[Mike62]

One thing I had forgotten about by getting a lower sight on the front with a truglo feature is having your cheek that close to the stock and absorbing recoil.

I still need something for quick acquisition and only HD sight needs. These small what I call peep sights I guess have way to small of an area you must focus on.

With that said is something more electronic appropriate? I shot it great from the hip but still lacked any kind of focal point.

 

[Mike62]

One other question. If I go with a reflex or red dot type sight what are those risers called I need attached to my picatinny rail to elevate the optic?

Thanks.

 

[BJK]

I found it helpful to mount my red dot 'all the way out' in what's commonly called "scout rifle" style at the end of the barrel. It keeps my focus from pulling back too far in use as well, so I can shoot both eyes open quite easily.

I prefer mine out that far also if I can manage it. It doesn't matter to the red dot one iota, and gives great peripheral vision.

To give an example, red dots are used on handguns at arms length and it doesn't hurt their performance at all. So we move it to a shoulder fired firearm at the same basic length, so what? Nothing has changed much from the handgun. It's not like a telescopic sight that has eye relief and must be in a certain sweet spot (range).

Jack, be careful of YouTube. Some folks there are really good and some folks there don't know squat. No optical sight has anything close to a sight radius. It's simply not needed and it's a meaningless term with optics (to include 'scopes and red dots) and the SeeAll is an optical sight. I'm not arguing that you should have a SeeAll. You should have what works for you. I just dislike YouTube armchair commandos who don't know squat. A red dot will serve you well, but not for the reasons the armchair commando stated (clearly he's never seen one).

I have one pictured a few posts above, but it's no longer on mine. I just couldn't get accustomed to it rapidly and saw a long learning curve for this old guy. I reverted to what I know that has no learning curve. It worked fine but for me I would have had to invest too much time to get myself up to speed.

Could the red dot be moved further out toward the muzzle? Certainly. I just haven't tried it there yet. I move slowly . I also think that it might be faster where it is for recoil recovery. I'll test it though and then make my decision.

 

[BJK]

These small what I call peep sights I guess have way to small of an area you must focus on.

With that said is something more electronic appropriate? I shot it great from the hip but still lacked any kind of focal point.

For close range and buckshot all that's needed is a front sight just like a long shotgun uses. Of course it will need to be built up and fine tuned for you since the stock can't be tuned. Or it could also use a flashlight with a tight hotspot for close range and even hip shooting. The same could be said for a laser, but I strongly suggest a flashlight must be there for final target identification at a minimum. An optic is really only needed when using it like a rifle with a single projectile (slug), for best accuracy. If a peep sight is used and it's a fine choice, they're very fast, you'd be wise to get a ghost ring peep with a huge aperture. They're used on rifles for up close dangerous game that wants to kill the hunter and speed is of the utmost importance. Understand that all of these must be set up correctly for you.

Here are some examples of items used to raise the sight. They are only examples, but they're what I use. They're rugged enough and keep the weight down.

https://www.amazon.com/3-slot-Picatinny-Short-Riser-Mount/dp/B01BI0I9AS/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=lightweight+cowitness+riser&qid=1606107875&sr=8-13

And for fine tuning the height though you may not need it. I find that I use the above and one of these 1/2" risers.

https://www.amazon.com/Leapers-MT-RSX5S-Super-Picatinny-Height/dp/B01CKYYH7K/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3Q2HE60OJE8FU&dchild=1&keywords=1%2F2+riser&qid=1606108019&sprefix=1%2F2%22+riser%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-2

In the picture in a post above you'll see a much longer version. That's only because I didn't have any in parts and that's what the LGS had on the wall. There is a weight penalty for excess length. For my face and my preference I find the tall riser and one 1/2" riser works best with a straight line stock. But that's me. You have a different bone structure so you'll need to find what works for you. I find that if I don't have to contort my body I just bring the gun up and I'm "right there". It's fast for me and it's the same setup I use in competition.

 

[WolfWings]

I'm cross-dominant so both eyes open will just require a little adjustment. I'm okay with pistols, but rifles always force me to use my non-dominant eye. I wonder if putting a red dot out further will permit me to keep both eyes open.

That's the other beauty of shooting a red dot setup and practiced with 'both eyes open' is it doesn't matter which eye picks up the reticle. I just fine mounting it way out at the end of the barrel avoids mixing up the focal planes since I can see the reticle and target easily then. Due to the way red dots work if either eye can see the dot, and the dot is on target, you'll essentially hit there. That's the biggest advantage of red dots is when well adjusted their parallax-free nature means they really are second only to laser sights for "as long as the batteries last it's accurate" options.

 

[dfariswheel]

I found that the closer to my eye a red dot is, the faster it is to acquire.
If you notice police and military users all have the dot sight toward the rear.

A key with using a electronic sight with a defense gun is reliability. If you're going to trust your life to one, it better be a good one that won't fail when you need it.

Stuff happens.
Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle wrote in his book about a serious battle in Iraq when the battery on his rifle died and he apparently had no backup sight system.

 

[BJK]

A key with using a electronic sight with a defense gun is reliability. If you're going to trust your life to one, it better be a good one that won't fail when you need it.

Dittos. That's one really nice thing about iron sights. Choose correctly and they can be almost indestructable.

The potential problem with any shotgun is the potentially punishing recoil. Couple that with folks unwilling to spend the $ required for a really good sight that will stand up to that and that could lead to disaster. For some reason people think a sight should cost significantly less than the price of the gun and that may not be the best way to think.

Story time... I once had a buddy long since passed on to his reward. He would buy really nice long guns and then put the cheapest sights on them that he could find. They would have such features as multi color reticles and reticles of different shapes. You know, really useful stuff, not the hook in the bait for a fish (sarcasm). He brought over such a military rifle so equipped one day to shoot on my range. It was a bright sunny day. He was able over a period of time to decide where the dim reticle was for the shot. I was never able to find it so that I could shoot with any confidence in the shot (neither could he). He had a really nice and expensive rifle that he turned into absolute crap because he would never buy an optical sight worthy of any of his guns. The only time he ever got good sights was when it came with mil' spec' iron sights.

Now imagine this happening when the shotgun is needed to keep one alive during a HD social engagement. There are no "do overs" or "Can you wait a, minute while I___________ (fill in the blank) ? ". If one is playing a game, well, OK that'll work as long as there is no expectation of using it. But if there is the expectation of need then one had better have gear that one expects to work under the worst conditions and not the best of conditions. Being the second place finisher with weapons that deal in deadly force is not what you want to be. Just what is your own life worth?

I have one sight that I consider a POS. It's probably pretty decent since it was intended by the manufacturer to go onto a .308, but with a cell life of only 200 some odd hours that tells me that it's just not up to modern standards*. I would expect the cell to be dead when I go to use it. It stays in it's box unused but it would probably be OK on a .22 rimfire plinker. For the KS7 I had a Trij' MRO looking for a home so that's what it wears. The MRO is tough with a long cell life so it'll do. It doesn't have shake awake technology so I keep it turned off and in the switches "notch" intended for that.

*Modern standards have cell life measured in years of constant on. Many also go to sleep until needed, then the instant they're touched they instantly turn on. Others have solar PV power so that as long as they have light they work even if the cell is dead.

Another story... I have a shooting competition buddy. We like to shoot on the same squad as much as we can arrange it. We also both shoot firearms in the same division, PCC. We both have optics on them. So far I've seen his optic run out of juice twice in 3 years while he was actively shooting for score. I have no idea how many times it's done that when he's down in FL shooting during the winter. In the same time mine has never run out of juice and it never will. I have yet to change the battery. He got a deal and I spent a little more to get 100% reliability. Now that's just competition. What if it was a firearm for the real deal? Will he be given the time to change a battery as he can at a match? He could have spent a bit more and gotten something (IMO) worth having. But I've always found cheap junk to be more expensive in the end. Expense isn't always measured in dollars. When you're dealing in your own life it's the ultimate expense.

 

[126342]

I put Romeo 5s on everything. They come with a low profile and a high rise mount.

I beat the hell out of a Romeo 5 on my KSG25 with a crap ton of Federal Truball ( 1600fps) 1oz slugs. Still dead on.