Do I need rifle sights?

[Bourget117]

Thinking about if I want to upgrade the barrel on my marine magnum to the police version that has rifle sights. It would be easier to add tritium sights to that. If I kept mine I'd have to get the glue on tritium bead which I'm not crazy about when it comes time to change the sight. Probably makes no difference when shooting 00buck but it might when shooting slugs.

[NnF000]

I used SpitFire Armory Sights on my 20-ga build, did I need them... no, do I like them… YES !
Easy to locate target !

[Chief Brody]

I added a rifle sight barrel to my 870 Police Mag, then added tritium night sights to that. I wasn't happy with my performance shooting slugs at 50 yards and this change made a big difference. The night sights I got are the Ameriglo's that had been reviewed on this site. I found the original Remington rifle sights to be to slow for my eyes: the front sight was pretty narrow, they really were 'rifle' sights on a shotgun. Shotguns should be fast, right? In the daytime the Ameriglo sights have a much better sight picture than stock. Very fast and simple - not as simple as a bead but I'll take these for their advantage at longer ranges. At night, though, the tritium on mine are not very bright at all. I assume there are brighter options available, now that mine are a few years old. If I were to do it over again, I might try to find the ultra-low profile sights I've seen a few times, with the rear sight sitting on the barrel, just forward of the receiver - no large ramp like the factory rifle sight barrel has.

[Synchronizor]

It would depend on how far you think you may need to reach out with slugs. With practice, a bead is pretty effective. With practice time to work out exactly where to hold, I personally would be pretty confident getting slugs on a human-sized target out to 35 or 50 yards. I'm not all that great a marksman, either, I've seen folks get effective groups out to 80 yards with a simple front bead. Of course, none of that is under the stress of combat, but at the same time, how many HD scenarios involve a rushed, stressed, 50-yard shot? You'll have to think about what your HD plan may require of you and your gun.

If the glue-on tritium bead sounds unappealing, there are thread-in front tritium bead options as well.

If you do want to use the standard factory rifle sights for defense, I would agree with Chief Brody that the factory elements are a bit too fine for that role. I have a barrel with those factory rifle sights, and they're definitely more precision hunting sights than quick fighting sights. There are a number of good options for aftermarket sight elements that fit that system.

[Bourget117]

I've thought about it long and hard and decided on the xs big dot front sight for my stock barrel. I figured it was a good compromise. Faster than rifle sights and more accurate than a plain bead. Plus affordable too.

[wonderwolf]

Not too long ago at our local smallish 3 gun match I set up a stage where you had a 25 yard slug shot and then two 80 yard slug shots...standing & unsupported. I think only 1 or 2 guys totally missed both shots (out of 20 or so shooters?) but a lot of guys came in saying "man I've never shot a slug that far before" and it was on a human torso steel plate target. Everybody shot with "irons" and the majority of people did had 100% hits with their slugs. Only a few pulled their shots from flinching and that was because they were shooting some HEAVY slug loads. But beads were the sight of the day, very few rifle type sights.

I personally run a bead on a bed. The big bead on top of the little flat on my riot barrel, If I'm shooting past 50 yards I put more of the bed above my line of sight. I don't like to just "hold higher" on the target with shotgun and bead sights...I've noticed that's a good way to miss at least for me.

[Jamie]

I put a set Wilson Combat ghost ring sights on my 870. Love 'em, much better for slugs and distance, pretty fast target acquisition also.

[Goodgun]

I'm a Beast with the Remington adjustible rifle-sights. I also shoot alot of slugs though. If you wanna reach out and touch somebody/something? Get some sights? But make sure YOU like em'!?! Best Wishes...

[BobTR]

Hi all! And what about atn sights. I use atn x-sight II hd 3-14x (https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-weapon-sight) for deer hunting and I like this sight.