Sights for a Turkey Gun...An Oddessy

[Pygmy]

My main go- to turkey gun for the last 20 years or so has been a Remington 11-87 SP with a 21" barrel  and a Kick's turkey choke.

 

The gun came with an ivory front bead and a small chrome mid bead.  Unfortunately, with this sighting system the gun patterned high and to the right, so I decided to install a sight that had some adjustment to it.

 

I bought a Tru-Glow fiber optic rear sight and front bead that I could adjust , and used it with good effect for several years.  However, many of those fiber optic sights are not especially robust or rugged, especially if you put the gun in and out of a soft case several dozen times a season, as I do.

 

After a few years, the sight fell apart.

 

I decided to try some kind of an optical sight next, and a friend of mine recommended a Bushnell Holosight.  I bought an aftermarket  cantilever that attached to my rib , and sighted the Holosight in.

I killed some turkeys with it, but never really warmed up to it. I had to keep fiddling with the intensity of the red dot, and I was always afraid I might forget to turn it on of off. On top of that, it was ugly as sin, and made my shotgun look like the ray gun that Buck Rogers might use for lunar gobblers.

 

About 2 months after the warranty ran out, the housing broke, with no way to repair it.

 

For a couple of seasons I used another one of my guns, a Rem 1100 Magnum with a 26" full choke barrel and double beads..It is a very accurate and effective shotgun, but it's blued/walnut finish is as shiny as a baby's butt, and I did not want to tape or paint it.

 

Just the other day I was poking around in my gun cabinet and found a scope I had forgot I had. It's a Leupold Vari-X  II  ,  1 x 4x 20MM...

 

I pawed around in a shoebox that is labeled " Misc. Gun Stuff" and pulled out the cantilever and a set of  new 1" scope rings..

 

I mounted the little scope on the 11-87...Looks kinda classy on the shotgun. As soon as the weather breaks, I'll sight it in and have a new turkey sighting system to try out on those Canadian gobblers when the Ontario season opens April 25th... Life is GOOD.....<<sigh>>....

[WNYBuckHunter]

Should have just bought an EOTech and called it a day.... at least you put a variable power scope on it though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hahahahahahahaha

[Pygmy]

I KNEW you would pick up on that, John...LOL...

 

I'll probably never turn it above 1 power....hehehehehe...

 

Actually, I bought it because it was an offer I couldn't refuse...A friend of mine was selling off his hunting stuff and I got it NIB for $100.. He had intended to put it on a Ruger #1  .375 H&H, but had since sold the rifle.

[maytom]

Hey Danno, that's the very gun that's atop my turkey gun for the last 17 years now. Love that scope with it's Extra heavy reticle!!! Tip: leave it on 2x or 2.5x, if on 1x you will see the end of your barrel in the scope!!!

[Pygmy]

Thanks for the tip, Paulie !!....BTW...It was SLATER who turned me on to the Bushnell Holosight..

 

I FORGIVE him, of course...Hehehehe..

 

Good to see you posting here.  Nice to hear from old friends now and then..

[reeltime]

pygmy,

 

I put a 2.5 x bushnell on my turkey gun 20 years ago and have never once regretted it.  nothing like having pinpoint accuracy when your shooting softball sized groups at 20 yards or less.....   And that scopes real handy when I am trying to see the spurs so I can make sure its a bird on my hit list.

 

 

[ants]

I use Hi Vis fiber optics on my gun, front and rear. They work well, but  like the idea of a low power scope being used to spot spurs, beards etc….