I'm interested in a used 590SP with all the trimmings except the peep sight. If I could find an 590A1 I would buy it but they seem to be hard to get. So if I settle for the bead sight will i still be able to shoot accurately with slugs at 50 yards, or is a peep sight (while obviously better) a requirement at that range?

A little of topic but is $260 a decent price for a 590SP with heat shield, bead sight and extended mag with bayo lug?

That is a decent price on the 590 but you will have a hard time accurately shooting slugs at 50 yards with a bead.........well, I find it difficult atleast.

I appologize if I am over stating the obvious but the accuracy of the shotgun will not be affected by the type of sight it has.  Thus, even with the bead sight, you can be accurate.  However, the bead is not adjustable so you will have to figure out where the point of impact is compared to the point of aim (hold).  Then, you will have to adjust your point of aim so that the point of impact is on the intended target.  I believe this is called Kentucky Windage.

It may very well be the case that your bead sight allows point of aim and point of impact to be the same or near enough to the same that you don't have to compensate.  You'll just have to test out the particular shotgun to see where it hits.  I'd want to try several different slug loads as some may work better than others.

I've shot slug groups at 50 yards that you could cover with your hand, out of my bead-sighted M500 (20" barrel). Dunno if that's accurate enough for you but it shows what's possible.

Thanks for all the responses so far. I guess i kind of mislabeled it. I guess I should have asked something more along the lines of "how hard is it to shoot  with a bead a 50 yds".  Just wanted to make sure it was able to be done.

Under controlled conditions you could probably obtain a decent grouping. When you are pushing for speed, and you have a bad guy or a game animal to shoot at, expect a much larger grouping. If it's marginal to start with...