[Bruce626]

As an update to my July post above, here's some "range report" kind of results of my shooting last Sat and Sun at a tactical shotgun course...

Got to shoot with three different sight systems in one day...

I used my Mossberg 500 18.5" bbl with plain bead sight. The five other guys in my group had ghost ring sights on their 870's and Benelli's. In all of the COF's I was able to keep up with them with my bead until we started shooting slugs at 50 and 100 yards... then my number of COM hits dropped below theirs (however, my hits were still within the upper body area of the target, so not too embarassing). So, for the 1.75 days so far, I was feeling OK with my bead sight.

For the second to last drill of the 2nd day, I quickly removed my sidesaddle, mounted my Weaver Convert a Mount, attached my Red-Dot scope, took two shots to sorta zero it at 50 yds, and joined the team shooting competition at 50 and 100 yds... not an ideal way to get ready, but I didn't want to leave without at least trying my Red Dot at long range.

I shot a little bit better than with the bead at these ranges and felt like I had a better sight picture because my bead would obscure most of the target but I could select a red dot size appropriate for the distance and brightness. I am not convinced that the slight improvement in my accuracy is worth the cost of the Red Dot, but it was cheaper than a ghost ring add-on kit.

Because of my hasty (sloppy) mount of the Weaver side mount, I neglected to fully tighten a screw and wound up with a jammed bolt that would require some quality time to fix... so my SG was out of commission for the last drill of the day...

So, for the Jungle Walk I borrowed an instructor's Vang Comp'd 870 with ghost ring sights. I'd never used an 870 nor ghost ring before, but I got a chance to ask about the correct sight picture and figure out the safety and action release during the two minute walk to the starting point.

The 870 is similar enough to my Mossberg that I was able to run it pretty effectively... only had one fumble while doing a fast slug select shot that required finding the action release which is in a way different spot.

Most of the 14 targets in this COF are basically snap shots from the Hunt mount and I was totally amazed that I got good first shot hits on all of those... the ghost ring seemed like a very natural, intuitive sight system to me.

For the couple of longer, slightly slower shots, I felt very confident while lining up the shots with the ghost ring, thinking that, "... damn, this thing shoots where I point it!". (maybe $500 worth of Hans Vang work, or whatever the cost is, made a difference as well?)

The last target of the Jungle Walk was two bad guys behind one hostage with only the heads of the BG's on either side of the hostage's head. Armed only with a shotgun, my first instinct said this is a no-shoot, no-win situation.

Urged on by the instructor, I set up at about 7 yds behind a tree to shoot 00 Buck which I was advised to center the sight on the BG's outside ear. I managed to pull this off, but I don't think I would ever try it for real with a shotgun and buckshot. However, the main point is, even with an unfamiliar shotgun in hand, the ghost ring sights worked extremely well for me.

After trying these three sights, I am confident in my single bead sight for short range HD usage. I'm pretty confident that I could do OK with the bead if I had to go outside and shoot for real at longer ranges, but I sure wouldn't turn down a ghost-ring equipped gun either. With respect to the Red Dot, it is OK, but I'm glad I got it pretty cheap on sale, so no big investment in something of only marginal value.

--Bruce.