turkey hunting Sighting in a red dot

[Hookhunter20]

I broke down and bought a vortex strikefire 2 red dot for turkey hunting. I was always a bead guy but I have a Mossberg 500 thumbhole turkey gun that for the life of me, I couldn't get to pattern to my liking because it threw patterns high and left with the truglo rifle sights it came with. After missing two turkeys opening day with the gun at 15 and 35 yards I threw it in the safe and pulled out my Franchi Affinity I use for waterfowl and got my limit the second and third week of the season. I hate having a gun collect dust so I figured I'd give it a second chance with the red dot as I should be able to zone in on the best section of the pattern. Any tips for sighting in to save time and money would be appreciated.

[reeltime]

start with dove/quail loads at 10-15 yards to get the small pattern on the bullseye.  once its on target move out to 20 yards and see if the pattern density stays on center. 

once that is done check the pattern with the shells you use for turkey hunting.

 

I would suggest scrubbing the barrel and choke thread base first if you have not done that yet.

 

[Pygmy]

reeltime is spot on as usual.

No sense in getting beat up by heavy loads from the bench since most scatterguns tend to groups all shot loads  in the same place, unlike slugs, which often group differently from load to load.

Getting it on center at very close range  is important because the shot pattern will be very tight and it is easier to see if you need to adjust your sight right, left, high or low. At longer ranges, the shot spreads out more and  it is tougher to judge the center of the pattern.

When  you get it dead on it is easier to move the target to a longer range and fine tune it with your hunting loads, if necessary.

[maytom]

That was the exact problem I had with my 1300 right out of the box. Patterned high left no matter what shell I put through it. Ended up installing a Leupold 1x4 shotgun scope, problem solved!!! It's my only turkey gun for over 25 years now and still going strong. You have to wonder how many others shotguns don't shoot to the point of aim?

[Pygmy]

My Rem 11-87  patterned high and left out of the box with its double bead sighting...I have used a number of sighting systems over the year, first adjustable fiber optic sights to a Bushnell holo-sight, and presently I am using a Leupold 1 x 4 scope...

However, I also an older Rem 1100 Magnum with a fixed full choke barrel and double beads...Those double beads on that gun center the pattern EXACTLY on the point of aim and I find myself this gun most of the time now. One advantage of that gun is that if I should screw up and need a fast second shot at a running or flying bird, it is a faster option than the scope.

[Hookhunter20]

7 hours ago, reeltime said:

start with dove/quail loads at 10-15 yards to get the small pattern on the bullseye.  once its on target move out to 20 yards and see if the pattern density stays on center. 

once that is done check the pattern with the shells you use for turkey hunting.

 

I would suggest scrubbing the barrel and choke thread base first if you have not done that yet.

 

Scrub with a copper brush? What is the benefit of scrubbing as I usually just give a quick clean and oil after the season or heavy shooting. 

[reeltime]

17 hours ago, Hookhunter20 said:

Scrub with a copper brush? What is the benefit of scrubbing as I usually just give a quick clean and oil after the season or heavy shooting. 

what you will need;

an electric drill ( battery drills just don't have the speed needed)

a bore brush to match the gauge of the barrel

a green scotch brite pad

a can of wd40

an old cleaning rod ( or put enough sections together for the barrel length so there is no handle on the cleaning rod or cut the handle off) 

newspaper and a garbage can

the process;

remove barrel from gun.  look through the barrel to see what it looks like ( for later reference)

if the barrel has a screw in style choke I put in the imp. cyl. choke or the most open choke i have for the barrel. Make sure the choke is seated  and do not continue this process without a choke screwed in the barrel.

put a fresh bag in the garbage can and wad up a bunch of newspaper in the bottom of the can

assemble the cleaning rod and bore brush.

cut the scotch brite pad to the width of the brush, then wrap the pad around the brush and trim to fit the circumference of the brush.

place the barrel muzzle down in the garbage can

attach drill to the cleaning rod.

place to brush into the garbage can and saturate the sctotch brite pad with wd40

holding the barrel with one hand insert the bore brush into the chamber end of the barrel, you may have to slowly start the drill to aid in pushing the brush in.

once the brush is in the barrel, speed up the drill to full speed.

keep the brush moving up and down the barrel and a reasonable speed, all the way to the end and back to the chamber end ( DO NOT ALLOW THE BRUSH TO EXIT THE BARREL)

I put that in caps as its a very important tip that will save you a messy clean up (speaking from experience) 

you will have to squirt more wd40 into the barrel while running the brush you want the brush and pad saturated at all times while scrubbing.

you should see a steady dripping of black oil running into the garbage can.

after about 3 minutes ease the brush out and inspect the barrel, the best way to describe the look you want is,,, a clean mirror like finish the entire length of the barrel.   you should see a vast difference in the looks from when you started.

if you have a good mirrored finish remove the open choke and install your turkey choke making sure its seated tight.

this part of the process  you need to be careful doing, lay the cleaning rod, brush along side the barrel with the brush just over where the choke and barrel meet, mark the cleaning rod at the end of the barrel.

reinsert the brush and pad in the chamber end again making sure to saturate with wd40. start down the barrel and pick up speed to full speed. you want to concentrate where the choke and barrel meet, your goal here is to have a smooth transition any little ridge will catch the shot cup slowing it down thus allowing the shot to exit the cup before it all goes through the choke.   you want to  be very careful during this part of the process as you can open the choke some if you go too long with the scrubbing.  by looking through the barrel you can generally see if there is an issue where the choke seats in the barrel.

I have seen some chokes that needed some hand dressing with emery cloth to remove milling burrs, again great care needs to be taken if you do this.

 

once done I run a dry cleaning patch through and inspect the barrel for any patch fibers to be caught on the choke base that would indicate an issue that would need further scrubbing.

 

once all is acceptable reassemble and head to the pattern board.  I have done a bunch of these for myself and others and I have seen remarkable pattern improvements.

[Hookhunter20]

I will give this a try. Thanks for the step by step! 

[maytom]

Lee, I'll be doing that to my barrel very shortly. I want to re-sight in afterwards since I have a scope on my gun. Want to double check that these Winchester Long Beards are hitting where I want!!! Thanks for the detailed procedure.

[Hookhunter20]

Went to the range and got the red dot almost completely dialed in. I didn't count within a 10 inch circle but at 45 steps (forgot my range finder) I had 51 fatal hits with many more head and neck hits that weren't striking a vital out of my kicks 665 and 67 & 43 hits with the carlsons Long Beard 660 tube with long beard xr #6s. I think the 20 pellet difference was due to the fact the barrel was a little dirty at this point. I came home and polished the barrel, I thought I've gotten the gun clean before but man did it shine. Going to head back out and compare patterns with the Long beard 5s and 6s hopefully this improves on the already great numbers!

[turkeyfeathers]

Sounds like some good numbers. 

I poished my 1187 barrel last year. Rhino tube, 3.5" XR's gave me these numbers   5's

Winchester XR's at 40 yards produced 196 pellets in 10 inch circle

Winchester XR's at 65 yards produced 94 pellets in 10 inch circle

Pretty stoked they came out in 20 gauge for my daughter. I'll be polishing up both our barrels soon