Never thought I’d be researching this.
I’ve never seen the need for a sight beyond a bead.
I killed my first gobbler 46 years ago. I’ve killed over 300 longbeards with nothing more than a bead on a shotgun barrel.
However…….My right eye has gone to crap. A childhood injury has led to 2 surgeries and a blurry at a distance right eye. I can still shoot a shotgun. Wing shooting is no problem. Still not a big problem putting the bead on a turkeys head if he’s in the open, however if it’s dim light or he’s in cover I’m having a heckuva time seeing his head while sighting down a shotgun rib.
Anyway, I am seeing bunches of different sights on turkey guns. I don’t personally know anyone who has any knowledge of these type sights.
Here’s my question.
Do these sights have any magnification?
Does it make seeing a target in dim light/heavy cover easier?
Not wanting to go to an actual scope if at all possible.
Tell me whatcha know about these contraptions!

I put a cheap utg red dot on my turkey gun years ago simply because my factory sights shot extremely high. Best thing I ever did. That thing has held zero with 3.5 inch loads and I shot one bird left handed awkwardly with it. If the dots in, thats where it shoots. Mine was 40 bucks, has zero magnification, and has been perfect. Just make sure you turn it on. I know some more expensive are “shake awake”.

Main thing is that you dont have to have a consistent or solid hold to kill a bird like you would with a bead on a barrel.

What kind of homosexual contraption is that?

I have had a few re dots on shotguns

right now I have a venom it is an open style pistol type dot

I had a crossfire on it last year

most red dots have no magnification some a tip off magnifier can be added and true-glow makes a 3x

the question with a shotgun is will you have any pattern left at a distance that needs magnification
my answer is no , if you need magnification it is more than 50 yards away so not much pattern

you may need to build up the cheek a touch more to get behind it

The magnification isn’t for shooting long distances.
It’s about enabling my pee poor right eye to see in dim light/heavy cover

Very low profile fiber optic metal rear site that should match up to the front sight made for shooting shotgun slugs at pigs in Italy so it’s made to fit Italian width ribs but I fitted one to my Versa Max no problem with some filing. To sight it in I would move it up or down the back of the rib drop. Amazon sells them $40 I’ll find you a package pic.

I’ve tried many different types of sights and scopes this was the best one I’ve found I stopped looking. It does everything that I needed it to do.




Try LPA on Amazon the one I found was only $27 so check I out. I might have another one around if you can’t find one.

Clay your momma warned you what'd happen to your eyesight if you kept that up. Probably be best to just put a laser sight on that gun.

Lol
Mom was a little too religious to say that!!!
I got shot in the right eye with a BB gun. I was 10. With blood pouring out of my eye, mom cleaned it up with a wet rag and the bleeding stopped. I could see, but it hurt like heck. Mom said,”you’re alright, get back outside”. Lol
A year to the day later that BB surfaced in the white of my eye below my pupil. Then we went to the eye doctor!
They scheduled a surgery to get it out. The next day it just fell out. That fixed that. Didn’t go back to the eye doctor anymore lol. I miss the simplicity of childhood back then.
Anyway when I was 40 I had cataract surgery. Doc said it was from that old injury. Had another surgery 5 years later. It’s got bad the last couple years. Docs tell me they can’t do anything to help.

does your left eye work?

shoot an Occluded dot
the south Africans actually had a sight on their rifles that had no forward lens



the south African sight

Trapper Bo,
Clay asked about shotgun optics...NOT archery sights.

Clay, I have a similar eye issue.
Here is a link to what I'm using on my 870 project.
The sights attach to your vent rib from the top and bottom and definitely brighten up the sight picture.

20 bucks on amazon right now.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hQxRZcC2L._AC_SL1000_.jpg

or if your going to be in the area holler and you can go try it out.

Clay, I don’t believe anything short of a scope would have what you’re looking for. I use a FFIII on my turkey gun and it’s on a saddle (Remington 870 Youth 20ga)

My son recently purchased an M2 in a 20ga and got a meadows creek mount for his FFIII that fits on the vent rib. I didn’t think I’d like it until I saw his set up.

I shoot an 8moa dot and he’s shooting a 3moa. With his smaller dot and it being farther down the sight plane you’re able to see more if that makes sense.

I’m considering going that route myself and even buying a new turkey gun. That M2 throws a sweet pattern with a SumToy choke William made for him.

Inside joke Patrick.
Bo turkey hunts with a bow, until it proves futile, then he does it the right way.
We’ve been known to disagree on the subject lol

So short of a scope, there’s no magnification to any of the turkey sites?

The main issue I ran into with some scopes and sight is the loss of view on a moving bird that’s why minimal worked the best for me. Just saying

Ahh..gotcha.

I have almost the same thing as Wanna Be has. Burris FF3 mounted on the rib with Meadow Creek mount. I had trouble focusing iron sights and turkey at the same time but as others said no magnification.

My cataract surgery helped with the low light thing. Getting old sucks lol

I've gone to the HI Viz stuff on all my open sight guns. I also run the slide on rib sight on my turkey gun like Lawdog posted. I found it works well for crows, too. Our old eyes sure pick up the Hi Viz stuff a LOT better. Of course no magnification, just brighter. I'm curious to see what guys post on the magnification other than a scope.