Shotgun sights

[joppaj]

For a defensive shotgun with an 18.5" barrel, what is the best possible sight configuration? At the range or class it may need to shoot slugs or make shots to at least 25 yards but primary purpose will be for home defense range. Ghost rings, rifle sights, bead? The gun is already on the heavy side so adding a red dot isn't high on my list.

 

[MattTheGunslinger]

I have shot slugs out of my 18.5 mossberg with standard brass bead and can hit a torso sized target at 50+ yards consistently. I had ghost rings and don't care for them at all. My newest shotgun(590A1) wears a meprolight night bead sight and I'm getting excellent results as well.

 

[jimbobborg]

Just personal experience. With just a bead up front, you'll end up pointing the shotgun. Which is great when you're shooting birds and clays but terrible for actually hitting something that isn't moving at 40 mph. At the ranges you're talking about? I'd rather have rifle sights.

 

[basscat]

Fiber optic front sight. Quick and accurate acquisition.

 

[randyho]

go big. rmr.

 

[Magnumite]

I prefer rifle sights, with a brass bead or blue/black front sight. They allow very fast, accurate shooting. Used a new fiber optic front once and looked for the dot once and the tube was gone - so I put the brass bead back on.

 

[RebelYell]

I'm in the bead camp. For a HD gun, I just think that the bead is the fastest and most effective option for me. A little practice and you can be effective with slugs out to your desired distance. Many a deer in MD have been killed with a smoothbore shotgun and slugs using beads. My 590A1 has an XS Big Dot tritium bead and so far, I'm liking it.

 

[pbharvey]

Take your gun with the current bead sight and go shoot some targets at 10 yards and see how you do. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

For me, if I'm shooting in a SD scenerio inside my home at close quarters, I want both eyes open so I can see as much as I can.

 

[Magnumite]

The bead does work and shooting the shotgun first is a given.

However, my 500 Mossberg 8 shot Cruiser would shoot very high at 25 yards high (close to 12" with slugs) using the bead sighted barrel. I realize it could be stock fit but don't think so since I place my head low on a shotgun. At 85 yards (3 gun), I had to hold just below the bottom of a full size silhouette steel to make a shoulder level hit. Shot high over 4" clays at 7 and 10 yards as well. The Mossberg rifle sighted barrel fixed all that.

My standard 500 has rifle sights for both the rifled and smooth bore barrels. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[mopar92]

Well you're a cop and most used to pistol. Which is two flat rear sections with a front blade. So you want to replicate what you already have but bigger. I would say rifle sights but with a green fiber optic front sight. Why green? It is the color our eyes are most sensitive too and any ambient light will make it "pop".

Me I'm a rifle shooter best and mainly use indexing and point shooting on pistols. So for me the sights I use most would be ghost ring rifle sights and would match the same type to a shotgun.

 

[joppaj]

That's not a half bad theory Mopar.

 

[alucard0822]

Ghost ring for me, have run my scattergun tech sights in practice, drills and competition, and they just work. I use beads on my clays guns, it's easier to have a single point of reference to lead aerial targets and it points quick, but isn't as precise, there is still a rear "sight" reference, the flat rib or top of the receiver, the reason stock/LOP fit is so critical, so you line the flat and bead up as soon as you shoulder it, if it doesn't fit well it's harder to line up precicely. Rifle sights are precise, but bringing them up to target is slower being the rear sight covers the front till the sights are lined up, and at longer ranges they cover a lot of target if you are holding over, which you are more likely to do with a shotgun's trajectory, or especially with different loads that may hit higher or lower by several inches. A ghost ring intuitively centers the post, it comes into view faster than a notch and post, doesn't block as much of the target, and once lined up can work as a single point of reference like a bead, so easier to hit moving targets. Once you get good with them, and with a ring/peep sized appropriately for your purpose they are both fast and precise, and much easier to hold over or under, especially with different slug/shot loads that hit in different places. Many of the reasons ring or peep sights have been used on US service rifles for over 100 years. A compact red dot is about the only thing faster/more precise than a ghost ring, but a good one that can be left on continuously for years, and can stand up to the recoil will be expensive.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Bead. Plenty of precision for slugs under 50yds. The only potential fly in the ointment is if the the slugs don't sufficiently hit POA. Some hit perfectly, some require feet of kentucky windage/ elevation.

My Win 1300 slug bbl's rifle sights *for me* will work adaquately as substitute, moreso than Rem or Moss. But no advantage over my 18in sawn vent rib bbl eqipped M1200 for defense.

 

[Blaster229]

I might be using the sights that come on this Wilson Border patrol model.

 

[Kinbote]

I like the ghost rings. Fiber optic front sight is nice, but even without one ghost rings are fast, and precise to 50 yds. You should try a few styles to see what you like. Mossberg is putting some very nice ghost ring/red front fiber optics on their shotguns now.

 

[obsolete]

If it's an 870, I like barrel mounted rifle sights upgraded to ameriglo tritium. The 870 rear has a white triangle under the rear sight notch. It makes a great quick reference bead for close, fast shots. The blades on the rifle sights are nice for long distance work. Tritium is nice for low light. And because the sights are fixed to the barrel, you never have to worry about a change in poi because they remain fixed to the barrel.

I can shoot as accurately out to 75 yards with a bead, but you really have to know where to hold for your specific shotgun. My agency has a mix of old (bead only) and new (pedestal with a bead) sights. Typically, you belly hold the old guns and hold true on the new guns. The rifle sights take all of that nonsense out of the mix and are just as fast using the triangle as if it were a bead.