Is a red dot sight extraneous?

Its kind of weird, we have a den, which was the original room, then out bedroom off of it, which was an addition to the house, so say about 30-35 feet between my bed and the door. how the house is set up, if shes calling 911 in the walk in closet, she is literally out of the line of fire either way, it would be very very very hard for anything to happen to her. The problem is, once my son is born come march, his room is right across from ours... So the whole idea of a shotgun for my defense gun, and the defense plan we have in action now is going to change A LOT. the safety of my family comes before my own, but obviously Id have to be alive and alert to protect them .


And what Im getting at is if someone broke into my house at 3am, and I woke up because I heard it, sent my wife to the closet, and got her on 911, honestly a red dot sight isnt going to make or break if I hit the guy when he trys to get in my room.

I keep the doors locked, my bedroom door locked and then the last line of defense is the shotgun..

blitzen said:

No, I'm of the Bob Brister, Tom Knapp, Jon Kruger school of thought regarding shotgun shooting. Any one of them would smoke anyone I can think of in shotgun shooting situation and they don't fool around with a red dot sight to do it. And the OPs intent is as stated recreational target shooting and home defense. If he would have stated that he wants to be a mall ninja or shoot slugs much past 20 yards then I might go along with ya.

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Again, huh?

We're not talking about shooting clays or birds. When he mentions recreational target shooting I assume he means paper.

In a HD situation in the dark, a rds is going to be about the fastest option for most.

We're not talking about shooting clays or birds. When he mentions recreational target shooting I assume he means paper.

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Then the OP needs to clarify that - for I agree with the other poster - recreational shotgun shooting is at clays - wife and I did that yesterday - 2 rounds of sporting............in THAT instance, his statement would be correct.....

I love my TRUGLO on my 590 A1.

Know your target and what is beyond it. Light first. A red dot will not help you figure out if you know the person whose silhouette you are about to perforate.

Once you have the light, then evaluate if you are comfortable using a back-lit bead or ghost ring (back lit from your light) or if you still want the red dot.

Two more thoughts, just to consider everything, not trying to be pro or con: 1) laser, 2) many red dots don't offer a good cheek weld on a typical shotgun stock.

oneounceload said:

Then the OP needs to clarify that - for I agree with the other poster - recreational shotgun shooting is at clays - wife and I did that yesterday - 2 rounds of sporting............in THAT instance, his statement would be correct.....

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I assume he's talking about paper because he plans to use the same shotgun for both hd and recreation, and he mentioned a mag extension. The mental picture I have is of the 18" tactical supernova. If it's a ~28" bbl intended for clays, that changes everything.

IF you decide to go with a red dot, get an open-sighted red dot style, not a tube-like red dot. IMO, for a shotgun, a C-More, Burris Fastfire, or a Sightmark Mini-Shot(I have this one on my 930 SPX) will be faster than a tubular red dot.

Here is the Mini-shot by Sightmark, works great and has simple switch to flip onto lo or hi brightness.

I'm ambivalent about red dots. Not for me, but some folks shoot very well and fast with them.

Whatever you use, practice until it's worn into your synapses.

I find the insinuation that because one wants to use a red dot it means they do not know how to run their gun a bit misguided. IMHE the folks that will put down $500 for a sight understand why they are doing so. They are also the type that is more likely to spend the money to get quality training and thus really know how to run their gun.

Tell one these guy to just learn how to run his gun.







By the way the above have actually gone into harms way with shotguns (I know that isn't as meaningful or relevant to some as standing on a square one way range turning little orange discs into dust).

Someone should tell them if they would just learn to run those things then they wouldn't need red dots. The fact is you don't need a red dot. It has certain attributes that people interested in fighting shotguns are likely to find beneficial.

For just HD you could do fine without a red dot and some of the advantages are probably not really going to come into play. That said you certainly are not handicapping yourself with a quality red dot setup.

I do agree that the priority should probably be:

1) Good instruction in how to run the gun. I actually thinking running a tube fed shotgun really well is more difficult than a carbine or a handgun. Knowing how you will run your gun also allows you to set it up how you want. I have had time where I have changed how I do some thing with my gun and it typically has led to a change in the setup.

2) A light

3) A good red dot if you want one

I don't run a red dot on my wing shooting guns. I do on my primary fighting shotgun.

In sum I wont tell you need it, but people telling you that you shouldn't are IMHO a bit off base (and I wonder how many have even run a RDS on shotgun).

Girodin,

Hats off to you for both of your last responses. I doubt it could be said better.



As for a couple of the comments said by others, they make one think to say the least. I offer a couple of responses in return.

1. I have a RDS that adds 1.6 ounces when mounted on my shotgun. I can't for the life of me figure out how that is going to somehow offset the balance and/or handling of the same.

2. An RDS might get snagged on something. Of course, it has a footprint that is 25% of my SureFire 6P LED flashlight. (and it's already been stated by many that a shotgun without a flashlight is of no use at night) I am more likely to snag the light on something than I am the RDS.

I've taken 80 hours (three classes) worth of tactical shotgun training over the past couple of years. I am by no means an expert (don't even pretend to be a mall ninja). One thing I have found is that using some type of red dot or holo optic allows me to accurately put more shots on target in less time than without it. I suppose some will say I simply need to learn how to run my shotgun. LOL....already did that during the first two classes I took added on to a years worth of concentrated practice. Added the RDS and shot 3 points off of a perfect score at my last course. No, I'm not bragging about how I shoot....I'm trying to explain that an RDS can help improve your skill set if you just let it. You do, however, need to accept the fact that it can, else the self full-filling prophecy will come true and you will fail miserably using it, no doubt.