So I bought a Burris Fast Fire 3 and put it on a camo 870 12 gauge with a 26" barrel. This was my duck gun and turkey gun ( with open beads ) now I guess it's my turkey gun, but I hate it and here's why..................I can't stand seeing the barrel and the mid bead and the front bead AND the red dot. I just want a clean sight picture of just the red dot and I imagine I would need about 1.25X to only see the bead and the turkey. Does anybody make a red dot with just enough magnification to get you out past the barrel and bead? I can't be the only one that hates the view and I won't go back to the beads as I've called in three in the last six years that got too close and I missed and around here with as few gobblers as we have that's not good. I guess the only trade off would be you would have to get your eye directly behind the dot and not have the ability to see the dot and pull the trigger even on the opposite shoulder.

Bet when a Tom comes in you will never see anything but the dot and a turkey.

There are prism sights in various low power models. They can be focused to your vision like a regular scope, but you lose the unlimited eye-relief. Ditto for low-power illuminated scopes. A tube-type red dot might restrict your view of the bead, might not.

Try your setup on a target. Look at the target, not the bead. I doubt you’ll have trouble worth mentioning if you practice a bit.

I can’t picture how you would get the red dot mounted low enough to still see the beads. How is the Burris attached to the shotgun?

I used the extra thing that slips in between the stock and receiver made by Burris. forget what it's called but you can order the FF 3 with it. It gets the sight really low for a great cheek weld.

i think it's called the speed bead

1x will do that.

Meadow creek mount puts the sight on the vent rib. Might help you for what you want.

That's the speed bead mount. I went to that last year from being mounted on top. I like it because if a battery dies, I still have the beads. Also when I had it mounted on top, I needed quarter inch pad on the stock to make it feel right With it mounted on top, you can still see the front bead. I don't mind seeing the beads and love the red dot. I've killed several gobblers in odd positions (laying down, left handed, ect).

That makes sense; I forgot about those mounts. I would suggest a different mount to get the red dot higher.

What do you mean?

1 power is giving the same field of view as your naked eye.

Even using a 2x scope at bottom end and you can generally see the front sight of the end of a barrel through a scope.

Those work well. I have the one for FF3s on an O/U. Can’t recall if I could still see the beads or not, but it’s a good setup. Even shot some clays with it.

So guys that mount the dot on a drilled and tapped receiver are not seeing anything other than the turkey and the red dot out in space?

Anytime you have to bob and weave to find the dot(poor cheek weld ) target acquisition speed goes down. I've tried to use one on my coyote shotgun and found it had to be mounted high and was a pain to use and have gone back to low mounted 1-4 scopes and find them faster than a red dot(holographic sight). I do use them with my bow, lines up quickly as I have anchor point when the bow is drawn and my handgun but that I need to practice with as I do have trouble finding the dot at times..

Seeing ribs and front sight are one of the things that happens when you have large FOV's, ust a matter of getting used to it and focusing on the target.

there's about a five hundred red dot scopes made by dozens of makers .....surely somebody makes one for a turkey gun that has just enough magnification to get past the clutter...............or maybe not...............nobody makes a decent all around deer rifle scope anymore either

I guess an AR w/ a red dot and a front sight housing would blow your mind.



mike r

AFIK, there are no red dots with magnification, either tube or open. There are magnifiers that mount in front of some like Aimpoints, and there are prism sights that I mentioned before that are available in various low power models, but those have to be receiver mounted due to limited eye-relief. You could try an 8moa FF3 on your Speedbead mount and see if the bigger dot can draw your eye away from those pesky beads. When I use a red dot on a shotgun for wingshooting, I look at the target just as when using one with no sight. Trying to aim with it on a claybird works about as well as the same method with the bead sights, not very well. For stationary targets, I use the red dot just like a scope reticle; put it where I want to hit and shoot.

There are no Speedbeads for any of my shotguns. I wish there were, as it looks like the perfect mount. Since you have it, and no one makes what you want, why not give it an honest try on some targets and see if you can make it work.

Funny, The scopes I have on my deer rifles are the best ones I’ve had in 50-odd years, better in almost every way.

I like seeing the barrel beads and my red dot. I pay attention to the relationship of the dot to the beads. Just nice to see to make sure nothing is off after it gets beat on

What really messes with me is the sight picture has the beads with a huge gap between them ( I see a foot of rib between them) so that it makes you think you are way off target and are going to hit two feet high aiming at the turkeys head. if the beads lined up like you would need them to if the red dot failed the dot is way off. if the beads looked like they were on target at the same time as the dot it wouldn't be so darn distracting

If the dot is properly zeroed, if it’s on the target, you’ll hit, pretty much without regard to your position. Thats how the tactical folks get away with red dots mounted all over their carbines.

You could always remove the beads. Don’t know if they’re threaded or pressed in, but they will come off, one way or the other. Or buy one of the Meadow Creek Mounts dedicated to the FF. It mounts on the rib, behind any beads, and should block your view of them. No other mount is needed, the FF screws right to the base.

https://meadowcreekmounts.myshopify.com/products/red-dot-rib-mount

The FF3 is very reliable, and has auto shut-off which shouldn’t leave you hanging with a dead battery. The battery cover is a giant PITA, but you don’t have to remove the sight to change it. Carry a spare.

I actually have one of those Meadow Creek mounts but never took it out of the package. I think I'm going to do a dedicated turkey 20 gauge and use a 22-24 inch barrel and see how that works out. Trying to use one shotgun as a semi-dedicated turkey gun has just not panned out. Seems odd to invest so much in a gun that if done properly will only get fired twice but it's the way to do it right. My turkey gun could also be a predator gun without compromises I guess.

It’s quite fortuitous that the MC mount I bought for an O/U is also the one required for the Browning Gold Hunter 20, one of which I picked up in November. With a Carlsons turkey tube and #8.5 Apex Ninja shells, that thing throws a real swarm at 40 yards, which is as far as I can test it here. It puts them right on the bead too, so a sight isn’t really needed, but if I want to wrap that shiny thing up with crinkly camo tape, it gets the line of sight up over that, plus it would let me use it with slugs. Easy on and off too.

What’s really been lacking is a volunteer turkey to stand in front of all that nifty kit.

I have a Vortex Venom on my predator shotgun
I love it

Thought Aimpoint did a 2x RDS.

IMHO it takes 3X to make AR front sights disappear when using a regular scope.

OPs problem I think is mounting height. Of course raising the sight to lose the rib in view would proly mean adding a cheekriser to the stock.

I've had a red dot on my turkey gun for three or four years. And after reading this post, I had to check if I could see the barrel because it honestly never entered my mind. Sure enough, it's there in all it's glory.

Too much thinking creates a problem that really isn't there.

Be interesting if it "goes away" the next time you use it. Kinda like noticing something about a co-worker you can't not notice all the time once you notice it the first time.

Very much agree on your last sentence. I'm guilty as all get out too often regarding overthinking.

You're not alone friend, I've written multiple chapters in that book too.

I believe your problem is the Burris mount putting the sight too close to your eyes. I have the Burris FF3 mounted on the ventilated rib with the MC and it is outstanding. No issues with the seeing the beads and it is low enough for good cheek weld. The sight needs to be about 12 inches from the eye.

Afternoon gents. Could you just put electrical tape (or camo) over the sights so they just look like the rest of the barrel??? GWP. 🐾👣🐾👣🇨🇦

That sounds plausible and I plan to find out before next season. Thanks

Sounds more like not being able to get past Cindy Cranford’s mole.

Keep both eyes open. Don’t worry about the best way to re-invent the wheel. When that Tom comes out you’ll be staring a hole right through him and that red dot will be covering it.

We have generous youth hunts here in my state and I want the sight picture to be very obvious for kids I take. I got a passel of them now that are getting to the age I feel comfortable taking them for friends and relatives. Don't want them confused at the moment of truth. I'm certain now the low mount I have made by Burris is why it's so bad on my gun compared to everyone else that didn't see it as an issue. My mount puts it too close to my eye and too low so I see the whole barrels in the picture and the beads don't come close to lining up so it makes you think they red dot must be off for the beads to be so far off.