I would actually prefer that they weren’t tritium, or at least, I don’t care that they are. I just find the rifle sights on the gun now to offer a weird sight picture with that bead on top of the post.
Rob on my rifle sighted shotguns i run a night sight front either the xs stripe or an simple dot in a blade style
i opened up the rear sight notch with a file about 2-3 passes to give me a bit quicker sight picture
This is a complete waste of space and it is costing the user a round. I equate it to buying a set of headers for your car and then bolting a block of wood under the accelerator.
With the 870 platform and a full magazine tube, the (most) correct way to change the round in the chamber is as follows:
1: Mag-tube full, Chamber full
2: Press the tab allowing you to rack the weapon.
3: 1/2 way rack the weapon, half-ejecting the shell in the chamber and un-seating a round from the mag-tube.
4: re-seat the round in the full mag-tube with your thumb.
5: Finish racking the weapon ejecting the round that was in the tube.
6: throw the slug into the chamber and slide it home.
7: engage your target.
This sounds like a lot, but that’s only because it is written down step by minute step. You can do this VERY fluid and quickly with just a little bit of practice.
I BY FAR! am not an expert on any weapon system and never will claim to be, but I can easily see why people hate the shotgun. They do not understand how to use it to nearly the potential that most understand the AR platform or the handgun.
Have you considered Wilson Combat’s “Trak Lok” or whatever they call it?
I am planning on sticking with the rifle sights for now and am not looking to get in to ghost ring sights.
Exactly my point. I was just trying to make the point towards the people who think shotguns are the “blow someone in half and throw them back 10 feet” types of weapons.
This reminds me of a buck I shot at this last season… .270 Winchester, Barnes TSX bullets. 35 yards broadside. Tons of bright and bubbly blood, tracked him nearly 300+ yards back and forth across a creek down in a bottom. Saw him about 250 yards through the search on the other side of the creek. He ran, and I lost the blood trail there.
As you said, theres tons of variables.
Why? I am building up an 870 as a Christmas present and I would like to know your logic to see if it applies or could apply to the person I am gifting it to. If it’s “better”, it could save me some cash while delivering a superior weapon. Win/Win.
Will know for sure tonight re: the barrel length, but I’m 99% sure now that the one on the gun is a 20" now that I have an 18.5" in-hand.
I arrived at my sight choice two ways.
The first is through my own, limited, use. My previous 870 had a bead sight which just never seemed right to me. I can’t say I ever really shot the gun enough to have a specific list of shortcomings, but I always thought it should have something more precise. The Benelli M3 that I owned for awhile had ghost rings. It seemed right but mostly because that’s what I thought I was supposed to think. In hind sight it seemed slower. My hope is that the rifle sights, probably in part due to the fact that the rear sight is barrel-mounted, will split the difference between the two. I’m not certain, however, that the factory version will accomplish this. The white triangle/dot setup seems hard to get a good sight picture with.
The second is that an instructor I trust and respect, who knows way more about these things than I do, prefers the rifle sights. Generally I’m not so quick to take something like that as gospel, but given the person, and my complete lack of experience, I’m willing to chance it.
I have never tried them before on a shotgun. I found a ready supply of fixed MOD choke 870 barrels with rifle-sights for a very fair price. I will follow your lead building my 870 present as well, thank-you!
For those that haven’t used/seen them, this is the sight picture with the factory sights. I find it very hard to focus on the front sight as I think the rear is too busy. This is why I would like to get a set of the Trijicons (I think) if they offered a rear that was plain black.
I do not want to make this a shotgun vs. the world thread, theres plenty of them we can re-visit.
WS6,
I did not say it was “the” way to do a slug select drill, only a way, and a reason some download the tube.
To say it is a “waste”, is like saying downloading a 30rd AR mag to 28 is a waste. it’s only an issue due to one of the shotguns flaws. Limited capacity.
Saying people who “hate” the shotgun don’t understand it, or know how to use it, is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps its the opposite, they do understand and know how to use it, and prefer not to be bothered.
While you describe a slug select drill as fluid and quick, its far less fluid and quick, as simply pressing the trigger.
With a carbine I can engage you across a bathtub, across a room, across a street, or across a runway, and not have to change my point of aim, much less the ammo in the gun.
Rob,
I went with the XS, with the standard dot. My 870 had a bead sighted Mod choke 18.5" barrel. I did not want the hassle of sending the gun off to a smith I could trust to have a ghost ring installed.
I was able to get a brand new, 18.5" RS IC barrel from Brownells for about $150. I had a certificate for a free set of sights from XSm from a Pat Rogers course. And, DB recommended the XS
They are OK enough, and I dont want to spend anymore money on this gun, but I would go for the Trijicon RS’s or, I think Ameriglo makes a set also. Plain black rear also.
Either is far better then a bead. But, I treat my shotgun like a .72cal rifle, so…
There is also this, the Mesa scope mount/side saddle. Fairly low profile, user installed, combine with a T1 or other micro red dot, and you could be set. I toy with that idea every once in awhile, but then I pull out an M4, and it subsides.
I also think the SureFire forend, if you want a light, is going to be the best bet.
Bob
ETA: I played with an 870 at a shop in Atlanta the weekend of the Bladeshow, it had a dovetail mounted rear XS sight on the barrel, very pistol like, very neat. Don’t think Remington sells them seperately, though, Mossberg has a similiar set up. If that was an option, I would go that route in a heartbeat. Especially if I could change the sights from XS to something more…pistol like.
Actually the shop where I got this gun had one of those NIB. Looking to keep down cost and being unsure of the rabbit hole I might find myself in re: the rear notch is what kept me on the used path. Same thing that’s likely to keep me off the T-1 path, although I do think it makes a great shotgun sight (IIRC that’s what it was designed for initially).
Thanks for the tip on Ameriglo. Unfortunately they don’t appear to make a plain black rear either…
Having said that, put me in the “shotgun hate” club. But, just like the 1911 hate club, its more about hating its fan boys, then the gun itself. And, once again the reverse elitism rears its ugly head. Much of the reasons have been mentioned in this thread.
Those who talk about, “inside shotgun” longer range I’ll bring my carbine" etc. That’s all fine and good, if you know exactly what the fight will be, rarely if ever is that the case.
Shotguns are certainly viable tools, but, outside of breaching, I can’t see a time I would willingly choose a “gauge” over a 5.56.Bob
I’m not disagreeing with you, but that’s why I said let the mission drive the gear. When I go out to the desert, I bring my carbine. At home, I prefer my shotgun. I’m a civilian, not a cop or an ‘operator’, so my needs and situation are different. If I were a patrol cop, I would definitely prefer an AR because it can do more things, and I wouldn’t know what my needs might be at any given time in the future. But since my shotgun is purely for repelling boarders in my condo, the inherent limitations of the system don’t affect its utility for me and my needs.
LHS, this isn’t meant directly at you alone, it just happens that your post was the last one…
I’d prefer that we not get too far down the path of either dismissing the shotgun or defending it’s use. For the purposes of this thread lets just work from the idea that one has decided that they have a defensive use for a shotgun and go from there. Those that have no use at all for them are encouraged not to post if that is their only reason for posting, and hopefully that will in turn allow us to avoid those posts where people feel compelled to defend their choices.
Fair enough. Sorry for the thread hijack 
I do have to agree with what someone else posted earlier: it’s good to see the rationale behind your choices. More people should pick modifications and accessories with that kind of thought process.
OEM 870 rifle sights are great for accuracy but are somewhat fragile for a SD gun. We have hundreds if not thousands of 870’s in our Dept. and almost every sight I have seen is dinged or broken in some way. Mine always seemed to get a dab of drywall on them whenever going inside a house, especially when slung. Although hopefully you treat your 870 nicer than the average patrol cop 
I have used and trained with all the various sighting systems and here are some thoughts:
Bead - Fast but hard to align for accuracy.
OEM 870 Rifle - Accurate, but a bit slow for faster shooting and also delicate.
XS Big dot front - Fast and a bit easier to align for accuracy than a bead.
Tritium Front - Sorta hard to see that far away and useless when you have a light. I do like tritium on my pistols though.
Benelli Rifle sights - Like pistol sights, OK for fast but sorta blocky for accuracy.
Ghost Ring - Best overall for balance of speed/accuracy/durability in an open sight.
Aimpoint T1 - Awesome
I have not used them on a shotgun, but I do like the idea of XS pistol sights!
Dennis.
Those are Rem “low profile rifle sights.” Scroll down on the LE website for those that have not seen them.
http://www.remingtonle.com/shotguns/870synthetic.htm
I would also like to try them out, they look much better to me than the regular rifle sights.
I saw those on Remington’s website when I was looking at some front bead options a while back and they look pretty interesting but I only saw them with 14" barrels. Are they available on 18" or 20" barrels?
Rob - Another simple sight option is to add the tritium front sight and have the Remmy rear sight blade blasted and re-blued. That will remove the white arrowhead. The sight blade is removable and if you happen to know a 'smith who does bluing, he would probably do your sight blade for free the next time he fires up the bluing tanks (wink wink, nudge nudge). You could also use black Gun Kote or some other spray and bake finish.
I want to say I saw them on an 18.5" model supposedly from some federal LE contract. I know I’ve seen at least one 18.5" barrel on GB.