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Posted: 9/5/2015 6:38:01 PM EDT
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Looking for a sight to put on a HD shotgun that will not eat the battery fast. Any suggestions on a unit and the battery/batteries last more than an hour or two? Really want a unit so if I need to get it the battery has not died.
Don't want to spend over $200. |
| Trijicon RMR, supposedly gets four years of continuous use for one 2032 battery. Might cost more than your HD shotgun. I use the Burris fast fire 3, but the batteries need changing every 3 to four months if left on. The Aimpoints have good battery life but are kind of large for shotgun use in my opinion. |
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Trijicon RMR, supposedly gets four years of continuous use for one 2032 battery. Might cost more than your HD shotgun. I use the Burris fast fire 3, but the batteries need changing every 3 to four months if left on. The Aimpoints have good battery life but are kind of large for shotgun use in my opinion. Glock, I edited my post for cost reasons. Thanks. |
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For under $200, a lot of people will recommend the Vortex SPARC II.
This has an excellent reputation and most owners say it's a quality sight. Battery life depends on the brightness setting. At bright it's about 300 hours, at minimum setting it's about 5,000 hours. Do some competitive shopping for the best price. Check Optics Planet too. [youtube]http://[/youtube]http://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/electronic-sights/red-dot-sights/sparc-ii-red-dot-sight-prod66525.aspx |
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For under $200, a lot of people will recommend the Vortex SPARC II. This has an excellent reputation and most owners say it's a quality sight. Battery life depends on the brightness setting. At bright it's about 300 hours, at minimum setting it's about 5,000 hours. Do some competitive shopping for the best price. Check Optics Planet too.  http://http://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/electronic-sights/red-dot-sights/sparc-ii-red-dot-sight-prod66525.aspxI had a SPARC II and it was a good sight, I sold the upper it was on but it gave me no trouble and was easy on batteries. |
| I would go with a tritium base front sight bead for your shotgun. A red dot on a home defense shotgun if not used correctly can give you tunnel vision and reduces your peripheral vision to scan for and track targets. A large tritium dot will be easy to see in low light and will give you all the advantages you need. Plus tritium lasts easily over 10-15 years before requiring replacement and no batteries. |
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Unless you live in some kind of mansion, a red dot on a shotgun, not to mention at home defense distances, is completely unnecessary. That is my recommendation to alleviate your dead battery concern. Maybe unnecessary for you. My tired 60+ year old eyes absolutely need the added advantage of a red dot. By the time I can focus on a bead or irons the fight is over at any distance. That is why I have mini red dots on "all" of my shotguns as well as pistols and larger red dots on all of my rifles. What works for you mayh not for others. |
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For under $200, a lot of people will recommend the Vortex SPARC II. This has an excellent reputation and most owners say it's a quality sight. Battery life depends on the brightness setting. At bright it's about 300 hours, at minimum setting it's about 5,000 hours. Do some competitive shopping for the best price. Check Optics Planet too. http://http://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/electronic-sights/red-dot-sights/sparc-ii-red-dot-sight-prod66525.aspx+87 on the SPARC....for your budget, it is probably the best choice....or a PA red dot, but i love the mount system that comes with the SPARC |
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Maybe unnecessary for you. My tired 60+ year old eyes absolutely need the added advantage of a red dot. By the time I can focus on a bead or irons the fight is over at any distance. That is why I have mini red dots on "all" of my shotguns as well as pistols and larger red dots on all of my rifles. What works for you mayh not for others. Quoted:
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Unless you live in some kind of mansion, a red dot on a shotgun, not to mention at home defense distances, is completely unnecessary. That is my recommendation to alleviate your dead battery concern. Maybe unnecessary for you. My tired 60+ year old eyes absolutely need the added advantage of a red dot. By the time I can focus on a bead or irons the fight is over at any distance. That is why I have mini red dots on "all" of my shotguns as well as pistols and larger red dots on all of my rifles. What works for you mayh not for others. I understand what you mean about the eye sight. My point is that you don't need sights at all, at home defense distances, with a shotgun. Or even a rifle. |
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I understand what you mean about the eye sight. My point is that you don't need sights at all, at home defense distances, with a shotgun. Or even a rifle. Quoted:
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Unless you live in some kind of mansion, a red dot on a shotgun, not to mention at home defense distances, is completely unnecessary. That is my recommendation to alleviate your dead battery concern. Maybe unnecessary for you. My tired 60+ year old eyes absolutely need the added advantage of a red dot. By the time I can focus on a bead or irons the fight is over at any distance. That is why I have mini red dots on "all" of my shotguns as well as pistols and larger red dots on all of my rifles. What works for you mayh not for others. I understand what you mean about the eye sight. My point is that you don't need sights at all, at home defense distances, with a shotgun. Or even a rifle. Personally, I like to make sure each and every shot will hit where it should, despite a racing heartbeat and enough adrenalin to revive an elephant. Thus, I like red dots on everything. |
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Personally, I like to make sure each and every shot will hit where it should, despite a racing heartbeat and enough adrenalin to revive an elephant. Thus, I like red dots on everything. Quoted:
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Unless you live in some kind of mansion, a red dot on a shotgun, not to mention at home defense distances, is completely unnecessary. That is my recommendation to alleviate your dead battery concern. Maybe unnecessary for you. My tired 60+ year old eyes absolutely need the added advantage of a red dot. By the time I can focus on a bead or irons the fight is over at any distance. That is why I have mini red dots on "all" of my shotguns as well as pistols and larger red dots on all of my rifles. What works for you mayh not for others. I understand what you mean about the eye sight. My point is that you don't need sights at all, at home defense distances, with a shotgun. Or even a rifle. Personally, I like to make sure each and every shot will hit where it should, despite a racing heartbeat and enough adrenalin to revive an elephant. Thus, I like red dots on everything. You don't even see the irony do you? That same racing heartbeat and excessive adrenaline is going to diminish your ability to use that red dot. As I stated before. You don't need sights at home defense distances. If you can't point shoot a man sized target out to about 25 yards without aids, you have no confidence in your abilities or the capabilities of your firearm. If we are talking about a home defense gun, where sights are not needed because of the extremely small distances, why complicate things by worrying about a cheap red dot with an acceptable battery life? |
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Have to admit, my 590A1 groups a lot looser than I'd have thought, and with bird/buck would be fine with the common bead sight instead of the ghost ring sights. I like the sights on it, but point>shoot inside a house, even from the waist, would probably work better.
Now if you have slugs in/on the gun, that's a different story. ETA: Thought I don't like the TRS-25 so much on a carbine, I think a shotgun would be a good fit. Unlike some of the Primary Arms optics, it's actually sealed. What good is an optic that you can't even trust to survive some rain?? |
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This........quality red dot at an affordable price point Quoted:
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Love my Bushnell TRS 25. $50. This........quality red dot at an affordable price point they stand up well to a lot of shooting. I have one on a .30 USGI carbine, and another on a shotgun. They are bullet proof. |
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Looking for a sight to put on a HD shotgun that will not eat the battery fast. Any suggestions on a unit and the battery/batteries last more than an hour or two? Really want a unit so if I need to get it the battery has not died. Don't want to spend over $200. Its that last sentence that creates the problem. I have tried several "budget" red dots on my tactical Remington 1100 rail. I have settled on the Lucid M7. It is a well-reviewed but little discussed 4.6 ounce microdot that is about the size of the Aimpoint T-1. It currently sells for about $160-170. What I like about it is besides its compact size is that it has an EOTech type circle dot reticle that is very easy to get on target rapidly, but with a small 2 MOA center dot for more precise aim. Battery life has been phenomenal because it has (1) a two hour shutoff and (2) automatic dot intensity adjustment with manual over ride. I've never encountered a need to second guess and over ride its intensity. It is daylight bright in full sunlight and bedroom dim in low light. It is rugged, so much so that the top rail on this shotgun (a modified sporting 1100, shot loose because I had not put thread lock on the receiver threads. The entire rail with the dot went flying in the air during a session of shooting full power 00 buckshot. When I retrieved it, the dot was still on and when I remounted the rail (this time with Loctite) the point of impact had not changed. Since then It's probably had 200 rounds of buckshot and slugs through that barrel and the dot is still zeroed and has never failed to function properly. A couple other things. It runs on a single lithium AAA battery. I've yet to replace after about three years. It comes without a riser, which is perfect for shotgun mounting low on the receiver. The battery cap and elevation and windage caps are tethered so they stay put. It's a nice little durable red dot. Only down side I see is that if you want something to stay on all the time, it will power down after two hours. You will have to push the button to re-activate. That is not big deal for me. I can push a button. |
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A second thought: While I believe in red dots on a tactical shotgun, I also think that a weapon light is probably more useful for in-house situations when things go bump in the night. A tape switch operated tactical light can throw a circular beam with a hot center and you just center the beam on the bad guy and keep pulling the trigger. You can do this from any angle or position and don't even use your sight system when in extremis.
And Federal FliteControl 00B is extremely tight patterning. Don't think you don't need to aim. Out of an improved cylinder barrel at 15 yards, probably longer than any distance you will have inside a dwelling, all 9 pellets are in a tight 3" to 4" pattern. This not only concentrates the pattern for maximum effect (think putting your fist all the way through the torso of someone hit with this stuff at this range), but also reduces the likelihood of stray pellets going places you don't want them to go. |
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Agree with MS556, mostly.
10x better to mount a good light on it than to have a sight. Like a bedside gun with a Crimson Trace laser grip.... if you can't see what the laser is painting for you, you can't really engage. And how will you stop the threat if you can't tell the difference between a laser on a intruder or a laser on a coat rack? Good "PID" positive identification is probably most important, especially with a shot gun. Even if it was an AR, I'd rather have a weapon light tha ANY sights at all, for home defense at least. I would go with a lighter shot before I'd try to tighten the shot pattern up though. I know 00 buck can get pretty wide quick out of a cylinder bore, but that's sort of a benefit. Each shot ball is like a 9mm round (I've heard). |
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Regarding pattern density from open chokes, Federal FliteControl buckshot has revolutionized home defense and woods deer hunting.
This pattern is 9 pellet 00B from a short 21" improved cylinder barrel at 15 yards. You need to aim this stuff. Amazing. 
Even out at 50 yards, all 9 pellets are easily well within a 12" group. Same short barrelled improved cylinder tactical Rem 1100. 
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