Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Which color / brand front glow sight- Hunting shotgun ?

Looking to put a glow front sight on my new-to-me Gold hunter duck gun. Is green or red better for early morning shooting?

I see a few changable color sights available, but alos would like to know your opinion on brightness, as company claims and looking at them in an artificail light store package doesn't tell me much usefull information for field use.

I tried googling it, but didn't find any reports worth a hoot.

Thanks much

Allen

I find red works better for me on a shotgun that is pointed, as it is brighter and more 'eye-grabbing.' I think the bigger the better for the most part. I've had good results with the ones that are magnetic and simply snap/clamp over the vent rib.

I find that red is too distracting on a rifle for me, when it is aimed.

There's good new and bad news in regard to fiber-optic front sights for shotguns: The good new is they're much easier to see than gold or nickle; the bad new is you're not supposed to be looking at the end of the barrel.

I have added a Tru-Glo front sight to my Browning Gold Hunter waterfowl gun. The fiber optic is interchangeable with different colors of fiber tubes- my favorite is still the red.

Oh well. I know that I'm not all that hot with a shotgun. I freely admit it. I didn't even pick up shotgun to shoot until I was 30. So, from being a rifle shooter all my life, I found I tend to be a heads up shooter and not in a good way. So, I put Tru-Glo a rear and front sight on mine to be sure I'm gettin my head down on the shotgun. After awhile, I don't see either one. But, if I start missing, I go back to looking for my sights....that and swing throught the target...swing through the target....swing throught the target.

I lost the front bead on my old SxS a couple of years ago while out bird hunting, I didn't notice it was gone until the next morning. I seem to shoot just as well without it, because you merely point a bird gun barrel. On my turkey barrel (pump gun) I like the green dots on the rear sight and the red dot on the front sight because you aim that barrel.

Thanks for the information


Allen

Since I'm in Nebraska, make mine a big red 1!

Jeff

When I shoot a shotgun, I never see the front sight. I really don't need any sight on the end of the barrel. The only time I see the front sight is when mounting the shotgun to my shoulder. That's for clay target shooting. After that, the front sight is out of the picture.
For hunting, I never even look for the front sight; it's a non-player.

Funny how the best trick shotgun shooters in the world all use very large bright fiber optics to aid their natural abilities.

I know that for me, when I went to a fiber optic small green sight, my hit percentages on pheasants/waterfowl went up. When I went to a large red fiber sight, my hit percentages went up even more. The same has been true of every person I know who has tried one for wingshooting on birds.

Hey, if it works... I do know a few very good sporting clays shooters that use them and a bunch more that don't. Regardless of the shooting method employed, all the texts I�ve read on the subject seem to emphasize a hard focus on the target. Moving your focus back and forth between target and muzzle generally leads to a slowing or stopping of the gun, and results in a miss. In the "ideal" world, one develops a sense of where the gun is pointed relative to where they eyes are focused. The analogy I like to use is that of a baseball hitter trying to hit a baseball. Are the eyes focused on the ball, the bat, or do they shift focus between the two? Yeah, you may not know EXACTLY where the bat (or shotgun) is in space, but taking your focus off of the ball (target) will almost certainly result in missing the target. I suppose such sights might be ok if you really keep them in the peripheral vision, but, my opinion (for anyone who might care), is that the only REAL purpose for fiber-optic shotgun sights -- in wing shooting -- is to make a few bucks for the manufacturer. FWIW.

I agree with Redeye. If it works for you, great. I've shot lots of game on the wing without any glow sights. I don't remember looking at the sight bead. For wing shooting, I feel that the shotgun fit is way more important than the sight. All that being said, a huge buck in fading light, or an early morning gobbler, might be a different story.

Like 9% of the US male population, I am red/green color blind. So red or green glow sights don't help me too much. I kinda like the Hi-Viz magnetic glow sight in yellow. I think that I shoot a little better with it......but it may be all in my mind, just a placebo.

I'll let you know after tomorrow. Going to chase some quail around with my pet Beretta 20 and try one of those magnetic clamp-on sights in red.

As taught to me...don't ever look at the bead,follow the target!

Certainly not an expert here...but for quite a while I shot 15-20000 rounds at clay birds in a year. When I'd go in a slump I'd pull the sights off the shotgun completely. Its all about focus on the target...whether clay or feathered....and a light shining back at ya breaks that focus. JMHO....

+1

About 15-20 years ago I attended a skeet clinic from John Shima, who at the time was one of the top skeet instructors in the U.S. He stressed proper gun fit, and focusing on the target. He also pointed out that many novice shooters will have a jerky barrel swing as their eye involuntarily focuses back and forth between the front sight and the target. This usually results in a missed target.

Since that clinic, I blackened the front and rear beads on my trap, skeet, and hunting shotguns so that my eye will not be distracted from the target by seeing the sights.

I think that the exhibition shooters on TV that endorse these bright glow shotgun sights do it more for their monetary gain than for their ability to break more targets. But what do I know, I've never broke many more than 200 straight targets in either 16 yard trap or 12 gage skeet.

Interesting information.

I recall reading you shouldn't look at the front sight on a shotgun with a rib....

I do suspect some people can see it in the background and still focus on the target, like you do to your TV once a good movie starts you don't see anything but the screen.

Good point on the endorsements, I agree it is more $ than anything...


Thanks again


Allen

I'd say try one red bright one, and see how it does for ya. It helped me and most other hunters (not target shooters) that I know.