870 Rifle Sights

[RevolverRob]

I recently picked up a 20" 870P barrel which has rifle sight bases installed, but no front sight (dovetailed) or rear sight blade (the 'carriage' is present).

I want to put some sights on it, but I'm having a hard time deciding.

XS: https://xssights.com/products/dxt-standard-dot-shotgun-bead-remington-rifles-shotguns.html

Trijicon: https://www.trijicon.com/products/details/re05o

Meprolight: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005912619

TruGlo: https://www.truglo.com/tfx-pro-sights-for-remington-shotguns/

___

So far, I'm kind of between the XS and the TruGlos, because I'm thinking the three-dot sight picture of the Trijis and Mepros will be distracting. Also the Mepro looks like a set of sights at home on a hunting gun, with wide spacing between dots and a narrow rear notch.

I know XS will give up some accuracy at longer distances, but I'm looking at 30y or less as engagement distances and this gun is predominantly going to be loaded with buck. My brain intuitively tends towards dot-the-i style bar-dot sights on all kinds of guns. I find that pattern works well for me.

That said, I'm perfectly willing to hear opinions if folks have strong opinions one way or the other.

[TCinVA]

The big problem I have with the XS sights is that it's really easy to get the relationship between the front and rear imperfect without noticing it. When I mount the gun I tend to get the beachball up front a bit higher than I would like. It's not end of the world, but it's not something that happens when I use the TruGlo sights.

The Trijicon sights are theoretically best when you are in one of those lighting situations where you don't need a light but can't see your sights very well. The only problem is that the tritium capsules in the rear sights is the same size as the one in the front sight, meaning those two are bigger and brighter than the front sight which is much farther away on the shotgun than on a handgun. I find this annoying.

I use the TruGlo sights on most of my 870's. I'm very happy with how they perform. The combination of fiber and tritium works well in all sorts of lighting conditions. I've successfully used them for buckshot up close and slugs out to 150 in awkward positions. The plain black rear sight isn't going to be as useful in the lower light situations as the three dot setups if you can't get a good mount on the gun since it doesn't give you much visible feedback.

I greatly prefer the TruGlo sights to the XS sights, but I can see the TruGlo sights. Yeah, you can use XS sights but I don't see them giving any real practical benefit over TruGlos. I can use the TruGlo fiber/tritium dot like a big dot, but I have a useful rear sight to go with it should I need more precision.

[shootist26]

I used to have a set of Ameriglo 870 rifle sights that I really liked, high vis white ring around a tritium front and subdued tritium rears. It looked a lot like the Trijicon ones, except no white rings around the rear dots. I liked the fact they looked like my pistol sights. This makes them very accurate with slugs at range while still being fast. You can buy the Trijicon ones and just use a sharpie marker to black out the rear white rings, which I think will mimic the Ameriglo sight picture well. I personally like a standard pistol sight picture on my 870.

That Meprolight rear sight looks like a really small notch (similar to a factory 870 rear rifle sight) unless my eyes deceive me. If true, I think this is the slowest sight picture of the four choices.

After Ameriglo discontinued those 870 sights and the tritium ran out, I went for the Truglos mainly for the squared off front sight. It has a combination fiber optic and tritium, so it's noticeably brighter than my Ameriglos. The only issue is that I went through three pairs of front sights before I got one that actually fit in my front sight dovetail. The first two were built so damn loose there was almost zero contact in the dovetail. Even the third one I had to use a center punch to dimple the bottom enough to fit tightly enough

I think the XS express style sights are also pretty good if you want to prioritize speed at close range. I've done a lot of shotgun training in the past few years and it's definitely possible to make very fast hits with buckshot at close range with the TRijicon/Truglo style sight picture, while still preserving really good accuracy with slugs at longer ranges.

[Gadfly]

I want some rifle sight to attach to a standard barrel that wont break the bank.

People charge an arm and a leg for simple drill and tap service.

By the time you buy the sight and have it installed, it would be cheaper to find a new barrel with rifle sights. But then you are stuck with a 20" barrel.

Would love to see something like just glock dovetails as standard on a shotgun, and you could always by and sight combo to install later.

Just thinking out loud since i got an 870P with bead sight and non tapped receiver recently.

[RevolverRob]

I want some rifle sight to attach to a standard barrel that wont break the bank.

People charge an arm and a leg for simple drill and tap service.

By the time you buy the sight and have it installed, it would be cheaper to find a new barrel with rifle sights. But then you are stuck with a 20" barrel.

Would love to see something like just glock dovetails as standard on a shotgun, and you could always by and sight combo to install later.

Just thinking out loud since i got an 870P with bead sight and non tapped receiver recently.

or3gun.com/OR3GUN/about_or3gun_sightsaddle.htm

A hand drill, a drill guide, a vise, and a center punch and your wish could be at your finger tips. Drill slow with cutting oil.

-

ETA: Okay, I think I'll go TruGlo and probably just paint a post under the notch with lume paint. That'll get me 90% of what I want while giving me a square notch for longer distance.

[Gadfly]

or3gun.com/OR3GUN/about_or3gun_sightsaddle.htm


interesting... too bad I have an 870 with no vent rib... but that is the perfect concept.
since the shotgun has fallen out of vouge in police agencies, i am not holding out hop that this pistol sight set up would be a new trend on new manufactured shotguns.

[RevolverRob]

interesting... too bad I have an 870 with no vent rib... but that is the perfect concept.
since the shotgun has fallen out of vouge in police agencies, i am not holding out hop that this pistol sight set up would be a new trend on new manufactured shotguns.

The second option down is plain barrel (round). I don't know how close 870 and Mossberg barrel shapes are, but I bet they're close enough.

[Dave J]

So far, I'm kind of between the XS and the TruGlos, because I'm thinking the three-dot sight picture of the Trijis and Mepros will be distracting.



On a pistol, I find rear dots very distracting unless they're blacked out. On my 870, the Trijicon rear doesn't bother me at all. I assume that's due to the greater distance between the front and rear sights on the shotgun compared to pistols.

Vision being a very individual thing, your mileage may vary.

[SeriousStudent]

I had a long chat with Tom Givens and John Hearne years ago, when the three of us were in Dallas for a shotgun class.

Based on that, my fave 870 iron sight is the Trijicon rifle sights. I dull the two rear tritium vials with a little bit of Sharpie. They are visible in low light but not obnoxious. It is still quick to use for precision shots at distance, as well as a fast shot at close range. I probably have every type of shotgun sight known the the Western world and over 20 shotguns. But that one seems to be the best irons for me.

Having said that, my true fave is an old Aimpoint H-1 with the 4-ish MOA dot. It's just about perfect for a shotgun, and anytime I see one for sale from a reputable seller at a half-decent price I buy it. I have them on Beretta's, Benelli's, Remington's and Mossberg's. They just run and that dot is about the perfect size and intensity.

[RevolverRob]

I'll probably put a dot on my next shotgun which will likely be a semi. But this particular receiver is a mid-90s Express receiver that isn't drilled and tapped. And the gun was a gift from a friend. So the build is pretty straight forward: rifle sights, +2 extension, and eventually some furniture (I'm planning to wait for the new Woox Gladiatore for the 870).

It'll probably put a prototype FART side saddle on it at some point as well.

[JHC]

If it matters. The Trijicon front sight only seems to be available. https://smile.amazon.com/Trijicon-Front-Night-Sight-Remington/dp/B0006969XM/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2CRYX6HIYGGWX&keywords=trijicon+remington+870+night+sights&qid=1674559288&sprefix=Trijicon+Reming%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-2

[gato naranja]

It has been a while, but before I committed 100% to the low-profile, express-sighted ("DEA-style") barrels on the 870P, I did use the trad "rifle sighted" 18.5" barrel(s), so I took a tour of the replacements available at the time. In the end, I went with the illuminated XS Express set using the standard dot front, though if the barrel had been a 20" one, I might have gone with the "big dot" front. Goldilocks that I am, I would have then preferred a size somewhere in the middle. To be fair, there was little difference between them "tritium-wise" for me in extreme darkness, but where there was a degree of ambient light, the white big dot was much faster and easier for me to perceive and "steer" than the standard dot

The problem was that on the 18.5" barrel, I thought the big dot was too friggin' BIG for the size of that rear shallow "V" blade perched atop the tall, skinny Remington base/ramp/whateveryoucallit. I never fooled with a 20" barrel, but I suspect that even that small amount of extra length could have changed things as far as I was concerned. A buddy of mine had an XS big dot front sight put on one of his long "hunting" barrels and the extra distance made the size look "just right" to me.



"Context," mumbled the orange cat.

[SeriousStudent]

It has been a while, but before I committed 100% to the low-profile, express-sighted ("DEA-style") barrels on the 870P, I did use the trad "rifle sighted" 18.5" barrel(s), so I took a tour of the replacements available at the time. In the end, I went with the illuminated XS Express set using the standard dot front, though if the barrel had been a 20" one, I might have gone with the "big dot" front. Goldilocks that I am, I would have then preferred a size somewhere in the middle. To be fair, there was little difference between them "tritium-wise" for me in extreme darkness, but where there was a degree of ambient light, the white big dot was much faster and easier for me to perceive and "steer" than the standard dot

The problem was that on the 18.5" barrel, I thought the big dot was too friggin' BIG for the size of that rear shallow "V" blade perched atop the tall, skinny Remington base/ramp/whateveryoucallit. I never fooled with a 20" barrel, but I suspect that even that small amount of extra length could have changed things as far as I was concerned. A buddy of mine had an XS big dot front sight put on one of his long "hunting" barrels and the extra distance made the size look "just right" to me.



"Context," mumbled the orange cat.

I have both of those - a 14.5" and an 18.5" DEA setup. I really like the 14.5". It's fast and has sufficient accuracy for my needs. I have not done a lot of work with the 18.5" barrel. But just some dry practice with it makes me lean towards the Trijicon rifle sights we discussed earlier.

You are exactly right about context.

[Joe Mac]

I've used the Tru-Glo front with their rear before, and did well enough with that combo, but what I really prefer is the Tru-Glo front with a Wilson/SGT rear, leaving the rear ramp on the barrel empty. That was the setup on my duty shotgun for a number of years.

https://shopwilsoncombat.com/REAR-SIGHT-TRAK-LOCK-II-GHOST-RING-870_1100_1187-12-GAUGE/productinfo/SGTL2-TF-12RO/

[jlw]

I recently picked up a 20" 870P barrel which has rifle sight bases installed, but no front sight (dovetailed) or rear sight blade (the 'carriage' is present).

I want to put some sights on it, but I'm having a hard time deciding.

XS: https://xssights.com/products/dxt-standard-dot-shotgun-bead-remington-rifles-shotguns.html

Trijicon: https://www.trijicon.com/products/details/re05o

Meprolight: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005912619

TruGlo: https://www.truglo.com/tfx-pro-sights-for-remington-shotguns/

___

So far, I'm kind of between the XS and the TruGlos, because I'm thinking the three-dot sight picture of the Trijis and Mepros will be distracting. Also the Mepro looks like a set of sights at home on a hunting gun, with wide spacing between dots and a narrow rear notch.

I know XS will give up some accuracy at longer distances, but I'm looking at 30y or less as engagement distances and this gun is predominantly going to be loaded with buck. My brain intuitively tends towards dot-the-i style bar-dot sights on all kinds of guns. I find that pattern works well for me.

That said, I'm perfectly willing to hear opinions if folks have strong opinions one way or the other.

I have the Trijicons on two 870s, and I love them 25-yard and closer buckshot work, which is what I will primarily be using a shotgun for; however, the .140 wide front was wider than the steel on the slug shots at Gunsite 260 Shotgun, and I struggled. I still run them because I don't even keep slugs in or on those 870s.

[Rack]

I've installed the Trijicons and like them better than the Remington sights, but still wish they were a bit different, for some reason.

[Tannhauser]

I have the Tru Glo sights on an 870 and for fast acquisition they work quite well. I have no problem picking up the front sight in daylight or in lowlight.

The front sight is large. It is not well suited to long range slug work. I’m fine with this, as for my intended use for the shotgun wearing these sights, I’m happy to trade close up acquisition for long range precision.

[Dorsai]

I bought a couple of the 14.5" DEA barrels from AIM Surplus and I bought a surplus, like new 870P with an 18.5" barrel and the DEA sights off Gunbroker. It came with Hogue furniture which has a good length of pull, but I had to really press my cheek to the comb to get my eye in line with the sights. I couldn't mount it quickly and naturally be aligned. I had a Mesa Tactical pistol gripped stock sitting around so I tried it. The comb height is lower slightly compared to the Hogue and it put my eye right where I needed.

With regard to the Tritium sights, they aren't listed on XS' website, but if you call them, they can look up the SKU for the Tritium sights and put an order through for you right there. Front and rear sights are dovetailed into the bases, so it isn't much effort to tap them out and install the new sights.

[rathos]

I put a set of the trijicons on an 18.5 inch 870 barrel. I could not get them to zero. I was consistently hitting about 8 inches high. I kept the rear on and black out the dots, but had to order a custom front sight to get it to work.

[gato naranja]

...I bought a surplus, like new 870P with an 18.5" barrel and the DEA sights off Gunbroker. It came with Hogue furniture which has a good length of pull, but I had to really press my cheek to the comb to get my eye in line with the sights. I couldn't mount it quickly and naturally be aligned. I had a Mesa Tactical pistol gripped stock sitting around so I tried it. The comb height is lower slightly compared to the Hogue and it put my eye right where I needed.

The variations of drop along the comb and the pitch on 870 stocks are something else. I used to favor the Remington factory synthetic "LEO reduced LOP" stock, which was basically just the old-school, Speedfeed-made, full-length 870 synthetic stock cut down and fitted with a smaller R3 pad. The resulting LOP was great,
while the rest of the experience was "meh." After being persuaded to try something different, I replaced it with a Magpul SGA and liked the result a lot.

I did not get on well with the Hogue short stock because my right paw did not interface well with the curve of the PG combined with its rubberized "skin."