Been using fiber optic beads, 2 green rear and I orange front, for about 30 years. Thinking about maybe switching to a red dot for turkey hunting. Shotgun is an 870 express, black metal and wood (which needs refinished, but that's another post). What's everyone's thoughts on brands? Not looking to break the bank, but I know you get what you pay for, cry once buy once kinda thing. Dad had a cheap one on his turkey gun and after a dozen or so shots it won't hold zero any more.

My 13 year old has a sig Romeo 5 on it I think. First it was on a 300 black out pistol and then I out it on his turkey gun. It works well. Locally they were about $220 when I bought it but I got it foe $ 120 off psa web sight whan I waS geting parts to put the 300 black out together.

I have a Truglo red dot on my turkey gun and love it. Has red for bright days and green for low light or dimmer days. Can’t say I haven’t missed with it, but it’s sure helped me keep my head down and reduce my number of misses considerably.

Try swinging it on a target and see if it sights ok doing that I tried optics before for standing they were great moving not so much. Never used a red dot much so that might be different then regular optics.

Have a truglo on my 870, I really like it. Eric

If I were to put one on a turkey I'd consider one of these.

https://www.primaryarms.com/holosun-paralow-hs503g-red-dot-sight-acss-reticle

https://www.primaryarms.com/primary...n-illuminated-acss-cyclops-gen-2-reticle

Reason, the reticle.



Probably go with the microprism as I have astigmatism and some red dots don't work for me.

I have several my go to gun has a Burris speed dot It has handled the 3 1/2 well.

Check out Ultradot Red Dots - not expensive and durable. Many used on heavy recoiling handguns. I'm very satisfied with mine at the price point.

I have gone through two tru glos, I have switched to Bushnells and been quite happy.

I have an older tru-glo on one gun and a micro from primary arms on another both have served me well, it is a game changer in that you are often forced to shoot from awkward positions where a great check weld is not possible and with a traditional bead this often results in a miss, with the bead if you can see the bead and get it on target you have a hit no matter how your head is positioned relative to the gun now the recoil is another story . I only use the dots on turkey, predator, and slug guns, I have not tried shooting flying targets with them, I don't know how well they would work for that.

Thats exactly why I am thinking of switching. Odd angles, trying to line beads up, etc have lead to a few misses. I've used red dots on friends' guns, and they seem pretty nice.

This is a dedicated turkey gun. I am not a good wing shooter, so moving turkeys are out of the question. For other birds and rabbits, I'll grab my 20 gage side by side.

Fast Fire III…have one on my 20ga for the past 7-8 years or so. Change battery every two years, sometimes after a year. Auto brightness and can cycle through brightness. Can’t complain one bit, I know if red is on red then it’s dead. They’re easy to sight in as well.

What I would recommend is no matter which you choose, if it’s not flush mounted, take it out and shoot skeet with it. Mine is on a saddle for a Remington 870 so it sits a little higher. I didn’t have an issue with it, but some people do due to the fact the gun isn’t to your cheekbone.

decent budget options are Sig Romeo 5 and Vortex crossfire

I have the crossfire on my 870 , I am also running a Magpul stock with high cheek rest which lines up the eye perfect

on an express used as a turkey gun I would paint it camo my son did that

get that rust off some steel wool and hoppes foaming cleaner or blue wonder , or cva bore gel they all disolve rust .
the cva and blue wonder are same thing different tube as best I can tell.
then degrease , tape off and spray with a lighter color rustoleum camo paint then layer in the darker

test your cammo skills on some other things first , mesh laundry bag makes an interesting camo breakup pattern but leaves and stuff work well also
my 870 police 20 inch slug barrel I had tapped for rem-choke

sons 21 inch barrel 870 express picked up used at a local shop

870 express after the camo job


I have shot trap with mine first time out 23 and the 2 were me trying to go too fast I was on very fast out of the house and was running a full choke , I slowed back down just a touch after I missed the 2 and hit all the rest , I knew it was me when I broke the trigger I had over swung. if the red is on the clay it is dust.

Nice looking guns Pete. I camo'd my AR, and even though it loomks ugly, it blends well with the grasses, corn stubble and cattails I am usually in qhen using it. The finish on the wood is just about gone, not much rust at all, what little there is is inside the magazine and one tiny spot by the front fiber optic.

If I go the red dot route, what saddles are best to mount it on?

In this case, I think you will love having a red dot on your shotgun. I would hate to go back to a bead or rifle sights after using the dot.

Depending on budget I have one with nikon spur not made anymore the other is a vortex . Both low profiles lit pricey but worth it. If you never used one i get a true glow much bigger site picture cheaper but durable I have one on a 1187 20 ga I use for new guys and I'll take it out some it's been a good red dot for o er 12 years and always holds its zero and it's priced good

Depending on budget I have one with nikon spur not made anymore the other is a vortex . Both low profiles lit pricey but worth it. If you never used one i get a true glow much bigger site picture cheaper but durable I have one on a 1187 20 ga I use for new guys and I'll take it out some it's been a good red dot for o er 12 years and always holds its zero and it's priced good

drill and tap , I have not liked an of the saddles I have tried

I have a guy in Monroe drill and tap was costing me 40 so when you figure the price of a saddle it was easier for me to drop off the gun and let him drill and tap it and put the weaver rail on.

also if I hunt in the rain I want to be able to break the gun down and get it dry and oiled and not worry if my zero will be right after putting a saddle back on.

As you can see the sig Romeo 5 works well as intended.

exactly because it doesn't matter how your head lands or the awkward position your in if the dot is on the target that is where the round is headed .

I shot one buck at first light from a tree stand it had snuck behind me , he heard me when I moved a little so I couldn't move my feet any more , it was an over my shoulder contorted couldn't stretch any further shot with the gun half upside down but I had dot on a good spot on the deer , pulled the trigger and round hit exactly where the dot was.

That turkey looks bigger than your boy. Nice going.

Pete, do you have a Smith do the work to make sure the holes are dead on parallel to the centerline? I assume they'd use a mill table under a drill press to move the gun, maintaining parallel. I can drill and tap just fine, but don't have a mill table on my drill press.

I have a redfield it works pretty good, I’m not sure if they’re made anymore, but I know it’s easier to look through than trying to get open sights lined up.

Had one on kids gun, have used it as well. Just have to remember to turn it on. If left on, the battery dies, you don't check until you are in the field=making adjustments. For a few years I cut both ends off a kids marker, electric taped it to the barrel=reminder to line up and head down.

Yeah, make sure to carry extra batteries. I have a tendency to leave mine on at the end of the day. One morning turned it on to check it but it must have been its last gasp. When I called a gobbler in and turned it on, it was a dead battery. Didn’t get that one!

Yep, dad uses a red dot and he's forgot to turn it on a time or two. That's definitely a plus for the existing fiber optic open sights. No batteries required.

I have a couple of the Sightron SRS-2 that I bought last year when they were being blown out for almost 70% off. I have one mounted on a SBE3. Son used it to shoot crows this weekend coming into the caller. It works.

have two and love them

https://www.burrisoptics.com/red-dots/fastfire-3

I have had Martin in Monroe do a few for me , he just has a drill press as far as I can tell and a drill drill press vice , he explained he has a jig weaver used to sell that is a centering jig to find the middle

I am not sure if the jig has drill guides or if he just marks it uses a sharp punch and a center bit to start it

several of the new ones have batteries that last so long you just replace them once a year and leave them on

the Sig Romeo 5 has shake awake , when you let the gun set it shuts off at 4 hours but as soon as you pick it up it has turned it on before you could get it to your eye.


if you run a 1x or 1.5x even a 2X prism they are a touch less forgiving for angle but you have a recital even if the battery is dead.

I have a 1x vortex Spitfire that you always have a recital it is lit or not depending on battery and switch setting.

I have a Spark that turns off at 12 hours , just start every hunt by turning it on and it shuts it's self off

primary arms has some prisms in 1 and 2x that look very good I haven't tried them yet

if it was deer and not turkey where shots will be under 50 some magnification just a touch like 2x is nice but inside 50 I don't think it is needed and would cause more issues on 10-15 yard shots than it would help on 40-45 yard shots

Red dots are a must imo. Ive shot a couple birds left handed at a weird angle that probably wouldnt have been killed with a bead.
Im the odd man out because I found some cheapo 35 dollar job on amazon about 12 years ago and slapped it on. Ive killed about 14-15 birds with it. Last year I switched to longbeards so i patterned it and it was perfectly zero’d after shooting all those birds with 3.5 inch loads. I had no idea the cheaper ones are usually junk.

I've got two of the Burris Fastfire red dots. 3 MOA red dot. Shot pheasants with one no trouble. Actually with my old eyes think I did better than I would have with a ribbed barrel and bead.

I have a inexpensive one on my Mossberg 500 that works Great

I just checked, mine is a UTG. Still about 40 bucks. Bidens inflation didnt affect this Chinese wonder.

I have a Vortex venom on my gun which I use for turkey, plus upland, waterfowl, trap and clays.

I also shoot right and left handed, especially while turkey hunting. I'm right handed but left eye dominant, so for me the red dot helps me get focused super fast since I sometimes have to switch eyes. The only downside for me is that I have astigmatism in both eyes now, and it does change what the red dot looks like. Everyone is different, and thankfully I noticed it and can keep proper placement.

Looks like I have a bunch of options too look at.

The sig romeo 5 sure looks nice, that shake awake feature is a plus.

I'll have to look at mounts also. Looks like a good winter research project. I am in no rush, the fiber optics have been working. And part of my brain is still trying to justify the money for two or three turkeys a year.

I played with a UTG several years ago the zero changed between red and green and battery life was meh

what you can get for about 100 has gotten a lot better and they keep making the batteries last longer and the glass more clear

an early red dot option was this weaver Qwik-point
the top tube has your turrets and light gathering , you look through the bottom which made it mount very low
same idea as a red dot no battery , it works the same way bounce a light and reflect it at the eye with a coated lens
it really only had 2 issues , if you were in the dark and the target in the light like in a blind the dot was very very faint
the other was that the coating on the lens was rather blue it gave everything a blue tint.

Stigmatism can be an issue , everyone sees every dot different
going to a larger dot works for some people they then see it round again
glasses help a bunch
when sighting in I will dim the dot down as much as possible it star bursts less that way , a just visible dot on the target I may even use a 6 o'clock hold so that if I have a 1 1/2 inch center on the target I am holding the dot right under the center and the round impacts about 3/4 of an inch above the dot

they only have typically 1moa adjustments so it isn't a micrometer of a tool it is a very fast ruler with bold 1/8 inch markings and nothing smaller
your also putting it on a shotgun for sub 50 yards shots so your pattern will be much larger than the dot even at 15 yards
even with a slug gun you run out of rifle slug accuracy before the dot is much bigger than the deers heart even with a 4moa dot

go to Scheels or someplace similar and look through every one you can pick a target paced off down the isle and see how it looks to you and what your field of view is

I never thought I'd need a scope/red dot on my turkey gun until I started aging. I put the Truglo gobble stopper on my gun about 6-8 years ago and would never look back.
It has handled 3 1/2" shells great and probably shot 20 birds with it. Yes, carry extra batteries, if you have them you'll probably never need them and if you don't have them???

If you go with a reflex style sight I would highly suggest a meadow creek mount. It mounts on the rib for a low profile for a bead feel with the upside of a red dot. I have them on my turkey guns with a Burris ff3 and have fallen twice in the gummy swamps where the red dot was the first thing to hit the ground with my weight on top of them and both held zero. My buddy likes his so well he uses it for wing shooting divers and doesn't struggle with that at all.

Just about any of the red dots mentioned will fit the application. I have been hunting with a shotgun scope on my 870 for turkeys since the 90's it was a cheap Simmons pro diamond and it handled the 3-1/2" recoil with a B-square saddle mount. The Simmons finally gave up the ghost after 20+ years when it rained 2 straight days a during turkey season and it finally fogged internally. I splurged and bought a Leupold shotgun scope after that. I have not had an issue with moving targets as the field of view of the low power shotgun scope is very big. I have shot a couple running and one starting to fly using the scope. I recently gave up the 12 gauge and bought and 11/87 20 gauge which I fit with the B-Square mount and I got lucky and found a NIB box Simmons Pro Diamond shotgun scope on ebay. It has performed flawless the last 3 seasons.

If I could get it to fit low enough IU have an Eotech 512 that would be awesome for turkey on a shotgun, because I like the dot with a circle and the way the reticle is projected out at the target, but the Eotech is high profile as far as mounting and in a much higher price range than the red dots.