red dot for tactical shotgun?

[billy870m9]

i was thinking about picking up a red dot for the rem 870.....itd be something around 40 to 50 bucks plus the mount.....it is a toss up between the red dot and ghost ring sights.....the reason im swinging to the red dot is because of money for one, id definitly have to pay someone to drill and tap the ghost rings, plus i would think i could get onto target quicker with the red dot......any comments would be great thanks guys

[KeithPA]

I have a Hakko BED-35 on my 870... It's out of your price range ($140) but they do sell some knock offs on Ebay....



I had a closed red dot (Like an Aimpoint) but much prefer the open red dot sight. Much easier for me when shooting short distances...

When getting a rail make sure its a strong rail..no soft metals as recoil will be much higher.

[JustinM]

What are you using the shotgun for?

[00gt1]

not to hijack anyone's thread, but what kind of mount do yo\u have for that red dot? I had the smae question and ended up buying one that didn't quite fit...

[JustinM]

I don;t see any point to putting any optics on a shotgun. The exception being if you are using the shotgun for an "open class" competition. The shotgun is a CQB weapon, grab some XS Big Dot Express Sights for it (assuming it's for SD), and spend the money for the optics, on some targets and shells.

[dgg9]

I don;t see any point to putting any optics on a shotgun.

+1 on this. The self defense SG is basically at most a 1 - 15 yd weapon, where even at 15 yds you're pushing the limits of the patterning to keep all pellets on target. At this range, the target should be significantly bigger than the front sight, hence no need for any optics.

I would say, use that money for a one day SG class instead. The pump SG is not the "gimme" to operate some think it is.

[JustinM]

Here's my shotgun. It's a Remington 870P-MAX. It was given to my by my uncle. The only things I changed about it was to put a tritium front sight on it instead of the stnadard, and a 2-point sling. It does exactly what I need it to do, and it doesn't need to be fancy to do so.



Sorry for the bad quality (camera phone).

[dgg9]

Here's my shotgun. It's a Remington 870P-MAX.

Now that photo is some load out. I would want that if expecting an undesired visit from the entire local Hell's Angels chapter.

[Holleta]

Normally I would say don't waste your money on a $40 or $50 dollar red dot. It will look cool but will be a.....$40 or $50 dollar red dot that doesn't hold zero very well and changes POI everytime you switch to a different pattern or dot but...This is a shotgun were talking bout here folks and the shortcomings of a cheap dot sight will be more than made by the "spread of the lead". So I say why the hell not??? I would go for one of the eBay knock offs that copy the Hakko or another Heads up style, not the tubular scope style red dots. With just a little practice they can be mastered to shoot with both eyes open too. Lets us know how it works out.

[billy870m9]

ok well now im thinking i should scrap the red dot and go for the ghost rings.....i love shooting slugs with my hd gun, and no i dont load slugs for home defense, but id like to possibly get into the longer ranges with my slug shooting....the reason is to make my sg well versed in both close up and at bout 50 yards....