Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Aimpoint on barrel rib

I think mounting that Aimpoint that far out on the rib is ridiculous. Red dot sights are about perspective. The further away from your eye it is, the more of a disadvantage they are.

The thing with a red dot sight is that the dot itself always looks the same size to your eye regardless of how far away it is from your eye. However, the "window" you look through to see that dot appears smaller the further it gets away from your eye. That dot is easier to find when you are looking for it through a big window. You want that window close to find the dot more easily.

Also, when that dot is on target, it is on target no matter where it is in the window. It doesn't have to be in the center of the window to be on target. If the dot is on the target, you are on target. You want a "big" window so that dot has room to move around in it, if needed. Maybe you didn't achieve a perfect mount for a sudden shot. Maybe you have to contort a bit for an animal coming from your 3 o'clock position. No matter. Put the dot on the target, and your gun is on target, even if you are seeing that dot in the upper corner of the window.

You want the sight as close to your eye as reasonably possible. If you don't have a red dot to understand what I've talking about, try this: put a 1 inch paper dot on your living room wall, then look at it through a drinking straw from across the room. Hold the drinking straw near your eye, then try it again with that drinking straw at arms length. At which distance was it easier to find the dot? The dot size stays the same to your eye, but the size of what you look through doesn't.

A lot of people didn't like that mount that Burris made for their Fastfire that fit between the stock and the receiver that put their Fastfire right in front of your face. But Burris knew how all this worked, and that was the best location for the sight if you are needing to find that dot as quickly as possible.

I have red dots mounted on two shotguns. An Aimpoint T2 on a Maxus II slug gun, and a Trijicon RMR on my SX4 buckshot/turkeyshot gun. Both of those I pretty much aim like rifles. Nonetheseless, action can be fast with deer up close and finding that dot quickly is critical. I want those sights as close to my eye as possible so I can find those dots immediately in a "big window."

I happen to think with small, fast game, like rabbits or quail, no red dot sight at all is best. Just a fiber optic front sight on the end of your shotgun barrel is best. But if you do use a red dot on a shotgun, you need it as close to your eye as possible. Every milimeter forward of that becomes more and more of a disadvantage.