Lasers and shotguns

[Itschris]

I’ve only recently got into shotguns and the one thing I noticed is that there isn’t a lot of discussion about using red or green lasers in any application. My ARs have DBAL units on them but I don’t typically see any laser application of any sort on a shotgun. I think the T1/T2 is perfect for many applications but I’m colorblind and have a hard time picking up the red dot quickly on certain backgrounds. While not the same thing, I would think a green laser would be a great addition to a home defense/tactical shotgun. Interested in what you guys think as the shotgun world is fairly new to me.

[rjohnson4405]

To me, it seems more and more are equipping and treating shotguns more like an AR. They have their own, distinct manual of arms and advantages/disadvantages but IMO if it's valid for you on an AR, it's valid on a shotgun. Especially with your vision differences.

Mostly gone are the days of a bead sight and 3 foot pattern of buckshot thinking.

[Itschris]

I wasnt sure if there was an applicable reason not to utilize a laser. You pegged my thinking though. The platform is certainly different but the scenarios where conflict based use takes place certainly do overlap. I don’t think an IR Illuminator with visible laser is necessarily applicable like in an AR for instance, but some sort of ligh/laser combo I think could only be beneficial. I’m curious why there isn’t more discussion on it.

[HCM]

Forearm laser units have been around at least since the 1990s. Mossberg had a factory M500 with a laser.


If you are red - green colorblind does a green laser or green RDS dot show up any better for you than red ?

Lasers are slower for trained shooters. Mission drives the gear train so what would the applications for a shotgun mounted laser vs RDS or conventional sights ?

Untrained shooters - since you actually need to aim shotguns at social distances
Gas mask use
Unconventional postitions though the recoil of the shotgun makes this more complicated than on a pistol or AR.
NV goggle use

On pump guns, maintaining zero with a Forearm mounted laser may be an issue.

[OldRunner/CSAT Neighbor]

Tagged this I'm confident 'ol DB will chime in here sooner or later.

[Itschris]

The shade of green makes more of a difference for me. My base optics atop my ARs are ACOGS with green rets. I’m able to see them far better than the red. The green laser is something I can easily pick up as well... again more so than red. I’m not suggesting that a laser should replace an optic or standard sight anymore than it would on a handgun or AR but I was wondering if there was a reason that they weren’t popular with the shotgun crowd.

[03RN]

There's probably not a good option to withstand the recoil

[nalesq]

I mentioned in another thread that someone mounted a laser on a pistol grip only breaching shotgun at work back in the day. Indoors, it worked a lot better than the bead sight.

The laser was cheap, and probably did not hold much of a “zero” as we would normally think of it. But at 10 meters or less, which is all it was ever expected to cover, it was good enough, and again, better than the bead.


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[Unobtanium]

I'd personally love to get some autogated WP NODS helmet mount and run an IR laser on my M4 SBS. Short of that, I don't see the point.