I know this has most likely been asked alot but.......

I am thinking of putting a red dot on my 870 for turkeys but I am unsure of a few things.

I shoot Hevi-shot and have really tight patterns and think I would be more accurate using a red dot vs. a bead that covers most of your target area. I have not missed anything this year just looking for ways to improve.

I would think that having a scope of some sort would help with a person not getting there cheek down all the way when it is time to take a shot and would also help keep you from trying to peek and see if you hit him.

If it where you would you go with a red dot or go with a reticle style scope? I would think there would be less chance of the red dot hitting you if you didn't shoulder the gun good.

Red dot would you go with something like 30mm or 40mm or even a 50mm scope? Those where just rounded numbers I know there are many other sizes.

Some question for crosshair scope?

Would light reflection off the lens be a problem?

Would a saddle mount be accurate? In my area which is rural there are no gunsmiths so could I person drill and tap the gun for a weaver rail or is the margin for error too small?

Also could you suggest some scopes and mounts? Not wanting to break the bank on this, so keep that in mind!!!


Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea this has been tossed around a bit... I use a scope... Never had a prob... I just worrie about anything using a battery failing... Watched a turkey hunting show couple weeks ago and Rick white from hunters specialties had his battery die on him... Take it for what its worth

I have an 870, and it's an awesome turkey gun.

I think that over the summer I'm going to save up and buy a 24" barrel for it, and I'm going to go ahead and spring for the one with a cantelever scope mount. That way I can mount either a red dot or very low fixed power scope on it, and it will remain zeroed with the barrel even when I swap out. I'm planning to do the same with a rifled barrel, too.

You can drill and tap a mount on the receiver, but if you do that then every time you take the gun apart to clean it or swap barrels or even just bump it real good the barrel will shift slightly and you'll lose your zero. If you're going to do that, then you can pin the barrel, but that takes a gunsmith and the right equipment. Personally, I think the cantelever idea is the better idea, since it means I can use whatever barrel I want and my turkey scope stays zeroed.

I've had an 835 since 90-91, and 870 SuperMag Special Purpose since they came out a few years later (I want to say appx 97?). Over ten years ago I rigged both of them with red dots, saddle mounts, Rhino tubes and 3.5" Nitro Hevi-shot triplex loads. (The 835s 10ga backbore gets a special load for it) I used to hunt on a large cattle ranch in the Ozarks of MO so long distance shooting across pastures (50-70yds) was needed at times, thus my rigging these guns as such.

With 2.25oz Nitros both guns THUNDER and kick like a pissed off mule! ESPECIALLY that Mossberg! (I have a 45-70 Marlin Guide Gun with Buffalo Bore ammo and a Sako Lazzeroni Warbird and NEITHER of those guns begin to touch the recoil of the Mossberg. It's fine for hunting but DAMN was it hell rigging, patterning and learning that thing on the range!) Did I mention they both kick like mules? But reason I say that is that in over 10yrs of having these two guns rigged with saddle mounts and red dots, I've YET to have them lose zero! Sure I check them before each season. (Did I mention they HURT? ) But they've NEVER required movement, so I MORE than trust the saddle mounts. It's not like you are talking about a 500yd, 1" group rifle! A pattern can move 1"-2" either direction at 50yds and you'll never know it.

On the 870SM I have a 40mm Truglo. On the 835UM I have a BSA halographic sight with 4-5 different crosshair selections. (I usually prefer the center dot flanked by a ring which has crosshairs extending out of the outer ring.) I'll tell you right now, GET A HALOGRAHIC SIGHT! The 40mm Truglo requires you to hold your head at such a high position, essentially off the stock, that everytime you pull the trigger the stock THUMPS you on the jaw like Mike Tyson. I don't have the problem with the halographic site. (The gun recoils enough, anything that assures a better and proper cheek weld will only help your cause!)

Another thing I like about the saddle mounts is that I can see under them just enough to still use my bead sights if I want to! If you get that sudden surprise bird come in from behind and have to take an "emergency, now or never" shot at very close range you'll be glad you still have use of your bead. I had just such a case happen the last time I used my 870. Mid morning, I sat 15yds inside the woods atop a ridge that ran into a powerline/road junction that was a known preferred strutting zone. I sat down, yelped and then fell asleep. 10mins later I was RUDELY AWAKENED by a THUNDEROUS MISSOURI GROUND POUNDER behind me only 15yds! I could hear him spitting and drumming but he wasn't coming around the tree to me and I didn't dare call. I decided to roll out on my knee, bring the gun up and by then I figured he'd have paused just long enough wondering what I was that I would get off a shot. That's exactly what happend, I put the bead on his chest and BLASTED him at 15yds just as he realized "Oh HECK I screwed up" and tried to turn and run. When I pulled the trigger he flipped end over end 2 times before hitting the ground grave yard dead! I couldn't have done that if I had tried to look up through that big Truglo!

Sorry for the long windedness but I like to post evidence with my recommendations,
HL

ps
And let me say here now, if you WONT or CANT take a shot over 50yds then you DON'T need trick metal shot, $100 choke tubes and certainly not anysort of optics! These recommendations and rigs are only necessary IMHO for shooting at longer ranges. Any decent full or tighter choke in a 2.75"-3" gun with quality, hard plated shot of #5-#6s will MORE than SMOKECHECK any Tom within 50yds!!! I now hunt in a thick swamp in west TN and RARELY get my big 3.5" guns out anymore. I MUCH prefer my Win 1300 Featherweight with a Jellyhead tube and a good ol box of copperplated 5s. The only "mod" on the sight is a green bead I added years ago.

Using a scope to a shot gun for turkey hunting... Red Dot, low powered "traditional" scope etc. , is just not my bag because right now I can see well enough to do without one. Admittedly I have no expereince with a Red Dot/shotgun set up. My old a$$ conservative stance is that I do not care to add a layer of complexity to a system .... unless I have to.

I like open sights for turkey because it is much easier for me to pick up the bird. An option that you might want to try is a fiber optis front-rear sight system. These allow fine tuning the pattern's center, they work well in low light and wiill force your cheek to the stock when you to "aim".

I went to fiber optic sights on my B-80 this year and I'm hooked...At 20 yards the pattern is about 3 inches and I'm dead on...At 40 yards my pattern is about 20 inches wide...I've never missed a turkey with a shotgun but I can see how it could happen if they are close...

My purpose to the sights were two fold, I also plan to use this gun in the woods this fall during dog season...I can use slugs for my still hunting and when the rogue hunters drop the dogs off, I can go with buckshot...

That's why I said what I did in my "ps" of my above post. Optics ARENT needed on a turkey gun inside of 50yds (unless the shooter has a medical/eye problem that optics would correct). But let me say that it's pretty easy to rig up todays guns to pattern properly at 50yds. But even the smallest bead and essentially ALL of the fiber optic beads are just TO BIG to depend on for reliable killing at distances over 50yds! They just block out to much area, including the ENTIRE head and neck of a turkey. THIS is where the optics come into play. But as I said, they have a downside at more typical ranges of say 20-40yds.

That's why I said I prefer the saddle mounts because they still allow use of the bead for shots inside of 40-50yds. Just like we have rifle rigs for 300+ yd deer hunting, we have turkey rigs for 50-65+yd turkey hunting. There's a tool for every job!

I picked up a Primary Arms Micro Dot With Fixed Base MD-FBGII a couple months ago. I put it on my Mossy 500 and have only shot at the range a couple of times, but so far I really like the sight. It's held its zero through 30+ rounds. It has 11 brightness settings going from off (0) to really frickin bright (11) The first 3-4 aren't really visible in full daylight. Price is very reasonable at 80-90 dollars

I put a Burris Fastfire iii on my gun this year, and love it. The reason I went with a red dot holographic style is that my POA/POI were off drastically, even after putting on open rifle type sights, and adjusting them to their max. Once I got it sighted in, it hasn't moved a bit. It is parallax free, so no matter where your head is, the red dot is where the shot is going to go. I was skeptical of this, so I tested it out by having my head in less than ideal positions, where the red dot was barely visible to me. Each time, it centered the load right where it was supposed to be. That is a nice commodity to me, because there are times that you can't move your head because that Tom is staring you down. I have absolutely no bad things to say about this sight, and would recommend it highly. A bit pricey, but worth it for me. Comes with a no questions asked full life guarantee...that's a big plus, too.

Just put a Burris Fastfire 3 on my gun, I love it too. The guarantee is for 1 year only, I thought it was lifetime also. Leupold reflex red dot scopes are twice the price with only a 2 year warranty.