Outdoor Addiction

I bought a Tru-Glo Red Dot for shotguns a couple years ago for my turkey hunts but I have never had any luck at all getting it to sight in.. has anyone had this issue? I shoot at 15 yds and say it misses high left. So I do the necessary adjustment and shoot again. It misses way low left. then it will go way right then high left, ect.. Just no rhyme or reason to how it moves as to the adjustments I applied. IT WONT SIGHT IN! $85 down the drain. I took it on the last hunt that I got one and had a tom in front of me. I was so uncomfortable with its accuracy that I took out my pocketknife and unscrewed it and took it off all while watching/calling this tom. I ended up just taking the shot with my iron sights. Was it just too cheap for my 12 gauge? Or is there a bigger issue?

JW

I found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBVqxJ58kxs

What Tru Glo Model do you have?

JW

bald9eagle

Here's how I sight my stuff in.....

I start by "bore sighting" the scope. Since you can't truly bore sight a shotgun (that I know of) I just get my gun in a steady rest and line the dot up with where my bead is. I'm able to do this on my 870 because I have rail that allows me to see my bead normally.

I get a bunch of cheap birdshot and get maybe 10 yards...probably closer to 7 or so. I shoot a couple shots and make small adjustments. When I have my softball size hole hitting where I want I will back up to 15-20 yards and give it a couple more shots. If I like that I will back up to 30 yards and shoot a couple of my regular turkey loads.

The best way to get a red dot sighted in would be with the use of a lead sled or from a bench. Because the recoil from a shotgun is so different than a rifle you may find that you have more flinch when shooting freehand than you think you do.

Hope that helps.

bald9eagle

Just watched the video JW linked. That might help out too.

Know a guy that once tried sighting in a rifle scope that he had turned 90 degrees. His elevation was on the side and windage on top. When he tried to adjust he would move the elevation dial up...cause he was shooting low. That just made the thing shoot further to the left or right.

Timbrhuntr

I had a cheap mueller quickshot scope on my 12 gauge and 20 gauge a few years ago. It seemed that after I got it sighted in it was always losing its aim point after a few shots. I was always messing with it to get it shooting on target again. I finally gave up and bought a burris fastfire 3. What a difference all around. I wish I had saved the 99 bucks if the first place and just bought the burris.

Timbrhuntr

I also use this method but you might first need to find some bird shot that hits the same point as your turkey load. I have shot some lighter loads to get on target and then shot the turkey ammo once the red dot was sighted in and it was out 3 inches to the bird shot !

bald9eagle

I guess I could have mentioned that. I use high brass #7. I haven't ever had to move once I got it set with the lighter loads. I think the reason is I shoot Nitro Shells mostly. They are loaded hotter so I believe they shoot closer to what light loads do. Copper plated #5's are obviously going to shoot different than Hevi-shot, Mag Blend, or Nitro's.

I have a new reflex sight on my 870 that I'll be sighting in this next week. I'll get to see if things still work out for me. I think the real trick is being close enough to get a good idea of how the barrel will shoot. Too close tells you nothing. Too far and the shot scatters too much to get a good idea if your barrel shoots just a little to one way or another.

bald9eagle

Sighted my 870 a bit ago with some 7.5 high brass. It is easier with my setup since I can still look down my barrel and see my bead. The thing to remember is that it is opposite to sighting in a rifle. If you are shooting 1" to the right on a rifle you will adjust 16 clicks to the left. In a sense you are saying that I am adjusting my hole in the paper to the left.

On a red dot you are adjusting your dot. So if you are shooting to the right that means your dot is pointed to the left. I had to shoot about 15 times before I got it right!

JW

Me either using trap loads - #7.5 I load myself. I guess after reading finding a load that has the same velocity might make it more accurate.
But like I said why waste the Turkey loads and beat yourself up?
I used Trap loads, and got my self on paper starting at 10 yards. I used a quarter sized orange paper dot. Once I was consistently Obliterating the quarter sized off/through my target, I moved back to 20 yards and tried again. I didn't have the luxury of a laser bore sight like I do today. Now I use that before I shoot.
Then at 20 I went to my chosen turkey load and did a bit of final adjustment if any.
That was back in 2003 for my 11-87. Have not touched that scope yet. Pattern each yr but no scope adjustment needed so far.

JW

Outdoor Addiction

This is the one I have..