Hello all. I've always shot open sights on my 20ga 870 and have decided this hasn't been cutting it. Can't decide between a red dot or regular scope. I do some still hunting and an occasional deer drive. I would like to go the scope route but am worried it will be slower to acquire my target during drives. Anybody have any opinions? BTW, I plan to mount it using a saddle.
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
I would go red dot if you're going to drive, actually I'd go open sights. Sights and scopes block your field of view and the people that might be in it
I'd take a good look at the bushnell trophy 1.5-4 power. I've been using one on a slug gun for 10 years.
We do mostly deer drives and I think they are easier to aquire your target than open sights or a red dot. Thats just my opinion.
Ive never tried it on a slug gun but I played around a lot with a burris fastfireII this summer on my turkey gun.
I think it would work really well for most situations inside of 75 yards or so, just stick with the smallest dot you can get.
We do mostly deer drives and I think they are easier to aquire your target than open sights or a red dot. Thats just my opinion.
Ive never tried it on a slug gun but I played around a lot with a burris fastfireII this summer on my turkey gun.
I think it would work really well for most situations inside of 75 yards or so, just stick with the smallest dot you can get.
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
Sight acquisition with a scope is mostly a matter of familiarity (& not too much magnification). You will hardly ever need 9X with a slug gun so I would look at the 1.5 - 4X or a 2-7X for a slug gun. Then practice shouldering it & swinging it on a moving target on low power. You don't need to beat yourself up with slugs. Try some hand thrown clays with skeet loads just to get used to finding the target in your scope. I would stay away from a 1X or any red dot that doesn't have any magnification. Looking through a tube at something creates the optical illusion that it is further away so a sight with no magnification is counter productive. Actually, to my eye a 2X is about the break even point that looks like no magnification. I'm not a huge fan of red dots anyway. Had one on my turkey gun fall apart from the 10 gauge recoil and another with a dead battery at the absolute worst ever time while deer hunting... 
StickersNKickers
Camo Up!
Scope for me. My brother uses a red dot and loves it tho. I just don't like the little to no magnification. Open sights for me are good for close shots and drives, but I prefer to still/stand hunt and like being able to look the deer over in the scope before I shoot. I've done a few running shots with the scope, and it's ok on target acquisition. I just prefer to take standing/walking shots. But sometimes that option just doesn't exist.