Getting sights for my shotty

grubburg · 03-21-2006, 05:51 PM

i have a nice 1300 speed pump 12 guage winchester, but i can't really aim at anything because the sights are terrible. do i need to take it to a gunsmith and have him weld some sights on there? how much would that cost? i wanna be able to hit stuff past 20 yrds!

bigbulls · 03-21-2006, 06:28 PM

You don't aim a shotgun you point a shotgun. The only time a shotgun gets aimed is if you are firing slugs or shooting a turkey. Outside of that you point a shotgun.

Shotgunning is a completely different world than rifle shooting.

The first thing you need to do is understand the different chokes available and what they do. They range from a cylinder which has 0 constriction to a extra full which has up to 70 - 80 thousandths of an inch constriction. The less constriction the bigger the pattern of shot. You must match the choke with the "sport" that you are doing at the time. If you are shooting at quail you sould want a fairly open choke like skeet or improved cylinder. If you are shooting at high flying doves then you would wasnt to have a modified or maybe even full choke.

Next thing you need to do is go to a range and pattern your gun. This is simply shooting different loads with different chokes installed to see where the center of the pattern hits. You would be surprised at how many shotguns will center the pattern of the shot way off from center of the target with one load and have it hit dead center with another brand of shells or choke.

Next thing is always make sure you are looking straight down the rib. The bead must be centered on the top of the rib as you see it and you should not see any of the top of the rib at all but rather a horrizontal line with a bead perfectly centered.

That's the first three basics you need to get to know.

grubburg · 03-21-2006, 08:36 PM

i need the sights to shoot slugs at large game.

bigbulls · 03-21-2006, 08:46 PM

Ok, that's different.

What barrel do you have right now cause it will determine if you can install rifle sights.

If your barrel has a vent rib then Williams makes a set of rifled sights that will mount on the rib very securly. They are called the universal "slugger" fire sight.

Midsayusa has them for $30 (part # 671-251) or any gun shop should have them or could order them for you.

grubburg · 03-22-2006, 01:53 PM

it is this exactly http://www.winchesterguns.com/prodin...4&cat=012C with this http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...equestid=43578 added. i saw some sights online, i like the ones with the rear circle and a regular front site, but none of the pages dicuss installation. how the heck am i going to do that? am i going to have to take the gun to a gunsmith and how much will he charge, ya think? the damn thing should come with sights, that little dot at the end is worthless! even when i go shooting bottles and stuff with target load, no sights makes it rather hard to hit stuff that's not even that far away. thanks for the help, man.

grubburg · 03-22-2006, 01:56 PM

wow that has to be the most obnoxious post to read, the one i did above. sorry.

bugsNbows · 03-22-2006, 03:20 PM

Williams (fiber optic) Fire Sights are just what you need. Many are owner installed (even without a vent rib) without much fuss. The ones I used are a double dot green rear and a red front single dot. Love em'. Just tap out (GENTLY) the original dovetail sights and tap in (GENTLY) the new dovetail sight. Listen to bigbulls, he's right on.

grubburg · 03-22-2006, 05:41 PM

did you look at the pic of my gun? how am i going to attach teh rear sights? there is nothing there and no vented rib. all there is a stupid little latch on truglo thing on the end that falls off when u shoot it and a tiny bump. u think those williams fire sights will work?

Winchester 1300 FireSight Set:

Front and rear FireSights fit Winchester 1300 with factory installed open sights. Rear sight fully adjustable for windage and elevation.

click here to view a picture

Item # 66651 - Winchester 1300 FireSight Set $34.95

i don't think that will work. is my last resort the gunsmith and how much will that cost?

grubburg · 03-22-2006, 06:05 PM

how about this http://cgi.ebay.com/WINCHESTER-1300-...QQcmdZViewItem

or this

http://cgi.ebay.com/Winchester-1300-...QQcmdZViewItem

bigbulls · 03-22-2006, 06:35 PM

Nope those sights are not going to work with out a rib.

You gotta remember that that little front bed is all that is needed on a shotgun. The shotgun you have is made for one purpose only. Killing people at very short ranges or killing bears at very short ranges. That's it. The barrel has a fixed cylinder bore barrel. Meaning that you can not interchange choke tubes and being cylinder bore there is absolutely no constriction so the shot spreads out very quickly and even at 20 yards with bird shot you may not hit a bottle.

Basically you are wanting to do something with a shotgun that it was never designed to do.

Having said that you got a few options.

Scattergun Technologies makes a ghost ring with front tritium bead that can be installed on that gun. It retails for about $115 directly from them plus the cost of a gunsmith to install.

Option two is to get a Williams guide receiver sight which will mount on the receiver of the gun and get a Williams shotgun shorty ramp of the height you need plus a dovetail to go in the ramp. These will run you about $60 - $75 for all three pieces plus ithe cost of a gunsmith to install.

You are going to have to call a couple of gunsmiths to get a price for your area but I would charge about $50 for the Scattergun sights and about $25 for the Williams sights

Forget about that heat shield thing. Junk.

That barrel will not work with your gun because of where the barrel lug is mounted on the underside. On your gun it is mounted at about 17 inches out so it fits the 7 shot tube. On the barrel on Ebay it is mounted about 11 inches out so ti fits a 5 shot magazine tube.