Red dot

[kymasabe]

Originally Posted by FITASC

I can see a red dot on a shotgun IF you are talking about using it like a rifle for deer or hogs. Serves no purpose for clays or feathers (except turkeys)

What he said ^.

[Virginian]

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.

[kymasabe]

Originally Posted by Virginian

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.

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.

[bladesmith 1]

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.

[Rob228]

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.

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.

[Virginian]

Sorry, I forgot to add that hose challenged to walk and chew gum at the same time are different.

[bladesmith 1]

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.

[Virginian]

They are not allowed in most competition events.

[stinkeypete]

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.

[Virginian]

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.

[bladesmith 1]

Just a crazy idea, but maybe you'd be better off paying someone to teach you how to shoot a shotgun.

[Virginian]

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