here I am getting my turkey outfit together.

I have a $40 red dot on the Weaver scope mount for a my Ithaca M37 16ga.

Have time to get it sighted for 35 yds with my reloads of Longshot powder and WAA16s.

Might even get the A5 12 MAG slug barrel and use the TSFULL choke for calling in a bird.
 
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Rob228

New member
Instructors will tell you if you're looking at the beads on the barrel you're " bead checking " and will stop your gun and shoot behind. But those are the guys who look at the bird and " see " the barrels in their subconscious. For me it's if the barrels are suppose to be pointing where I'm looking, then I just look down the barrel where I want to shoot, and " see " the bird behind it.
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I grew up shooting skeet twice a week and remember my dad mentioning that he was certain some of the guys were shooting off of timing and could probably break 20/25 blindfolded. They would tend to get very upset if whoever running the controls delayed the tiniest bit after "pull".

Never tried a red-dot on a shotgun but a few of my friends have (upland hunting, no clays games). I know from transitioning to one on a pistol it puts your focus on the target not the dot, I feel like with crossing targets in 5 stand or the middle stations in skeet you may have some trouble looking through the optic at the target when you've got to be way ahead of it. Issue will probably resolve itself through a couple rounds while you get it all sorted out between your eyes/brain and finger.

Let us know what you go with and how it works for you. My A400 has dovetails on the receiver and I always need a new project.
 
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eastbank

New member
i use two shotguns for hunting turkeys, one has a older 2.5x leupold and the other has a burris FF3 on it. both are turkey slayers to 40 yards with ease. and both have life time warrenties.
 
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Rob228

New member
i use two shotguns for hunting turkeys, one has a older 2.5x leupold and the other has a burris FF3 on it. both are turkey slayers to 40 yards with ease. and both have life time warrenties.
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I think this brings up an important differentiation; shooting super tight patterns at small targets or shooting a flying bird. I've heard arguments for red dots for both.

I remember EO Tech being the top of the line brand back then supposedly. I couldn’t really afford one so I didn’t buy it. Come to find out they aren’t that good. They had a military contract which was their selling point and if you asked the military guys they say they just didn’t perform.
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I'm going to have to dispute this a little bit. The first generation EOtechs (the ones running AA batteries mostly) had issues. The rubber buffer on the springs holding the batteries would break, moving the spring off the battery and you'd shoot once then your reticle is gone because the connection was broken. The buttons were horrible too, and that just sprung another memory the second generation worked, even with AA batteries but they moved to the rubberized buttons. The first generation buttons were BAD, hard to feel when you actually turned it on, didn't work so well in general etc.

Any current EOtech device will take more abuse than you can throw at it, but they surely aren't cheap. Same can be said for Aimpoint and Trijicon. Holosun is making good things too but allegedly they stole some patents from Trijicon and it is a Chinese company, if you have issues with supporting a potential foe. But for the price..... I wouldn't judge someone for going that route.

I currently have three Vortex red dots, a Trijicon, an EOtech and an Aimpoint (the Trijicon, EOTech and Aimpoint are on rifles/one pistol that I tend to be VERY hard on, the Vortex on the others). Pretty happy with all of them, but I do have to say none are on shotguns so I can't speak to the recoil abuse they'll take.
 
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eastbank

New member
a good friend bought a red dot (russian) at walmart for 59.00, it lasted for 3 shots on a 3.5" turkey shotgun, he picked up the pieces and took them to walmart and got his money back. he,s turned off on red dots, but he has tried my burris FF3 on my 12 ga 3" shotgun and may buy one in the future.
 
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Virginian

New member
I see a lot of advice from people who have never used one. If you just don't like them, fine, I don't love the aesthetics myself, but they DO work quite well for any kind of shotgun shooting.
 
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kymasabe

New member
Virginian said:
I see a lot of advice from people who have never used one. If you just don't like them, fine, I don't love the aesthetics myself, but they DO work quite well for any kind of shotgun shooting.
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That's subjective. I've tried them and I think they're useless for birds and clays, anywhere I need to swing the gun onto target. They may work well for some, but not for others. I do have a scope on my slug barrel that I'll probably replace with a red dot someday, but otherwise 2 bead sights on a vent rib barrel are faster for me and offer larger field of view with faster target acquisition.
 
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bladesmith 1

New member
On moving targets with a shotgun you don't aim, which you're doing with a Red Dot, but pointing the gun at the target. I'll guarantee there's no time to use a Red Dot on many a SCs targets. If they " but they DO work quite well for any kind of shotgun shooting " then you'd see them used more often in the shotgun sports. I've been shooting skeet, trap, 5-stand, and SCs for over twenty years, three times a week at the club and have only seen ONE person try one for trap, ONCE. He hit 2/25. So I'd have to say NO, they're not good for any kind of shotgun sports. If you think they're so great then go out and shoot ten rounds of skeet and ten rounds of trap and report back how great you did.
 
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Rob228

New member
So I'd have to say NO, they're not good for any kind of shotgun sports. If you think they're so great then go out and shoot ten rounds of skeet and ten rounds of trap and report back how great you did.
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First off I don't have any on shotguns, but I know it took a LONG time to transition to one on a pistol and they are incredibly unforgiving if you get even just a little bit sloppy with techniques. I THINK that because you are target focused with a red dot not focused on the dot itself, they MAY lend themselves to shooting clays, BUT all the serious clays shooters won't because none of the games themselves have updated any rules regarding using red dots. It may be something that we are all missing out on just because no one has given it a really serious try yet. Trap is my clays game and I only use my beads to ensure I've got the shotgun mounted correctly, everything else is staring at the target. When I'm shooting a red dot equipped pistol I'm staring at the spot on the target I want to hit and my pistol moves accordingly. I feel like there is some overlap between the techniques. I'm just not brave enough to try it first.
 
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bladesmith 1

New member
Go to any shotgun sports event and tell me how many RDs you see. NONE. They weren't intended to be used on moving targets. I guess the thousands and thousands of registered shooters are all wrong. Go to trapshooters.com or shotgunsports.com and tell all those guys the RD is the wave of the future if any of you want to get good and see what the response is. They'll laugh you out of there.
" Sorry, I forgot to add that those challenged to walk and chew gum at the same time are different. ". Just because you don't want to put in the time it takes to learn how to properly shoot a shotgun is your problem, not mine. Maybe you better learn how to chew gum and walk at the same time. I can.
 
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stinkeypete

New member
It would be interesting to drop a spare red dot on to a shotgun and report back our actual experiences after shooting a box of shells at clay birds.

When things are going well, wing shooting is instinctive and I’m not conscious of the barrel and bead. My stance is correct, I am swinging from my hips, watching the target, looking in front of it, and it powders. I’m told that looking at the barrel and bead isn’t the way to go, yet most of us keep the bead on the shotgun. Maybe some people take it off, maybe the bead is there but I am just not conscious of how it fits in the sight picture, I don’t know.

Rather than say “oh, everyone knows it doesn’t work for wing shooting but myself I have never tried it myself” I will say “if I had a spare dot sight laying about, I would try it, interesting thing to experiment on!”

My Fabarm L4s Hunter receiver is grooved for rings. For serious turkey or slug shooting a low power scope or red dot would be appreciated by my aging eyes, especially in dark woods at dusk and dawn.

When bird hunting, I don’t wear my glasses… or I miss. Mounting the gun jostles my corrective glasses and with gradient glasses the sight picture is completely messed up.

Cottage cheese wasn’t intended to be used in tuna fish sandwiches yet if you replace about 1/2 of the mayo with cottage cheese, you get a delicious sandwich. Try it and see.
 
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Virginian

New member
I like to experiment. I started with a Weaver Qwik-Point 40+ years ago. I have putred dots on and taken them off. Shot skeet, trap, doves, ducks, geese, and quail both with and without the red dot. My average seemed to be about the same except it was better with the red dot on long range geese. I currently have a Burris SpeedBead, but not mounted at the moment. It's worlds better than the older stuff, but I'm still not wild about the aesthetics. I have had several friends try it thru the years, and every one was amazed at how easy it was after less than a box of shells. I still wish someone made a little bitty one out of clear plastic that mounted like the SpeedBead.
 
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Virginian

New member
If that was directed at me, I shoot a shotgun rather well, thank you. Much, much better before advancing age and health issues.
 
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