Red dot for shotgun

-Doug-

CGN Regular
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Hey all,

I'm looking into getting a red dot sight for a rifled cantilever 20ga 870 compact shotgun. This shotgun is going to be used for deer. I have never used a red dot before so I know nothing about them. Anyone have any recomendations for one.

Note: I'm on a budget so it has to be a cheaper one in price. If I could get one under $150 or even less than $100 that would be great.

Doug
 
I have one from my walther air pistol works great. My 535 pump 12ga ate a cheap tasco and bushnell red dot. Barska also makes some affordable red dots. I haven't used them myself but I have barska scopes and they're durable. May be worth a look
 
Have had good luck with the solidly built Vortex SPARC and Spitfire. You get what you pay for and they are worth the money. Very poor luck with 3 of the Bushnell Trophy models that have multiple reticles. The point of impact changes when you changing reticle from red to green and drastically changes from dot to cross hair or circle/dot example 14-16 inch drop at 25 yards. Bushnell warranty replaced 2 but they are no better.
 
So you said you have had problems with the Bushnell Trophy models. I was looking into the Bushnell TRS-25. There has been many good reviews. What does everyone else think about it? Any usage?
 
Does anyone have any experience with the TRUGLO® Dual Color Open Red-Dot Sight
I put one on my 270 wsm and love it. I thought the green dot might be better but have found I use the red all the time. Red dot sights are good for fast action shooting while pushing a bush or still hunting. If you hunt from a blind or stand you may prefer a good scope especially in low light conditions. Good luck
 
I used to have a bushnell on my crossbow until early one morning a buck walks under my stand, I had it on the lowest power setting and yet I couldn't see the deer because the whole inside was red, the deer walked. I didn't give up though, I put it on my shotgun for turkeys, I forgot to turn the thing off, few days later was going to hunt but there was no little red dot, no spare battery. Can't really kill a turkey like that can you? If you would like to buy mine it is available for an excellent price.
 
I'm still on a toss up between the TRS-25 and the True Glow. I've never used optics to shoot before its always been iron sights so I have no bases to compare to.
 
Red dots are Ok but they are something the has to be looked after and can sometimes let you down at moment of truth time. Batteries fail or the lighted dot throws off your night vision or the sun is so bright you can't see the dot well etccc.. I got tired of constantly checking to see if I truned up the brightness as the day light got brighter in the am and down in the evening. Most have no magnification to help you see the target. If you buy one always carry a spare battery! JMO!!!!
CDN1
 
Are you guys with Bushnells talking about the trophy red dots? That's what I was thinking of putting on my Mossberg. Seems like they're made for shotguns, so i wouldn't think they'd die so easy.
 
m3 I have the Bushnell trophy red dot. Scope works well other than the problems listed above. The biggest issue I had was that my Win 1300 had the receiver drilled and tapped for a scope but the barrel tollerances were not tight enough for the scope to hold zero. It wasn't the scope, it was because the scope wasnt attached to the barrel directly.

One shot bullseye! then the rest 5-10" away from the center and with no pattern, no matter what I tried. I eventually took the red dot off and just used the rifled sights and got 1.5"-2" group at 80yrds smooth bore, tru-ball slugs. Not too bad

What I figured out was the both the front and the rear sights are attached to the barrel for a reason.... they never move!

When you attach the red dot/scope to the receiver, every shot,.. the barrel always moved a bit but that was all it took to change the zero. That is why they make the cantilever barrels for shotguns.

As for the red dot thing they work great to track and shoot at moving targets large FOV but they take batteries and that is one big thing to go wrong! IMO if you want to put one on your Shot gun get the cantilever barrel or you may suffer form 40yrd misses on a
whitetail sized target standing broadside as I did, but that is another story!!!!!
 
Is there a need to put a riser if its on a cantilever barrel?
Also does it come with everything to attach it to the factory rem cantilever rail?
 
yes all parts S/B there to attach if you have the cantilever. If not you may have to purchase the rail to attach it to the receiver.
You may want/have to attach a comb riser for proper eye alignment. I used the beartooth(???) neoprene comb riser, worked fine for me.
 
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