Turkey Red dots.

[Fish_monger]

anyone use a red dot on their turkey gun?

I’m on the fence between a low profile reflex red dot, or a small scope style like Romeo5 or crossfire.

 

[Sheepdog]

I’ve used a low profile style before. I don’t remember from what company. It worked pretty well, but I’ve never seen much advantage personally of them over a regular front bead and mid bead set up though, at least not for turkey. I use them for calling coyotes still though.

 

[cobbc03]

I've had a truglo that came with my mossberg for about 12 years. It's treated me well, but the thing is huge and has a bad battery life, I cant tell you how many times I have caught it on a branch or a vine while making a stalk. I'm changing to a vortex venom this year. 50k hour battery life, light, and small. I think the biggest factor is how you look down the sights you currently have on it. If you want just your cheek bone on the stock go with the low pro red dot, if you don't mind hold your head higher, either one will work.

 

[CAB]

Not a bad idea especially if you do a lot of shooting with a red dot. My only thing on it is make sure to test it in similar weather you will hunt in. Some red dots fog up more than others. I personally shoot birds so close that I just upgraded the front sight to a fiber optic one on my 870 and called it good. If you use red dots a fair amount on other weapons and thats what you personally like than I see no issue with it. If your getting one to will improve accuracy I would say save your money and get a good turkey choke and good ammo.

 

[Wetwork]

Not needed, it's a shotgun, not a .22. It should be a fairly close range shot. If you have to do the rare follow up shot, you'll wish you'd just had a simple bead. Had a RDS for few years when they first came out, A Dr. Optic or something like that and pulled it off after a few seasons. It just snagged on stuff, and then I was worried all the time I'd bash it on something. I have a RDS on my pistol and its a lot more fun there. Shotgun didn't need it.-WW

 

[Laramie]

I never understood the need for any optics on a turkey gun. I shoot a simple Rem 870 for everything. I do use a turkey choke but that is the only adjustment I make. The single front bead has treated me well but I do limit my shots to about 40 yards and most of my birds are shot inside of 20.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I started using one a couple of years ago. I wouldn’t hunt without one, now. I prefer the Venom over the ff3.

Money well spent for me.

 

[tt_johnsclist]

I’ve got a vortex venom 3 moa on my kids turkey gun. Extremely pleased and batteries last forever. I’ve heard good things about the Burris also.

 

[hobbes]

I'm not a fan of the scope variety, but I've shot a Vortex Venom for the last 3 years and don't plan to go back to the double bead set up that I've sworn by since starting hunting turkeys in 1990. I killed a pretty good pile of turkeys with the double bead set up before I changed over a few years back. So..........it's not required but it's darn nice. I think I've killed 11 turkeys with it in three years and not needed any follow up shots. In addition, they didn't all come in down the barrel and I had to swing and make a snap shot while they were deciding to run for the hills.

If I was still shooting lead, I may not have changed. Tungsten shoots a very tight pattern and while I did set it up for some forgiveness, it is not a wing shooting set up. Another problem that has gotten worse with age is being able to clearly see the beads on my gun and clearly see the turkey at the same time. I could still make it work but I don't have to. I went years without missing more than a few birds. While I killed plenty of birds in the five years leading up to me going with the Venom, I missed more birds than I had the previous 20 years. I'd like to say it was the vision thing, but it was the result of needing to take some quick shots and not aiming. If you hunt turkeys with a double beaded shotgun, you better learn to aim with your cheek firmly planted on the stock and both beads lined up. Get a little excited and just place the front bead on his head and you may well shoot over him or not hit him with enough shot to be immediately lethal. Maybe it's not the best practice, but I can get by with less than perfect form with the Venom. If the red dot is on his head..........he's dead.

I should probably add that I also had switched to a sure shot stock by Remington just before buying the Venom. You cannot get comfortably down on the stock far enough to line up the two beads due to the comb height of that stock.

If we only used essential items and gear, there wouldn't be as many folks on a forum like Rokslide. This whole place is made up of gear nuts.

 

[hersh2209]

Burris fastfire2.... luv it have it on my 2 turkey guns 20ga and 12ga

 

[N2TRKYS]

These are my turkey guns with Vortex Venoms. I was always a bead guy, but the red dots really shine with these short guns.

 

[nc358007]

This time last spring I made the decision to upgrade my turkey gun to a Beretta A400 and I added a pic rail for a Vortex Venom. I patterned a bunch of different loads and burned through a bunch of turkey loads in the process. It was phenomenal, very tight and even patterns with both Longbeards and TSS.

Then the first morning of season I called a bird in an rolled it at about 30 yards. I figured this was a pulled shot at the time. I called in another bird the following morning and had the same result.

I went back to the the pattern board and found that my point of impact at 10 yards was 6 inches left and about 4 inches low. Which seems silly to say as its a shotgun but with the modern choke/shell combo at that range its about a 2 inch hole. I made the necessary correction in the optic and figured it would be fine.

3 Days and a thousand miles later on an out of state hunt I had the same thing happen once more. My hunting buddy suggested that maybe the whole red dot thing wasn't for me so I took it off and dropped the following 5 birds that spring and fall using the much less tacticool factory bead, although the pic rail does create a nice bracket of sorts for the front bead.

Has anyone had a similar issue w/ the Venom? I feel like it's got to be user error on my end but the continued POI shift out of my shooting rest with no added variable seems to point towards to optic?

 

[Fish_monger]

This time last spring I made the decision to upgrade my turkey gun to a Beretta A400 and I added a pic rail for a Vortex Venom. I patterned a bunch of different loads and burned through a bunch of turkey loads in the process. It was phenomenal, very tight and even patterns with both Longbeards and TSS.

Then the first morning of season I called a bird in an rolled it at about 30 yards. I figured this was a pulled shot at the time. I called in another bird the following morning and had the same result.

I went back to the the pattern board and found that my point of impact at 10 yards was 6 inches left and about 4 inches low. Which seems silly to say as its a shotgun but with the modern choke/shell combo at that range its about a 2 inch hole. I made the necessary correction in the optic and figured it would be fine.

3 Days and a thousand miles later on an out of state hunt I had the same thing happen once more. My hunting buddy suggested that maybe the whole red dot thing wasn't for me so I took it off and dropped the following 5 birds that spring and fall using the much less tacticool factory bead, although the pic rail does create a nice bracket of sorts for the front bead.

Has anyone had a similar issue w/ the Venom? I feel like it's got to be user error on my end but the continued POI shift out of my shooting rest with no added variable seems to point towards to optic?

Sounds like the optic. I would get it back to Vortex ASAP for a warranty claim, just to be sure. I’ll bet they turn it around before turkey season.

 

[N2TRKYS]

This time last spring I made the decision to upgrade my turkey gun to a Beretta A400 and I added a pic rail for a Vortex Venom. I patterned a bunch of different loads and burned through a bunch of turkey loads in the process. It was phenomenal, very tight and even patterns with both Longbeards and TSS.

Then the first morning of season I called a bird in an rolled it at about 30 yards. I figured this was a pulled shot at the time. I called in another bird the following morning and had the same result.

I went back to the the pattern board and found that my point of impact at 10 yards was 6 inches left and about 4 inches low. Which seems silly to say as its a shotgun but with the modern choke/shell combo at that range its about a 2 inch hole. I made the necessary correction in the optic and figured it would be fine.

3 Days and a thousand miles later on an out of state hunt I had the same thing happen once more. My hunting buddy suggested that maybe the whole red dot thing wasn't for me so I took it off and dropped the following 5 birds that spring and fall using the much less tacticool factory bead, although the pic rail does create a nice bracket of sorts for the front bead.

Has anyone had a similar issue w/ the Venom? I feel like it's got to be user error on my end but the continued POI shift out of my shooting rest with no added variable seems to point towards to optic?

I haven’t had any issues with mine. It’s either operator error or something is wrong with your sight.

 

[180splitg3]

I'm not a fan of the scope variety, but I've shot a Vortex Venom for the last 3 years and don't plan to go back to the double bead set up that I've sworn by since starting hunting turkeys in 1990. I killed a pretty good pile of turkeys with the double bead set up before I changed over a few years back. So..........it's not required but it's darn nice. I think I've killed 11 turkeys with it in three years and not needed any follow up shots. In addition, they didn't all come in down the barrel and I had to swing and make a snap shot while they were deciding to run for the hills.

If I was still shooting lead, I may not have changed. Tungsten shoots a very tight pattern and while I did set it up for some forgiveness, it is not a wing shooting set up. Another problem that has gotten worse with age is being able to clearly see the beads on my gun and clearly see the turkey at the same time. I could still make it work but I don't have to. I went years without missing more than a few birds. While I killed plenty of birds in the five years leading up to me going with the Venom, I missed more birds than I had the previous 20 years. I'd like to say it was the vision thing, but it was the result of needing to take some quick shots and not aiming. If you hunt turkeys with a double beaded shotgun, you better learn to aim with your cheek firmly planted on the stock and both beads lined up. Get a little excited and just place the front bead on his head and you may well shoot over him or not hit him with enough shot to be immediately lethal. Maybe it's not the best practice, but I can get by with less than perfect form with the Venom. If the red dot is on his head..........he's dead.

I should probably add that I also had switched to a sure shot stock by Remington just before buying the Venom. You cannot get comfortably down on the stock far enough to line up the two beads due to the comb height of that stock.

If we only used essential items and gear, there wouldn't be as many folks on a forum like Rokslide. This whole place is made up of gear nuts.

View attachment 262327

Where did you get the sure shot stock? I'm looking for one for my son's 20 gauge 870...

I love red dot scopes for turkey and both of mine are the scope style. I use the one on my 12 gauge for deer and turkey, both with the bird barrel...

 

[hobbes]

I think I bought the camo one for my 12 from Midway. They don't make it in camo for the 20 (at least I couldn't find one). So I went with black. I had to do a lot of searching to find it in stock.

 

[Fish_monger]

I think I bought the camo one for my 12 from Midway. They don't make it in camo for the 20 (at least I couldn't find one). So I went with black. I had to do a lot of searching to find it in stock.

I’m about to order a new buttstock for my shotgun but it only comes in black. I’m going to try a hydrographic dip to match the barrel / receiver.

 

[hobbes]

I’m about to order a new buttstock for my shotgun but it only comes in black. I’m going to try a hydrographic dip to match the barrel / receiver.

I've seen some crazy cool looking shotguns that have been dipped. I saw a really nice on on Gobblernation that was mossy oak on the stock and forearm. The barrel and receiver were cerakoted in a green with a dark green turkey track on the receiver. It looked nice enough that I'd consider paying for something similar on the little 20.

 

[ArcherAdam]

Fast fire 2 and 3 here. Lifetime warranty that I never had to use. I couldn't ask for anything else. My fast fires have seen many, many miles of running and gunning the last 10 years. I do have custom protectors on them for added assurance.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[Bziegler6843]

Im running Burris FF3's on both my guns. One in an 8 MOA and one in a 3 MOA. I prefer the 3 MOA.