My only dilemma right now on what model Shotgun to get is the difference in the sights. What seems to be the best choice for a HD/Duty/Combat Pump 12ga as far as the sights go? Ghostring or Plain/Bead style sights? I need some help deciding.
May I ask a related question? How old are your eyes, and what is your unassisted vision like?
And this thread has a lot of answers from some smart folks, you might find it useful.
great reference thread - thanks.
as for me, in addition to being astigmatic, i’m (suddenly) 43 and have a fresh cornea in my dominant eye, so sights are generally problematic…
conventional rifle and pistol sights are almost useless to me, so i’m constantly looking around.
i have a hi-viz clip-on fiber optic on my mossberg 930. makes front sight focus practically unavoidable and now it’s really point and shoot!
best thing about it is that you can get one for just about any shottie you choose and it’s cheap.
so choose your gun based on other features…
at 50 yds and beyond i’m better with ghost rings on small targets. but inside that (and how often are you going to be “there” with a shotgun?) the very large fiber optic dot is fast, keeps both eyes open and peripheral vision is great.
My eyes aren’t that old. I actually have 20/15 in my left and 20/20 in my right.
Spent the day shooting slugs at 100yds with my ghost sighted Benelli. Made shots that I was shocked to have made. I could not have done the same with a bead. YMMV.
I really like XS Big Dot express sights.
They’re blazing fast and still good to go for slugs out to the limit of their effectiveness.
jvg
Ghost ring or rifle sights for a duty/combat shotgun IMHO.
Ghost Rings for me. If you you are going to shoot slugs that is the best choice in my opinion.
Ghost rings for me. Not that a bead won’t work, but if I want to use a shotgun past 20 yards, I want ghost rings.
At 57, I need all the help I can get.
Now, some people use electronic sights on shotguns. I haven’t got to that point yet, though I do have a couple on carbines.
My Benelli with the right ammunition choice will shoot 7" patterns at 25 yards. This capability works well with ghost ring sights.
I have ghost rings on my 870 and like them… quick and accurate. To be honest though, I have never shot a shotgun with rifle sights only a bead.
I sometimes wished I had got the model with ghost rings (I have a simple bead). However, my 5 round groups with basic Walmart slugs at 50 yards using my 20’’ 590A1 and bead only sight were about 6 inches. For a shotgun, that’s plenty good for me. I feel like ghost ring sights are one more thing to add weight and get stuck on stuff, and slower to aquire the target with at short distance. They would be more fun to use though.
You my friend are one of the few here that get it. If you want to be “Tacticool” pile all of the crap on the gun you can afford! If you want to be fast with a shotgun run a bead and rib! There is more to running a shotgun than shooting slugs at 50 yards. GH
+1
I love the stock XS ghost rings on my 870 Tactical. Even with bad near vision and a bit of astigmatism I can bang Foster type slugs on a 10" plate all day shooting off-hand, standing or kneeling, at 100 yards with them. And they’re still plenty fast for point shooting with 00 buck at 30 or less. I had the TALO express with a bead that just never shot as well as the GRs for me.
But as with all things … YMMV. Try OPS (other people’s shotties) with various sights and see what works for you.
I have switched to ghost ring sights as well and am happy to have done so. It took a bit to get used to the difference but it was worth the effort in my view.
For me it depends on how that I am going to use the shotgun. If loaded with buckshot I prefer a bead sight.
If I were using slugs I would rather have a ghost ring sight.
My self defense shotgun is used with buckshot and has a bead sight.
I prefer a bead sight on my shotgun, it’s what I’m used to and works for me.
For me:
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Ghost/aperature rings.
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Rifle sights.
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In a very distant third, a bead.
I’m not much slower with rifle sights then with ghost rings sights and the accuracy with eaither ones about the same. At anything much beyond ten yards, I’m much slower with a bead and much less accurate. At close ranges where a bead may be just as fast or faster, the front sight on rifle or ghost ring sights can be used the same as a bead.
Decided on a Benelli SuperNova Tactical with Ghostrings.
My vote is for ghost rings…much better than the bead…a must have if one is going to shoot slugs with any accuracey…
After spending so much time on a carbine, the ghost rings don’t seem to slow me down any.